'City city jam jam, says kids'

'City city jam jam, says kids'
Vijay Times

BBaanng gaal loor re e: : Four-year-old Nishant zealously collects toy cars of all size and shapes. Theres nothing amusing about the hobby, except that Nishant collects these cars to compete with his friends to recreate a largest traffic jam possible.

Many parents opine that with growing instances of traffic jams in the city, playing traffic jams have replaced the craze of car racing with friends.

Nihar K Rao, a parent of a four-year-old, says "In my childhood I played with toy cars to zoom across the room, not create traffic jams and remain static to admire what a jam I have created, which my son keeps doing on noticing the real action on roads." Psychologists also feel that children are subliminally affected by the frustration adults exhibit because of traffic jams.

Yashaswini Kamaraju, a child psychologist says "Children always simulate real life situations while at play. Nowadays traffic jams are widely discussed with lot of frustration. Therefore it comes as no surprise to me." Ali Khwaja reputed psychologist-counsellor says "While earlier traffic jams wouldnt matter to a child, these days traffic jams does hinder childrens plans for an outing." "There is an increasing craze of buying more and more toy cars amongst kids," says V Subramaniam, manager of Vellare Avenue, a toy shop in Koramangala. He says kids are buying both small and large toy cars and sales have been increasing for a while now.

However Khwaja feels there is a larger problem on hand.

"Many a times, traffic jams bring out the worst in a person often leading to road rage. Care should be taken that children do not witness road rage actions of parents. It is quite possible that they try and replicate it themselves."

Many parents opine that with growing instances of traffic jams in the city, playing ‘traffic jams’ have replaced the craze of car racing with friends