Is Your Child Ready for the Future? A Wake-Up Call for Parents
—Advocate Nazim Khan, Secretary, Crescent Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, Chandrapur
The best way to predict the future is to prepare for it. — Abraham Lincoln
Have you ever stopped to think what the world will look like when your child is ready to step into it — in the next 10 to 12 years? The rate at which technology, jobs, and skills are evolving is faster than ever before in human history.
Let me take you back to a small memory from my own life. When I was 18, the first time I used a floppy disk, it felt like magic. Then came CDs, pen drives, external hard drives, and finally cloud computing — all within a span of 20 years. Today, at the age of 41, I recently read a news report that Japan has successfully tested 1 Petabit per second (1 Pb/s) internet speed — a speed so fast it can download the entire Netflix library in under a minute. Just imagine!
From one floppy to the cloud, and now to ultra-speed internet — this is how dramatically the world is changing. And now, pause again and think:
Will Your Child Be Ready for This Future?
The future job market will not be anything like today. Experts say more than 50% of the jobs that will exist in 2035 do not even exist today. Your child might become an AI Ethicist, a Space Tourism Guide, a Quantum Data Analyst, or a Climate Engineer — roles we are only beginning to understand.
The key question is:
As parents, are we preparing our children to survive — or to lead — in this fast-changing world?
The Dangers of Outdated Thinking
We are still raising children with 20th-century mindsets while expecting them to thrive in a 21st-century digital economy. Are marks enough anymore? Will a child who never looks beyond their syllabus be able to compete with someone who’s learning coding or global current affairs at the age of 12?
The truth is, local thinking won’t create global leaders. The world is now a global village, where a discovery made in Tokyo can impact someone’s job in Chandrapur within hours. We must move forward and not stay anchored in the past.
Five Powerful Tools Every Parent Must Provide:
1. English Language Exposure:
Buy an English newspaper daily. Read it with your child. Discuss new words. Help them explore the dictionary. This habit will slowly but surely open their minds and worlds.
2. Global Awareness:
Encourage children to watch global news, read international science articles, and understand what’s happening beyond their city and country.
3. Curiosity Over Curriculum:
Let them ask questions. Let them explore ideas. Support their curiosity with books, online courses, and projects. The innovators of tomorrow are the curious children of today.
4. Digital Literacy & Lifelong Learning:
Encourage participation in online courses—such as coding, AI, or public speaking—and guide them on using the internet effectively and responsibly as a tool for continuous learning.
5. Mindset Shift — From Job Seekers to Job Creators:
Introduce them to entrepreneurship. Let them dream beyond just getting a job — let them imagine creating jobs.
It’s Time to Wake Up
Change isn’t on the horizon — it has already arrived.
We need to reimagine parenting, reshape what we teach, and redefine how we inspire. It’s no longer just about getting children ready for a job, but about equipping them for a world where the very nature of work is constantly evolving.
This article is not a warning — it’s a call to action.
Let us join hands as responsible parents, teachers, and mentors. Let’s raise children who are not afraid of the future but are equipped to shape it.
Do not raise your children the same way your parents raised you; they are born for a different era. — Ali ibn Abi Talib (R.A.)
