Dear Penguin,
Today, I write to you not just as your mother, but as a witness to the whirlwind you’re growing up in a world vastly different from the one I knew as a child.
Growing up was slow, awkward, and curious when I was your age. We had time to make mistakes without the whole world watching. We dreamed about becoming doctors, engineers, teachers… professions that took years of hard work and patience to reach. We didn’t think about becoming “famous” at 11.
But your generation, the Gen Alpha kids, are different.
You’re growing up in the era of Sephora Kids and trending reels.
At an age when we barely knew what moisturiser was, kids today are already debating skincare routines, makeup hacks, gender politics, feminism, anti-feminism, and misandry.
The line between child and adult seems thinner every day.
Children are no longer allowed to simply be children anymore.
The world is rushing you toward adulthood at full speed, skipping that awkward, curious, “figuring-things-out” phase that is so crucial.
Instead of dreaming about professions, many now dream about becoming influencers.
Instead of slow, clumsy progress, there is a hunger for instant gratification — likes, comments, shares, virality.
It’s no wonder kids are stressed, anxious, attention-deficit, and overwhelmed.
You, my Penguin, are standing right in the middle of all of this.
And it’s tough.
Tough to resist the pull of online trends.
Tough to be okay with being “boring” while the internet glorifies “going viral.”
Tough to stay real when everything around you is filtered and edited to perfection.
I know you are processing all of this in your own way.
Some days, you will want to chase trends and follow the crowd.
Other days, you will want to rebel against it all.
Both responses are completely normal.
Growing up is messy like that.
But here’s what I hope you never forget:
Your life is not a reel. It’s not a 30-second performance. It’s a marathon. Messy, beautiful, slow, and real.
You don’t need to grab your phone the minute you feel bored.
You don’t need likes to validate who you are.
You don’t have to dance on every trending song or recreate every trending look.
Instead, I hope you will:
- Walk around the block when you feel restless.
- Pick a sport (and stick to it even when it’s hard!)
- Find a hobby that no one claps for, but that makes you lose track of time.
- Learn the rare superpower of doing nothing of being still, calm, and undistracted.
When you build your character slowly through experiences, failures, boredom, and practice, you build a foundation that will outlast every trend.
No shortcut can give you what patience, persistence, and peace can.
No trending soundbite will give you the solid life skills that a quiet hobby or a long-term sport can.
Because Penguin, not everything real will trend, and not everything that trends is real.
Don’t get caught chasing temporary highs. Build a life you are proud of, even when no one is watching.
Choose depth over dopamine hits.
Choose reality over reels.
Choose growth over going viral.
And if someday you do go viral, whether for your art, your ideas, your values, let it be a by-product of a life lived richly and fully, not the goal itself.
Always here, rooting for your real life,
Maa
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