There once was a time when being a ‘collector’ was the hobby among the youth. They collected stamps and coins, toys, comics and cricket cards, and even rare music and antiques. There was nothing quite like getting that hard-to-find missing piece in hand, thus completing the collection. But there hardly are any youngsters who are enamoured by hobbies. To most from the present generation, video games, films and television shows have taken over that mindspace. 

Children’s area of interest shifts over the years due to trends that emerge, said S Venkatesh, a city-based, student’s counsellor. “They want to keep themselves up to date and want to get attention from others with their novel activities,” Venkatesh added.

“Schools are complicit. By adding more and more homework hours, they deprive children of time to develop a hobby. After hours of homework, parents understandably want to allow their child the time to unwind. And what more convenient way to unwind than by watching a screen, whether smartphone, computer or a big screen,” he said.

S Balakumar, a Class 12 student who collects small clay toys, pointed out that hobbies cannot be forced. “It has to come on its own. My father use to collect stamps. But it is not necessary that I follow his habit,” he said.

Hobbies provide many mental and physical health benefits, including bolstered optimism, increased creativity and a better ability to deal with stress, said South India Philatelists’ Association committee member V K Mohan. Being involved in a hobby along with others keeps the teenagers socially engaged, he added. 

These days, he added, technology available to the teens gives them unlimited options: they can create and maintain blogs on a particular topic, play video games, remain connected through social networking sites, and even build robots and write programs to make them functional.

South India Philatelists’ Association, which work with India Post, organises regular summer camps for school children. They also organise stamps exhibition in association with the postal department to create awareness among the younger generation. Senior artist S Kumaran, who promotes drawing for free among students at Pallavaram area, said parents need to cultivate hobbies and passions in their wards. 

The only passion that most middle and upper-class parents cultivate was getting good grades so that they can get into a prestigious college, he criticised. 

“Painting or drawing is an all-time favourite for children of all ages and most parents as well. Give them a canvas, some colours and let them colour, paint and explore,” he advised.

Tamil Nadu government has taken several measures in creating awareness programmes among children about various hobbies, including reading and painting. 

In 2017-18, mobile book fairs are being organised at all government schools in order to promote reading and to expose students to the treasure of books outside the syllabus to enrich their general knowledge and cultivate it as a hobby. 

In addition, mobile libraries, stocked with books and periodicals, have started serving the students in in 14 districts of the State.  These mobile vans would go to all middle and high school campuses where students would be allowed to read exchange books free of cost.

This is being done for the first time with the active cooperation of book publishers and sellers.

In addition, wall paintings have been done in more than 2,000 primary and middle schools covering each block of all the districts. Specific child-friendly paintings and phonetic letters were drawn and taught inside the classrooms to make the school premises attractive and educative. “The government has spent more than Rs 30 lakh for this purpose,” a senior education department official said.

The School Education Department had recently taken up Kala Utsav, a cultural and a hobby programme, to promote arts in education by nurturing and showcasing the artistic talent of students at the secondary level. These events are organised at school, block, district and national levels.

 Kala Utsav helps the students explore, understand and showcase their living tradition in

 the art forms of dance, music, theatre and visual arts.