Divyanka Tripathi on self-reliance: Parents taught me to heal my own wounds
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Television actor Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya recently opened up about a formative parenting lesson from her childhood — one centred on emotional and physical resilience. In a YouTube vlog, she recalled how her parents, particularly her father, equipped her with first-aid skills and encouraged her to handle minor injuries independently rather than seek immediate parental intervention.
"Whenever I got hurt, my parents didn't make it look like a big issue," Divyanka said. "In fact, my father taught me first aid in my childhood. I used to take care of my wounds, bandage myself, and everything. To the extent that once or twice I had a major wound in Mumbai... I never even told my parents about it."
Building Independence Through Early Lessons
The actress credited this hands-off approach with shaping her into a self-reliant adult. She explained her reasoning at the time: "I did the dressing without telling my parents because I was like, why bother people when I can handle it? They made me independent so that I can do anything easily and I won't cry."
Divyanka's mother, Neelam Tripathi, who appeared alongside her in the vlog, reinforced this philosophy. Neelam articulated her parenting ethos as one rooted in deliberate exposure to challenge rather than overprotection. "You will become strong on your own," she said. "We have never kept Divyanka flower-like. I think if you want to make your child strong, you should start from the first day."
A Philosophy for the Next Generation
Neelam expanded on how she intends to apply the same principles with her future grandchild. "We will let him or her play in the sand, we will make him swim in water. To become strong, you should be able to solve all your problems. And the second thing is, you should not do everything emotionally. If the child is falling or stumbling? Let him. He will become normal on his own."
This candid discussion comes as Divyanka prepares for motherhood. She and her husband, actor Vivek Dahiya, announced their pregnancy in March on the occasion of Gudi Padwa through a joint social media post. The couple's forthcoming parenthood has placed these reflections on child-rearing in sharper focus, with Divyanka now considering how to balance protective instinct with the resilience her own parents cultivated in her.