My daughter turned eight years old in January, and among the various gifts she received from friends and family was an absolutely beautiful personal journal for self-growth. A few days ago, she was exploring the pages when she found a section for writing a letter to her future self. She found this intriguing and began jotting down her thoughts animatedly.
Continue reading Why Do We Think It’s Wrong For A Woman To Be ‘Too Ambitious’?
A few days ago, after realizing I had unfairly screamed on my daughter pertaining to a school related matter, I apologized to her when we were in our society lift. Someone beside us commented right then – “These days, parents have to apologize to kids. No wonder kids are becoming arrogant.” I wanted to respond but we were getting late for the school bus, so I ignored and made a dash towards the bus stop. But this incident made me think of how a simple, heartfelt ‘sorry’ is not really ingrained in the parent-child dynamic in our society.
Continue reading Why I Am Not Sorry To Say Sorry To My Child
“What does your child like to eat?”
This is a question I get asked invariably by friends and family whom we visit, and in all honesty, I don’t know the answer to it. That’s because I have a 6-year-old whose taste and choices in food change faster than the rate at which she is growing. I am almost always baffled when it comes to deciding what I should be offering her as snacks to satisfy her frequent hunger pangs.
Every hour or so, I hear a request, “Mummy bhook lagi hai, kuch achcha khana hai”. This ‘achcha’ is where we end up in conflict because I obviously value nutrition while the little one only cares about taste.
“You can’t have junk so often”, I often find myself muttering under my breath. “Junk is tasty, Mom”, she retorts while I roll my eyes in disapproval.
The pandemic has impacted the entire humankind at various levels and to different degrees. I believe children and young adults have taken the hit in more ways than we have been able to acknowledge. Being a parent, aunt and a mentor to numerous kids and teens, there is indubitably a nagging concern in my head regarding their future. I was recently having a conversation with one of my students and she mentioned how she was perturbed because her plan to travel abroad to pursue higher education was hindered by the current situation. This is the story of many students who are gripped with the worry for learning opportunities, visa processing and job prospects.
I have a child who believes in the magic of magic. She thinks there is actually a treasure at the end of the rainbow and that in some corner of the earth, there must be a fairyland which no one knows about. She is almost 6-year-old now and the pragmatic me used to try to tell her to come out of this imaginary magical world. “There is no magic in reality”, I insisted every so often during my conversations with her. I could see the tad bit of disappointment on her face whenever I said so. A few months back, while we were having lunch, she grumbled about the taste of yoghurt that day and requested me to feed her. I sensed this could just be an excuse for getting fed by me and I happily obliged. The moment she took a spoonful in her mouth, she exclaimed.
“The curd now tastes delicious, Mumma! How did this happen?”
“Well! That’s Mother’s Magic”, I instinctively quipped amused.
“See! I told you magic exists. It is everywhere Mumma.”, she tried to convince me.
If there is anything humans have been reminded of this year more than ever before, it is the fact that nothing is over and above our health. We might rise and progress in multifarious ways, but it is all secondary to our existence. Hence, as a parent, the health of our children is always at the top of our scheme of things. It is imperative for us to be more aware to be able to give our children holistic and the best possible health care. This is precisely why Episode 2 of 9 Months Season 5 by Firstpost is an important watch because it revolves around the theme of vaccination for kids.
Continue reading Vaccination & Immunity Building Of Your Munchkins
Today is the 72nd Republic Day of India. Today is the day when we celebrate the Constitution of India. But while we remember history, do we also see the history that we are creating? I woke up today with thoughts taking the shape of a maze in my head. If I have to be brutally honest to myself, I don’t know whether I am patriotic. I don’t know whether I am a worthy citizen of my land. I don’t know whether my bit is enough. I just know one thing that if there is someone who gives me hope in tumultuous times, it’s the children of India. Their honesty, intuitiveness, unbiased opinions and inherent empathy makes me feel assured and optimistic. But the irony is that we never fail to let them down every single day. Every time we push a child to be what the child is not, every time we silence their pragmatic voices with our adult egos, every time we invalidate their feelings due to our myopia – every such time we crush hope, we crush dreams, we crush spirits.
The pandemic has been a tough time for kids in many ways, yet they adapted to the abrupt change in their lifestyle as best as they could. It is not easy for them to stay at home without jumping around with their friends or bonding with their school mates. They have also been missing out on all the stimulation they get from outdoor play which is so essential for their development. As a parent, I have been trying my best to help my almost 6-year-old stay excited and active through this phase at home.
I was aimlessly scrolling up the feed when a comment grabbed my attention. Not surprisingly, this happened because the post was about a person I have always held in high esteem – Sushmita Sen.
A woman had put it across quite bluntly that Sushmita Sen knows nothing about motherhood sacrifices because she hasn’t given birth to her daughters. She mentioned categorically that it starts from when the embryo is formed and all Sushmita Sen has done is give a good life to adopted kids, making it sound like a cakewalk.
She plonked on the chair with her gaze fixed on the array of colourful and appealing craft and stationery items scattered across the table. The manifest image in her mind was soon going to be given a form by her tiny but deft hands.
