This Sunday morning I was seething when rage when I read about finishing schools in the city for five-year-olds. Apparently even parents of three-year-olds call up these finishing schools to train their kids. And the schools will teach the kids all about Ps and Qs along with where a spoon should be kept and how to execute the right handshake. Really???? Do our kids need such schools?

I am not sitting on a pedestal and judging these parents. I have my own failures to look at. I am half the time guilty for not teaching my child all about good manners, proper etiquettes and all that lies in between. The MLS knows she can’t butt in when two people speak and has to say ‘excuse me’ if she needs to be heard, often uses thank you and sorry generously, and would greet some people at a slight nudge. But that’s about it. I have miles to go before I can claim proudly about my child’s behaviour.

Having said that I would never go to the extent of sending her to a finishing school and bring out a readymade product set to behave like a robot. I would rather have her spill her milk, use a spoon instead of fork than let her be taught by a stranger about what should be used when. We are great believers of outsourcing but, hey, since when did parenting also go the same way. Okay, we can rent wombs, decide the date and way of delivering the child. And now even let others teach our kids how to behave properly. So what would a parents’ role be in the modern set up? Attend PTA meetings???

I wish we did some of the work ourselves. Least of all parenting shouldn’t be left for others to be taken care of. Don’t we owe them this the least?

Anyway’s the performance in school was on monsoons and all the kiddies dressed in myraid hues just added to the beautiful day. The proud parents sat is hushed silence even as each performance was enacted. MLS was a rockstar with no stage fright. Some wept, some forgot their lines and some shined. MLS belonged to the last category.

She walked in the saree like a pro and wanted to hold her pallu in her arm just as some socialities do. But good sense prevailed and she realised she wouldn’t be able to do any actions if she went like that. The girl surely knows her fashion and didn’t want kajal in her eyes as she said it will make her eyes all black.

So some performance it was, and there are now many more to come.

Then I had to tell her just like her dad and mom have their respective dads, even her madam is entitled to a dad. Then the young mind wanted to know if everyone in this world had a dad. I said yes. To which the next question was if birds and animals also had dads. Yes, my dear. For the moment she just needs to know about it. Nothing more than this!

It is another story for another day that there are orphans too in this world— just as the 10-year-old who lost both her parents that day and has to look after her three siblings including an infant.

I promise I will be a good girl and post as often as possible. I have to write about Miss Little Sunshine, how the four-year-old’s mind works and what is keeping me on my toes every single day. This blog, now that it has been revived would never be treated with such indifference and callous apathy that politicians reserve for general junta.

In this last one year, MLS has started formal school, I have been to many beautiful places for work, took holidays, managed home without a maid and lived life every single moment. I have greyed more, have lost more hair and put on more lard as it may burst.

So all this and much more in the coming posts. So stay tuned in case if ever anyone opens this blog.

It seems i was hibernating as far as my blog updates are concerned. A really rocking incident is what pushed by big fat bum to log on to this site and start blogging again.

To begin with MLS is a huge Bollywood fan as far as song and dance movements are concerned. But till date she hasnt ever been completely engrossed in any movies. Last week, we were watching 3 Idiots on TV and MLS too was watching it with the interest of an earnest Bollywood fan. i was feeding her and suddenly out of the blue she starts crying. Her incontrollable sobs run for a good 10 mins. I am left perplexed and I ask if she is feeling unweel, sick or what.

After a good crying, she starts explaing…in between wails “Aamir Khan was crying” And i Burst out laughing. It was this scene where both boman irani and khan is crying post the delivery of the baby. everyone was crying in the movie in that scene. My God, my poor little girl couldnt understand why everyone was choking and she too joined.

So now this little one knows her Aamir from Salman and SRK from Big B.

I have my days when MLS is given a tight spank on the bum or even a slap on cheek. Though I regret it later, in the heat of the moment, I lose all my control. The instances which make me mad and lose all patience is when she refuses to get ready on time even as her school bus is about to reach doorstep or when she refuses a meal even as I am hurrying to get her ready and head to office.

Now, I know yelling or spanking a child is not the right way to get things done. But from where do you bring patience when your life is a roller-coaster ride all along. Most working moms would agree that time is a crucial factor them. For that matter even SAHMs too have their strict schedules. In this age of instant gratification and a marathon race, where does one find the patience to sit with a child when he or she is throwing a tantrum? My MIL has a favourite saying, “Parenting is a book and each stage is a chapter. The problems with kids would always remain, it’ just a new chapter with every stage.” Yeah, I know. When she was an infant I longed for her to be a toddler so that all those feeding and nappy changing could come to an end. Now that she is a toddler, I long for her to be a bit more mature so that she values time.

God, it’s a never ending saga. But for all this cribbing, when my lil MLS comes and rubs her nose on my cheeks and plants a kiss, I know I am blessed. All my hardships just melt away in the twinkle of her eyes.

And her other friends are the stray dogs and ants. If a stray is outside our house, MLS promptly would want to feed the dog. She would coax me into taking out a bowl of milk and bread. She would the feed the stray to its heart’s content and would keep on patting the animal in a matronly fashion. The other day a she saw a spider spinning its web around an ant and came running to her dad, “help my friend”, “who spider ant ko kha raha hai”. She couldn’t rest till the time the said spider was shoved away.

Hours pass into days, days into months and months into years. MLS is already 3 years and two months. In a couple of months we will go through the biggest trauma of her schooling years—the big bad world of nursery admissions. In Delhi, it is scenario which gives every parent of three-year-old sleepless nights. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope to cross this hurdle with ease.

Read this carefully, for it wouldn’t be everyday that I will remind you about these things.
• Life is never a bed of roses for anyone, so thank God for what you have and not crib about what you don’t.
• Never waste anything—be it food, water or electricity. There are many people out there who live without these basic elements in their life.
• Learn to laugh at yourself. You will never be short of friends.
• Good friends are as important as your family. So never prioritise between the two.
• Stand up and sing along when the national anthem plays, irrespective of who else is doing it.
• Never abuse your nation, it is as bad as abusing your mother. Don’t think what your country has given you, instead wonder what you have done for your country to deserve anything better.
• Follow two things passionately—reading and traveling. Nothing can replace the joy of a good book and striking random conversation with a stranger about a scenic locale.
• Respect everyone – the maids, drivers, sweepers, shopkeepers. Your job is as important as theirs.
• Say please and thank you.
• Don’t be scared to own up. Failures are what make us the person that we are for hadn’t it been for those nasty monsters we wouldn’t have know how angelic life is.

First I was told how important it is to get married, then I was pressured into having the baby at the ‘right’ age and now all that the elders in the family can talk of is how important is a sibling for my Miss Little Sunshine.

It comes as no surprise that she adores kids, especially those younger to her. She wants to mother them— feed them, take care of them and play with them. This is shown as an example to me over the need for having a second child. It tears me down when people tell me how single children could be selfish, arrogant and grow up to be self-centered individuals.

With a job that keeps me busy and a house to run, would it be justifiable to bring a child to the world just for the sake of ‘two child’ concept? I really don’t know.

Does it make sense to have a second child only because you want to give your child a sibling?

Coming back to your D-day, we were given perfect instructions by you that you wanted a cake in the shape of your fav cartoon character Doremon. So the order was dutifully placed and so was the teeny weenie decorations done at the house using balloons. You insisted on blowing up the balloons that in the end we just had to abandon the idea of putting up more balloons. You went around inviting your friends in the locality for the evening party. You enthusiastically sorted out the books for the return gift and wanted to know who was getting what. You were more keen in handing out the return gifts than in your gift itself.

Well you have been once again deluged with dolls and toys and surely now has every animal as a soft toy. Be it the tortoise and pug that you cling to or your doremon, elephant, leopard and the endless other characters strewn across the house.

The party was one big affair with a dozen kids and an equal number of adults. Though you had strict instructions from doc not to have cake or anything else, we could do little to keep you away from the goodies. Despite being sick and not sleeping in the afternoon, you put up a brave face the entire day till 12.30 at night when we finally crashed. I thought you would get cranky but I believe you loved all the attention being showered on you. You flitted across the house interacting with every one absorbing all the fun.

God Bless you, my little girl. Soon you will be a young lady and I just wish that you turn out to be a nice human being. May God shower you with all the happiness in the world and grant you the strength to deal with the adversities in life.