Change Is Good

We are shifting houses this weekend, and with all the packing, moving, cleaning, et al – my kids are sometimes troubled.

• Will you pack all my toys?
• Will we have TV in the new house?
• Don’t forget Teddy!
• Will we have beds to sleep in?


… the list is endless

Amidst all the boxes, half-packed suitcases, we are still muddling through our daily routine of school, office and classes.

Of course, there are glitches. Yesterday, I simply couldn’t find the frying pan and my son had to make do with idlis instead of utappams. And, of course, there is always the last minute scurry for the hat and belt which I had packed inside one of the suitcases. Not to forget having to spend half an hour hunting for the karate gloves which mysteriously wound up packed between 2 stuffed dolls. The children have, of course, not been too pleased with all these adjustments they are having to make.

My daughter, for one, is Sheldon-esque (of The Big Bang Theory fame) when it comes to her stuff. She even refused to climb into her school van because the driver had changed! It goes unsaid that she doesn’t want me to throw away her one-eyed doll, or her tattered penguin as I clean up for the move. That set me thinking – “Change is good!”

It is very important for us not to bring up children so that they are so used to routines and rules, that they are unable to accomodate changes which come their way. It is good to have to run to catch the school bus at the last minute once in a while because you couldn’t find your ID card; it is good to have to eat from paper plates sitting on boxes because your furniture is stuck with the moving van; it is good to have to wear the same dress you wore the day before because all other dresses are packed; it is good to eat bread-butter-jam for breakfast and lunch because the gas cylinder is not fixed yet; it is good to make the child read the same library book twice because you couldn’t go to the library with a headache…

As parents try to do their best every day to ensure that their child’s day is perfect, think about how you can sometimes go overboard with your efforts at the risk of making your child too rigid and incapable of adjusting. Remember, change is good! Do you agree?

*Reposted, with permission, from the ParentEdge blog (www.parentedge.in). ParentEdge is a parenting magazine that aims to expose parents to global trends in learning and partner with them in the intellectual enrichment of their children. 

- Debolina Raja Gupta

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And like I always believe in and say:
'Heal the world we live in
Save it for our children' - MJ

Happy Parenting!!!!

Be good to your little one, and to the millions of little ones out there who truly need every bit of love and compassion they can get.....Be a grown up...save the little ones.... Debolina Raja Gupta