Recently I walked into the Crossword bookstore in the mall
next to my home on a weekend. It was just by chance as my daughter was looking
for something in stationery that we couldn’t find at Staples (which is a big
stationery store, just in case). So there was this nook where about 3-4 kids were
sitting on the carpeted floor, surrounding a woman who seemed to be handing out
some craft materials.
Of course we had to go and take a look immediately. It turned
out there was a weekend activity session for kids that would be conducted each
weekend and anyone was free to walk in. That particular day happened to be
Harry Potter’s birthday (and if any of you has been on my book blog, you would
know that this is one series I really tried reading, but gave up after the
first book – I think it is best left to my daughter to read when she grows up a
bit). So it was going to be a story telling and interactive session about Harry
Potter and there was also going to be a cake cutting. Quite interesting!
I deposited my daughter with the lady and strolled through
the aisles with my baby in the stroller. It was then that I heard a young voice
protesting – ‘No Mamma!!!!’
I turned to look at the origin of the voice.
Just there behind me, in the aisle adjacent to where I was
standing, stood a little boy of about 6, with his arms in the air, and his
t-shirt stuck over his neck, being pulled out by his mother. Even as I was
wondering what the mother was planning
to do by making her boy naked in the mall, the lady quickly turned the t-shirt
inside out, took a marker (that I realised later she had picked out from the
stationery section) and wrote in capital letters on her son’s tee – I Love
Harry.
Oh….so that was what this was all about.
If you thought that was all, well, she took that very same
marker pen and drew a pair of round glasses, quite the Harry boy style, on her
son’s face, ignoring his tears and his red face. He was trying hard to hide his
face, but no luck. Even as the poor boy struggled to wipe off the marks from
his face, resulting in a quick whack on the backside, the mommy dragged him
towards the circle of kids in the activity corner. Once there, she proudly
pushed her son to the forefront.
As intended, the lady who was conducting the session looked
at his face and tee and commented ‘Wow, we have a little Harry Potter here
amongst ourselves today.’ To which the mommy smiled and nodded with visible
pride, while the little boy tried to merge into his mother.
In any other situation, this would have been a ‘wow, what a
creative and fast thinking mommy’ moment.
Not this.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for the boy. Throughout the
session, he kept looking down, trying to hide his face, while his mommy egged
him on.
I love getting my daughter involved in various activities
and sessions. I love it when she participates, I encourage her to take part in
as many things as interest her, and even those that she has never tried out and
are new to her. I love it when she tells me later that she enjoyed it.
But not at the cost of her feeling embarrassed or not enjoying
what she is doing.
The point of getting your child into such sessions, as to my
understanding, is not to prove that you are a great parent who does so much for
the child, but instead, to ensure that your child is genuinely enjoying and
gaining something back from it.
I have seen the mother and the son many times after that
session, and in some of those he has really enjoyed himself.
As for me and my daughter(s), I do take the little one along
too, and while the older one loves her crafts and glitters and stories, the
younger one spends time crawling and learning to walk amongst books….something
that we three really love :)
- Debolina Raja Gupta
**********************************************
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
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