When no becomes the favourite word!
"Venda, venda...venda" for the uninitiated, venda means no in Malayalam, and these days the NO word has become a favorite of my little cupcake. She voices her opinions vociferously and obviously is unhappy at hearing her own favorite word being used against her. So we tried diverting her attention and it works. I figured that my daughter understands theory but practice is another story altogether. So she will know that Amma's wallet should not be touched, yet she will latch onto the purse and rummage around looking for the wallet and satisfy her curiosity and remove all the contents of the wallet. And she will be murmuring about" Amma's purse, not to touch"! Similarly potty training has achieved mixed set of results, she knows that she has to do her potty on the potty seat but that does not mean we don't have 'accidents'.
Consciously we decided against pressurizing her, that doesn't mean we don't try. But the disciplining trials continue, with limited success. But then again parenting was never about getting it right all the time. It is about getting it right when it matters. So when she makes faces at the neighbourhood grocery vendor asking for some "Cadbury Gems" with an extra emphasis on "please" Or when she suddenly regaled the people in our compartment on a recent train journey to my husband's native place, with a loud rendition of "Raghupati Raghav" bhajan and people look at me with a "wow what an amma!!" , I realize that at least something seems to be working.
About the "venda", well...it looks like my new year is all set on what I need to strategize about ..getting a way about the "venda" habit! Happy new year to all you people...the road and the journey to Ammahood continues unabated for what is a new year...just another day when the morning dawns and you wake up to a smile and a loud "Good Morning Amma..." You smile and hug it out...and then begins the wail for "Milkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk":D !!
Consciously we decided against pressurizing her, that doesn't mean we don't try. But the disciplining trials continue, with limited success. But then again parenting was never about getting it right all the time. It is about getting it right when it matters. So when she makes faces at the neighbourhood grocery vendor asking for some "Cadbury Gems" with an extra emphasis on "please" Or when she suddenly regaled the people in our compartment on a recent train journey to my husband's native place, with a loud rendition of "Raghupati Raghav" bhajan and people look at me with a "wow what an amma!!" , I realize that at least something seems to be working.
About the "venda", well...it looks like my new year is all set on what I need to strategize about ..getting a way about the "venda" habit! Happy new year to all you people...the road and the journey to Ammahood continues unabated for what is a new year...just another day when the morning dawns and you wake up to a smile and a loud "Good Morning Amma..." You smile and hug it out...and then begins the wail for "Milkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk":D !!
When you are 60 and she is 25+ something, and she refuses to do something because she thinks you would not approve or that you would not have done it, especially when you are not around, is when you will know you did good :). Until then, let the venda's, no's and raghupathi raghav's prevail ;)...Get dad on his toes Amma, its milk time ;)
ReplyDeleteVery well written varsha ... Loved reading it ... I hope I pass this phase soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nidhi...like they in the land of parenthood, when one challenge goes, it is replaced by another...but nothing stays forever:) so take heart, this too shall pass!
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