Life Lessons
Watch Out! Your Next English Lesson Can Be From Your Kid.
When did my tween get so smart?
It was a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon post-lunch, and I was trying to escape my children's’ eyes and go write something. As I finished cleaning the kitchen, I was about to sneak into the study and my daughter called me to play with her. She just wanted to read me one of her current favorite books.
She not only loves to read me the books she enjoyed, but she also takes pride in the fact that her mom decided to be a writer. Whenever we meet someone, they tend to ask me, What do I do these days? I sheepishly reply I am just with kids these days, and I get so busy running around them 24/7 as the school is still shut because of covid, and so on… My daughter often nudges me to say that I am a writer, and sometimes if the person we meet is a bit friendly with her, she blabbers it out, taking them by surprise.
Ahem, I start — “It’s less than six months, and I often feel a bit shy to say that I am writing.” It raises eyebrows because I was in corporate for more than a decade, and took a break from work for three years, and now writing? I don't know, but I feel they might judge and think that maybe she hasn’t managed to get a job, so she is doing this. I know I should learn to let go of it, but it is taking some time. My husband warns me, saying, the more clear I am about my career, the better. True.
Coming to the present scenario, she began reading a chapter that we had left off from the book titled “Cat & Mouse in a Haunted House,” a book in the Geronimo Stilton part 1 series by Elisabetta Dami. It is a great story, but my mind was elsewhere. I had to write down some topics that occurred to me and finish editing one post that was sitting for two days. She read a few pages, and I picked my phone lying beside me. She stared at me, and her eyes signaled me to place it back. Lol.
I reluctantly placed it back and tried to follow the storyline because she cross-questions me suddenly. And if I give a wrong answer, she gets upset that I am not listening attentively.
After all, my daughter has been home for more than a month due to a 2nd lockdown in the country we live in, and add to that, she is terribly bored without her friends and school time. It is she who manages my toddler and asks me to write when I have a deadline to finish. And when I have to slip out of the house, for sending a post or dumping the garbage, she is the one who engages the toddler for those minutes, though the husband would be working from home.
I felt guilty that I could not give her enough time and calmed down to give her my full attention.
I listened for the next 3 minutes as my phone beeped about a notification that someone liked my post. I eagerly grabbed my phone, and my daughter snatched it from my hand and placed it on a table away from me. She said, “Mommy if you listen, you can also learn something from this.” I rolled my eyes mentally, then she said, “You can use some phrases in this book in your writings too; it will be helpful. Listen, this one ‘My heart hammered away in my chest’ You can use it somewhere, right?” My ears perked up, and my eyes widened! Then she mentioned some more as she read, “Collapsed in a fit of giggles…”, and then came “my obnoxious cousin…” Oh yes! She was right. It changed my perspective about her instantly! I listened to her more attentively for as long as I could. Speechless that I was…
I often thought my articles should not be full of boring grammatically correct sentences but full of the right emotion and a bit of quirkiness (but I’m sometimes lazy to see the thesaurus or look up synonyms to make it sound better). By not giving my time and attention, I realized I was missing out on the little nuances of life that matter.
There are profound learnings and such examples in simple things around us, but we barely take notice.
It sure broke my ego, melted my heart, and I was a proud mama at that moment. She is a writer’s daughter, after all ;) As I narrated this to my husband, my heart swelled with pride, and he too nodded that she indeed had a point. I know we are never too old to learn but never saw it coming from a 9-year-old.
This post is not to brag about my daughter but to emphasize how we often undermine our child’s capability. It’s surprising how the new generation's thoughts can fuel old minds. Kids are not always attention seekers, but they care deeply about us (or our identity). It’s time we let our children have a mind of their own so that they can have a voice of their own.
Children are often such great teachers, and we often neglect life lessons playing in front of our eyes through them.
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