Sunday, July 19, 2015

Buddy Parenting In Action

Now that I look at a lot of my friends, some married, some busy with their professional life, I get nostalgic. Reminds me of how we were as kids. So raw! Everyone is successful but the upbringing has played and plays the most important life in shaping an individual. I read somewhere, in an essay I guess, that we as kids are like clay. Just like a potter molds and gives shape to this shapeless clay, our parents put in their day and night to make the person that we are. Our likes, dislikes, in I strongly believe that our beliefs are also driven a lot by our upbringing.

While writing this post, I travelled about 20 years back, reliving #Khushi ke pal with my parents. My little sister was not born then. My parents were also learning to tame this ball of energy: read ME. While for me almost everything was new, for them being as parents this experience was new and fresh. With freshness I brought a bag full of challenges for them. I remember instances proving how tough I would have been as a child. My energy was no less than sun's nuclear reactions. My mom put me into new activities every week in the hope that somewhere I will settle down. Eventually they learnt that I won't stop and so they became my true partners in crime. https://www.facebook.com/mychocos. My fellow passengers during my early childhood days till date. We learnt together, discussed together and resolved problems together. The whole process became a fun and a learning process for us. My friends could never relate to this philosophy. For some of them talking to parents was like entering into the room of headmistress. Before you speak out anything the authority card would be played. Who wins is we all know....

When I was trying to learn a bicycle, my dad taught me but ensured that I was not afraid to fall. He let me explore even the darkest corners of our society. Till date that sense of being free and independent has been with me. I say with pride that I can take my decisions sensibly on my own.

We went for grocery shopping and I was the one who used to carry back 10 kg bags with him on foot. He actually taught me how to buy red tomatoes and juicier lemons. He taught me to be rough. We share, share our experiences, our success and more importantly our failures. He want me to be successful, he wants me to be happy but I want the same for him. That's how we all grow, learn and have fun. Kids are scared of their parents, they hide things, and they hide their failures. Why? They feel parents will scold them, close them in a dark room. How will you as a parent react if your kid walks up to you and says Ma I am scared of you. Eventually, either of you will say "you won't understand" and end the conversation by tagging it a "generation gap". It was just communication gap. It was fun teaching dad how to do a video chat. His smile when he saw me is still fresh in my memories. We had decided to have breakfast virtually, but together. That’s one of the instances when I found my "khushi ke pal" and truly experienced #"Kellogg’s Chocos ke saath ‘Khuljaye Bachpan’. https://www.facebook.com/mychocos