When my daughter was all of 6, she adored a certain Bollywood star to bits. She had very famously declared that she would ‘marry’ the star, and go to play in the snow with him. Till, one day, when the actor was on TV, she ran to pick up the remote from the table (as a rule, we don’t keep the remote in our hands – its common property) and changed channels! The conversation that followed went something like this:
Me: "Sweety, why did you change the channel? He’s your favorite actor!"
Little G: “No he’s NOT!” There was a certain distress in her voice which made me sit up and probe further.
Me: “Why? You used to like him so much….”
Little G: “Because he’s a (religion).”
My face must have given away my shock. G (the husband), who was sitting a little away, looked at me and shook his head. I understood what he meant – Not now. No reaction. Probe, and discuss later.
Discover what G and I did after this ....... an article published at Parentous.
Me: "Sweety, why did you change the channel? He’s your favorite actor!"
Little G: “No he’s NOT!” There was a certain distress in her voice which made me sit up and probe further.
Me: “Why? You used to like him so much….”
Little G: “Because he’s a (religion).”
My face must have given away my shock. G (the husband), who was sitting a little away, looked at me and shook his head. I understood what he meant – Not now. No reaction. Probe, and discuss later.
Discover what G and I did after this ....... an article published at Parentous.
Beautifully written and very well handled
ReplyDelete-Jas
thank you so much Jas!
DeleteScore 1 for tact <|:)
ReplyDeleteyeah, we did ok for two bumbling first time parents didn't we ? ;-) .... thank you Sushmit!
Deletebrilliantly handled
ReplyDeleteBikram's
Thank you so much Bikram!
DeleteHandled brilliantly Meena..... We have started having these conversations at home too, now that we have shifted homes and are living in a biggercommunity with a lot of nationalities... so sonny boy gets ideas from friends and comes and discusses the same with us.... it is getting kinda interesting to explain to him that all are equal, each time he has different situations..... quite challenging, I say...!!!
ReplyDeleteVidya
I know!! Peers can also wreck such havoc on all our hard work!! But the good thing is that kids by far understand logic much faster than adults... so the key is to be logical with them .... challenging indeed. Thanks Vidya!
DeleteThis is dicey...but that was some deft tight rope walking you did there. A big hand to you, M! :)
ReplyDeleteDicey is the right word, Sri .... but yeah, somehow we managed to pull it off :-D
Deletekids are impressionable and it's really important to converse, act and behave in a certain manner in front of them. however, for that we, ourselves, need to have unbiased and rational thoughts otherwise it would be difficult to hide our opinion from them for a long time.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Debajyoti!! And i agree it is huge pressure to be at our best behaviour in front of kids who live with us!! But then, thats what parenting is all about. Thank you.
DeleteWow, tht is quite a predicament Nirvana..
ReplyDeletebut brilliantly handled.. my God, I'm actually thinking of what all nonsense I talk over phone while my lil niece i in the room...
Good read Nirvana... as always.
Thank you so much Raj .. We all have those horrendous lapses, where thee kid picks up exactly what they shouldn't have!!
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