Saturday, May 16, 2020

TIME TO CHANGE, PARENTS!!


The world woke up with the news of pandemic and Lockdown and the messages of STAY HOME STAY SAFE brought everything to a pause. I, as a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, was worried. Making her understand that “We cannot go out anymore”, not even to play with her friends, was the most difficult task. I managed to convince her. My little one had many things to ask about CORONA. I tried my best to answer all of her queries patiently. Managing my girl seemed next to impossible but actually, it wasn’t! Being a working mother, this was my chance to be with her and to tell her that she has a Supermom! She wanted to have a cake and I decided to try my hands at the bakery. I prepared the cake at home “WOW! YOU CAN BAKE A CAKE!” My sweetie pie couldn’t believe and I could see that pride in her eyes while she had her cake!! It felt heavenly!

Engaging her was a new task! I so missed her teachers! But her Supermom did not give up and started engaging her in activities like drawing, colouring, passing the parcel, dancing. Mamma and Papa started participating with her, they were her best partners and punishing them in games seemed so much fun! She loves doing things when her Mom and Dad are around. I re-lived my childhood! Watching Ramayana again, this time with her was a feast! Slowly, the offices also started with the concept of “Work from Home”. With no help at hand, things would be difficult at times but the smile on her face was a blessing.

Usually, watching TV, while having her breakfast, was a normal routine. But now, switching on the TV since morning was annoying. Both of us had offices too! We needed to divert her. Mayra is an early riser like her Dad. So, the breakfast place shifted from the dining table to the balcony where the birds were chirping. A few parrots made a daily visit to their friend and her practice of counting skills was in progress. She had started enjoying her breakfast time in her Balcony. Mom and Dad took turns to feed her in the balcony.

Mayra has been regularly ill in the past few months. She is allergic to preservatives used in food items like ketchup, ice creams, and soft drinks. Every time she would ask for them, we would give in, not realizing that not only these things were heavy on our pocket, but they would also make our Daughter ill for days and sometimes for months. We realized that lockdown has turned out to be magical, as now she is fit and fine. No running nose, no cough nothing, as she is away from her allergens. We have learned our lessons - We needed to change! She is fine with home-cooked food now.

Then the online classes happened! I saw the teachers putting in a lot of efforts, making first the parents and then the students understand the nitty-gritty of technology, struggling with poor network and low attention span of such young kids. I also had a wonderful experience while taking online classes with her. And I realized how difficult it is for a teacher to cope up with the struggles at both fronts. A working mother like me was the best example of coping at both fronts.

Thankfully my School understood this and allowed me to work remotely. So, I could take care of all the fronts very comfortably. Well planned classes, organized and scheduled meetings, feedbacks and review meetings happened daily. We learnt from each other and became more efficient. 

We usually blame others for our own mistakes. We call our children cranky and undisciplined. But it’s we, the parents who do not realize that children need our time. During this Lockdown, I learnt the greatest lesson, parents and schools are partners. As Parents, we too, need to take responsibility of the child. The child is not only the school’s responsibility. Today, Mayra is not demanding much. She’s happy watering her plants eagerly waiting for her 3 tomatoes to turn red, taking care of the Gifts her plants have given her and we are happy parents too!

Feeling Happy

NEELAM IKHE


1 comment:

  1. It is rightly said" We have no control of winds in adverse situation, But we can adjust our sails."
    In today's scenario when COVID 19 has put the whole world under lockdown the education system has sailed its way through the stormy wind and found the way to to teach students online or virtually.
    To live an inspiring life one needs to stay positive abd flexible with hope that one day dark clouds of adversity will fall away.
    Hope you and Myra both are staying safe .

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