That we need to do a LOT of thinking before telling the kids anything, is a lesson which i forget too often. I don't realize when I set a trap for myself.

Few days back,  I was cross with Vyas for some mischief.  He was quiet for a while and then came his question -"Amma, are you the actual mother or step mother?"  I felt like kicking myself.  His questioning continued when I assured him that I was the 'actual mother'. His next question- " So, when will you go away and when will the step mother come?"!! I have been convincing myself that his questions are purely 'unintentional'!

The mistake was in my telling him the story of Snow White and the Dwarfs!! Without attaching too much importance to the step mom character, I casually mentioned that Snow White had a step mother because her mom was away  and believed that I handled it intelligently! Should have known better!!!

Vyas attends ABACUS class on Sunday mornings. Sunday before last, he seemed to be upset after attending the class. His class got over 15 mins earlier than usual and he was already waiting for us to pick him up. I thought he was angry and upset because we were late (which we were not!). After a few hours, he told us that there was a new teacher in the class and so he would not attend further classes. He would'nt explain further.

 Without arguing over it, we switched subject and he forgot about it till last Sunday. It was time to get ready and he was acting a little fussy. I promised to find out if his old teacher was in that day before he gets into the class. He probably thought it was a fair deal (ask Arthi about striking deals!!) and quickly got into the bathroom, brushed,  bathed and was out in less than 10 minutes. And said, 'Ma, am feeling guilty'. For a moment, I thought he has really grown up and understands the importance of admitting his mistakes. Wanting to confirm this, I asked why he should feel so? He said he was not sure. Now this was too much! When asked what he meant by  'guilty',  he said in Tamil - 'Thale suttharadhu'  translating to ' feeling giddy ' !

Have reserved another day to explain how far removed guilty and giddy are!!

Vyas's great grand-mom (GGM) has come for a short stay. Its interesting to watch the two generations interact. What is more interesting to watch is, both vying for attention! Lot of sparks between the two and naturally, his grand-mom serves as the mediator, trying to call truce between her mother and her grandson!

Have heard people say that, with age, we become children again. This is proving to be true! When we return home from work, the GGM has her share of complaints against the little one, and he has his share against her.

A few of them-

GGM: 1.Your son does not give me a kiss. 2.He is not letting me sleep on your bed. 3. He disturbs me while watching (typical soaps) TV. 4. He is not eating properly. Why don't you tell him?

Vyas: 1. GGM is always lying down. She must walk right? 2. Eating lot of spicy food. Tell her its not good for health. 3. Always watching TV. It is not good. No? 4. She is always fighting with me!

A funny tiff between the two: The great-grandmom believes that Vyas still needs help with brushing his teeth. So she was persuading me to help him brush. This did not go too well with the little fellow and he shot back with, "Am a big boy now and I know to brush. See, my teeth? Its sparkling white! Yours is sparkling brown!!".

We recently moved into another apartment and we are on the 2nd floor. Vyas is'nt very good friends with the children here yet.. Children in his age group are girls and the games they play does'nt interest him. His grandpa takes him to a nearby park in the evenings to play. Otherwise he is content playing a car mechanic, a driver, a doctor etc, indoors with grandpa.

Most evenings we find his grandpa stretched on the cot, with either the arms or legs bound, with Vyas by his side with a stethoscope sticking out of his ears, a paper and a sketch pen in his hand- writing out a 'prespriction' (with some effort, he manages to say prescription)..

Grandpa has the habit of 'walking' inside the house at times. Before going to bed last night, Vyas quickly finished his cup of milk and instead on hitting the bed, he started a brisk walk across the room. He claimed he was 'walking'  so that he burps quickly- which according to him is the sign of proper digestion!! His dad was slightly annoyed and said children of his age should go out and play a lot and asked asked him if he was an old man to walk inside the house to digest just a glass of milk!  Vyas snapped with, "No, I am a NEW MAN"

Sometime back, Vyas asked me if monkeys were very strong. I frankly don't know how strong they are!  Thought of taking external help later while I tackle the immediate problem. So told him that they should be as they eat a lot of fruits. Reason why they are able to jump from tree to tree, climb etc!  My chance to talk about the  importance of fruits!!  And of all times, now!

His next question was, "So, do they drink Bournvita?". I was zapped. I denied and said monkeys don't drink bournvita but children do!  Few days before this, we had shopped for groceries and he picked up this drink saying it is chocolateee and yummy. His story to convince me into buying! I agreed on condition that he drinks regularly and does not waste.  We bought it and he has kept his word thus far! With an occasional fuss ofcourse!   And so I asked him why he wanted to know if monkeys drank Bournvita.

He came back with, 'But the Bournvita ad says Monkey Shakthi....'?

Which actually goes as "mun ki shakthi, thun ki shakthi..." in Hindi language, implying making you strong in mind and body.'mun' meaning 'mind' and 'thun' meaning 'body'!

It was a while before I finished explaining what it meant, starting from what Hindi language is!!!

Good luck Teachers!

The other day, it was the story of a proud leopard. All other jungle friends decide to tell the leopard that he should learn to be good and fair!  And they eventually succeed (they must! you know).  What follows is the dialog that followed the story....

Vyas: Ma, how come the deer, elephant, lion, wolf, giraffe, monkey are friends?

Mom: Because they all live in the jungle!

Vyas: So this lion is not carnivorous?

Mom: It is carnivorous.

Vyas: Then what about this deer here? Is it not herbivorous? Is that why it is friends with the lion and wolf?

Mom: Among wild animals, some are carnivorous, some are herbivorous. It is the same with domestic animals too.

Vyas: Is elephant a wild animal?

Mom: Yes.

Vyas: What about monkeys?

Mom: Faltering and trying to get a way out....

Vyas: But we saw it in Munnar (a hill station in southern India) and an uncle was riding on its back?  And so many  monkeys...

Mom: Most of Munnar is a jungle with lots of elephants. Few elephants lost way and became friends with people.

Vyas: But you said only wild animals live in a jungle? There were so many people around..

Mom: Its time to sleep (it was around 11.00 PM)

Vyas: Why?

Mom: I give up. Good night.

Reading bedtime stories is one of the many enjoyable moments with Vyas. Just like Raghu's story time  with Netra, my little-big one too takes me on a long trip back and forth a 10-lines story and makes it a 100-liner!

The other day, it was the story (a chance for you guys to read a review of one of those all-logics-thrown-to-air stories ) of a haughty aeroplane called Bhumen. Arrogant that he is, he boasts of his might and tells all the birds that only he can soar up to the Sun. Saying thus, he flies up in the air when suddenly the sky becomes dark and there is thunder and lightening. Bhumen, knowing that he will be blown to pieces when the lightening strikes, does an about-turn and (be)comes down-to-earth! And typically, he is now friends with all the birds!

What was surprising though was, this time, Vyas never asked the usual questions like why the aeroplane has a name, and even if it has one, why Bhumen? Why he has birds for friends and why not other fellow-aeroplanes? Is the plane haughty or the pilot? - none of these...

After I'd finished with the story, he was quiet for a minute and worriedly asked, 'Ma, when you took an air-plane to Hyderabad the other day, did it fly close to the lightening too?'. Realising that he was seriously concerned about his silly mom, told him that I took a very friendly air-plane. And then had to back-track and it was my turn to tell him what a silly idea it is for an air-plane to talk, and be friends (of all things!) with birds et al...  

Am more careful with my choice (if  i get to be the choser)  of stories these days

This time, I was responsible in turning this silly story into a 100-liner...

The recent bomb blasts in Mumbai trains few weeks back, to say the least was tragic. My 4 year old nephew, Keshav,  was watching the blast scenes screened continuously on all channels. He too, like my son Vyas, is crazy about trains. Not sure how much of it he actually understood. But seemed to know that there were scary objects called bombs (bigger than fire-crackers) that blew away trains. He simply said that had SUPERMAN known this, he would have easily removed the bombs and would have lifted the train with the people on it, to safety! That is all it takes to avert such mishaps! Yet another of those instances telling us that the ways of this world are so simple and straight when seeing through the children's eyes..

Children in my son's class are divided into groups and each group is given the name of a fruit. He happens to be a Mango! Two of his close (mango) friends are Manu (boy) and Meenakshi (girl).

It appears that Meenakshi had told Vyas that she feels bad if he does'nt turn up at school. Mind you, he has'nt been absent in class this term yet! She probably came a little earlier that day. His dad and I instantly burst into laughter when we heard him say this. It seems
that he asked her why she felt the way she did. She had replied to the effect - dunno why!

The following three days, this girl was on leave. as she went out of station. Vyas told us a little sadly that she was out of station:-) I happened to meet Manu's mom the next day in a parents meet. Guess what? Manu's mother said that he refused to color pictures because Meenakshi was on leave! This little darling had broken not one but two hearts!

She is back from her holiday now and my little fellow is all thrilled about it! So should be Manu. And she has got a new pencil and it seems that she shared it with Manu and Vyas!

All is well that begins well too:-)

Yet another drama this morning. It was 7.30 AM and he was still not out of bed. He is usually enthused about getting ready to school. Behaviour this morning looked like a coup attempt:-)

Everytime I called him, he requested an extension period of 5 more mins to stay on bed. Finally, I managed to coax him out of bed at 7.55 AM. After 10 mins, asked him why he was fussing so much. Was concerned if something went wrong in school and if he was avoiding school because of this.

He casually stated that two children had slept in the class the previous day. So the teacher told all the children to stay home and sleep instead of dozing in the classroom! And since he was feeling sleepy, he intended to sleep at home! Had to remind him that he was already out of bed, and was as fresh and fine as the morning. And off he went to school. Happily..