Notes from an almost-empty-nester
Let me begin with a cliche – each child, each parent and each parenting journey is unique. No parent truly knows what another one is going through.
Continue reading “Words that hurt: Five things moms of older kids shouldn’t say to moms of younger kids”
2. Clutter makes life easy: I remember once my mum came visiting and while I was away at work she cleared up my room. Next morning when I put my hand under the pile of books which in turn was buried under a pile of clothes, I couldn’t find my earrings. That’s exactly where I’d left them last night, I remembered well. But mum had put them away in a neat little box, probably. Why oh why would anyone so complicate their lives? It’s way more comfortable to have things lying around so you can reach out for them when you need them. One of my very dear and very evolved uncles says he’d crawl out of bed leaving the ‘tunnel’ under the covers intact so he could crawl right back in after a hard day at work. Brilliant, I say! |
| And here’s an 8th reason. I’m not the only one who thinks clutter is good. |
4. A cluttered house teaches better body balance: Since you’ll be hopping, skipping and jumping through piles of toys and clothes and books to get across a room, you’d better have good body balance. Somedays I have successfully manoeuvred my way through Barbies, skipping ropes, bottles of glue, hula hoops, sketch pens and superhero action figures while holding aloft a tray with milk glasses and mugs of tea. Oooh I’m good! Do I see a raised judgemental eyebrow? Where’s your spirit of adventure, hunh? If you do trip a few times, well you can only get better.
Edited to add: The author takes no responsibility for injuries, physical or social, that might occur if this piece is taken seriously.
1. You whip out phone to click a picture and you see your own eager-beaver face because it’s always turned onto selfie mode.
2. Music suddenly becomes a big deal – a very loud deal. Everything from tukur tukur to What makes you beautiful is sung all the while.
3. Your house smells gorgeous because the kids have just had a deo war – the ‘if you spray mine I’ll spray yours’ kind of war. (Aunts please to take note: This is what happens when you gift things despite me expressly forbidding it).
4. Your daughter walks out wearing a most winsome smile till you see she’s also wearing your favourite stole. Apparently ‘Jo tera hai woh mera hai‘.
5. The demands for studs and stilettos begins to raise their ugly head.
6. Your son roams around with wet hair all day as he tries to style them into spikes and you have the unenviable task of telling him they will flop down back once they dry up and No he isn’t allowed gel for many many years yet.
7. On a similar note you also add – no makeup kits, no heels, no phones and no pocket money just yet either.
8. You resign yourself to the dangers of walking out in mismatching earrings or wearing a shrug inside out rather than wade through two kids to get to the mirror for a peek at yourself.
9. The ‘dude’ and the OMGs in the conversation go up exponentially.
10. The conversation sounds more and more like some kind of indecipherable code from a James Bond movie. ‘Meet me at the SS’, she says to her friend (That’s ‘Skating Spot’ in case you wondered).
..to not have to worry about who’s thinking what and about who’s watching. (Everyone’s too busy getting their steps right, anyway). Only my two-left footed friends will fully appreciate how wonderful this feels. Nowhere else in the world would I try the stuff I do in that Zumba room. Okay.. maybe ‘try to do’ would be more accurate but what the heck! it doesn’t really matter.
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| I totally adore this one. ‘Accidental solos’ 🙂 I do a lot of those. |
Linking to Write Tribe’s super initiative ‘7 days of rediscovering your blogging grove’ where we blog seven days in a row according to a format. Today we had to do a list and you just read mine. The idea is inspired by Darren Rowse. Go read other fun checklists at the Write Tribe blog.
