Attitude

Today is Friday. Time is around 6.30 in the morning. I am just about waking up. I have to go to work one more day before the weekend breaks the routine. I want to return early from office and I hate giving pretexts. I just want to come back early but I am not going to do it. That is how I get up from bed – with a cringing mentality.

I just have to go through this grind. I brush my teeth, have coffee and sit down with the newspaper. It is depressing. First it is the office and then the newspaper puts me down further.

Half an hour later I am resigned to go through the grooves. My daughter comes running straight from bed. She just got up from bed and with not a sign of after-sleep grogginess comes running to me. She seemed to highly enthused. Her eyes, bright and wide, tell me that she has something great to say and very important. More important than all the news that I pay for.

I wait anxiously. Fine, I think, what is it that you want me to buy for you today.

“I am unable to breathe properly since I got up” she says.

“Do you have a blocked nose” I ask.

“One is good. No problem”, she says.

“Take care. You need to be careful. Don’t play in water.” I say.

Then, I bite my lips. That was not a complaint! She was breaking the happy news to me. She’s got cold. That’s the biggest news of her life for that day. She actually was feeling great that she had cold. What could be a better gift than receiving something without asking. She positively enjoyed it – annoyance notwithstanding.

She realizes this as soon as she gets up. Then she decides that this intrusion of affliction is the best thing that could have ever happened to her. Her life has changed. She wants to share this life’s surprise with me and comes running.

That was one of the harshest slaps I ever received. Here she is – all innocence – enjoying the pain, the hardship. Here I was – restricting her attitude. I was admonishing her – don’t do this, don’t do that.

We parents think we teach our children what is good and what is bad; what is right and what is wrong. You see – they know what is good and whatever is good is right. They do not know what is bad and what is wrong. There is no need to know.

What we think is our perception. We should unlearn what we have learnt as adults and learn from our children what is good – you will be surprised. I was.

What sort of parents are we anyway. I sometimes feel that it is children who should be parenting their fathers and mothers.

PS: I did come back from office early :-)