My Baby Taught Me

A child is the most beautiful creation of God, handmade to perfection, to teach us frail humans humongous lessons on humanity, goodness and fortitude. We bring them to the planetplanning, strategizing, and hoping to teach them invaluable life-lessons but more often than not find ourselves at the opposite end of the spectrum. 

1. Patience: Motherhood, for starters, certainly forced me to become a more patient person. I, for one had never been one to practice ‘zen and the art of living’. In fact quite the opposite. I flew off the handle at the slightest provocation. I hated taking buses because one had to wait in queue. I hated to meet someone mid-way cause any deviation from the norms of punctuality will left me fuming. Yet, here I was holding and cuddling my baby after nights of no sleep,handling him all alone, most of the times, in a city which wasn’t home. Oh well, now that the baby is a bit grown up, I’d admit to losing it now and then, hey! It is not cycling or swimming that once learnt can’t be unlearnt.

2. Perseverance: At this age, the most beautiful things is he doesn’t know the consequences of his actions. So, he is game to try everything. Bicycle, with balance, bicycle,without one; swimming with rubber tube, swimming without one, he is not easily daunted and that seamlessly helps him breeze through one life skill after another,. Time for me to take up the driving lessons, once again.

3. Lack of Prejudice: Class, skin tone, religion, my baby is a Monk, in disguise, I tell you. He becomes friendly and at ease with anyone. 

His vacations are mostly spent in Malaysia, which is a melting pot of cultures with people of every conceivable skintone residing in the building complex we are housed in. My son wafts through the homes of South Indians, Chinese, Blacks, White, you name it and for him everyone is either a friend or needs to be made one.

4. Insubordination: He is a constant challenge to authority, good sense and the norms of safety. He constantly raises his cudgels against what he perceives is an attempt to curb and control him. It is time for me to speak about the next raise, very soon.

5. Letting-Go: This, in itself, makes him my ‘Guru’ in all aspects. No matter, how angry I’ve been, how much I have admonished him , upbraided him , he would still cry in my lap , holding me tight and will not stop till I hug him back. Oh, if we humans could all resolve our tiffs with as much flair, there would be no heartbreak, for sure. 

6. Unconditional Love: Even if I return to the room within 5 minutes of leaving him, his eyes still lit up with the happiness and delight, unparalleled in my experience. If love is what I had read before, seen before, heard before, I experienced it, in the true sense, only after having him. It is sheer bliss to be loved and to love your child.

When William Wordsworth wrote that’ Child is the Father of man’, he must have experienced parenthood, with all its heartaches and blessings.

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