Conversation drifted to loving family members the other evening when Ashwin said to me that he loves me sometimes. Some other times, he does not love me.
When don’t you love me? I asked him.
Sometimes… Like when you are mean to me. He replied.
When am I mean to you? I enquired
When you make me do things I don’t want to…
Like what? I persisted.
Like put on my clothes…
Mean mommy me!
This happened a while ago now, but it’s too good to go undocumented.
Little miss was sitting on the kitchen floor eating yogurt from a tub and she flung the cover on the floor next to her.
Divya, pick it up and pop it in the bin, I said.
No. You. She replied.
It was a teaching moment, so I grasped it and said, Divya, can you say, please amma, can you pop this in the bin for me?
So she said, Please amma, you pop this in the bin for me.. (just as I was beginning to feel the glow from acing a parenting moment), otherwise, you go naughty corner!
When I picked up Ashwin after school yesterday, I told him that I had enrolled him for year1 for next year. He seemed a bit worried.
Amma, do you know that when I go to very big school, I will be LIVING in my school?
Why? I asked him. Because that’s what you did!
When I could stop laughing, I told him that he had a good 12 years to go for that. And by then, it won’t be such a bad thing.
But I love you and Divya a lot, he replied. I want to live with you forever.
I assured him that after 12 years, if he still felt that way, he could live with me, or perhaps I could also live with him in school if he prefers. He seemed pensive for a while and then said:
Can I think about it and tell you after 12 years?
