Parenting Success Is Not A One-time Trophy

At the outset, let me say that parenting success is not a one-time trophy you put up on your wall and sit back and look at it and smile. It is an ongoing journey, and frankly, you win some of the challenges, and you don’t do so well in others. After all, you are as experienced in the role as old as your eldest child is, so there are lots to learn along the way. And as with anything in life, hindsight is always 100percent clearer than when the situation is in front of you. Also, perspective changes as the fast-moving scenarios presenting themselves to parents change.

So at six months, the first night your baby slept through the night is the biggest success ever. A month down the line, sitting up independently is a success like no other. Then the standing up with support, then the first step, the first walk, the first words, parenthood is rewarded regularly by the baby by giving you many little nuggets of success to go Gaga about.

Our most recent so-called victory was making it through the nursery school admissions process. And already we have almost mastered keeping daytimes diaper-free, easier because we are at home all the time. The real test will come when we move out to malls, shopping areas, long drives, and need to hunt for loos and make it in time. And then, of course, we need to start working on the diaper-free nights soon enough.

And soon, there will be the three-letter readings to work on, then getting up at unearthly hours and pushing a little tyke to school at those hours once physical school resumes. A poor little one for whom 6 am is still the middle of the night for all practical purposes. The first bicycle ride without side supports, the making new friends in school, the first time going to school in a bus, the first time being away from home for 4-5 hours, all these will unfold soon enough once we are back to normal times.

So dear mommies, there’s no resting on your laurels for you yet. Celebrate each little success as it comes and tightens up your belts for the next big or small challenge up ahead. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey. And as for the little ones, they make us proud by just being themselves. By filling our day with so much sunshine, you feel how you even existed before they came around. Love to all little ones and their proud parents, each child is the star of his/ her parents’ eyes and rightfully so

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