My boy, being a single child always enjoyed being pampered by all. He ruled and dictated all of us in all aspects, not like Hitler….but stubborn like him…courtesy me.
If it’s TV time, all channels set to his, if it’s snack all choco items and fries all to his little stomach. My husband and I always felt let the child eat and gave up our share too. It became his habit to open a pack of chips and eat it all by himself. He would not bother to ask us. Initially, we also did not oppose him as we weren’t too crazy about his chips and chocolates. We thought to let the boy enjoy. Honestly, both of us are too desis that we found those eatables to have a weird taste and we believed chocolates were meant for kids!! Outdated beyond age!!!
Once all my friends decided to go and watch a movie. We all decked up and my son was also ready. The mandatory popcorn and coke were promised to the kids. Except for me and Ramya(my friend), others had binomial equations. We were under the monomial category(single child mom).
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As it was getting late to the movie hall, it was planned to buy a bigger version of the cup and let the children share and eat and maybe during the interval or after the movie get them something which they like. So we bought six packs and made the children sit in pairs. The movie started and the entry of my favorite hero brought roaring effect in the hall. Kids started their munching activity. I sensed something was wrong with my boy; he was getting restless and was not enjoying the movie.
I pulled him close to me and enquired, ‘Kanna, what happened, is something bothering you. He said, “Amma, I want to eat popcorn, but don’t know how to take it”. That’s when I realized my boy is used to eating things himself, he did not know how to share and eat.
When we were children we used to snatch food and eat, or took a morsel from a big plate, had ‘by two’ coffee, groundnuts bought from the ‘vandikkaran’ would be equally divided among the family (each would get ten nuts!), the sweets given by
neighbor auntie would be tested on all of us, a small bite….yes those were little joys of life but sharing was inculcated to us without teaching. Even today when there is one piece of ladoo in hand it is broken into the number of people around us and the boondi is eaten. But my boy was deprived of this, I realized my mistake. I felt I should now teach him the art of sharing, as part of his lifestyle values.
So, whenever a new pack of chips is opened, it is divided into three, his portion he eats, though we do not prefer to eat, we keep it in snack box without him knowing it, use this for later snack time for him. This continued and now he always shares a
small tweeny bit before he eats.
Sharing is an art indeed!!!
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