Parenting 101?

So today turned out to be a day of reading vastly varying parenting articles, got to know of all of them through FB of course ;).

The first one that I read with much head-nodding:
Killing off Supermom
This one resonated with me sooo much, as I completely agree with the type of parenting it talks about. Does hearing about the perfect parents who spend insane hours in a day planning and encouraging their child's development make me feel inadequate at times? It occasionally still does, but I am definitely aiming to be the antithesis of Supermom - someone who can be happy myself and also do the best I can for the kids, not be consumed in just my mommyhood.


The next was:
Stop the Lies about Parenting
This one I started out nodding along with, as I agree with the basic premise that you cannot define your identity just with being a parent, and that parenthood is not blissful all along. But somewhere along the way, I felt like there was some sort of bitterness, almost as if the author is talking about someone who got fooled into becoming a parent - expecting just the rosy stuff, and then it was too late to go back once you're in the middle of it. My indignation might have come from the fact that I took my time deciding to be a parent, until I was absolutely sure. I was never a baby person so I had to figure out if I was ready to raise my own! This meant being prepared for a complete lifestyle change, including (in my case) putting my career on the back burner. I made my peace with my decision and was super clear about it, so that might be a reason why the views in the article began to not make sense to me any more. Not to mention, I would NOT base such a major life decision on an arbitrary quote by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ;).


And finally, a rebuttal to the above article:
(Some) truth about parenting
Back to head nodding again, to me the author came across as a chilled out mom who loves her kids but loves her own space as well. More power to her!

Hope you had fun reading them all as well :). Let me know what you think!

Day 7: Red

It's the end of the day and I have NOTHING for the theme "red"!! So at the risk of seeming narcissistic, here's me again ;). This one's a selfie, a skill I'm just learning. 

One of the Photo Booth experiments when I was trying to understand the play of light .. Came across it when searching for other pics earlier in the week.

Day 6 - Date

I am really bad at remembering important dates, with just birthdays and anniversaries of immediate families being such an effort that I can't imagine how folks remember to wish their cousin's daughter's grandson ;). And yes, my dad is one of those people, so don't ask me where the genes got lost :). So when "date" is the theme, I'm going to go for a different kind of date ;). Pic not clicked by me of course as I'm in the frame.

Day 5: Tea

The picture will have to be taken when I make my evening tea but here's what the theme first brought to mind :). Tea has always been a favoured drink in our family, even if South Indian, with coffee being the first drink of the day but tea dominating the rest of it. After being married to a Malayali, the tea influence became even stronger :). I started with learning to make the low-milk tea, then learnt the more milky version, and now I dare say I have a combination all my own ;).

I have always been fascinated with different types of teacups, usually possessing 2-3 "daily" sets at any point in time. Along the way I realized that heavier cups or those with a square rim may look brilliant but can be inconvenient to use everyday. Some clicks of my current favourites:

Bone china bought as 2 pieces each in 3 lovely colours, now only 1 red and 1 yellow remain, will have to be replenished soon :).

My Warli teacups that I am very fond of, but again as they are made of clay, these are quite fragile as well and I have already lost a couple to cracks.

Again clay, love the elegant design, a gift from my mom-in-law :).

Day 4 - Shadows

Went and scrounged around in my photos for my favourite pics with shadows :). I loved how this one has so much brightness as well as the dark of the shadows..

Day 3 - Links

Hmmm.. these themes are getting more and more interesting ;)..

The link that I have no say in creating
The one that's made for me by birth
The one that could mean kicking and screaming and fighting like cats and dogs (might be an unfair comparison to the poor animals!)
But it's also the one that connects me
To someone who always has my back :)

Sis holding on to bro on a very jumpy jeep ride

Pardon my late night attempt at some sort of poetry, and let me finish with an anecdote:
When asked why she had suddenly burst into tears, D says to me: He said I'm not your brother! How can he say that?
S (very nonchalantly): But she has said she's not my sister SO MANY times!
Me (most superior of them all): I'm afraid neither of you has a say in this ;). You're brother and sister, and nobody saying anything is going to change things around here!

Day 2 - Streets

Hmm.. so I felt quite blank thinking of this theme, and then the first thing that came to mind was how my driving skills have improved trying to negotiate between two parked vehicles that leave "just" enough place for one car to go through. Of course I hold my breath until I have actually passed through ;), sometimes wishing my car was an old khatara that I could just bang into folks like these to teach them some civic sense!

For the photo though, decided to focus on the positive instead ;). And thanks to a fellow blogger's suggestion, here's me being thankful for living on one of the few roads to still possess a tree canopy :)

Day 1 - Fly

So it's back to a Marathon Bloggers challenge to revive my blog a bit :).. the idea is to pick a photo that illustrates the theme, and also to write about it.

An old pic, but one that came to mind as soon as I saw this theme. The first thing I thought of for the theme of "Fly" was something I've been pondering on recently. I have tried very hard to make the kids independent in most things that they can accomplish at the age they're at. This means not-so-efficient baths, the same socks worn thrice in a week(picked up immediately after every wash, not unwashed :P), waiting an extra couple of minutes for "help" in setting the table instead of doing it myself.. and so on. Of course, the more work it takes off my shoulders I'm happy ;).

When the kids actually get ready to "fly" and start doing more and more stuff on their own, then comes the heartbreaking part for the parent - to just let them be and not hover over their shoulder - I'm going to have a tough time of that when they are teenagers :P, but still looking forward to every bit of it!

And meanwhile,
"Time is flying never to return." - Virgil

Kidspeak - always entertaining :)

Conversation with S this morning:

S: I love butterflies so much. I think I like butterflies most of all, they are so colourful and pretty! What do you like best Amma?
Me: (On cue!) I like you and D the mooost my darling.
S: (Recovering quickly) And I like butterflies, Appa, you, Damita....

LOL, definitely the salesman of the family ;).