Missing School Days
I am sure that all of us would agree that school days remain among the best days of our lives, and for whatever reason remain fresh in our memories as if they happened just yesterday, don’t they. All of us long for those wonderful days when innocence was in plenty and life was much simpler, don’t we.
Ok, now that I have managed to get your attention to this post, let me come straight to the topic. Just like the rest of you, I also miss the good old school days, the only difference being at this point in time I am not missing my school days, but the school days of my little daughter, who is permanently at home since October 2nd, courtesy the puja holidays at her play home.
When R was younger, both my wife and me used to read out stories to her, talk to her and make her reply to our questions, show her different things and help her identify them, play with colors and teach her the various shapes and sounds, used to read out her animal books, vegetable books, fruit books, and teach her various things. Little did we realize that keeping my daughter engaged for a good portion of her day would end up backfiring in such a crazy manner.
Since R joined playschool in June, my wife has been enjoying her three hours of peace in the morning, after which R comes home, has her lunch and naps for a good two hours. So all in all, my wife had a good five hours at her disposal during which time she used to complete the cooking, house work and also have some time to pursue her hobbies which includes reading, putting up posts on my blog and other assorted things. However, as all good things come to an end, so did this. Come October 2nd, and after spending one full day with my daughter, both of us realized that we were in trouble for the time that her school remained closed.
She has developed into this relatively hyperactive kid who cannot sit still for even a small period of time. She needs to continuously be given stimuli to her brain in the form of books, crayons, shapes, colors, physical games, conversations, questions, answers to her questions, the list goes on. And to add fuel to this fire is the fact that nowadays she is not tired by the time it is her usual nap time. And this means that she has a very light nap in the afternoons which is invariably disturbed by some courier delivery person who picks the wrong doorbell to ring and hits the switch which has the weird song which always wakes little R up.
My parents, my wife and me have all had enough of reading out the same books to her again and again, we have all had enough of playing the same games with her. My wife and me have had enough of taking her to the park and hoisting her up the platform from where she slides down. For whatever reason, she refuses to climb the steps up the platform and insists on being physically hoisted up by either of us. All in all, our levels of patience are severely depleted, and we are now turning to divine assistance to help us get through the 10 odd days more before her play school reopens.
While we truly appreciate the fact that the little one is not at all interested in television viewing of any kind for a duration of more than 5 mins at a stretch, at times we end up praying that she watches a little more TV to reduce the hyper-activity that surrounds her when she is in the same room.
To be really honest, I have never really missed school so much until the last week or so, when I have truly wished and prayed that it reopened soon.
I would love to hear your viewpoints on how you tackle hyper activity in your two year old children. Any tips and suggestions will be rewarded in the form of inclusions in our daily thanksgiving to the Almighty.
Jairam Mohan is a 33 yr old father, of an almost 2-year-old daughter, settled in Bangalore. He and his wife tend to see the funny side of things in life which helps them maintain sanity in their otherwise crazy and stressful working lives. While his day job involves poring over Excel spreadsheets and preparing PowerPoint presentations, his other hobbies include frequent updation of his blog on varied topics and watching/writing about movies.
