P was down with a bad bout of indigestion on Saturday. Was vomiting out even water. So obviously no junk and no outside food for a couple of days. Yesterday we took all the kids to cubbon park. Surprisingly very less crowd despite the lovely weather. It was just perfect for a day at the park. Her cousin wanted to eat popcorn and candy floss but P knew she isn’t supposed to have any. So 1 popcorn is all she ate (by 1 I mean only 1 piece from her cousins popcorn box). 

It’s amazing how she always understands these things and doesn’t get tempted. Whether it’s avoiding sweets and coloured ice creams for her cough to brushing her teeth every night without fail to prevent cavities. She makes sure she does it even if I forget. 

For that matter even A understands so much! The minute I tell her I’m going to office, she doesn’t insist on coming with me. She simply gives me a smile and says bye mamma. Obviously she doesn’t know what office is but somehow she has a picture that if mamma is going to office I must say bye and let her go. We go to drop P at the bus stop everyday. As she sees the bus going away she will say ” Anu badi ho jayegi , to Anu bhi school chali jayegi. Anu bus mein jayegi air aap Anu ko bye bol dena. ”

We tend to underestimate our kids so many times. We think they are too small to know or be responsible. But truly they will amaze you if given an opportunity. Explaining and talking really helps. We managed to get P out of her thumb sucking habit by just talking to her. Although I don’t know how much that’s going to help with A. Time will tell. But just hoping it will work the same for her too. Try making them responsible for something and see how they manage. When we were having a staff shortage at home I had given P 2-3 tasks that she must do every evening. Initially I had to remind her but gradually she got into the habit and did it everyday so enthusiastically. 

After the age of 6 kids are old enough to help with basic chores. If you live in a household with no or little help you can easily involve your children to help you. Lay the table, keep the clothes , arrange the sofas properly, remove the flowers from the Puja room and anything that you can think of.