P’s small achievement for today…… riding her bicycle without the training wheels! Well… I know it’s a life skill, and doing it is not a big deal. But every parent who has gone through this will know the joy of seeing their child ride the bicycle without support. First it was a few feet, then a little more and then finally the length of the entire lane opposite my house. I think I was as ecstatic as she was. She was thrilled that she could ride it that distance and was soooo excited. She wanted to learn everything in one day. When will I learn to start on my own? When will I learn how to turn? All at once 😄

And me… I could feel my eyes well up when I left the cycle and she rode those first few feet without my support. I was screaming on the road as if I was cheering her in a race. I could even see a few people pop their heads out of their houses to see what’s going on. A stranger even gave me a piece of advice, which actually helped! A reason behind it was I have seen her achieve something I never did. Yeah…. sounds weird right? Like who doesn’t know how to ride a bike? The answer is …. me. I don’t know how it happened but it did. So I was hell bent that I’m not going to miss out on my kids learning this very important skill. I want them to learn everything that’s basic for their survival. Give them the gift of freedom. 

A few days ago I read an article by Chetan Bhagat which said how Indian parents hate their sons because they don’t teach them the very important life skills of living on their own. Of running the house alone. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, doing dishes….. they don’t move a finger for any of these. So basically if they are ever left alone to manage…. they won’t survive. 

I want my kids to learn all these. But the major issue in upper class Indian household is also that we have help for everything. So our kids don’t land up learning to do things themselves. I learnt it because we lived in nuclear family. And if there was ever a time when we dint have a servant at home….. we did everything. We cooked, swept, did the dishes, ironed clothes, laundry…… everything. But will my child ever learn? My husband and I have been pondering over this for a while now and have been thinking of ways how we can incorporate simple things which will give our kids basic life skills. It’s difficult (especially if you have grandparents at home) …. but we have to work it out.