No one ever said parenting is easy, but we are presently in a fast-paced world where we cannot raise our children the way our parents raised us as they had the advantage of our Dadi and Nani who not only advised but were also close enough to help them.
My parenting journey started from 19 February 2022, my little one Aaghnya was absolutely a friendly child right from the first, no fuss, no crankiness ever smiling (gets from my side of the family). I had assistance from my parents during my internship days at parenting.
Just like the movie K3G where Jaya Bachan would realize when SRK steps into the property, my little one would sense when I get out of home for work in my clinic back in India even when she was just months old baby. If I was before her eyes, she would be happy to be with others (including my parents and her maasi). The moment I step out even if she is asleep, she would sense that my presence is missing and raises a ruckus at home by the time I reach my car in the parking lot.
We moved to Dubai, when Aaghnya was 9 months old, I realized how difficult it is to look after Aaghnya without any support with me being a full-time stay at home Mom. Despite me doing her daily routine of bathing, feeding and taking care of her at the end of the day when daddy is back from work, I am completely forgotten, and this goes on till date and proves the fact that Daughters are daddy’s little princesses.
At times I take Aaghnya to my clinic, and she’s seen me doing Root Canal and imitates the same at home. She is my biggest cheerleader; I might not introduce myself as a doctor, but she always says, “My mom is a root canal specialist”. Once when trying to reprimand her for not drinking milk, I told her “If you are not going to drink milk, then the doctor will do Root canal treatment on you”. For which she replied “Momma, aren’t you the root canal specialist” and that got me into splits.
The day we came for the school orientation, my little one was more than happy to leave us and join her friends. Many days she cries to get up and go to school but the minute she is in her uniform and sees her Bus Aunty she becomes very happy and is excited for her day at school, though we get nothing to hear from her about how her day was except for “It was fun, and I played with the play dough”.
Her command of her language, boldness to talk, and reasoning skills improved a lot. Even when we tell any bedtime stories in our native language the little one wants the story to be told in English. When Aaghnyna spoke about dinosaurs, we were very stunned and proud that she told the names of the dinosaurs while on the other hand, I know (barely) only a few dinosaurs.
It’s a new learning curve for me as well. The show and tell class are really the best for the kids with regards to public speaking. Aaghnya is not a shy person but to retain and speak about it was well improved. With regards to me as a parent, it is nice to see how creative one can be to try out a few DIY with the models that we give the child to speak with. I have been a professor in a dental college and teaching adults is entirely different than teaching your 3-year-old. Needs a lot of patience and ways to answer every query like: “why is it like this mumma”?
So, I conclude by saying that every parenting journey is different and as our children grow, we learn more about parenting with every passing day by experiencing their little mischief, naughtiness and joy. My advice is to enjoy this journey, make a lot of positive reinforcement for the child, grow along with them and become better parents and later partners, and enable them to become better individuals with their own ideologies and interests.
Dr. Aarthi Harith
Aaghnya’s Mother – Pre-KG-D
