I love to see the little children smile as they go off to school. My
daughter started her big school this September. Going to school has always been
an enjoyable experience for her. Be it back in Dubai at Blossoms or at Kids World here! Just
as I expected her initial first week was great, I would take her to her class
leave her in with a big hug and she would happily proceed . By second week we
started sending her with cousin sister and our driver aka Salim Uncle.
This transition wasn't so smooth, Smera was not quite happy about
going with Salim. She being mamma’s girl found it difficult to let go, by the
end of the 2nd week slowly as she started getting used to it, the
poor child fell sick with terrible viral and bout of wheezing. While it’s
common for kids to fall sick when they initially start school, but in Smera’s
case falling sick was not a big hitch, re-starting the routine was most
complicated part.
As a mother it was really tough for me to send teary little one away,
to school. I would spend my day restlessly waiting for her to come back and see
smile on her face. This is one of the challenges I wanted her to overcome.
Smera loves listening to stories and I would tell her about kids who are less
fortunate, who want to go school but can’t make it as they don’t have the means
to go to school. I would tell how I didn't realise as a child how important
school was. As each day passed her anxiety was reducing but the tears still
didn't go away!
Just then 17 year old Malala Yousafzai won Noble Peace prize, and this
gave me a perfect story to tell Smera. I pulled “I am Malala” book and read the
excerpts to little one, where she was shot on her way back from school. This
story really moved little Smera, she asked me a lot of questions, “why did the
bad men shot her?”. She had a lot of questions in her head, why girls can’t
study? Why the bad men killed children who wanted to go to school. After
satisfying her curiosity, I explained to Smera education helps us understand
between right or wrong. Those bad men didn't want kids to understand that
difference. I explained to her, how Malala’s parents stood as strength for her and
encouraged her to study and live the life she wanted to.
I am not sure how much of the story she understood, but there were two
things that she took away from it, firstly education is a greatest gift that
god has given her. Secondly, good education will help her become a good
ballerina and super heroine girl! My child had such an impact that the next school, she was all smiles and it made extremely proud!
Thank you Malala you have in many ways have inspired our lives and may
god bless you girl! I wish more power to you girl and let there more girls who
show the same courage and the determination as you to study. The great part of
girls getting educated is that they would ensure the next generation of
children would also study.
Awww......smera ,i just love her and i can understand your situation too sangeeta,but she is too small to understand all this things.
ReplyDeleteA lovely post indeed
Thank you so much Vinisha .. But you will be surprised the amount of complex things they can understand in their small little ways..
DeleteLoved this post!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Akrati !!
DeleteVery impressive post.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gaurav :D
DeleteChildren understand more than what adults imagine. We need patience, that's all. Once that understanding begins, the child grows phenomenally. What happened in Malala's case was the same. She had a father who made her understand and also encouraged her to dream big. You seem to be doing the same with Smera. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my latest blog is a review of Malala's autobiography. Welcome.
Thank you Tomichan :D
Deleteloved it , awesome post
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by
DeleteLovely post Sangeeta :). It's surely true that the little ones these days can understand so much in so many subtle ways :D.
ReplyDelete