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Eating And Reading

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by jskls, Feb 24, 2018.

  1. jskls

    jskls IL Hall of Fame

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    This is about A mother's struggle. A mother who wanted to be a perfect one. A mother who cared about nothing but discipline. A mother who didn't know how to express her love to her child. A mother who thought feeding the body and mind of her child was her sole purpose. A mother who promised to herself that she will be the best mother to her children as she grew up without one. She didn't know how and she never prepared herself for that big role. All she knew was she will do the right thing and so she thought being a mom would be a piece of cake.

    She tried to do her best from the time she became a mom. She failed in the very first step as she didn't know how to make her child sleep through the night or even feed properly. She failed to get her child into routine sleep. With every doctor visit, her Pediatrician would ask if the baby was sleeping and eating ok and all she would say was baby is sleeping but in totally different time zone of the world and her feeding struggles. Then, she thought let me fix her eating habits atleast.. Every feeding schedule would be a nightmare. She tried all the advices that poured in from all parts of the world. Nothing worked. At the end of the day she would have spent 6 hours in 3 milk feeds and 3 meals. But atleast Dr.Seuss was to the rescue. To make mealtimes more funnier it started with one of Dr.Seuss's famous books - Green Eggs and Ham ... when baby was 3 months old. The book was the baby's first gift. The attractive pictures, rhythmic words what could go wrong thought the mom.

    Would you eat them in a box?
    Would you eat them with a fox?
    Not in a box. Not with a fox.
    Not in a house. Not with a mouse.
    I would not eat them here or there.
    I would not eat them anywhere.
    I would not eat green eggs and ham.
    I do not like them,


    What a wrong book to start with? Baby would happily shake the head saying 'no' for every spoon. Baby would laugh giggle while all the food would spill and mother would be like a circus clown trying to read, feed, hold the food, the baby and what not. As time passed it wasn't an interesting book anymore. Mother thought that the book taught the kid to say 'No'. Then came in boxed set of Dr.Seuss collections... the mischievous Cat in the hat and then Mr.Brown can moo Do you? The mother read all those books thousand times that if some one said "put me down" while she(mother) was sleeping she would say "I do not wish to fall" .. in her sleep. This is an excerpt from the book cat in the hat

    'put me down!' said the fish.
    'this is no fun at all!
    put me down!' said the fish.
    'i do NOT wish to fall!

    Somehow mother did not accept her failure but continued her struggles with feeding the child, As time went by it was even more harder and poor mother would be counting 2 milk done 1 snack to go 2 meals done 1 more to go ... And added to it was the throwing up. one little extra spoon her whole effort would go waste. Even after the kid went to school kid's lunch boxes would come back the same way it was packed. It so happened that kid had Indian pre-school teacher who would say "ask your mom to send you poori for lunch and not just bread" for which the kid would proudly support the mom saying "my mom is too busy in taking care of me and she doesn't have time to cook Poori ok!" Teacher would be awestruck at the excuses this kid is making to eat. When asked, why didn't you eat today? Kid would say, Spoon did not work today . Somedays spoon wouldn't work, somedays fork wouildn't work and somedays food wouldn't work.

    Somehow the kid learnt to eat when she was in elementary school. By that time, kid had read almost all the chapter books that is commonly available. Mom breathed a sigh of relief atlast. Even now she would say, maybe I shouldnt' have done all that I did. Maybe I should have let the child go hungry for a day or two. Maybe I could have done this better. She tried totally opposite approach with her other child. Let the kid eat when hungry and didn't bother much about eating but it took double the time for the younger one to learn to eat. Neither struggling worked nor going easy worked. Mother thought she failed even in the basic job of teaching the children to eat.

    Few things that made her feel good in this struggle was that kid did not turn out to be a picky eater and the reading habit that was inculcated at such a young age turned the kid into an Avid Reader or should I say A Voracious reader? But the kid never cooked. One day when at work the mother received a picture of a plate of yummy fried rice with cucumbers beautifully arranged on the side. . The message said Mom I made this and had it all ... That moment she felt incredible. Finally she passed her attempt in teaching her kid to feed herself. Teach a kid to eat and maybe they will learn to cook or is cooking genetic? Thinking back all those struggles she still can't decide was the struggle worth it or not!


    'Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.' --- C.S. Lewis.
     
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  2. Sunburst

    Sunburst Platinum IL'ite

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    What a lovely snippet . All is well that ends well especially when it comes to parenting . It’s time for the mother to enjoy some delicacies made by her kids and not doubt herself over her parenting skills . :blush:
     
  3. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    The struggle is hard and long but the end result is deeply gratifying. This is not the story of a mother's struggle as much as it is the story of a mother's success. She nourished their minds and nurtured their bodies. She can rest assured she raised them well. : )
     
    Amica, GeetaKashyap, kaniths and 3 others like this.
  4. periamma

    periamma IL Hall of Fame

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    seeing the heading i thought you are mentioning about eating junks while reading .Aha then come the struggle of a mother who tries very hard to feed her child.well depicted Lakshmi
     
  5. kaniths

    kaniths IL Hall of Fame

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    :lol:

    Aw, Sweet!

    Enjoyed the warmth and the story, Incredible mother she is! ;)
     
  6. periamma

    periamma IL Hall of Fame

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    @kaniths I think our Lakshmi is that incredible mother. What do you say? :expressionless:
     
    kkrish and kaniths like this.
  7. MonikaSG

    MonikaSG Platinum IL'ite

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    You made me emotional. I felt its all about my day to day struggle. Each day I experiment with something new for their betterment and not all of them work. But feel good if any of them do. Really not an easy task. When I was kid I used to find fault in my parents and thought that I will never do like this. I understand a kid better because I too was a kid that time. But after growing up it does not seems to be that easy.
     
    jskls and GeetaKashyap like this.
  8. GoogleGlass

    GoogleGlass IL Hall of Fame

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    nice struggle ls, only a mom can truly relate it to...

    eating reading and cooking ought to be the story

    child had no choice to express how the food was hence spoon didn't work fork didn't work it seems :):):)
     
    Amica and jskls like this.
  9. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    All is well that ends well.
    A beautifully narrated struggle of a mom.
    Jayasala42
     
    jskls likes this.
  10. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Beautiful @jskls
    You are a wonderful mom too Lakshmi!
    Now i want to visit your home to taste the fried rice your daughter makes. I am sure it will be super delicious.

    I cannot add anything more to this beautiful write up.
     

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