Sunday, May 17, 2009

Letting go...

The past 20 days have been very busy...My almost 13 yr old nephew, came a-visiting from Bangalore. All alone. He was treated like a prince (his words) by the Singapore Airlines staff who also upgraded him to a first class - you can imagine what his face book messages would have been like the next day!

So the boys had fun with their cousin, I've lost some hair and the neighbours are confused as to how many children I actually have!

We must have overdosed on the fun bit, because my 11 yr old caught a nasty throat infection and fever a day before the week-end began.

He got well soon and was understandably irritated at the enforced rest. I wondered aloud whether to give him an extra day of rest on Monday!

Me: "You need not go to school if you are feeling weak"

Him: "Okay' and a shrug

two seconds later,

Him: 'but I'm going to miss a lot, you know, I already missed school on Friday!"

Me: "It's just two days, I'll help you make up"

Him: "Okay!" and a shrug. (psst...can you tell that he LOVES talking?!!!!)

a minute later,

Him: "the teachers don't give us notes you know, you are supposed to listen to them in class"

I looked at him and smiled

Me: " And of course your friends would miss you too"

He smiled back, knowing that i had caught him out.

This morning he was fast asleep, and i thought I'll let him sleep in...I woke up the 6 yr old and pottered (love the mental image conjured here) around the kitchen...I turned to see my 11 yr old standing near me waiting for breakfast and i rushed to see which side the sun is rising from, because this boy never gets up on his own unless there is a cricket match/soccer match that day!

A sad Me: 'You want to go'

An emphatic Him: "Yes!" (absolutely takes after his father in the monosyllabic department)

And so I let him go, even though I wanted him to stay!

The 6 yr old gets his temperature taken, just as a precaution...(since the swine flu scare, the government had made it compulsory for every kid to carry a digital thermometer everyday)

Him: ' how much, amma?'

Me: '98'

Him: 'Celsius or fah..fabr...?

Me; '98 Fahrenheit'

Him: 'That means I need 2 more for hundred?!"

Me (deep sigh): "Yes! But since you are well enough, can you look after Anna and make sure that he does not go for his PE class?"

He happily confirms: 'Only PE?' and bounds off!

And I let him go too, even though he wanted to stay!

Can you tell, that I'm not ready for this letting go business?

31 comments:

Meira said...

wait...13 yr old kids have face book accounts? :O
I helped raise my nephew for some years, so am naturally too attached to him.It was hard enough to let him go back to his mom (:D) and harder that his younger sister is not as close to me as he is ! Sigh.
Why do kids grow up?

aMus said...

meira:
Facebook accounts? sigh... yes they do... so does almost everyone in my 11yrold's class...that's what he says, and he tries every now and then to get us to change our minds...i've managed quite admirably to keep the PSP and networking sites out of bounds...*crossing fingers

and its hard to let go, esp when you know its best for them...

Sumana said...

How is he doing now? Kids 11 years, love school and friends right and cannot miss it. But i liked his reasoning out. Lol at the monosyllables part.

Sumana said...

My comment got lost??

Ugich Konitari said...

...'That means I need 2 more for hundred?!".....

Isnt it wonderful, the way they change the entire emphasis. :-) Is this a cricket match that you aspire to a hundred ? Hmm...

And carrying digital thermometers everyday ? If this had happened here, everyone would have suspected the Health minister's relative possibly making a killing in the thermometer business...

Gauri said...

sigh - talk about the "letting go" business. There are times when I feel my mom has not been able to "let go" of me fully, as yet :) and after having kids of my own - I don't blame her !! :D

Yes Yes - I love the term pottering around too - for the most part - that's what I do !!

@ Meira : I know of so many eight year olds in our apartment complex who have Facebook accounts. "catch them young" is the motto - I guess !!

Just Like That said...

sigh! its hard isn't it? I love the younger one's "Only PE?" bit. LOL at the small pleasures in life. :-D
My 19 yr old nephew's life revolves around taking new pics of himself for his Orkut/FB profile! Argh! these kids, I tell you

Mama-Mia said...

:)

no wonder Cubby talks so much! its genetic and all! hehe!

those two boys are just too cool i tell ya! me love reading their antic!

i wanna potter in the kitchen too and come up withd elicious sounding stuff that I cant ever make! ;)

LOVED the post!

cheers!

abha

Swati said...

:-)

Preeti Shenoy said...

heh heh heh..Shocked that even 8 year olds and 13 year olds have FB accounts. FB allows only 14 and over--so they must have lied about their age.
I refuse to allow my two to have it till they're 14.
And till now PSP too is out of bounds.
Loved the mental imagery bit :)
Cheers
preeti

pink dogwood said...

One of the earlier commentor was surprised that 13 year olds have facebook accounts - well my 11 year old was surprised to learn that I have an facebook account since I am so ancient :)

Suma - I just love hearing about your boys :)

Jaya said...

:) He loves school :) :) .. I like small S's thermometer comment... Isn't it amazing that they grow faster than us because we still crave for their attention....

magicalsummer said...

when i spent time earlier today crying over my son leaving home, abha pointed me to this post. didn't help. made me cry harder!
love your blog

rayshma said...

u disguise it really well... the letting go thing.. :D

Jyoti Ajay said...

i m shocked that 14 yr boy got the facebook a/c.any way nice article.

Pavi!!!! said...

WOT?!?! 13 yr old travel ALONE on an airplane???n they have FB accounts?? Gosh these kids grow up so fast.....i sumtimes think we enjoyed "childhood" more..or mabbe the defn of childhood is different today!

aha! i u'stand ur 11 yr old..i would hate it when mom asked me to take off from school.

Kavi said...

Aww !! how awesome ! Particularly liked the monosyllable moment ! Thats so typical !! :)

And ofcourse, two to get hundred ! I am telling anybody who cares to listen that cricket is proof that God existed !! ;)

And ofcourse, can be used to teach maths, science, english...whatever !!

Lovely post. Enjoyed everybit of it. Including the letting go business !!! Lovly post

aMus said...

kavi:
thank you, i have two extremes - one keeps chattering and one talks only when he feels like it...sort of balances the family :)


pavi!!!!
oh, an air hostess was given charge of him and he really didn't have to do anything, other than follow them about...as for FB accounts, sigh...they do, believe me they do..only mine doesn't :)

jyoti ajay...
don't be! he has a 16+ older brother who is on Fb, and both are very carefully monitored too.

raysh...
i'm an expert at it, taht's what i am :D


magical summer::
i just read your post and its was 'awwwwwwsome' hugs, I'm still not loooking that far ahead


Joy::
he loves school...more than home..this is the point where i bawl aloud! as for lil S, that boy loves to stay at home...and i've let him do so on a few occasions so that he needn't think he needs to get a fever to stay at home...

Bhavana::
hee..hee..that makes me ancient too..i recently joined it mainly to keep in touch witrh my extended family and bug a few friends!


Preeti::
ditto, ditto and ditto :)


Swati:
:)


Abha:
LOL!
and my 6 yrold c chatters all the while...no guesses where he inherited that from ;)

JLT::
if left to him, he would have stalked his brother the whole day and got an earful for it too...little pleasures of life indeed!

as for Fb, what can i add? sigh

aMus said...

@ gauri::
sigh...yup, our parents haven't let us go too, but you know what..right now i'm loving that! :)



@ugich::
HAHAHA! good one...we did have a tough time getting one measly digital thermometer..all the regular stores had depleted their stocks


@ Sumana::
:) he loves the recess period teh most...'cos that's when they play instead of eating!

Aparna said...

Loved the letting go part. I have a 13 year old and a 7 year old and I think I will flunk big time when the actual time comes. I did not know fb does not allow to open accounts till one is 14.My 13 year old has an account and she is quite active, the entire class is there.

sujata sengupta said...

Hey Suma, really liked the letting go part..though both my kids are big time chatterboxes and I have to really pray for some quiet in the house, but when they are in school, this silence at times gets to me..its really a bag full of mixed feelings being a mom.

Rambler said...

hmm excited to get to school, why does he sound like me ...

Keshi said...

:) ur son sounds cute! Im glad they had fun with their cuz.

Even my friend's 9yr old daughter has a facebook account. It's a bit too much tho!

Keshi.

Preethi said...

11 yr olds?? facebook? phew!!! this parenting thing is really tough isnt it??
loved reading this .. esp when I have been out for so long!!

Anonymous said...

Why dont the kids come with manuals? My 10 yr old is so far into Webkinz and emails.

Guruprasad said...

everytime i read your posts my only regret is that i don't manage to read them often enough! :)

aMus said...

aparna:
i think parents by and large have felt more comfortable with facebook because it seems more safe...
but still i'm not very comfortable with the idea of my son in a networking site and thankfully he doesn't whine and whine..but does mention it now an dthen...he has been told to wait tll he turns 15...

Sujata:
yes, mixed feelings..its too quiet when they ae not there and too noisy when they are :D

rambler:
hey..how you doing? its been a long time


Keshi::
:)they had loads of FUN...their version of fun differs from mine :P
hope things are fine at your end...:)


Preethi::
you are back! you are back! wait let me roll out the red carpet for you :p


asaaan:
isn't that a lot like neopets?and if they came with manuals, would have been easier to reprogram them too ;)


Guru::
that's a very nice comment...

never mind, i'm not posting that often...probably trying to break your record :p

Gazal said...

help...
my son is planning to be on facebook and i cant say no....coz i m on it...

help
sorry have been away from your blog.

aMus said...

gazal

my son too wants to be on it...half his class is there, his cousins are on it...but i would like to wait till he is at least 14/15...I feel these just take away their ability to interact socially...and besides it does get addictive :)

but then you know your boy best...so its actually to each his own...

Unknown said...

Its funny how the 6-yr olds want to stay home and 11-yr olds want to go out.My son 6yrs old says he never want to leave home, not for studies, not for job...he says he doesnt want to be separated from me the way I am separated from my parents!!

rm said...

i do not know how i missed this post. Its really refreshing to hear you. :-)