At first I thought of clicking a snap of myself in my PJs, then the fear of making you all run away to never come back hit me hard! Oh I have no dress sense when it comes to wearing my home-clothes. So I am not very proud of showing them off here!
But since the topic calls for PJs, I’ll share a pic of Namnam in hers…
This was taken when Namnam was helping her father set up the X-mas tree, the year before last,
What? A salwar could also be turned into a Pj if teamed with a T-shirt,no? Ok, I get it. I need a crash course in dress-sense before I ruin my child’s wardrobe
Now before I start jotting down my thoughts further I need to mention that I have very low tolerance on anyone using swear words. No I have no issues about people mouthing them behind my back. Even if I do I cant do much about them because quite obviously I cannot control the words that I cant hear,right? But if someone uses them in front of me I either put my displeasure vehemently across or simply walk away from there.
Why, I even had R take back the ‘F’ word that he had uttered once barely few days into our marriage. A few eunuchs had come over to our house to ask for some gifts as a custom and R felt so agitated at their authoritative tones that he just let that word slip out in exasperation! And it was the first time I had heard someone use that word in front of me. He realized his slip of tongue and understood that I was not one to tolerate such words. I made it clear he was free to use his vocabulary in whichever manner he wanted in my absence, but he had to be extremely careful about not using swear words in my presence.
Since then, till today he has never used the F word or such strong swear words in my presence.
And ever since Namnam came into our lives we both have been extra careful and conscious that we dont utter any wrong words in front of her.
This is where Roshni’s post makes me think. Now letting her older child use swear words with friends and in front of his parents, albeit with strict warning of not using them elsewhere seems to have worked well fr her family. So much so that when the circumstance arose, her older son has even been wise enough to make his younger brother understand about the dangers of using swear words.
What I want to know is how well this strategy will work for my child. The strategy of telling her that it is ok to use swear words with friends but not with others I mean. I wonder if it will work even considering my strong reservation about using such words at home or outside. The strongest swear words that Namnam has come to hear are ‘stupid’, ‘idiot’ and ‘what the hell’.
In fact I have been guilty of calling her ‘stupid’ once. She made a big howling issue of it making me take that word back and apologize to her. Frankly I felt awfully miserable myself at having lost my cool that day.
Now I know for a fact that she is growing up, growing up real fast and with each passing day and year, she is going to be introduced to more strong words, sometimes by her friends, sometimes by the shows that she watches, or at times by the books she reads. And not all times is it necessary that I will be there to police her, stop her from picking them up. In which case I wonder what is the way to go.
I agree words like,’ what the hell’ or what the heck are not so strong as to be made such a big deal out of. But what if your child picks up a more dangerous ‘F’ word or Ass.H or such words? Would you still say its ok to use them? I get really perturbed when I hear small children mouthing such dynamites so liberally these days. Really I do. Sometimes I wonder if the kids even understand the meaning of those words before mouthing them. Why words, I get taken aback by some of their actions even. I have seen kids as small as 7 or 8 year old showing finger as a mark of dissent! I mean do they even know what that means?
And this is where I feel concerned as a parent. How do I address it if my child, someday picks it up and starts using them? Do I admonish her sternly and forbid her from using those words, in which case she might get more rebellious and drawn towards using them even more? Or, do I tell her the literal meaning of those words and then let her decide whether she wants to swear or no?
These shots were taken around the time my mother was visiting us in November last year and we had taken her one evening for a Dhow ride along Corniche. It was a beautiful sight to see the tower change its shade from gold to silver and then silver to gold back and forth.
Not so sharp clicks I know. If I had foreseen this photo challenge then, I would have certainly tried other better settings in my camera, trust me
No, she is not our new pet. She is a stray who has been around our compound and more particularly in and around my house for a while. Now there are many stray cats in our compound and lot many more households that look after these cats by tending to them, feeding them as and when they can but this little kitten found her way to our house one fine day in late December and has taken well to our care ever since.
I am not much of an animal-lover. No I am not against animals, but I do not particularly feel drawn towards them either. I even keep Bronco, my parents’ pet at a distance whenever I am visiting them. So quite naturally I was a little skeptical about letting the kitten get close to us.
But thanks to Namnam and R who are far more compassionate than me, she was given a space in a little room attached to our backyard. Also, it was not safe to let her go astray, thereby increasing her chance of getting attacked by bigger and stronger cats out in the open. So we decided to tend to her till she was big enough to fend for herself.
Since it was an extremely cold time of the year, R made her space warm by placing a thick cloth on the floor so she could be well protected from the cold at night. Namnam took to her instantly and began to look forward to watching her run around and play. And soon, even I began to enjoy having her around, pat her, stroke her soft furry skin and play with her. Why, even my domestic-help got very attached to her, ensured to feed her, give her water, and even gave a name, Shindhu. Namnam prefers to call her Kitty though
One day R got her a ball to play around with and in no time she was found keen to dribble with it . When Namnam and I were in India for my brother’s wedding, he kept the kitten engaged with this ball. Let me share a video which he took around then..
For the first two-three months we regularly fed her cat food. Then, R felt that it was time for us to let her venture out on her own because, whatever said and done she was a stray cat and she had to learn the skill to survive herself. And she was slowly weaned from our protected walls to the open. I did feel a little sad to let her go, but at the same time consoled myself that she would be around and could come whenever she needed us.
4 months old, she is very independent now, mingled well with other cats and households. Yet she makes it a point to come running to us, as soon as one of us opens the door and just lies on our feet rolling over as a sign to stroke her tummy! She has made our backyard our constant hang-out and these days, especially cocoons herself in our garden in the bushes to escape the heat.
Heres a not so clear shot that I took last night of her having milk..
So, if you’re to ask what I care about, I’d say, at the moment she is someone I truly care about
. When Namnam and I were in India for my brother’s wedding, he kept the kitten engaged with this ball. Let me share a video which he took around then..
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