I’m a working woman and never liked the notion of staying at home. I always loved multi-tasking and handled work and personal life perfectly. It kept me balanced and busy the entire week. I embraced the weekends and set aside my two days to spend time with my kids. The day when the lockdown was announced, being a workaholic, I dreaded the one thing that I always hated, that is, to stay at home. Not that I was thrilled to spend time with my family; it’s just the active mind of a busy individual. I wanted to indulge myself in every possible activity and not waste a minute in the lockdown.
My son is in high school, mischievous, and never lets me do my work. That was another thing I worried about. My daughter helped me with household chores and is old enough to understand other’s problems. But, ever since she started working, she is occupied with her work and indulges less in helping me. Now, the housekeeper too cannot show her presence. I began to wonder about all the possibilities of being stuck in the kitchen. Let me be honest; no woman likes to spend long hours preparing and cleaning the dishes. I loved making new cuisines but equally hated it.
Since my son never involved in the household work, I thought this lockdown would be the best time to get him to work. Ladies, if you think boys are supposed to watch cricket matches while you toil hard to feed them, you cannot be more wrong. Though my son used to do the little things, I wanted him to learn everything. Managing a house is no easy task. So, it was day one, and I called him to help me knead the dough. He resisted a lot initially, but he did it. It was not bad, after all. So, the first day he learned something new. Gradually, with each passing day, I kept him engaged with other activities.
Surprisingly, he loved being a part and enjoyed doing them. The things that I thought he would never learn, he mastered all of it, in no time. Now, each one in the family is assigned specific tasks that have to be completed every day. He helps me with laundry, cooking, and also cleaning. Though there are a bunch of things to learn, he is doing a great job. It has taught him to be independent, and I couldn’t ask more. The boy who used to be hooked to smartphones day and night now engages in family activities and is highly commendable. Now, I find myself learning new stuff from the Internet and also from him. You know the kids these days, they are the smartphone generation and are updated with numerous things.
He is also an avid cricketer. The entire day my son watches the highlights of past matches. But now, since events are not happening around and that the highlights are viewed infinite times, he has started watching new channels, History TV, and Discovery channels too. These are informative channels and showcase some of the most extraordinary things about everyday life, and also around the world. I’m satisfied that this lockdown has transformed my kid to a great extent. He has also started sketching in the afternoon, and day by day his sketches are improving a lot too. He looks up on YouTube and starts baking all by himself.
It’s overwhelming to see my kid do these things at a young age when all the boys keep annoying their parents about buying new gadgets every day. Another best thing is that he is intrigued by the Indian classics and eagerly waits every day to watch the Mahabharat episodes. Getting these generation kids to like Indian history is pretty hard. Seeing him shoot multiple questions on the stories shows how involved he is in them. It couldn’t get any better for a mother. I have always wanted my kids to learn the Indian culture and also learn to be independent.
This lockdown though came as a huge blow but has made everyone discover their interests and try new things which no one would have ever done if not this. I find myself occupied with several things every day, and never missed going to work. Now that I think of it, I do miss working, but the thought never surfaces with multiple things going on at home. I also play chess and carrom board with my kids now. As said, chess improves one’s thinking; my son has learned to beat his opponents in no time too. Truly a positive change in my son.
There are numerous things that we do together now, and our bond has become stronger than ever. I regret not having spent a significant amount of time with my kids due to my work. If there’s one thing that I would want to change is to go back and spend every single minute with my family and treasure the memories. While for some, it’s hard to engage themselves between each sunrise and sunset, for me, it’s been an amazing ride, with my precious gems. My kids wake up with a positive vibe and spread joy throughout the day.
I’m glad to have and spent time with loved ones more than ever. No amount of worldly thing is going to bring that. I’m thrilled that my son has learned to do almost everything and reduces the burden of handling the entire house alone. He has become responsible and independent in these past few months. I urge parents to involve your kids in every activity in the house. Not only does it increase your bond with them, they learn a lot too. It is important to teach kids at a young age to be responsible so that they make the right decisions in the future. If you think, kids will learn as they grow, then you’re wrong. It is our responsibility to teach our kids, especially boys, to know everything be it inside the home or outside. They turn out to be gentlemen as they grow old, which is lacking in most of the men now.
Aditi Agrawal is an avid reader and a freelance writer. She has completed her masters in Business Administrations and is currently the co-founder of Inkshed Content Solutions. She is a fulltime content creator.