Pot dinner! – We had a great time in one of our family friend’s house. Almost ten families met there during a pleasant evening time. It was during fall. We entered in and saw through the window. The leaves were on the ground in different colours. I felt as though they are decorating the mother earth with their flying colours. Literally the colours fly. Yes, the leaves in different colours fly reaching the ground from the tree.
Each one of us had prepared some kind of delicious dishes for the dinner. Families kept coming with the dish they had prepared. Out of them came a family of three- husband, wife and a girl child named Diya. The family greeted us and we reciprocated with a broad smile. In fact I was meeting Diya for the first time. Not just me. Many of us were meeting her for the first time. Diya was mingling with everyone very happily and did not have any kind of hesitation in talking with us and playing with us.
She ran and took a couple of items kept on display in the showcase. She was showing it to her dad and explained about it to him. She was trying to explore the items by turning it upside down, touching it, shaking it etc. She came running to her mom with a teddy bear and said, “Mom, see this. This is very beautiful. Touch this” Her mom smiled and told, “Ya, this is very beautiful. I am sure you like this. I knew that you want to explore this. But this is kept for display in their house. Please put this back.” The child said, “No mom. I want to play with this”. The mom replied, “Yes Diya, I understand your feeling. You want to play. But you could do that with the items kept for play and not with the ones for display. They have kept this on display to make their house beautiful. They will feel very bad if it gets spoilt during play. What do you say? You could play with the items that are kept for play. Is that fine?”
I am not sure if the child understood her mom’s view. But her behaviour proved that she had understood what her mom told. She nodded her head with a smile and kept the teddy bear back from the place where she picked it. The mom hugged her and appreciated her for her behaviour. In a few minutes thereon Divya continued playing with all of us and the balloons given to children.
I was witnessing how Diya’s mom accepted her child’s feeling and helped her to manage her feelings. I felt that her mom had handled the kid in a nice manner without hurting the kid's feelings, but still communicated what she wanted to in a way such that the kid could understand.
How beautiful it would be if all parents could make an attempt like Diya’s mom!
