A friend of mine was telling me the other day about how every time their child ran a temperature in the morning she and her husband, both working, would look at each other. There was no need to say anything. Just a twitch of an eyebrow, maybe, and then one of them would step up on the plate and reach out for their phone.
As a working parent myself, I knew exactly what she was taking about. In fact all working parents know the price of, what I call, emergency parenting. It all boils down to a simple question. Which one of the two puts all things on hold to stay back home looking after an unwell child. Who is the one who calls up and makes all the various deadlines, meetings and tasks disappear for a while. Tough call eh?
About a month ago we were in a real soup. Earlier in the day our housemaid had ran out on us and what was worse, the next day both of us were travelling. And this was not the usual 'morning out - evening in' kind of travel. This was overnight. I was gonna be gone for two nights and she was out for four. So this was a big deal. I really couldn't see any way in which I could get out of my trip and neither could she. So we were deep waters, real deep.
That's when our daughter, who was sitting and watching us, spoke up. "Dad, Mon, chill. I will be okay on my own. I can take care of myself. Both of you go. Trust me"
And just like that, in a space of those few words, we suddenly realised that our soon to be thirteen year old was all grown up. She was a big girl now. We were no longer parents to a little baby.
1 comment:
a milestone in a child's life is the day when the parents treat him/her like a grown up. I remember for me it was when one day, Dad offered me a drink! And he has never ever offered me since :-( heehee
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