In 2008, my then six-year-old daughter struggled to comprehend the joke the 10-year-old boy told her. Suddenly in the previous five days, I noticed how much she had grown!
She was given a berth of her own in the train. Onwards, she slept in the lower berth, but while returning, we had to risk sending her to the middle one.
At the resort we stayed, she independently made friends with uncles and aunties and didn’t cling to me as was her wont. If any known adult passed her without noticing, she made it a point to shyly call them and say hi!
But the return was the cutest part. She found out the boy’s name, sat with him as he played on his father’s cellphone. He was sweet enough to include her in the game. Then the two of them lay on the two middle berths in our coupe, while I was on side upper with my younger son. My girl and the boy continued to chat, and I could hear him asking her questions, telling her jokes and patiently waiting for her to comprehend them. I wanted to rush to her and explain, I wanted her to stop talking and sleep. The one sensible thing I did was to resist the urge. I think she was managing fairly well and it did her self-esteem good to be having an “adult” conversation on her own. The two shut up on their own, and went off to sleep without any help from us grown ups.
And, now, she wants to have light skin!
Where do they pick up such ideas! How does their minds expand to understand complex details and life skills?
When do they cease needing us?
When do we start wanting them around us more?
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