Together we can

Leaving their weeping child to go to work is one of the hardest decisions a mother must make. There are days when my son happily waves me off, days when I have to try to explain and persuade, and days when he cries and says no. The days he tells me Amma, no, don't go to office. I want to come with you too, and as I am sitting helplessly on the staircase trying to make him understand that Amma has to go to work and she can't take you to work with her, is the most heartbreaking moment. On those days, I just have to be strong to plan my escape when he gets distracted. It works most of the time, but one fateful day my son was so adamant he refused to accept, get convinced, or get himself distracted. It was a hard sight for me as a mother, and I had no choice but to run when I got the opportunity. I was hiding below the staircase, and I could hear him scream and shout. My heart was hurting, I simply wanted to get back and hug him. I was torn . As I waited for a few more minutes for ...

While i was struggling with postpartum depression, I used to get up in the middle of the night fand feel so scared that something bad was going to happen. I used to have these thoughts like "Will my baby be safe?" "Who will take care of my baby when I am gone?". I remember getting up and going to see my husband, who was asleep in the hall, and I had this urge to wake him up and ask him "Will you take care of my baby if I am not there?" and I wanted to tell him that I am not feeling good, I am scared and confused, and I don't know what is going on with me. Every night I used to wake up with these thoughts, and every time I used to stare at my husband sleeping, contemplating whether I should wake him up or no, and then i would decide against it and go back. Staying awake and fighting with these thoughts, the only thing keeping me calm, was looking at my baby boy sleeping so peacefully beside me, I used to hold his hand, and just pray for some strength an...

Once, when we planned to go out with my two year old son, we were running late as my husband had a prior plan to go meet his friend after an hour, so we rushed outside the house to put on our shoes, and I told my son, "Wear your shoes?" He said "No". I tried to reason with him, "Baby, we are getting late. Please wear your shoes fast.". He was very adamant; he completely refused. He said "I will not wear them.". Our instant reaction in such situations would be to shout at the child or forcefully make him wear or take him out without shoes, upsetting  the child and ourselves in this process and end up not enjoy the time together. But I calmed myself down and thought for a minute: What might be the reason? You see, my boy loves going out. So why is he refusing today? and that's when I realized my mistake. I told him, "I am sorry. See, I am removing my shoes; come, lets go and put on our shoes together.". I removed my shoes and then he...