Straight talk from my kids

Kids tell you things as they are, no hemming and hawing or sweetening the pill.  Only sometimes the feedback can hit you hard.

Big G to me, "Why has God made you like that?" "Like what?" I ask. "You know, a mama who does not smile a lot?" Well, well, I manage my non-smile smile to begin with. I think I must be doing the smiling thing often enough when one day I see her looking at me contemplatively. "Mama, your smile is like that of a hex (witch)!!" The smile now hurts;-)

Big G talking to me when I am composing my blog post. I tell you, with this Marathon, I am posting every day but it's getting increasingly challenging to come up with something sensible to write about. So in the midst of intense concentration to post, I ask her to repeat something. And this is what I get, "God has not given you very good ears I think. If you don't listen once I will not say it again."


I take the pram for lil G to school, it's a longish walk. When we reach a distance close to home and there is no more crossing of roads involved she gets down. Then the two sisters half-run, half-skip towards home - a pink blob and a purple blob moving in the distance. One day I did not allow her down as it was raining and she would be protected if she remained seated in the pram - something she didn't take very well. When we reached home, she refused to get down the pram, and folding two arms with a big frown, chin down, told me she is angry with me. I had to coerce her in, after which also she refused to change from her wet clothes or eat her food, etc. Well, evening sees lil G giving me a big hug and cuddle. She tells me, "In the afternoon, I was angry with you mama, but I am no more angry now. So you get a kiss." Me: ?!!@#

Anything can trigger lil G into her sulks and tantrums. In fact, one of her nick-names is Sulk-lata-sulku. One day on our way home, she was upset with me, nothing new there. She said she wants to go to her own house, with her own Mama. I point to our house and tell her, ok then, you can wait for your mama to fetch you to her place, I will just get inside my house. Not batting an eyelid, "That is pappa's house, not yours. You don't have your own house."

Big G made a drawing for one of their common friends and gave it to him when he came to play. Guess who was not very happy with the idea, lil G. She wanted the very same stuff. We asked Big G to make something similar for her sis, but she refused. To pacify lil G I told her I will draw something nice for her when she is back from school. Lil G pouts, shakes her head no, "Mama, you don't draw good like Bena." That is indeed true :-)