Kids are lovely, wonderful and such a sight for sore eyes... as long as they are someone else’s. Only those with children of their own will understand the stress, mood swings, hormonal changes, hair loss, weight loss, sleep loss, bank balance loss and self esteem loss that one has to undergo to raise a child.
The key here is patience. If you don’t have patience, you’ll end up becoming a patient. There are a lot of young mothers who take BP medication regularly — some for Blood Pressure, and the rest, for the ‘Before Psycho’ state of their mental health. That is the story of most young mothers today. But they are not to be blamed for this condition. Kids are so naughty that, forget the relatives, even the annoying salesmen and sometimes, the evening breeze refuse to visit a house with children in it.
My apartment kids are the loudest in this universe, second only to Dolly Bindra. When we were kids we used to play Police-Robber, but these kids play Sunny Deol-Terrorists. One day, one of the terrorists came up to me and asked, “Uncle! Is it true that if we hang a donkey’s photo in your house, it will bring good luck?” I said “Yeah!” and he was like, “Can I have your photo?” What an insult to the donkey! Some of the kids even broke the high beam headlight from their fathers’ cars since they like only Chhota Beam. My house was under my control till my daughter started walking. After that it looks like Mallika Sherawat’s costume. Things are everywhere except where they are supposed to be.
The most intimidating thing for the young parent is the school admission process. Right from the sleepless night spent in the queue for the application form (which in no way guarantees admission), to spending all of your savings and that of your parents and their parents, to pay the admission fee. To pay the rest, you have to either be involved in a scam or play in the IPL.
But trust me, all these difficulties will be cancelled out with a mere smile from your kid. They are the best gift God could give us. And just when you think your kid is settled in a good school, potty trained etc, the pressure will start from elders for the second child. And do we yield to it? But of course. The cycle just goes on.