DATED – 30th April 2017
A few days back, Arpita decided that it was time to minimize milk intake for kids and start putting them on solid and semi-solid food. Since the kids were used to milk every time they felt hungry, they started becoming a little cranky every time they wanted a feed and milk was not offered.
No one likes to see a child cry (children in our case!) We would poke Arpita to give-in and offer the bottle to the kids every time the kids were cranky. Whereas she had decided that milk will be given only 3-4 times a day. It would sometimes irritate me to see that she is with holding the milk bottle the kids were craving for. The comments by others in the house would add to that irritation.
With two kids, our communication was not much. It was more of taking care of them and their routines. Whenever we got time, we would rather catch up on our sleep. That lead to an increased difference of understanding of certain issue – here it was the milk bottle.
After a little coaxing, I took her out for lunch, leaving the kids at home. We knew that we needed to spend a couple of hours with each other. We had a leisure lunch buffet at Little Italy – a perfect spot for us. We felt our old days were back where we used to often go out with each other for lunches and dinners.
While talking, this issue of not giving milk bottle to the kids came up. I expressed that they were probably too young to be train for habits. We could always build habits a little later. It was then she said something, which made me look upto her even more as a mother. She said, “I know that we are too early to build habits in them. When they are cranky I too feel like giving-in and give them bottle of milk. That’s the easiest thing to do. But with a strong heart, I decide not to give it to them. I would rather give them some solid food. Giving them milk is easier and faster. They take much longer to eat. But what I am looking to do is – to condition their minds. They must know that every time they cry, milk is not going to be available.”
Thinking about it, so true isn’t it. Building habits will take a while. But their minds can certainly be conditioned. During the lunch, I realised that it is easy to get irritated looking at how a mother is working on her child. But it is worth to take a little more effort and understand the thinking behind it. We will stumble upon some gems ……
