Kid Stuff

Last day of exams today.

Phewww.

At least I can stop feeling guilty about not doing anything about it.

Seriously.

I know I come across like an anxious, hassled mom very worried about her kids' exams. But the  opposite is true. And the guilt kills me. The blog ofcourse ends up getting the brunt of it.

The sad fact is that I leave them to their devices most of the time. I only bug them for Hindi, they do everything else by themselves. If they say they got 75% I give them a 'look' and mildly say they could have done better. But inwardly I'm totally satisfied because they did it all on their own. Now the guilt.....there's no escaping it. Round and round my mind will go...if they got 75% without me teaching them anything then imagine if I decided to help them.....

Take for example these exams.

FINAL EXAMS.

There is nothing in the atmosphere to suggest that Final Exams are going on.

They still go out to to play everyday.

They still read books.

They are arguing & trying to score over eachother more than ever.

Nikita is still found working with clay everyday, added to which she has started quilling now.

You think this is bad???

Wait there’s more….

On the very first day of exam Nikita came back with details for a "Children’s Rights“ poster contest which had to be submitted the next day and she simply 'had to’ take part in it. So instead of studying for her computer exam the next day she spent the day working on this poster. Clueless mother that I am, un/willingly helped her.

Then a day before her Science exam she spent all her time making a clay model for Howard Jones.

Who????

[Flashback]

‘Howard Jones is coming to our school to record for ‘Voices around the Worldl’ was a line heard countless times around the house in the past month. And for that project Nikita and her school friends were putting in lots of extra time at school practicing their song. We were initially reluctant as it fell smack in the middle of the exams but ultimately gave in to Nikita’s desperate pleas.

My mistake here was to google the man and event to see what the big deal was. And like an idiot pointed out that Howard Jones birthday fell so close to their meeting him. That’s it, Nikita immediately wanted to make something for him and instead of studying for her Science FINAL exam the next day she spent all afternoon shaping clay.

[Ignore this part for it doesn't gel with the tone of the rest of the post]

Very pleased with her efforts Nikita was in the highest of spirits. Just before leaving for school I told her gently not to get so excited. I hated doing that to her but I didn't want her getting disappointed if things didn’t go the way she visualized it. Anyways to cut the story short, everything went off well…. Mr. Howard Jones was very touched to receive his present….he shook hands with her[seems like he didn’t shake hands with anybody else*shock*] and took a picture alone with her [it seems he didn't take a picture alone with anybody else*shock shock shock;-P*] and don’t ask what else. She was over the moon. I sent a silent thanks across to Mr. Howard Jones for transforming my child’s day.

[back to ranting]

Can you blame me for going crazy????

All around me I can see parents busy quizzing their kids and helping them with their revisions for the exams. I too have the same intentions but somehow never get it right.

The one and only time I sat down to help them I ended up giving them lines.

Naina was not the only one.

Nikita had to write ‘I must not make Naina wail’ a 100 times.

It was either this or sic them out of the house. Nowadays even that is not an option….there’s a whole army of kids lying in wait outside my door just for these two to finish exams.

Speaking of which, you know none of the kids in the neighborhood like me.

They think my kids have a sad life.

And worse, they all blame me for corrupting their mothers. Seems like, all their mothers now make them study first and clean up their rooms before they let them out to play. Now what did I doooo????