Shakeel proudly brags that next year he'll be 14 - when he hasn't even reached his 13th birthday this year yet! This really freaks me out, since he informed me that I will be 40 next year! I had to remind him that I'm not even 39 yet - so stop making me feel older than what I am!
I always remind them to savour their youth - and, in particular, their childhood. I want them to appreciate and make the most of every moment while they're experiencing it, so as never to have to look back with regret.
But I suppose it's normal for children to play games in which they emulate grown-ups. In my childhood games, I always wanted to be the teacher (emulating my parents and school teachers), a detective (thanks to my obsession with Nancy Drew) and a shopkeeper (I have no idea why).
One morning I saw Nuha (7) holding her tiny chalkboard (15 - 20 cm wide) on her left palm, while punching at it with the fore-finger of her right hand. Was she trying to kill ants which had crawled onto her board? What on earth was she doing? Her dad, with a smile on his face, then informed me that she was working on her Galaxy Tab. The smile, no doubt, was because she was emulating him.
I caught her at it again this morning before school
I thought it was cute, but embarrassingly, I couldn't help but wonder why she was not wanting to be more like her mommy. Why was she not copying me? I hadn't seen her pretending to cook or changing her teddy bears' nappies in quite a while. I'd never seen her yelling, "Do your homework or you'll never see a TV again!" at her dolls. What was wrong with what I do? Am I not cool enough?
But I decided to stop being such a baby and to be supportive of her new favourite activity instead. So I went up to her, saying,
"Wow! You look busy".
She nodded without looking up.
"Are you typing out a document for work? Or are you doing schoolwork?" I asked, stepping into her world of make-believe.
"No, I'm blogging," she replied without looking up.
I beamed with happiness.
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