“Motherhood is a choice you make every day to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach hard lessons, to do right thing even when you’re not sure what the right thing is and to forgive yourself over and over again for doing everything wrong”
So what does my daughter see when sees a ‘Mom’….Find out more on my article written for Women’s Web at http://www.womensweb.in/2016/04/mothers-day-ferns-n-petals/
Kruti (also pronounced Kriti) is a Sanskrit word which means creation. It is what I named my daughter. This poem is for my daughter. She is my little bird, eager ever to explore, help around the house, my little fairy who wants to wipe out all pain and misery of the world with one swish of magic wand. She is a dreamer who plans to travel far off lands, wants to take us to places which we haven’t seen. She also fights with me, gets annoyed but senses my moods to and comforts me. When in doubt, she looks up to me and if she sees me keeping an eye out for her then she is confident that nothing bad can happen to her….that is her faith in me. She is the best of my creation….. my Kruti.
Yes, I am a worried preteen’s mom. I know my daughter is growing up and very fast indeed(her clothes are just not keeping up!!) and I am just not prepared for it. I want the years to stop rolling by and let my baby stay a little girl for bit longer….
She is still so carefree and so innocent. Though the need of the times demands that I explain to her about the good and the bad touch but it breaks my heart to see the scared expression on her face…
Dealing with the Hannah Montana craze of hers is easier as long as it ends with all her stuff imprinted with the image of teenage pop star but what about the ideas of having a boyfriend at such tender age. I hope she doesn’t get influenced by such ideas….. What if she rebels?
Ah! and now I will have to prepare her mentally for the stressful days every month for the rest of her life… I remember my initial days… I felt lost, scared, punished, hateful, angry, irritated, agitated and dreaded the next month. I remember the sudden restrictions, consciousness and the smirking knowing looks that the teenaged male classmates darted at the girls. Oh! how I despised being a thirteen year old with so many things to deal with…. studies, physical and emotional changes and the unsuccessful attempts to get appreciation in whatever I did!! Yes, I am worried for her because I do not know whether I would be able to ease off her pain, anxiety and be her rock… I just wish she wouldn’t suffer.
It’s a bad, bad world out there and even if she does listen to all the “Dos and Don’ts” that I tell her yet there are wolves lurking on every turn… It is so disturbing mentally and emotionally to hear wayward comments mouthed by illiterate, rowdy and perverted men while walking down a street. No, O Lord! please let her not have any bad experience…… I wish I could protect her from all bad things in this world… I wish the world were a better place to let our daughters venture freely into…
Yes, I am a worried mom of a preteen daughter and this is again going to last forever….at least till she is strong enough to deal with her own fears, insecurities and her own worries….
Shoma Abhyankar 