I'm not your friend!

Abhay resents being told to stop doing anything he is engaged in – to stop playing, or stop watching TV or stop drawing or stop whining or stop shouting or stop holding me tight! The minute we utter the dreaded STOP word, Abhay gets upset and declares that he would stop talking to us instead!  All kids resist transitioning from one activity to another, especially when it comes moving from something they like to something they spike and the only difference being the mode of resistance chosen. How does your little one act when you inform him that it’s time for homework, dinner or bedtime? Does he whine or sulk, or create a fit, or take to satyagraha and refuse to heed to your orders, or does he go on the offensive declaring you as persona non grata?!!:-)

Last night, we read about one such fox who was angry with his mom for not letting him continue s play! “Im not your friend” by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Kim Lewis is a charming little story that sounds too familiar to be in a book! Once upon a time, there was a little fox who loved playing with his mother in the fields. They play running games, sneak-up and pounce games and stand-completely-still games and many other games until the sun goes down. The mother fox feels that it is  getting late and tells the little fox to stop playing and get ready for the night. As every kid does, little fox protests and continues playing hide and seek. When mother fox assures him that they would continue tomorrow, the impatient little fox is not ready to wait until tomorrow. He plonks himself on the grass and asks her to go home without him and that he is not her friend and will never be her friend again! Soon it is dusk, and everything turns quiet when the little fox senses somebody watching him. When he realizes that it is his mother after all, he persists on being miffed with mom and says “I wont be your friend for a long long time” when his mother asks how long is a long time, the little fox indignantly replies “until I’m big”! His mother then gives up and heads home leaving little fox alone in the woods. As he hears the eerie sound of wind blowing the meadow grass, little fox is scared and feels its time to soften his stand against his mom. He shouts “I can be your friend tomorrow” and hopes that his mom has heard them! When there is no response, the little fox begins to wonder if his mother has after all left him. As he gets up to look for his mother, he sees strange shadows everywhere and he decides to run and runs as fast as he can to find his mother waiting for him in the last of the daylight. Secure in the presence of his mom, he no longer feels intimidated by the dark. Delighted that her little one has come around, the mother says “I hope you will be my friend tomorrow” to which the little fox stretches up to whisper into his mother’s ears “You don’t have to wait until tomorrow. I am your friend now”! His mother is relieved and says “Im your friend too and do you know what? I’ll always be your friend!” Both Abhay and me loved the book and in fact I felt that the dialogues of the little fox may as well have been Abhay’s words when angry!  A great read when your little one no longer wants to be your friend! :-)