Just like you!

We all love it when our kids turn out like us, don’t we? But along with everything else, what if they imbibe even those attributes of us that we aren’t proud of? Would it worry you or amuse you that your child is a lot more like you than you had ever imagined!! What if your child inherited all your quirks, phobias and insecurities or in other words turned out to be a mirror image of your own personality – how would you handle it? For instance, what if you found out that as a kid, you were petrified of water just like your child or was a picky eater, just like your little one?  Would you turn to your parents and ask them how they dealt with it, or if it was ever an issue back then, especially since most ‘early childhood troubles’ that we confront as parents today didn’t seem to bother our parents at all, when we were children!:-)

 I’m not sure if I’m making any sense, but today I read two books in which a grandma regales her grandchild of her own experiences of being a parent to her mommy/daddy. The grandchild is of course all ears to the stories of her mommy/daddy growing up. “Your Mommy was just like You” by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by David Walker is a book meant for girls who’d love to hear about their moms from their grandmom! Abhay liked the book meant for grandsons, “Your Daddy was just like you” by the same author and illustrator. Grandma recalls how her own son was born puny and red faced just like her grandson who in turn finds it hard to believe that his daddy was a baby and was also scared of the doctor! The little boy feels consoled when he learns from his grandma that his father too had found school tough and boring at the beginning, that he too loved to play but had not won every single time, and that daddy was subject to time-outs, just like him!  ( This was Abhay’s favorite part…I could see him smile at the thought of his own daddy being punished!) Grandma shows him pictures of his daddy speeding like a race car or playing a cowboy or rolling in the mud or splashing in the tub….just like him! Abhay felt relieved as the young boy in the book gets to know that his daddy was afraid of the dark and too scared to sleep with his door shut….. just like him ( and Abhay!) Finally, grandma plants a huge kiss on her baby’s cheeks …..Her baby who now has his own baby! So….when in doubt, just remember Abhay, nobody can understand you better than us because we are….after all…. just like you!:-)