What do you want to be when you grow up?

Abhay is always fascinated to hear stories from my childhood, stories of the mistakes I’d make as a kid and the punishments I’d receive from my strict parents who are now his doting grandparents! Believe me, once your kid is interested in knowing about your growing up years, your most embarrassing moments make the most entertaining stories  and all of a sudden, you are thankful for them!:-) So one day, after hearing one of my funny stories, my darling son stumps me with his question “Amma, when did you grow up?” to which my husband replied “Well….not yet”!! 

Anyway, when I spoke to Abhay about growing up and what he wants to be when all grown up, he announced that he wants to be a daddy like his daddy! Well….sweet…but not exactly the answer I was looking for! In order to direct his thoughts towards what was in my mind, I read the book “When I grow up” by Al Yankovic. In school, everyone is asked to prepare a “Show and Tell” project about ‘What will I be when I grow up” and Billy can’t wait to present his project. When the teacher Mrs. Krupp asks who wants to go first, Billy raises both his hands. Billy starts off by saying he plans on becoming the greatest chef ever, the one who makes rigatoni sautéed with black truffles or shrimp flavored lollipops. That’s not all, he also has a whole list of back-up plans – to become a snail trainer in a circus, or a gorilla masseuse, or an artist who sculpts out of chocolate mousse, or a professional pickle inspector or a dinosaur dusting museum curator and so are his innovative ideas to make a living. When Mrs Krupp asks him to pick only one amongst the whole range of vocations he’s presented, Billy remains unfazed and claims that he’s only eight and is allowed to have his options open and further declares that he may just have time to do all of those things!” So I asked Abhay what he wants to be when he grows up, to which my four year old replied “A truck driver”!! Okay…that’s at least a start…I thought!