To be or not to be ...five!

Growing up is not easy and Abhay has had to learn this the hard way! Post his fifth birthday, Abhay has  come to realize that while he is entitled to many benefits, he is also ineligible to claim some of the privileges he once enjoyed as a three year old or a four year old! Ever since we moved back to India, Abhay has literally regressed back to his early years.  Gone are those days of “I can do it by myself” attitude! Instead, he needs help in every aspect his daily routine – eating, sleeping, getting ready for school, and ridiculously even for wearing his socks or shoes! Of course, the fact that he now lives with his doting  grandparents plus enjoys a 24/7 on-call support from his overly eager maternal grandparents has absolutely nothing to do with why my five year old finds it hard to act like ….well…..a five year old! 

When Abhay’s grandparents allow him a little more leeway than he deserves, I try to remind the grandfather-grandson duo that he is no longer the baby he used to be and is now five years old. So today I read “It’s Hard to be Five – Learning how to work my Control Panel” by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. A five year old boy laments the fact that he is no longer little and with a heavy heart bids goodbye to being one, two, three and four. In his considered opinion, it’s hard when to be five years old - his clothes no longer fit him, he is supposed to start school when all he wants to do is play, expected to walk everywhere when his little brother gets the stroller, he finds it impossible to sit still in class when his mind is racing with a thousand thoughts and is sick of hearing constant “Nos” and ‘Don’ts” from his mom, when instead he expects a ‘Yes” or a “Try it” even if it means aiming his ball at the juice box! In the same breadth, he realizes that being five means he is capable of building and growing things, knows when to walk and when to run, when to stop and when to go, when to push and when to tow. He can lie down alone in his big boy bed and dream of his past and his future ahead and whatever he does or messes up, it’s a start as he has a heart and a mind of his own! When I asked Abhay if it’s hard to be five? He didn’t reply immediately, in turn he answered this with a question “When will I be six, amma?” :-)