ETA: I just thought of adding this line after reading all your comments. Its not just us who are trying to inculcate the good values on her. The major part is played by her school and teachers especially this year her school’s theme is around Manners and they focus on this.
It happened couple of weeks ago. M called me after dropping Adi at school and complained that this girl is acting weird. On that day they reached school few minutes later than the usual time at a time when her class has already gone upstairs and the next class was climbing the stairs. M had asked her to join the line so that she can catch up with her classmates as they reach their classroom. But, this girl refused. She said as her class has already climbed a flight of stairs and she is behind it means she is late and she will go to class only after getting a tardy slip from the office room. She did not budge to any of his cajoling and went to class only after getting a late slip from the school office. The icing on the cake is her teacher did not mark that day as tardy for Adi as the teacher herself had witnessed the unusual traffic on that morning. Thanks to the road work at our neighborhood. When M narrated the whole incident claiming she was acting weird I snapped back at him that, had I been there I would have asked her to do the exact same thing as what she did. I was brimming with pride on my daughter’s action. Please stay this way my sweetheart no matter how much ever you get exposed to the corrupted side of this world as you grow. I sincerely hope one day when you have to make a decision you will choose the right path if you happen to read or get reminded of this post.
Oh about going to school on time finally something has dawned upon M that he wakes up early (not really early but the time I expect him to wake up to be on time to school) from the beginning of this academic year. That means, Adi wakes up ahead of time and they reach school at least ten minutes before the prayer starts. The family that had struggled so hard to attend school assembly for the past two years is now reaching school ten minutes ahead of the prayer time. All credit goes to M who at last realized the importance of every second minute in the morning rush hour and made up his mind to sacrifice those 15 minutes of extra time at bed. It is an incredible achievement for us and I am super duper happy about this.
Another incident that touched my heart – Two weeks ago, Adi had Math test at school and as usual we were reviewing the lessons. Some of the concepts were new to her and she found it hard to understand thm. Especially, with rounding the number to nearest thousands, hundreds and tens. Ex: 6678. She rounded it as 7000, 7700, 7780 instead of 7000, 6700 and 6680. So, we were practicing with different numbers as a game while eating, reading, brushing hair, putting shoes you get the drift na, so that she understands it better. I kept my cool though she was repeatedly saying it wrong. After all this is completely new to her and I cannot expect her to learn it so quick. But, I was explaining the details and correcting her whenever she was wrong. How much of it really reached her was questionable as you all might already know about kids listening ability.
Much to my surprise, she scored full marks in that test. When I enquired about the test this is what she told me with a big grin on her face “I finished the test fast, scored 100 and my teacher asked me to help others with the rounding amma”. I couldn’t avoid that wide ear to ear grin myself and asked her if she wants a reward. At first, the girl jumped in joy and when I agreed to buy her something on our way back home she said this “Actually amma its you who had to get the reward. Its you who helped me with the test and you worked harder than me”. I was dumbstruck for a moment, hugged my darling and had tears in my eyes. I never expected her to say this. Seriously, I doubt if I have rewarded or even appreciated my amma for anything that she had done to me during my school/college years. Being kind to our parents after we grow up is different but at the age of seven I would have never ever said that to my amma. I would have only only demanded for my reward. When M treated her with a dinner at Pizza hut that night she told her father “Appa give the menu card to this lady (pointing to me), this treat is for her”.
I am blessed pattumma, blessed boundlessly to have you as my daughter. Please stay this way, unadulterated for the rest of your life.
May God bless you with long and happy life.
Between my littles and me 