Saturday, December 31, 2016

My daughter's ears

Everyone seems to be wanting to take ownership of my daughter's ears.

I've been staying at my hometown with my parents for a few months along with my daughter. I go out with her twice a day on an average - once to school and once to the children's park where she meets many kids of all ages during her circus like activities and I meet many parents. We both have a good time. When we meet parents for the first time, we hear,

"Hi baby! What's your name?"
"How old is she? Is she going to playschool?"

That's the information they'd like to get.
Sweet, comforting and friendly conversation. In fact, it's during these conversations that I made the wonderful decision of enrolling her in a nursery for the few months that I was there. She loved it, had a lovely time and became more social and interactive because of school.

Then I went to my native place and stayed with my in laws for a while. We visited friends and relatives. During my entire stay, we (my daughter and I) only heard unwelcome complaints,

"Oh! She's so thin! She should be just a little more plump."      WHY? EYE CANDY?
"You haven't cut her hair?"      DO YOU WANT TO SELL IT?
Me : "Oh yes I did, many times"
"Oh (scrutiny continues) maybe you should cut a little more here and here"
My mind yelled : Why don't you just go and style your own kids' hair? 

AND the most common, "No earrings? You haven't got her ears pierced?"
Me : No.
They : WHHHYYYYY!!!????
The way they asked 'why', it sounded like I was being questioned for not keeping my child clothed!

I wanted to tell them, "My wish! I am the boss here and I will do it when I feel like it. Why are YOU in such a hurry?" but instead I just shrugged and said, "Later"

Some people keep telling me every time they see me that babies don't feel the pain of piercing.
What a dumb myth! Babies are crying anyway. Another bout of tears makes no difference to people around. Piercing at a time when a kid remembers nothing that happened to them an hour ago, is done just so that they don't tend to fidget with their ears.

I want my daughter to remember this ritual, the pain and the joy that follows in spite of the pain. This is my decision for my daughter and I wish people would stop interfering.