As the doorbell chimes, Kaveri returns home with her nanny from her friend’s house on a dark winter evening. Elated yet tired after a long day of fun and frolic, Kaveri frantically searches the house for her mother, Kiran, to tell her about how exciting her day was. Kiran (Kaveri’s mom) is enjoying a quiet evening by herself. Kiran has too occupied with her own herself and does not ask her daughter how her day went.
In addition, rather than serving her a meal, Kiran advises Kaveri to warm up and eat yesterday’s leftovers if she becomes hungry. Kaveri’s excitement turns into disappointment. She wants to share everything with her mother, but her mother never has time for her. Nor is she interested in . Kaveri always wanted her mother’s attention, which she never got.
She felt bad when her mother never came for the school Parent-teacher meetings. Kaveri always got the scolding as she could not complete her homework or the project work. She hated her friends as their mother’s used to make different hair styles for them whereas Kaveri always tied an untidy pony tail.
Kaveri gradually started to withdraw from all the class activities. Her performance in the class started to deteriorate, and she would often stay aloof in the lunch break. Her friends started complaining that she doesn’t talk to them anymore, and prefers staying alone.
Kaveri’s teacher tried to contact Kiran, requesting her to visit the school on the PTM to discuss these concerns. But Kiran did not have time to meet the teacher and ended up missing the PTM. She later gave an excuse and tried to justify her absence from the PTMs held in the past three months.
The school counsellor reached out to Kaveri and tried to interact with her. And in an attempt to understand what she was going through. Kaveri became increasingly comfortable with the counsellor, and even took a lead role in the annual function. She was very excited about the function and ensured that she reminded her mother about the time and date of the event repeatedly.
On the day of the function, Kaveri kept looking for her mother and kept gawking at her while reciting her lines. Kiran however, was so occupied in emailing and texting on her phone that she did not even bother to look up on the stage. Kaveri’s eyes turned watery as she saw her mother’s disinterest, and she away down from the stage.
What went wrong here? What should Kaveri do as a child? Should she keep on begging for her mother’s attention? Or should she retract into a shell?
Stay tuned for more “Food for thought – from Principal’s desk” An initiative to make parenting the most enjoyable part of your life.