So here I am, starting a blog. Having taught about them at ACJ for a while I have finally created one for myself. With an internet connection that is barely faster than modem speed, I never thought I would start a blog. But here I am. In the same week that I have joined Facebook and created a discussion forum for a friend. Interesting, how things seem to happen in clusters.
But what does all this have to do with Daily Parenting? Well, I hope to write about what it means to be a parent – one who works from home and takes care of his one-year old daughter while his wife goes to college. Zak had asked us to start this blog a year ago, when M was born but the last year has been busy with parenting, rather than writing about it.
Parenting, I have come to realise is a Daily affair. It is unremitting. Anyone who has taken care of a child for more than the casual babysitting, will agree that if there is one thing that parenting brings with it, it is a sense of the never-ending. I don’t mean the smelly diapers or the messy rooms. I mean you can cease to be a friend or even a spouse but a parent you will always be. For life. That is tremendous.
M has been a blessing. Truly. We asked for her. And we got her. To think each of us, yes you and I including, have grown up similarly, when life was truly one long ceaseless exploration. Everything is worth her curiosity. The forbidden (such as plug points) more so…The manner in which she approaches a new object: if it captures her interest, she does not grab it; on the contrary she takes her hand to it tentatively, and stops tantalizingly close to it before pulling back her hand; she smiles at the object – she knows it is not going away in a hurry; she then reaches out to hold it carefully in her hand before caressing and twirling it lovingly. Such a sight to watch. Makes me think of how adults tend to grab what they want while she savours the gap between observation and sensation.
This was originally published in the Daily Parenting blog in August 2007.
Featured Image: Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash
Leave a Reply