Life Lessons from my 10 month old
Being a mother teaches you so many things and makes you look at simple things from a different perspective. In the midst of the daily madness of diaper changes, late...
Submitted by Parul Bahl
Photo by Valeria Zoncoll on Unsplash
Being a mother teaches you so many things and makes you look at simple things from a different perspective. In the midst of the daily madness of diaper changes, late night feeding sessions and baby tantrums I learnt a few things from my 10-month old son which totally changed the way I look at things now. Read on to change your perspective too!
The first thing that he has taught me is to be Perseverant. The boy is learning to walk these days and he falls with every two steps he takes. Yet I see him pick himself up and start all over again. The grit is contagious. He just never gives up. He continues to try each day with the same enthusiasm even after getting hurt multiple times. This got me thinking that I am yet to meet a baby who stopped trying to walk because it was just too difficult. The lesson I learnt from this was if a baby who knows nothing about life can make it after trying so can I. At the end it’s the person who wins is the one who tried the longest not the one who tried the hardest.
The second thing that I learnt from him was to not be judgmental. He smiles and waves at every person without judging the person’s looks, clothes or background. As we grow older we become so judgmental. The first thing we notice about people is their looks, the clothes they are wearing and then decide what type of interaction we want to have with them. My son taught me that we must look at people with an open mind without our judgmental lens! Additionally, he also doesn’t care what the world thinks of him. He does what he wants to do. Which is not so easy to follow but still worth trying to imbibe for mental sanity.
He also taught me to express emotions freely. He laughs at the drop of a hat and smiles for no reason. He also expresses his displeasure openly by screaming and crying (disclaimer: this can be scary at times). Whatever he does, he does with full emotion. As we grow older we are taught to control our emotions. Cry in private, don’t laugh so loudly, don’t scream publicly even if you are angry are just a few examples of how we are taught to control and downplay our emotions. Slowly what we present to the world is not really who we really are. Babies don’t operate on that mechanism. They are so raw and untouched from worldly rules which makes them so real. Something we all can try to imbibe in ourselves.
Being a mother is not the easiest job in the world, but tough times are accompanied by a great deal of learning. The quote “Child is the father of the man” makes total sense to me now. As mothers it’s our job to teach life lessons to our kids but there’s so much you can learn from your child as well, only if you want too!
Parul is a working mother of an eleven-month-old boy. She loves reading and writing. She is an HR professional and soft skills trainer. In her spare time, she loves blogging and baking.