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Home - The School For Parents

Home - The School For Parents

6 mins
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I found myself in the most traumatic state as I signed on the declaration papers that read “The management shall not be responsible for the loss of life”, at a hospital reception. I could feel the sweat underneath my shirt, throbbing of my own eyes, the screams of my wife vibrating in my ears and my heart racing at the speed of light. I gathered my guts and walked the hallway, I climbed the staircases, walked passed rooms only to realize that my footsteps were transporting me and my mind was pointing fingers at me for this day. My legs stopped at a huge door that read SURGERY.


I was among the most successful businessman in the city. Yet, my work didn’t keep me physically away from my family. I was socially active, renowned for my sense of humor and always carried positivism on my sleeves. Apart from my strenuous work life, I was passionate about driving and writing. I often scribbled my thoughts on a notepad and my wife and son always celebrated whenever they read my articles. My last post was just weeks ago that concluded with the lines “Hope is seeing the light in spite of being surrounded by darkness”. For some reason, my 8 year old biscuit loving son loved it and asked me to simplify it for him. Now, what does a 3rd grader know about the word hope? And what does the word darkness means to him? Moreover, what would I explain him? We laughed at his madness when we hear him singing these lines in his broken accent whenever I had arguments with my wife. He was a jovial person who loved listening stories, narrating stories and going on long drives. By the age of 4, he had become my biggest obsession as I could see a new me in the making.


Few years down the line, we were involved in tedious process of school hunting for him and we spent our days and nights with Google. The top notch schools in the city offered much beyond the text book curriculum and that fascinated me. Swimming, gardening, leadership skills, volunteer work, foreign language, sports, summer camps, public speaking and the list went on and on. “Will he be able to cope up with the pressure at this young age?”, my wife asked. Like every father, I would say, “I will give the best education to my son”“He would become a successful businessmen like me”. My pride often stood before her concern. His school life took off and it was tough time for us to manage our schedule, according to his curriculum. The school held various gatherings that made our presence as parents compulsory. I used to fight with my wife over this as both of us could not postpone our deadlines at work for his school. Many a times, we also got reminders from school management for skipping the meetings. Like all angry couples, we would argue, first blame then make up each other and continue with the life as if nothing had happened. We used to boast about the facilities at his school whenever we met our friends at social events. Even though highly qualified, we failed to understand this simple fact that our behaviors, habits and actions of ignorance were being observed by our son.


As days passed, his schedule became more tedious than ours. He would reach home exhausted like after all the above mentioned coaching and training. We would often scold him for messing up the rooms and would never ask him anything about his day at school. I had to concentrate on money making strategies and so I always made time for my emails and clients. My wife had to focus on improving the sales as she was into a target oriented job. Little did we know that our son was losing his focus due to our rat race. He used to be happiest on Sundays, he would forget about his school and live every minute of the day with us. We would hang out, go for long drives and play with him and he loved this day to the core. As time passed by, he knew that this was just once a week affair and gradually my 8 year old, biscuit loving son understood that his parents would find time for him only when they have a day off at work. The little fellow didn’t mind much and continued his mundane life.


As I stood at a corner in the hallway, I saw doctors rushing inside. I could not understand the affair as my blood had already frozen by then. His school teacher, who had ringed me to inquire about his health earlier the same evening, approached us and informed about the happenings of the day. My son had got hit on his stomach by football being played by elder students of the same school. The teacher’s words cut through my armour as I went back to the past. Earlier that evening, my son approached me “Dad, my stomach is aching”, he mumbled. “You must have eaten junk, go to mom and ask for medicine”, I rushed him away as I had scheduled an important client meeting. His mother had left the house by then to buy groceries. After about an hour I heard my wife screaming on seeing him lying unconscious on floor. As I recollected the incident, I was haunted by the lines mentioned on the declaration paper that I had signed earlier. “Why did fate do this with us?”, my wife with dried up tears and half dead voice asked me as she leaned on my shoulders outside the operating room. “Didn’t we love him?” “Didn’t we give him whatever he wished for?” “Didn’t we take him out?” “Didn’t we take care of him?” her questions echoed my ears. I asked myself “Was that meeting more important for you?”


Hours later, we were summoned by the doctor. “He had an internal injury on his stomach due to which we had to operate him. Had he been brought a while earlier, the infection wouldn’t have spread to this extent. By the grace of God, he is fine now”, he said. I thanked God with all my heart and broke down to my knees. The next day we visited him. I didn’t had guts to see his dressed up wound as that symbolized my ignorance towards him. After a while he opened his eyes and saw us in a state of despair. “Hope is seeing the light in spite of being surrounded by darkness”, he murmured. This day taught us that for an 8 year old, his parents are his hope and everything around him including the best education, food, vacation is a darkness that he cannot understand. As a father, I wanted him to teach him skills that I understood in the market, right at the beginning of his life. He in turn taught me the most important skill_ The art of parenthood.


After this day, I never boasted about his school and its facilities. I never compared him with anyone, not even with myself. All I learnt was never ignore your child, no matter whatever is at stake. You may lose a few dollars behind their silly talks, but what they lose at their childhood can neither be explained by words nor through them.



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