I am a scatter brain and can be easily overwhelmed by little things yet big things do not move me. I have no natural gifts when it comes to planning in advance, whether it is holidays, meals, outings, love, hate everything in my life is about the moment and for the moment. Life for me should never be mundane....but lately I stand corrected. I have been made to realize the fact that as a mother nurturing a childs future in a super methodical country like UK, I have to plan well in advance. It took me five years and a child to come to terms that well in advance actually meant Before Christ. I was expected to book my childs place in school even before I properly understood my ovulation cycles. I did not understand this when my baby arrived as the diapers, her smiles and joys of motherhood stretched my mental bandwidth. The result of this indulgence has been devastating, I have now lost out on all good schools, where people have been waiting for five years, some are planning their second child but the place is booked and they have the tuition for the entrance exam ready to start immediately by the time the so called non existent baby starts teething. I am waiting grinding my teeth for a place when my daughter will be 7. I tried to book her into the best swimming lessons and was told that I have to wait for 2.5 years for weekend coaching and 1 year for weekday classes...so I am waiting again, secretly hoping that I am thrown out of my job in a years time or I win a million dollars in lottery so that I am free to take her for the weekday classes because weekend classed she stands no chance. I quickly realized that in this life if I want the best for my child, my long term planning is going to be on a never ending wait list. So I decided to start planning short term goals and shifted my focus on less sought after facilities. I tried to get her into the 2013 autumn break drama classes and swimming club two months ago and I was told that the places are booked 10 months in advance, God! 10 months ago was summer of 69. How on earth do parents know what they want? or better still what their child likes? I am now in line for 2014. Back home, money and talent may get you in and out of everything wonderful and fantastic but every aspect of life here is expected to be planned and painfully systematic. OOO (Out of the box) thinking or behaviour is not encouraged and innovation is not natural. No wonder when anything out of pattern emerges the city, life and the spirit comes to a standstill. But when it comes to basics and the normal, this system is efficient and rewarding for ones who know what they want and where to get it from. Maybe the planning and organizing is supposed to come obviously to parents but I am learning it the hard way, Unfortunately, so is my 5 year old, every second of her precious childhood days are now governed by the constant ticking of the clock and the dates on her diary. I personally needed these 4 years to understand my child and myself as a mother. It seems this is no longer the approach, one needs to take a head-start in life. This modern era requires a family to be fit for a marathon existence. I am discovering that there maybe a way to live in the future while mere surviving the present moment. As I finish writing this, my baby walks upto me and says. mum, lets go to Calcutta in 2 seconds and stay there for 5 hours..... I love a childs sense of time ....as long as it lasts... going by her genes it may last for 37 years...I hope not!!!
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 12:34:21 +0000
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