Be Careful What You Wish For

Our dear friends, M & J, had a beautiful baby boy last month.

Baby boy is so angelic and adorable. He is also very understanding and allows his dear mommy rest time by sleeping through most of the time.

I am incredulous because Dear Daughter is extremely active from the moment she is born. She cries, she squirms, she is awake often … she basically needs plenty of TLC from the get-go. So (irrationally) I asked my friend what her secret is in producing such a well-behaved little angel.

M happily replied that she prayed for a well-behaved boy throughout pregnancy. Each time she sees a well-behaved child, she would rub her belly and remind baby boy to be a good boy when he comes out.

At that moment, Dear Hubby shot me a dirty look which said ‘what were you praying for during our pregnancy?!’

Oops. Come to think of it, I think I got what I prayed for. When I was expecting DD, I prayed that she will be a healthy and happy child who is interactive and active. Guilty as charged. Next time I will save my wishes for the national lottery or such, since the fulfillment potency seems pretty strong.

I think that as parents and parents-to-be, we form our expectations on the kind of parents we want to be and transpose this into reality.

I ask myself what is the most important aspect I want DD to develop. The answer comes to me right away. A beautiful heart. It is most important to me that DD grows up with a zest for life, passion in her endeavours and empathy for others.

The best way to inculcate this is to model the behavior as parents and let her participate directly.

Whenever we pass by dead animals on the road (which by the way, there are far too many road kills in KL), I would always stop whatever we are doing and say a prayer for the dead animal with Natalie. We would pray that the suffering for the dead animal is short, that it had lived a fulfilling life and that it is now up in heavens running around happily and healthily every after.

DD is active because we interact with her in a rough-and-tumble way. I want her to experience life through its full spectrum of colours herself, not through reading or observing. DH and I converse to her from day 1, allow her to crawl on the grass as young as soon as she could crawl, let her fall and pick herself up and run around with her in the mall. 

Hence it is totally my fault when she starts somersaulting three weeks ago. Beats me how she figured it out though.