Tit for Tat

My elder boy is now 7 years, growing fast. He is becoming much more adept at taking care of himself, not only in those day-to-day routines such as bathing, getting dressed, eating by himself (at times reheating the food and eating) but expressing preferences for certain activities or types of books or foods, tying his shoe laces, doing his homework himself etc.

He is now a avid reader and recently into a book series called Diary of a Wimpy kid, glued to it most times. He has already finished most of it. I have seen, A Novel of Cartoons, The Movie Diary, The Ugly Truth, The Last Straw, Cabin Fever, Dog Days, The Long Haul…. of Wimpy series in his list of completed books and the the list goes on…

His loyalty to cartoon characters have changed over years from Dora and Diego to Micky Mouse, Thomas the Tank Engine, Doraemon to now to Pokemon. Ash Ketchum and Pikachu are his heroes now.

Not yet adolescent and no longer a young child a 7-year-old’s behavior and routines is been shaped by constantly balancing independence with reliance. His insistence and justification on certain things in the initial days was little difficult for us for being typical Indian parents.

He has this habit of taking bath and coming to living room in front of the TV without slipping into his dress. My wife keeps reminding him that it is a bad manner not to dress properly before coming to social/family space and lectures on personal and private spaces and honoring them, but more often he forgets in the urge to witness a pokemon challenge.

One day, my sister and her family was there at home and he did the same. My wife took the opportunity to bully him and make him feel ashamed so that he takes her tips seriously

Look at the 7 year old boy, Don’t you feel shy to come in front of people like this?

Like a typical 7 year old, he is certainly better tolerant going with the flow or unexpected situations than what was he one year back, looked at her and asked

You were fine to watch PK wearing nothing and seeing him, even though he was bigger than me, but not me?, why… why… whyy….?

He was quoting a movie, PK, we watched the day before. The introduction screen of the title character of the movie is similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator

My wife had no answer and then there was a silence for a while, then we all laughed together however later he had a timeout session followed by the tip…

Films are mostly larger than life and what ever you see in movies cannot be replicated or copied in our life. Movie is an entertainment just like Pokemon, we cannot do what ever Ash Ketchum or Pikachu doing in the series the real life.

Good thing is, It worked!!!