Monday, March 31, 2008

Help! The 'to-do' list is empty

I was suffering the constant gnaws in my conscience...Built triangularly around it with bold arrows pushing each side inward...you get the rather gory picture right?

Side 1
: Its summer vacation and I havent planned any constructive ways to occupy my childrens time. No holidays planned, no summer camps programmed...just the usual six hours at the creche where they can do whatever they please with fifteen other occupants of the space, who come in various shapes and guises - infants, toddlers, a resident grandma, a few ayahs and teachers, and one responsible seven year old.

Side 2: The never ending list of things i proposed to do around home when I get the time. SIMPLE ones like visiting the tailor, buying correct sized socks (of different, but unisex colours), coutning the number of spiders behind the TV; GRAND ones like installing the printer, figuring out the treadmill, growing plants etc.

Side 3: Work at office. If lesser elaborated, the sooner I can proceed with this post.

On Sunday afternoon, the husband was calling for a cab to take him to the airport... the smaller monster insisted that it too will accompany him on his trip(business) to Chennai....Why not! we said.... so we called to check about tix and BINGO they were off. Really and truly the monsters were whisked away by daddy dear to Chennai. And I have been alone ever since...(18 hours and counting the seconds...).

And now I seem to have nothing to do.

Friday, March 14, 2008

In response to the barrage...

kbpm's ranting on parental anxiety (among other things) made me recollect Peter Drucker sooth-saying (in 2000)about this century's revolution in human affairs.
"....In few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time, literally, substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choice...."
Isn't that quite amazing and so true? Our generation can actually can feel the effects....to make your work relevant or irrelvant to your education, to work (outside of home) full time, part time or no time, to raise children in any crazy way we think fit, locational and vocational choices across geography, to see eye-to-eye or fist-to fist with parents, in-laws, neighbours, the whole lot..the list goes on.

I confess I get stressed out thinking what will happen to seven year olds who have GREAT diffculty with spellings and letter sounds (one reason why I adamantly refuse to watch TZP), but I believe they will very shortly be mature enough to understand their shortcomings and find something off beat that they will excel and also be passionate about.