Diary of a supermum: Demanding attention

Requests galore, as Maya has started stating what she wants with clarity

By Suneeta Rao

“Mama, please hold me?”, “Mama, will you sleep with me?”, “Mama, please smile for the camera! Say cheese!” – These, and many more such irresistible phrases, are part of Maya’s daily conversation now. She speaks in this polite, endearing tone, and states clearly what she wants me to do for her. This is particularly frequent when she is trying to stall her bedtime.

She will do everything in her power to stay awake and have a few more moments with me. She will toss and turn and give me instructions as to how and where I should lie – next to her, flat on my back, or not at all – where I should place my hand and how I should pat her – and this changes every few minutes, until I lose my patience, and adorable as it may be, I sometimes have to get a bit firm and insist that she just shuts her eyes and goes to sleep! She doesn’t do this when the nanny is putting her to bed – it’s only with me. And since she has been unwell for the last couple of days, I have been making sure I do, because this is when the child needs the TLC more than any other medicine. And what Maya needs, she demands!

For instance, when her father and I are talking, she demands attention by saying “Mama, Please talk with me – don’t talk to Daddy!” The first time she said this both of us just burst out laughing. But later on we had to tell her that it is rude to interrupt people when they are talking and that she had to wait her turn. She still hasn’t got it, though. I guess it will take a while!

Speaking of being unwell, I am absolutely fed up of this child constantly falling ill. She gets a horrible cold and cough practically every three weeks! And although I can keep beating myself up about this, the fact is, it really is quite common. The weather, the pollution, contact with other children – all these factors contribute to this. The doctors are always reassuring me that it is normal. But each time she is prescribed a host of colourful syrups I cringe at the thought of putting her through it again. She is a darling and happily drinks them most of the time – but I just wish she didn’t have to.

I believe this will develop her immunity. It had better do so, or else I am going to be one worried mother – if I am not one already. Bad enough that she has to suffer, but then she also lands up missing her music classes, which she loves so much, and of course school, which I can see she thoroughly enjoys too.

So this time I kept her home on the day when she was really bad, but the next day I took her to school despite the cold and cough – only to see that almost all the other kids going up the stairs had runny noses! This left me with mixed feelings – relieved that I wasn’t the only one sending a sick child, but worried that they would all just ‘re-infect’ each other! On asking the teacher’s opinion, she said as long as the child is not bothered by it in class, I could send her. And needless to say Maya definitely prefers going to school than staying at home, even when she is a bit under the weather. So bash on, my angel. As an old German saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!”