Your kids are what they see and understand!

I have a daily ritual in my house of telling a story to V & N before their afternoon nap time. The ritual is not my story but what has to follow it. They are both supposed to tell me a story each too. The rules are simple:

1. Their story HAS to have a moral like mine has
2. They can take cues from what I have just told ( which is invariably always the case!) but it has to have something original of their own

I practice this daily as it gives them an opportunity to imagine and gives me an opportunity to peep into this imagination and know how they are assimilating the various strands of information and influences on them.

What happened in this session yesterday must be shared :)

I start:

"There was a cobbler. He worked very hard all day mending, polishing or making shoes for others. While he did this for others, he himself had no shoes . He would walk bare feet from his place of work to home without any footwear. One night his son asked why he didnt buy himself any shoes? The cobbler told him that he earns just enough to provide for his son's books, clothes and shoes as he has to go to school everyday and he is absolutely used to not wearing any himself. The son was very disappointed so when everyone in the house slept , he took his fathers tools and some pieces of leather and made slippers for him. When the cobbler woke up next morning he was elated to see his son's hardwork but told him to not worry about his father and study to become a big man."

As I ended my story I turned to my very attentive sons to give me the moral of this story.
Both say: We should always help our parents.

I was fairly satisfied by their comprehension and now it was their chance to come out with their stories.

Nevaan goes first : ( For all those who do not him, he is barely 3 years old but his attitude does not match his tiny, lean frame! He is called the " Raja Saahib" at home for his tantrums)

"Ek Raja Tha aur ek Rani thi. One day woh Dono Mall main gaye......aur unhone pata hai kya shopping ki? They bought shoes for themselves :)"

His moral: If you dont have shoes, go to the mall !!!

I was recovering from this story still when Viraj said he was ready with his

Viraj goes like this: 

" Once there was a Dhobi! He used to wash everyone's clothes all day but he himself had very less, torn clothes. One day his son asked why he did not wear good clothes himself. The son said he could also make him some clothes but agar woh needle se kaam karega then he might get hurt! So the Dhobi said- Dont worry Beta. He took his son to the ATM - like Papa goes na Mom when you ask him for money- and took the money from that machine. Uske baad unhone market se kapde kharid liye!! "

I was smiling at him when he asked- Mom, cobbler kyun ATM nahi gaya??

He says his moral is:

Every problem has a solution Mom. Aapko sochna chahiye tha apni story main :)