The caring parents who ultimately need caring themselves with time

If I have to pick a chapter from the childhood days that are common to most children then it’s the one where the child eats his meals on the dining table with his caring parents. During breakfast, mom tries her level best to make the child drink milk but success eludes her. She has to lure the child with Bournvita or Milo. One tablespoon from the bottle stirred with the milk creates magic. The glass gets empty within minutes. Anything sweet and the child never refuses but anything green and healthy and the caring parents have to force it down through his esophagus.

The erratic eating habits of kids

Making the child eat green vegetables during the meals is another big challenge. The mom has to narrate the entire benefits of green vegetables. How vitamins are essential for the physical and mental growth of the child and how they are a rich source of energy. The child is just not impressed and the mom has to take the help of the father who is sitting on the opposite end of the dining table. Together the caring parents make a joint effort to make the child have his dinner. The child is bribed and allowed to watch a cartoon on the television. To achieve their target the child is encouraged to watch the spinach-friendly Popeye.

Health is a wealth

Keeping a child healthy is another priority for caring parents. There are times when the child comes back from school and is running a high fever. The mom makes a call to the dad in the office who immediately leaves for home. The caring parents rush to the doctor and get the medicines. Mom takes care of the child for the next 3-4 days changing the wet towel on his forehead, giving medicines on time, and keeping a close eye on the temperature. Dad keeps calling at regular intervals to check if the temperature has come down and if he is feeling better.\

And then comes a time for role reversal. The children are now well settled in life with a family of their own. On the other hand, their parents have started greying. While the first half of the family album is full of colourful pictures of parents with their young kids, the second half shows them in a new avatar of grey hair and wrinkled faces. It’s a reminder that the time has come for the children to take care of their caring parents.

The caring parents and their annoying eating habits

The dining table is the same but the seating has changed. And now it’s the turn of the parents to ensure that the grandparents finish their dinner. Mom has laid out the meal on the table while dad serves dal and chapati on grandfather’s plate. But grandfather has developed this habit of refusing everything that is served to him. Instead of a couple of chapatis, he will just have one. He will empty the dal from his bowl pouring half the quantity back in the serving bowl. He likes having rice but being diabetic is served a limited portion only. On the other hand, mom is still better but her diet is very limited. She makes it a point to have more green vegetables but being vegetarian her protein intake is very less.

Parents are still not convinced as both need to improve their eating habits. Granddad has to sacrifice his sugar cravings to keep his diabetic levels under control. Grandmom has to improve not only her food intake but also include a lot of proteins in her diet. That’s the only solution to overcome her frail structure and improve her low hemoglobin levels.

Times have changed. Parents who used to force their kids to have a healthy meal in their childhood are now being forced by their grown-up children to have the same. There was a time when mom would tie a bib around her son’s neck and feed him Cerelac. Today the grown-up son has to tie a bib around his bed-ridden mom’s neck and feed her khichdi with a spoon. It seems life has taken a full circle.

All is not well with the caring parents

When they were growing it was the time when the caring parents used to run after the doctors. Sometimes to the pediatrician for their vaccinations and sometimes to the physician for their regular health problems. Things have changed and now the same grown-up children take their parents to the doctor. A visit to the endocrinologist for granddad’s diabetes and the pulmonologist for grandmom’s deteriorating lung condition. Both, the husband and wife have to ensure that grandparents take their medicines on time.

The day the granddad came back from the hospital after his knee replacement surgery he saw his son bringing a walker for him. He remembered the day when he had brought a walker for his infant son to make him run around in the house. During the childhood days when the son was unwell and running a fever, mom would leave the bedroom light on just to check on him regularly. Now when the grandmom has an asthmatic attack, the son would keep his bedroom light on in case of emergency.

Grooming, making them ready, and taking care of them

The children needed a lot of time for grooming. From the daily wear clothes to party clothes and from school dresses to school shoes, everything was selected by the caring parents. Mom used to get up early in the morning to dress them properly for school. The daughter’s hair had to be combed nicely and made into a braid tied with a colourful band. The son’s shoelaces had to be tied up properly before the school bus came. While going out for a party the caring parents would ensure that both their kids were dressed up smartly. Mom was so fond of dressing up her kids that their wardrobes used to overflow with clothes.

Times have changed and grandmom is just back from the hospital after major surgery. She is bedridden and now mom combs her hair every morning tying her hair into a chic braid. Granddad goes out for his morning walk but takes time to tie his shoe-laces. Dad has gifted him new sneakers with velcro so that he doesn’t have to tie up his laces anymore.

The wardrobe that retires

Grandmom was so fond of dressing at one time that her entire wardrobe is full of silk and cotton sarees. Despite having so many sarees hanging in the wardrobe grandmom finds comfort in a loosely fit cotton salwar-kameez.  Granddad has a collection of formal black and tan shoes but he finds comfort only in his sneakers gifted by dad.

It seems that with the greying of caring parents even their belongings have also started greying. And before the time comes when they will leave for their destiny, it’s time to become caring parents of them.

You can enjoy reading more such stories on my blog. Click on the link below:

The Grandparents and their walking stick standing in a corner

The loving grandparents and their childlike behaviour

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