The Lovable parents and their irritating habits that irk the kids

As our children grow so do few habits of their lovable parents. From playing devotional songs to pulling the curtains in the morning in the children’s bedroom are habits that will die hard. Parents will always be lovable but if God can take out this one habit it will make them even more lovable. It seems that mornings are never peaceful at home. Dad is interested in the latest updates on university admission. Mom on the other hand is busy checking if the children had wished their Aunt a happy birthday yesterday. This activity is repeated on a daily frequency making the children think about when they will get a break from it.

Parents on the other hand think when their lovable children will live up to their expectations. The world outside is full of hardships and struggles and to face it the kids need to learn life skills. To start with punctuality comes at the top. This war zone results in a daily casualty. As a result, either the son or the daughter goes on a non-talking term or starts a non-cooperation movement.

Areas of dispute

The areas of dispute are many. First and foremost are studies followed by etiquettes, mannerisms and the list goes on and on. For the lovable parents, study occupies the prime position as they consider it to be the first step in the ladder of success. The expectations of the lovable parents are always high when it comes to studies. They want their kids to get admission to the best school or university, always scoring ‘A’ grades, participating, and excelling in debates and extra-curricular activities. For this they expect the kids to be studying most of the time and this becomes a bone of contention.

On the other hand, mom places a lot of emphasis on etiquettes and mannerisms. Whenever Bua or Mausi comes home kids are supposed to welcome them with a namaste, ask them for a glass of water and spend at least a few minutes with them. If they are going out for a social gathering then they need to be dressed properly. Dressing properly is a grey area that often creates a rift between parents and kids. A ripped off jeans is a total no whether going out for a family function or a friend’s birthday party. But implementing it is a challenging job.

The lovable parents and their non-ending stories of childhood struggles

Dad often narrates how grandpa was strict with him and would make him get up at 5 am for studies. The son though is not convinced at the logic. He contends that studying at midnight when the whole world is sleeping is better as he can concentrate more. Also, the result in both cases is to get good marks irrespective of the timing of the study. Judging based on when son gets up for studies is irrelevant.

Traveling daily to school and college in public transport and spending the entire academic year in just 2 sets of school uniforms are part of the narration. Pocket money was limited and how one had to excel in studies to lay a claim on an expensive gift like a bicycle, unlike today where kids think it is their birthright to get a gift without any conditions attached.

Mom shares her experience of how she learned the art of multitasking from her mother. She used to help her mom in cooking while parallelly preparing for her exams. Apart from learning cooking skills from grandma, she has also learned knitting and stitching. The etiquettes and mannerisms that mom always insist are something of a legacy and that is why she is so keen that kids should learn it.

Though her success story does impress the kids when it comes to taking a lesson or two from her life experience, the answer is a big no. The argument presented is that times have changed and the skills may be helpful but are not a necessity.

The never-ending tasks that the lovable parents delegate to their children

This is one of the most irritating habits of parents that kids just hate. Dad has this habit of entrusting them with either locating his reading glasses or fetching a glass of water. Entering the lovable parent’s bedroom in the evening means they will be taxed with a task. Dad will ask the daughter to slow down the speed of the ceiling fan or handing over the television remote. Son is entrusted with a more technical job like downloading a new app or helping dad search for a new laptop charger on Amazon. The kids feel that just seeing them in their bedroom makes parents remember some odd job that they can themselves do easily.

On the other hand, the mom will ask the daughter to help down lay the dining table for dinner or help her in cutting salad. If the son has gone out to market with his friend he may get a call from mom asking him to buy daily groceries like a packet of milk or bread.

The daily habits that exasperate the kids

Dad is fond of all kinds of music and plays it loud on Alexa. In the morning it is a devotional song of Sai Baba and in the evening it’s Jagjit Singh. They understand the purpose of playing bhajans at a high pitch in the morning. It is to wake them up! Dad has restricted access to the kid’s bedroom in the morning. He therefore uses a strategic sound wave that enters the room without any restrictions. Dad had this habit of pulling the curtains early in the morning in kids bedroom. His thinking was simple. Let the natural sunlight do the job of waking the kids in the morning. This led to a lot of dispute. He only relented after several warnings from kids and mom. Now he is barred from entering the room.

The kids have done a lot of research on who is Jagjit Singh and why does dad love his Rona-dhona Gazals. They have looked for answers on Google and Quora but failed to find an answer.

The techno mom

Mom on the other hand becomes a techno-wizard once the iPhone lands in her hand. She can surf and surf for hours. The kids are surprised to note that in terms of mobile usage mom beats them by a ratio of 2:1. Once mom is in her social media world it becomes difficult to communicate with her. If the daughter enters the parent’s bedroom asking mom for her opinion on her new dress, mom will just nod even without looking at her. So engrossed is she surfing Insta and FB for a new dress that she doesn’t have time to appreciate a real-world dress.

While going out with friends son tries to inform mom about it. But so busy is mom meditating on her mobile that it just doesn’t register. However, the moment he steps out he gets a call from her asking about his whereabouts. Kids feel that mom needs a detox session.

And so the dispute continues with both sides sitting across the Line of Control staring at each other.

You can enjoy reading more such stories on my blog. Click on the following links:

The loving grandparents and their childlike behaviour

Life Skills: The art of making your children street smart