Five important life lessons that motherhood taught me..

It is said that a mother is a child’s first teacher. What a mother can teach her child, no one else can. Absolutely true. But have you ever wondered what a child can teach a mother.  Let me tell you what my child has taught me and how it has changed me in these five years of motherhood which no parenting book or article could succeed in teaching me.

1. Patience
Or the lack of it. Yes, I was patience personified before motherhood struck me and mostly everyone I know would vouch for it. But my patience got impatient as soon as my child learned how to play with it. Oh yes! They sure know how and when to twist your  arm and turn it around in their favour. By hook or by crook. And then all hell breaks loose.

2. Staying fit
Well, I have always been a little health conscious. Not a health freak for sure but a little watchful and liked to hit the gym more often than not. Yoga and Pranayam was not my cup of tea though, it was for older people suffering from health problems. According to me.  Fast forward a few years later, I’m convinced that if I want to stay calm, composed and stay sane then Yoga and Pranayam is the only respite to help keep my sanity intact. Older people huh? Bahhh.

3. Enhanced voice quality
Once upon a time, I had a voice so soft and low that even the person seated next to me would have to strain their ears to listen properly and figure what I said. Yeah we do exist. Or probably used to. The amount of yelling and shouting I did in last few years has significantly changed my timid mousy voice to a roaring angry lion’s voice. No mean feat, mind you. One more feather added to the cap after I became a mommy. Applause.

4. How to say No
For the life of me, I could not say No to anyone all my life. Ever. Till now that is. Now, all that I say to my child is No. No, you cannot do that, No, you can’t eat that. No phone. No TV. No shouting. No this no that. Phew! Sometimes even I forget that there’s a word ‘yes’ in the dictionary and it won’t be a punishable offense if I use it once in a while. Though it hardly matters as no one takes my ‘No’ that seriously. And I mean absolutely no one. Except me. The woes of life. Sigh!

5.To love unconditionally
Errr.. well unconditionally with an * mark.  Terms and conditions applied. Oh yeah. *Finish your milk if you want to see the cartoon. *If you want to go and play, clean up the mess first. *Mamma will be happy only if you behave well. *You’ll get a chocolate if you finish your homework fast. You get the drift, right?

On a serious note, there is actually a lot that we can learn from our children but do we have the patience, time and the sensibility to discover those life lessons that they inadvertently impart? We need to be in that zone of being a carefree, happy, trusting with childlike innocence to see the world through their eyes and it is sure to broaden our horizon and have a new perspective to life, if we succeed in doing so.