Learning from my baby girl

In the last 14 months, my baby daughter has taught me many lessons and I have tried to capture them in this blog post. If you have a baby of your own and think I have missed out a good lesson, please let us all know. Chances are I slept through some of the classes.

The crying baby gets the milk
If you want a corner office (Indians should read it as ‘the glass cabin`) or the small laptop that your CEO has, or the US visit that the guy in the next cubicle is going on, ask for it. “Go get it!” as Sachin Tendulkar says in the Visa advertisement. If you don`t ask for what you want…you will never get it. If at all you asked and got it, just make sure the glass cabin has good vastu – else you might end up moving away from your CEO.

When in deep shit, turn to the right person for help
My daughter taught me this valuable lesson when she was just four months old. Though not a good ‘shitter` back then (babies on breast milk don`t shit as much as adults on junk food) Rhea demonstrated that a quick wail in front of the person who had the powers to clean up your shit helped. Even when I stood next to her, she turned towards her mother and started wailing. Needless to say, the diaper would be cleaned right away. The lesson is, if you in trouble (or deep shit, as they say) let the person who could/would help, know.

Don`t walk till you can crawl fast
This is one lesson that I knew but had forgotten in my rush to keep up with the Joneses. Most girl babies start walking when all of 8 months old…but in spite of being 14 months old, my daughter still doesn`t walk on the floor. She waited till she could crawl real fast (her record is: the distance between the sofa and the center table…crossed in 7 seconds). Now that she can crawl fast, she has started to walk on the bed. I am expecting in the next one month, she would start walking on the floor too. Makes immense sense…why would you want to do something that you don`t know how and get hurt?

Eat whatever you can
If you are looking to build your health, you should learn this lesson from my daughter. She eats whatever she can lay her hands on. I know people – and some in my office itself – who crib a lot about food. Like me my baby girl also has no dislikes for Brinjal, Karela etc. What would it take for you to learn this lesson from Rhea? Besides, people who leave go out for lunch because the one being offered in office wasn`t good need to know that ‘tasty food` is a concern only till you have a choice.

Get jealous of YOUR people
My daughter besides getting jealous of her toys (when we have visitors) also gets jealous of her mother and father. I expect her to become a little more giving ‘with her toys` as she grows up but would want her to be jealous about HER people. It shows that she loves us. Don`t believe me? Ask my girl friend from Mumbai, whom I keep doubting under the pretext of jealousy!

This post is a comment exchange between a Ouchmytoe reader called Funky Pants, here. Here are the comments:

Posted by Funky Pants | June 9, 2008, 1:32 pm

It seems to me that you are heavily into stereotypes.
That, men are untidy and women are the cleaners.
That, men generally don`t care if their food touches bottom wipers (toilet paper, I mean).
That, as per stereotypes, men do not indulge in housework.
That, women hit cars from behind.
Dude, let`s not forget that the days that women stayed inside, doing housework is over. And I`m sure you know that very well.
You know, I`ve been following your blog for a long while, even though this is the first time I`m commenting. But seriously, either my taste sucks, or our sense of humour just does not match.

Posted by Jamshed V Rajan | June 9, 2008, 7:01 pm

Funky pants….would be keen to know why you keep coming back if you think our sense of humor doesn`t match? 😉

Posted by Funky Pants | June 11, 2008, 9:33 pm

Right you are man!
Why do I do that?
I don`t know, maybe when I run out of things to read, I read your blog. Or maybe, it`s good for a read because you keep your posts short.
Seriously man, that`s good. Always, always, always keep your blog posts short.
Also, you have a cute daughter!
The first time I came across you blog, you`d written about her and it was a funny read. I come back in hopes of getting another such a read.

Other Funny Reads

# Bathing a baby girl
# Is my daughter a super hero?
# Baby sitting isn`t a nice profession
# Childhood & teething Issues
# The tonsuring & ear piercing ceremony

By Jamshed V Rajan

Jammy, as Jamshed V Rajan is affectionately called, is a wannabe stand up comedian. He has a funny take on most things but documents only some of them. If you are interested in chatting up with him, do drop him an email at jv.rajan@gmail.com or message him at +919650080255.

16 replies on “Learning from my baby girl”

I loved reading Rhea’s adventures..
Sometimes its all in the simple acts of life that we get wisdom.. 🙂

One of my colleagues had actually given a presentation making an analogy between gardening and management..

its easy to relate if one can realise the trends that we can pick up right from a babe.. or daily life..

Liked reading what you had.. so will be back..

i agreed with the first comment of funky pants; your answer was added with mirchi;
children are the real guide of parents; whenever i see my child i wonder how he is remaining happy in all situations; we are feeling low after coming back from vacations but for the child he is enjoying each and every moment whereever he is; this is the best lesson a person should learn in life; remain happy where ever n what ever situation u r put in :-))

Observations are nice to make… and to learn from ..

Ever wondered why people become parents at this age? coz smhow they need to be remembered the lessons they knew during their childhood…

Nice one Jammy .. 🙂

Cheers..

Hey Jam Shed, that’s cool.
See, this is what I mean.

“Though not a good ‘shitter’ back then (babies on breast milk don’t shit as much as adults on junk food).”
Or adults with diarrhoea.

They learned from our mistakes….
i.e….babies are learning from the parents before birth….Isn’t it????????
We were geting it realised only after giving birth to our children
not at the time while we were childrens….

Nice post. I have a 2.5 year old daughter and empathize totally. They are far smarter than we credit them to be. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I would perhaps add another one to the lessons: practice what you preach. If I want her to speak softly to others and not shout, I better be that way with her! She picks up our mannerisms in no time.

Learn to crawl fast before you walk.

Ok, my baby never crawled. Just started to walk early
Learning — Just take the enrepreneurial risk straight away. Do not wait to be 40 or be an effective SVP before you think you can run your own business.

Eat whatever you can

Ok, my baby gets what he wants to eat (he is 1.5 yr)
Learning — If you eat whatever you can, you never get what you want. Negates your first principle of crying babies get milk. If you smile at every brinjal or carrot, you never get to have ice cream.

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