After feeling the thrill, extreme happiness, wonder, responsibility, little fear all together this parenting thing brings you to the stage where you will be surprised rather muddled at each and every moment. (Actually good for the couples, I have seen many of them complaining about missing the surprise element after marriage!!- your baby will surely provide you with it.)

If it wants to, it will for sure.

The baby with the mother comes home and gets a warm hearty welcome in most of the families. And if the family is not with you (living abroad or having been abandoned are few common reasons!) still, the mom and the baby are welcomed very affectionately. Whatever the parents have learnt till date about parenting comes to an end here. Now, you are about to step into an area where no theory works, but practical(s)!! The baby gets wallowed into its favorite activities like, crying, sleeping, crying, feeding on, crying, defecating, crying and the list goes on. You as a parent would start adjusting with its schedules, managing yours well too. But as I have mentioned it is like a roller coaster ride, you try to keep everything up and the baby has to work very little to bring it down naturally!!:) As if you have come home thinking of having some rest, the baby is not feeling well and you’ll have to rush to the doctor. Then whenever you people try to spend some quality time together, the baby is ready for a show time (though its routine says that it sleeps almost 16–17 hours a day and 2–4 hours at a time!!), When it starts babbling, it keeps on chattering its favorite words making funny faces the whole day and you can’t stop it but if you think of showing this to your guests or friends, god only can help you to make the baby do the same!! These are a few of the observations or the experiences I have been through. But trust me you will have your piece of cake too.

To see the baby growing is an experience out of this world. I pity those people who keep on complaining that their children are not growing up as per their expectation or in simple words they are not getting the returns against what they have invested in the child!! There is no standard bar of a child’s growth actually. Yes, technically there are measures for it like it would teeth at this age or start speaking at that age or we can say about its physical and mental development. But if your baby is not fitting into these general measures, you as parents need not to panic by listening to others or comparing your baby to others as well. Your baby might take more time compared to others. (Here, I am not including the medical cases. They must be dealt differently. But if doctor says that your baby is normal then you can stick to this.) What you can do is to keep a check on its being healthy but can’t push its growth. It is not in your hands. What is in your control is proper nourishment, a healthy environment, little extra care and lots and lots of unconditional love!

A long way to go for both the generations!

You may have to face few stumbling blocks while working on baby’s evolvement process. Usually, in today’s contemporary society there is a zone of discomfort between the first-born forbearers and the new-born parents! The new-born parents think that they solely own the kid and no other person in this world could think about the felicity of the kid better than they can. Equally the torch bearers (the grandparents!) think that no other person can give a better upbringing to the baby as they can because they have done it remarkably well in their kids who’re now parents. We can’t turn thumbs down for any of the generations as I think both the ends are right but here what needs to be worked up on is Attitude!! They can or I would say they should become each other’s helping hand instead of competing to each other as everything here we are talking is about parenting. All the “Parents” can do this parenting thing in sync if they intend to. Time-honored experience and modern techniques together can help the baby grow faster and healthier. The integration of both the generations can change the picture not only for the baby but the family also gets benefited. And finally this bonding gets reflected as total growth. Unfortunately vice-versa also happens but we are not going for those distressing experiences here.

Which category?

The elfin has grown little more and you have another pull in your ride. ‘How’ and ‘What’ rolls out when it comes to the food habits of the baby. The babies can be classified into two categories here. One who are among the Angels, they can eat anything that falls into their plates as food! You provide them with any damn thing in time and they just grab, swallow and dispose the thing in no time!! It’s done! The other category I am talking about is blessed by the Lucifer ;), they are so determined for not eating a single thing you have made putting immense hard work in it. They are the artisans who keep on demanding their food to be a great piece of art however it could be a dish of hodgepodge garnished with margarine (it’s just Ghee-Khichadi)!! Still there is no guarantee that the kid would finish it. It MIGHT not. So, you need to be prepared for its eleventh hour break. And now days the woman expects the man to accompany her with this too!! (May god bless you with category-1 child! I’d pray.)

Same can happen with the baby’s sleeping habits. Both the categories work exactly the same as they were doing with food. The Angel ones sleep anywhere and everywhere when the parents want them to and the children blessed by Hades himself keep on their mean business being strong willed!! They actually don’t sleep when you need them to but would definitely when you want them to be awake. So is with their other habits and schedules. “Just keep on working” is the only formula the parents are armed with. (This is about parenting but don’t forget your list of household work to do! Just kidding, everything gets scheduled once the baby allows it.)

Isn’t it unforgettable?

Can we now conclude that this parenting is as enjoyable, exciting and most importantly unpredictable ride as the roller coaster is?? Yes, actually it is much more than you expect. Believe me it is something unforgettable that the parents cherish their lifelong.

Don’t you remember the smile on your parents’ faces while telling the stories about your childhood?? That is what you get when you’ll step down the ride.