The Classes We Go To

The Classes We Go To
------------------------------------

Tejas attends a number of classes.

At nine months, he started with daycare at a nice lady’s, followed by different daycares, depending on my whims of getting him the best.
At two and a half, we did the parent-tot gymnastics class. They sent us home after three classes, as he was running around the whole gym.
So I waited, and waited patiently till he was old enough to understand that there are rules and those rules have to be followed, unlike home where rules are made to be broken, also old enough to go in without me. phew !!
The triumphant three arrived. I put him in all the classes I knew: swimming, soccer, tee-ball, basketball, gymnastics, keyboards, ice-skating, dancing and ballet. I was sternly told to back off from Tae Kwon Do and Violin till he is able to follow instructions without the instructor having to move his arms and legs to different places.
At a frivolous four years of age, he is currently pursuing academics at the best Montessori we delude to afford, soccer, basketball and swimming at the Y for its cost effective and good sports programs, keyboard at Yamaha for its good reputation and prices and Kumon Math for its reputation which comes with a hand-sum price.
The other classes have dropped off his roster for various reasons.
And again, I am waiting,  waiting for the fervent five, so I can take a swing at Tae Kwon Do and Violin.

I have been running in this headless chicken mode, trying to provide my son with the best of education in the form of academics, an active lifestyle with a lot of sport activities thrown in, a ear for music in the form of keyboards, hopefully violin and my muted attempts at teaching sa-ri-ga-ma at home, as the Indian teacher takes only five-plus students. They don’t have the wherewithall to do song and dance jigs to three and four year olds.
I make it a point to drag my nearly-two year old twin daughters to all the classes, so they can learn by sheer osmosis. I haven’t really thought if I could possibly do all this, for all the three, which I know I can’t, so haven’t thought about it, not just about yet.

And in all this time while dragging my son to classes, getting him ready, coming back cranky, to feed the cranky kids, I scowl, shout, scream, yell, stress and strain myself. I rant and rave at times, trying to communicate the fact that I am spending lots of time, money and effort on his classes and he better learn, he should consider himself lucky and be appreciative of my efforts. In my distress of not being able to manage my own three children, when I feel things are slipping and they are managing me, their incessant demands for putting on the television, refusing the food, ordering a completely different menu than what has already been cooked and served, sends me clenching jaws and jamming fingers into the keypad trying to call my husband in the middle of his evening and night office meetings to say he has no idea of what I am going through and needs to be home more, so he can help me with shuttling them to tonnes of classes. Winning the bread alone doesn’t count if no one is having a good bite at it, including him.

And it is at these times when I am behaving badly, when I am not proud of myself, when I cringe when a stranger catches me in the unrighteous act, it this then I take a step back.
It is in these times, when I am being my worst, I think the really real things that I have to teach and pass on to my children, the really true things that i need to pass on, are kindness, goodness, softness, calmness, truthfulness, courteousness, gracefulness, graciousness, thankfulness, courageousness, cleanliness, leadership, compromise, valour, modesty, humility, helpfulness, humour, sympathy, empathy and elegance in thought, word and deed, none of which i am exhibiting at the current moment. These virtues and qualities require no money and less time and effort than all the classes put together. Just as Hinduism is woven into the fabric of life, I need to take the time and effort to weave all these virtues and qualities into our lives, and that will be the greatest legacy I could have passed on to my children. And guess what, this is all within my grasp and within me. And guess what, I don’t even have to teach these things, all I have to do is practice. And by sheer osmosis, my children will absorb it all. The seeds of good virtues and qualities would have been sown in them, day by day, moment by moment.

These qualities coupled with any talents my children hone, is a dynamite, potent combination which will spiral them upward and there is no stopping them and whatever life throws at them, they will be able to catch it, make the best of it, and probably take a class of it, after all.