Education begins at home

 Through this post I want to share a small yet very meaningful and relatable story. 

Today in the kitchen while I was cutting apple for my son, my maid said that bhabhi bhaiya ko bhi de diya karo. wo kha lete hain agar koi de to( mam, please give to sir as well. He eats if offered) and this has been happening for quite sometime when my maid expects me to take care of my husband for each and everything. I have always politely said to her that ok didi, I will give. I will take care of it but today It was a different day. I felt that this needs to stop. What I am going to teach my son that he can't take care of himself and he always needs someone else to take care of him just because he is a boy. 

I explained it to her that your bhaiya (sir) is not a child. He can pick himself and eat. Fruits are always kept in basket and if he needs it, he can anytime ask for it. 

She replied that with babies, fathers also behave like baby. Mother should take care of baby as well as papa. 

This simply irritated me but keeping myself calm I said that if you cut fruits for me, I will also eat. Not just papa, mumma also feels lazy about cutting fruits for herself. 

This was a very small incident. Infact after this conversation, out of guilt I gave fruits to my husband on his table and honestly speaking I don't mind it, I don't see any problem in cooking or serving food to my husband. Infact, I and my husband both love to cook for each other. 

What bothered me is my maid's expectation from me just because I am a woman and it is my responsibility to take care of my husband's diet. 

Then later I thought society doesn't change in a day. It takes decades to bring a change and change begins with me. I have always seen my mom serving food on table/bed to me and my brother. But I don't want to repeat this. I want my son to develop good habits(which are gender neutral, healthy, empathetic) from the beginning. We can't change people but we can definitely educate our kids, who are future of the country, to make a better world, a world that is worth living for all,  world that is equal for all. 

Our girls should not grow believing that they are just born to serve others , sole purpose of their living is to cook, wash dishes, serve others, prioritise others before themselves etc. etc. and our sons should not feel handicapped who can't take care of themselves, who are incapable of cooking, doing household chores. For this we need to bring up our kids in gender neutral fashion. 

Remember home is child's first school. It is the place where they begins to learn Hence as a parent, it is our responsibility to give them happy and healthy environment, to set right example in front of them. Kids don't do what we ask them to do but what they see us doing.  

Let us know in comment section how did you like this story. Do share your mommy and daddy stories with us. We would love to hear it.