Right to be..

When I was in 7th Std, I attended a Sunday school camp organized by the CSI church. The preacher was talking about friends and asked those who do not have friends to lift their hands. I almost did, but noticed that no one else had their hands up and chose not to be truthful. I have always liked my own company and I am fiercely independent. I talked to my classmates, but that was it. I didn’t share any secrets or visit their homes.

However my older two children are very popular at their school and have a large group of friends. I often have 4 to 6 kids in my home for sleepover most weekends. My youngest on the other hand never has a friend over. Her siblings think her lifestyle is very unhealthy and how many ever times I explained to them that I was just like her when I was growing up, they constantly pick on her.

Few days ago while we were having our dinner, my son asked baby ” So, what do you do during lunch break?”

She replied ” I sit in the library and read”  ( I know why she is doing that, library is air-conditioned and why would you want to run and chase a lame ball when you could sit in the comfort of an air-conditioned room and read to heart’s content)

The older two practically pounced on her and went after her saying ” only those with learning disability/social interaction disability stay in the Library during recess, how could she spoil their reputation? Her behaviour is not acceptable, blah blah blah they went on”

I tried to get them to leave her alone, but my attempts were futile. Baby waited for them to finish ranting and then spoke

“You know what, I have right to be a loner. I was born this way. It is like being gay. You know gays have a right to be gay because they are born that way and I have a right to be who I am”

The look on Yaya and Toothless’s face was priceless.

I thought baby handled the issue very well.

8 thoughts on “Right to be..

    • MS: Yaya’s best friend is gay and she is going out as his partner for her semi formal next month, because he doesn’t have a partner and she didn’t want him to be alone.

  1. Does baby gets included in/participates with her both older siblings, or it is same at home, just like school, staying isolated from both siblings. Sometimes, parents/siblings form some preconceived ideas about a child, it can hurt the child in building relationship within household. Such as labeling a child quite, rabel, book worm etc. Every one has a different mood on a different day, but labeling/or let siblings label, is not healthy. Sometimes older siblings, specially whom parents think are bright, and others, who they thing are average, can cause this rift.

    • Joan: you are getting confused with equality and fairness. why would my child be excluded in family activities or treated differently?

  2. that made me smile 🙂
    Probably because I am the same !
    Yes I have the right to be a loner 🙂
    To be honest I prefer my own company than surrounded by all the fake smiles !!!

Leave a Reply to Sarah Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *