Through my nephew’s eyes

My nephew went back home yesterday and at the airport he told me ” Sarah, I don’t want to go back home”

My nephew is 19 years old, his mom loves him more than anything else on earth, but for him everyday life at his home is a nightmare.

These are the things according to him we do differently

We always eat our meals together. When food is ready, I ring the bell and everyone stop whatever they are doing and come for dinner. It doesn’t matter if they are halfway through their favourite TV program or that they are not hungry. After dinner, we usually talk about our respective day. I ask each of my kids how their day was, how is their boyfriend/girlfriend/current crush etc are. Then we talk about politics, current topic is Greece economic crises.. ( Yaya mentioned slowing down of Chinese economy last night, so perhaps we will talk about that today)

We always say goodnight to each other and my children usually do not go to bed without giving me a good night kiss. ( If I annoyed them sufficiently enough, then they won’t give me a kiss and I spend the next few days complaining about how mean they are even though it was I who bugged them, I seriously believe in my maternal rights to complain)

We play board games whenever we get a chance. I still sit with them and play Monopoly ( When I was the banker, I did give myself extra dough when no one is looking, sadly I have been banned from being the banker and no longer get to build a lot of hotels and win the game)

I have never once told my children to study. ( This was his biggest surprise, that all three of my kids either read novels or go out with their friends instead of studying whenever they have free time/holidays)

Our love for long distance drive. ( Before coming here, he has been to the beach twice in 19 years and since coming here, we went to the beach 8 times)

Our messy house. I had friends over for tea and my house looked like a pigsty. ( My house is already small and I have so many kids staying over night) Apparently his mother cleans the house if a courier is dropping a parcel to the main door.

What he didn’t like was my rule ” I cook, you eat” Apparently his mom makes three different types of meals most evenings so everyone ( his bro and father and him) gets to what they like. She doesn’t cook vegetables because according to her, no one likes vegetables. I am a strong believer of the idea that fussy eaters are created by their mothers. I believe in feeding my kids a balanced meal and we have salad/veg with every meal and my nephew really struggled when I told him he can’t leave the table till he ate one serve of the vege.

According to him, no one ever talks to each other at his home, both his parents are very busy with their work and everyone eat whenever they are hungry. His father comes home from work late, sits in front of the TV till bedtime. His mom gets home,spend a lot of time in the kitchen to cook the food that she thinks will make each of the family member happy.

I read this sometime ago

” I think there are roads that lead us to each other. But in my family, there were no roads – just underground tunnels. I think we all got lost in those underground tunnels. No, not lost. We just lived there.” Benjamin Saenz

6 thoughts on “Through my nephew’s eyes

    • Nitha: We eat early, around 7:30 most days ( unless there is a basketball match).. it gives me enough time to cook after I get home and then clean up the kitchen after dinner.

      • In my home we eat around 7.30/8 but its like a restaurant model..Kids eat first then myself and husband eats when he is hungry…..One way its good he keeps all the left overs back in fridge , but i miss eating together as a family after reading this.

        • Nitha: Try eating together.. it is so much fun and you can catch up with the kids..( a family that eats together stays together)

  1. In my family, it’s mixed. Some days we eat together, other days we don’t if not all of us are together. However for some families there are reasons for this. Now with work schedules, it’s a bit hectic. By the time I come home, my dad has already ate dinner and gets ready for bed (he has to leave for work by 4 AM). My mom and brother are still at work and come late, so I eat dinner alone. So I don’t feel it’s the end of the deal if the family don’t eat together all the time, though I agree it should be encouraged. We def do get together when we are together, especially for a special meal. So for us, it varies. As for being stern on eating everything, I’m just curious and feel like I want to come to your house, ask you to make eggs and also drag my brother along because he won’t go near any room that has ‘egg smell’ to it. I just want to see what the reaction will be if you make only eggs and my brother has to eat it :p My mom has tried to have him eat eggs..never worked.

    That said, your house sounds like fun. I do love board/card games, and share my intake regarding novels as I love them too. I’m not sure about not telling your kids to study, they perhaps have the brain where they don’t need to study at all. I don’t have that brain so I do need to study.

    • J1206: My children have very strong foundation ( something I worked really hard..to ensure that they never rot learned something), which makes it very easy for them to understand what they are learning and I don’t see the need to tell them to study.

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