Story of Sabeena

A story told on the fly to a girl who needed a lesson on being neat and tidy.



There was once a girl named Sabeena. Sabeena is six years old.

She loved to play with her friends. Playing is her favorite activity in her whole world.

She never wanted to miss even few minutes of her playing time. So she always ran out to play before her mother could finish doing her hair everyday. Her hair would be messy always. Her room would be untidy always.

One day, a camera man of a shampoo company 'clean clean' came to Sabeena's house. He said he wanted to meet Ms. Sabeena. Sabeena's mother told him she is out playing.

The camera man went to the play area to find Sabeena happily playing with her hair all messy. He told that he wanted to take a picture of her. Sabeena let him take her picture.

Next day, there was Sabeena's picture in the news paper as an advertisement for 'clean' shampoo. Sabeena's friends made fun of her and laughed at her. They all started telling her to use to 'clean' shampoo.

Sabeena was very unhappy. Sabeena's mother told her the importance of being neat and tidy. Sabeena promised her mother that she will keep herself neat and her room tidy from now on.

Since when Sabeena changed herself, her friends stopped making fun of her. After few months, the camera man of 'clean' shampoo company came to their house again. He requested Sabeena and her mother to let him take a picture and this time it is definitely different. Sabeena and her mother agreed reluctantly.

Next day, there is an advertisement of 'clean' shampoo with Sabeena's picture. The advertisement is asking all girls to be as neat as Sabeena and to keep their rooms as tidy as Sabeena's. Sabeena was very happy indeed.

I believe -- kids know how much to eat

Yes, I strongly believe it. If we ensure the right food items available, they eat just as much they want.

I see many mothers feeding aggressively to kids to the point that they throw up everything fed. I feel bad thinking from the kids' perspective. I know how the body feels throwing up after a full forced meal (thanks to morning sickness). Worst of it, the puke stench lasting for the whole day somewhere. So the kids might be going through the same.

If the kid has particularly less appetite, providing rich foods is an option. Packing required nutrition in less amounts. If the kid eats alright, then regular items should be good enough. Providing and most importantly exposing right foods is the best thing we as mothers should be doing.

Challenge is in identifying what kind of an eater is the kid, and then chalking up list of good healthy foods to be provided. This done, I think we need not bother about running behind them for food.

Before going any further, let me affirm that I am not able to follow what I said earlier keenly. It is a tough task, but at the same time I cannot run behind the kid forcing to eat; especially when the kid clearly indicates i-am-not-hungry-anymore.

Hunger is a basic instinct. Babies cry when hungry. Kids also express hunger - probably in different ways. Kids getting unreasonably cranky could actually be a strong indication of wanting some calories. We should respect their hunger and come to believe that they really know how much to eat. 

Plus, all this is not my wisdom. There's a famous saying in Andhra, kids even if they selectively pick up seven grains of rice and eat it themselves, it is equivalent to seven elephants strength. I sign off with this old wisdom.

Paper house - craft at home