Speaking up

The perils of being a working mother who is not there at home for the kids all the time is getting painfully clearer. A son whose speech is not good enough for a 4-yr-old in today's competitive school world, a daughter who cries and clings on to me when I prepare to leave for work - sometimes she is just playful and asks me, Amma evide pova (mom, where are u going)? I reply, Office. She then tells me, Amma povalle, Vaava oppichi pova (You dont go, I am going to office) - and two kids who are not chubby and healthy.

Ash had his first meeting with the speech therapist, Mrs. Vijaya, at SMF yesterday. We were told she was good and she does look good - I mean not just in the looks dept., but she seems like a capable, non-nonsense person with a nice, loud, commanding voice who might do him some good.

She tells me I have to be a bit more stern with him. She judged he is restless, not hyperactive. That his speech didnt evolve well possibly because he hasnt had much adult/parental interaction - she instructs that either of us have to be at home early to talk to him more and do as she tells us. The 20-minute sessions that she is going to devote for him is only to help us parents learn what to do to help him speak more clearly.

She first gave him colored rings to stack and he did them fine. Next she brought out a board book of pictures and he named them all. Only he didnt get certain words right - car, school etc. - and he will have to learn to put his tongue in an upward motion more. She will need a bottle of honey, spoon, crayons and an unruled notebook to make the next class interesting for him. The fee is an average of Rs. 150 a session.

Tailpiece: Ash carefully kept his sandals on the shoerack outside the department. He saw mine protruding a bit and pushed it in. When Vijaya asked him to sit on the clean wooden rack to wear his sandals as we left, he told her: It is dusty! It amused an elderly couple waiting to see the eye doctor next door. They asked me if he was just as finicky about things at home. I said: "Somewhat". "God bless you!" they told him as he bid them goodbye.

V tells me that the last time Ash went there for an Audiometry examination, as part of his adenoid tests, he had placed his shoes on the rack carefully while everyone else's (adults') footwear were lying all around the rack. It won Ash a loud applause from all the OP patients seated there.

I guess what we do is what they learn. I wear a pair of rubber slippers in the house but not into the bathroom. But once when I broke protocol and walked into the bathroom with it, Mira cried out: "Amma, remove your slippers".

Talk of being role models!