Parenting experts say that the best way to build trust with your child is to practice what you preach. While I managed to refrain myself from being hypocritical in my last post, this one did not quite go that well.
You see, when you are nearing thirty and being around a toddler most of the time, something goes wrong with your hormones and you tend to act more feminine than ever. Sometimes you want to wear that pink lipstick which has been lying around instead of the usual nude shades. Or spend a fortune on a new haircut that makes you look like a zombie. In similar lines, I suddenly had this urge to bake Meow’s third birthday Cake since there was ample time left to learn(read 9 months). But I quickly realized I was better off watching them being baked on TLC than to fight with the flour and the dough eating cat I have at home, all at the same time.
One afternoon, I Moved away from the television right after Rachel Allen’s cake diaries, to prepare lunch for Meow. I left her unsupervised, periodically calling out her name to check she was on the couch and hadn’t moved. I wrongly assumed TLC couldn’t go beyond cakes or large hotel rooms (and may be bikinis which she would quickly disapprove saying “puppy shame”). The show that followed was amusing alright, but back then I had no idea how it would back fire on me. She on the other hand, leaned back on the couch, crossed her legs and enjoyed every bit of it, both the show and the consequence.
When I came back with her lunch in a bowl and a spoon in hand, she closed her Mouth with both her palms and said “No ma. Please”. I told her that a small girl on TV ate “Mumum”(food) and so Meow should also eat Mumum . She promptly opened her mouth when I said “Aaaaa” and gulped down a spoon full.
What followed was the scariest moment of my life. After gulping down the food, she went straight to the yard like a winded up toy, brought in a dead beetle the size of a pea, almost shoved it into my mouth and said, “Boochi aaaaaa”.
Apparently, TLC was showing someone travelling around Cambodia after the cake show. Meow particularly recalled the segment where the host ate some insect delicacies popular there and compared it with the little girl eating “Mumum”.
If she is supposed to eat “Mumum” because a little girl on TV did so, then Amma is supposed to eat insects because some one like Amma on TV did so. No ?
P.S.: The thing I have drawn in place of the beetle is not pea-sized on scale, I agree. Please bear with my squiggling skills.
