Today, on Father’s Day, my daughter gave me a wonderful
gift. Yes, every father has a day! I was glad, not because of the beautiful
gift (see my article ‘Who hates gifts?’) but the effort my daughter took
to grab extra pocket money from me to go to the nearby shop alone the other day
telling that she needed to buy some stationery urgently.
The question that I
asked her looking at the gift and reading the words on it, irritated her a bit.
Her elder brother also joined her in the displeasure on posing that to her. I
had asked: ‘Am I the best Dad?’ They both joined together and attacked me for
asking such a ‘stupid’ question. Though my son was angry with his sister for
deliberately omitting his name in the greeting card, he supported his sister
and was vehement that I shouldn’t have asked such a question to her when she
took so much pain to get beautiful gifts to mark the occasion.
I clarified my statement with a supplementary one and that
made them angry further. I told them that I didn’t think I am a great father.
Why I said that I am not the best?
How can I be the best dad, when I always put an inflexible cap on
the expenditure for your birthday dress and never allowed to have a birthday
party the way most of your friends had?
How can I be the best dad when I used to not support your
case when there was a dispute with your mother over selection of an item during
shopping? Being a minor you had to agree to the ‘wisdom’ of the old. (Read about my shopping skills here)
How can I be the best when I used to yell to wake you
up when you sleep comfortably in your cozy bed in the morning?
How can I be the best when I used to force you to have
vegetables and other dishes that you don’t like? (Despite me keep changing the
food preferences: See my confusion here)
How can I be the best when I used to show a grumpy face to
you after meeting your teachers? (Read the domestic situation after every parents-teachers meet)
How can I be the best when I said you don’t require
spectacles when you insisted on a pair because you can’t see the letters on the
board and all your pretty classmates have them. (Read 'An eye-opening stray thoughts'
How can I be the best when I shouted at you for not making
your bed and cleaning your room, even when there was a housekeeper to do that?
How can I be the best when I used to sit in judgment over you
watching your favourite TV channels? (Read about this: My son don't watch the news )
How can I be the best when I screamed at you when you raised
your voice just like me, learning from me?
How can I be the best when I refused to budge your desire to
have a better car? (See the arguments on the car here)
How can I be the best when I stopped you from sending you
for your favourite games? (See Why? )
How can I be the best when I used to tell you to interact
with grand uncles and grand aunts instead of gluing to internet? ( See Go back to roots )
How can I be the best when I used to be very stringent regarding
your extent of exposure in the social media? (See these: 10 unpleasant facts about Facebook. Privacy in a snooping world. Your privacy at risk in Google)
Tell me, with all these unreasonable restrictions, am I a
best Dad?
© Sibichen K Mathew Views are personal Comments welcome
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