Hearing the school bus noise Rishi’s mother would wait near the front door to welcome her son from school. Every day Rishi would come running from school bus bubbling with energy and wanting to share his school day with his mother. But today when she saw her son walking from the bus stop with his head hanging down, she became worried that some thing was not right today in school. She waited for Rishi to come near the door so she could ask him about his day. She waited patiently near the door.
Rishi, how was your day in school asked Rishi’s mother.
Rishi remained silent and he did not speak to his mother. But decided to continue going inside the house.
She decided to wait to ask this question again to Rishi after he freshened up and had a snack.
Rishi’s mother went about getting some Milk and cookies ready for him and set it on the counter. She decided to let Rishi sulk for some more time and went to watch some television.
This went on for about an hour, and she could not handle the silence and see Rishi sulking. So she went and sat next her son , deciding to get to the bottom of the issue.
What happened in school today that you are so upset and do not want to share it with me asked Rishi’s mother.
Rishi, I don’t want to talk about it.
Rishi’s mother starts to wonder: my son is in 5th grade and see how angry he can get.
She see Rishi’s book bag in front of the couch he is sitting on and decided to pick up the bag and open it so she could see his home work.
Rishi’s see his mother’s hand going near the bag and immediately pulls the bag from his mother’s hand and tells her not to Meddle with his bag .
She is shocked to hear that Rishi would not allow her to open his book bag. When she is the one who opens on a daily basis to get his dirty lunch bag out.
Feeling hurt and realizing that the problem lies in the book bag, she continues to sweet talk to her son.
But Rishi continues to tell his mother that she meddles with a lot of his stuff and she should not check his book bag as he is a teenager. He pulls the bag from his mother and runs away to hide in his room.
Wondering some thing is wrong with Rishi, and not being able to pursue this argument any further, she decided to let it go until Rishi comes to talk about what is bothering him. She starts to go about her regular activities for the evening and starts preparing dinner.
It about 7:30 pm, Rishi’s mother decided to call him and his father for dinner. Rishi comes down from his room quietly and sits in his usually place to have dinner. Rishi’s mother sees that Rishi’s mood has not improved from the evening decided to talk about something else at their dinner table, she diverts the conversation from school related topics.
After their dinner, Rishi’s mother decides to go and check on him before he goes to sleep . When she goes closer to Rishi’s room she hears him crying and decides to go and console Rishi, she opens his room door and goes in. The scene of Rishi crying breaks her heart, immediately she rushes to her son and pulls him up and hugs him. Rishi starts crying even louder when he realizes his mother’s hand around him.
Rishi’s mother: Sweet heart, why are you crying. What happened in school today? Did some one bully you ? Did any one fight with you? Did any one hurt you? Please tell me what happened.
Rishi kept on shaking his head to all the question’s his mother was asking him. Rishi’s mother could feel how Rishi was trembling in her hands and weeping. Slowly Rishi pulled strength from his mother and decided to open his book bag and slip out a paper which he had brought from school.
Rishi’s mother collected the paper he gave and started looking through the paper. What she saw was Rishi’s math test paper, he had got an D grade for the test, and he was weeping because he was scared to come and tell his mother that he had failed.
Rishi’s mother started to console him, by asking him what happened ,did he not prepare well for the test etc. While talking and trying to get to the bottom of the issue, they both realized that on the day of test, Rishi was not feeling well he had head ache and was running a little cold. Rishi’s mother had asked him if he wanted to take rest at home, but Rishi wanted to go and take the test, so he told her that he would be fine and went to school.
Rishi was relieved with the way his mother was handling the situation, instead of judging him for what had happened. Rishi’s mother hugging him said that if he would have mentioned the reason for him being sad, they would have go to the bottom of the issue much earlier.
The moral of this story is never judge your children when they come with a problem to you. If you judge them they will suddenly realize that you are not approachable and will stop coming to you for help when they real need you.
The Daily Prompt – Meddle.
