Ola Amigo! How have you been?
I know I know I’ve been on a long hiatus.. juggling full-time work, child care, and household chores has been a bit of a task and I’m still getting used to my new schedules. Apologies for digressing .. I know you are wondering why I’m ranting about being busy while you impatiently scramble through my words to find out all about my kids superpowers. Not so fast. There’s a story behind it and here it goes.
After 18 long months of cutting Om’s hair at home, we decided that it was time we faced our fears and took him back to the professional hairdressers. Why not?! The kid had started preschool and needed to look sharp, plus he was already exposed to all kinds of daycare germs anyway. With good masking and sanitization practices in place the Salon wouldn’t hurt, we concurred. Anxiously, we booked an appointment and went for it. Like most young toddlers, my child is popular for getting into an outrageous mood during his haircuts. Something or the other is always wrong – right from the sound of the clipper to the hairdressers friendliness to the temperature of the hair dryer air. Umpteen nuisances bother him about this activity in particular.
We brace ourselves, and make a silent prayer before each of his haircuts. This is how psyched we are.
On the day of his haircut, he sat on the high-chair and sobbed while asking me to hold his hand. I did exactly that. Off went the clippers, behind the mask was a super friendly and nice young lady who entertained him with stories and at times just empathised with him while he narrated what really bothered him about haircuts. There was something different, something extraordinary happening here – he wasn’t screaming yet and there were no signs of tears either. I didn’t want to jinx it unless the whole charade was over. And it was within 10 minutes. With no sign of distress on Om’s part.
Anyway. No prizes for guessing that’s where we went to get his haircut the following month. There were 3 masked ladies in similar attires, of similar structures, similar voices, and what are the odds similar names (Krista, Christy, and Kristina). Even if you put a gun to my head I wouldn’t be able to tell who was the one who did Om’s hair the last time. Obviously I didn’t remember the name exactly either! Discount my husband here – it’s a miracle if the man recognises me in a mask!
Let’s go for whoever is available, I said while we were in the waiting area. Om stopped me in my tracks and pointed to the lady on the right who had just started cutting someone’s hair. “I want she to cut my hair.” The two other women tried being extra nice to lure him to their work stations. He yelled “No, I’m only going to let she touch my hair” pointing to the hairdresser who was already busy. We gasped and tried to reason with the kid – no avail. We succumbed in the hope to avoid any further embarrassment resulting from a screaming match should we force the child to get his haircut from anyone else except for the lady he presumed was his hairdresser.
After 15 minutes of wait, Om was seated comfortably on the toddler high-chair for his haircut and my anxiety was hitting the roof. What if this is not his hairdresser, what if he realises that and throws a tantrum, what if this and what if that. I decided to break the circle of thoughts by extending pleasantries with the hairdresser, and letting her know what a fabulous experience he had the last time.
She said “I know, I remember, I cut his hair last time.”
I retorted “I’m sorry it’s tough for me to identify faces from behind these masks.”
She looked at Om from behind her mask and said “How are you buddy, all settled in school?”
Om said “I’m good Kristy, how are you? I like getting my haircut from you because your clipper doesn’t make much noise so I didn’t go to the other lady.”
And then they went on to discuss his school and weekend schedule, and Frozen. While I stood amazed at my child’s ability to identify people by recognising their eyes and voices.
You see my 3.5 year-old kid has spent 40% of his life (which is 1.5 years) living through this pandemic like many other kids around his age. These little ones have known life very differently compared to us adults, and have been resilient to develop coping mechanisms that enable them to trust their surroundings despite the uncertainties. In this example, what seems like a superpower to me – correctly recognising people with masks – is the way his brain has been wired and learnt to function in the present times. Out of the 16 students in his class – all masked – he’s able to identify & name all correctly. Same with the teachers. Much like the rare acquaintances like his hairdresser.
We can’t do it – we don’t have that ability yet. Hence the label ‘Superpower’. Also, a Superpower is their Resilience!
On an earnest note, we parents will never completely understand what goes about in their developing brains and big hearts. What we can do is be empathetic towards them, understand what their life has become with the fear surrounding the pandemic, and the lack of socialisation that we took for granted growing up. Yes, they are a lot to manage, more privileged that we were, spoiled even but they are kids after all. They are perceptive and absorb our energies – positive or negative. They’ve been confined to their homes, yelled at by overwhelmed parents, and sobbed in loneliness without having their Boss-baby gang to discuss feelings with. That’s a lot at a tender age.
Cut them some slack, cut yourself some slack. Just breathe, enjoy the surreal life that we are living, and make the most of the togetherness that this pandemic has afforded us!
Cheers 🥂 Make it a good life!
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