Thursday, January 24, 2008

The li'l Scatterbrain

Every school morning Nantu runs into school with eager anticipation. Mommy heaves a sigh of relief and rushes back home. Every afternoon as Nantu gets into the car his clueless parents ask him the same question
"What did you do in school today".
Nantu answers vaguely "I played".

Mommy asks predictably "What did you play?"
Nantu "Legos" or "Cars" or "Housekeeping" or "Dinosaurs"..

The answer varies every time the question is repeated!!! Still they ask the same questions everyday!! Every once in a while they dare to ask
"So what did Miss A talk during circle time"
Nantu is so clued in.. he knows that this is a trick question... and if he answers "I don't know".. or like he says "Edho pesina" (She talked something!).. they will pounce on him "Why do you go to school really? I wont send you to school from tomorrow"

So Nantu in all his creativity makes up stories "She talked about the monkey and the alligator... " or "She read a book about Spot's food".. or some such thing!! But his parents are clever too.. (as if!!) they check the note Miss A has sent home with a rendition of what happened through the day - as you can imagine it is in complete contradiction to Nantu's tale!! But the purpose is served, Mom and Dad are usually speechless after Nantu's tales!
After all these months, mommy has slowly started getting it (really how dense can she be?) and she finally told daddy this week "Oh he is a little scatterbrain.. don't ask him anything!!"
But then Nantu came home and brought out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket..
"See mom I brought this for you"

Mommy "Really Nantu thank you so much"
Nantu "See how there are so many colors in it"
Mommy "Yeah I do see that"
And here it is for you to see....
Coloring to Nantu has to be done as soon as possible.. So he grabs a few crayons and hurriedly fills the page, to move on to the next activity. Hence the result looks like above!! Mommy has tried telling him "Color neatly.. between the lines".. Nantu responds "See mommy, its all between the lines". Indeed it is!!
Anyway back to the scatterbrain tale... On some days mommy talks to Nantu's teachers when she picks him up.. and they give her glowing reports.. She wonders if Nantu has clued them in!!
"He is such a good boy" they say
"Really? My son Nantu?? Are you sure" She asks.
"He can recognize all the shapes do you know?" Miss J said one day...
"He can?" Mommy answered!

Some day's when she goes in to pick him up, there is some art drying on the table.. and mommy sneakily looks for Nantu's work, and amazingly he has done a decent job "I am not sure he did this all by himself" she thinks to herself!! One afternoon as she walked in.. Nantu was working hard.. and refused to leave!! He had been given a sheet of construction paper some glue, markers and some glitters.. His teacher sat and watched what he did with it... Here it is!! (Notice he has even made some faces.. that seem to be frowning... but are supposed to be smiley faces)
The point? Nantu's parents are clueless "Indian" parents who think a 3 yr old should do it all... Write, Read , Color, Sit in one place for more than 5 minutes, and what not! Nantu is a typical 3 yr old in a school that indulges him. He knows how to have his way, and most importantly have fun! He also endeavors to keep his parents clueless with his vague remarks and creative tales! And slowly his parents seem to be getting it.. Daddy did tell mommy the other day when Nantu was not within earshot "What's important is that school is a fun experience for him". Nantu can now finally heave a sigh of relief.. he has brought them around!! {wink}{wink}

21 comments:

Keith's Ramblings said...

There is no question - Nantu will go places! He seems to have everyone organised at 3! What will he be like at 33? I like him!

rayshma said...

:)
kids usually do bring their folks around, don't they! :) and heyy, he's no scatterbrain... he's just 3! :)

Aryan-Arjun said...

oh no..i think Nathu's parents are clueless and scatter brains..how creative Nanthus is..? Look at the scarp work he has done...
Aryan;s mom

Gauri said...

I agree with Nantu - School should be fun for them and they learn a lot more in such an atmosphere.

Kudos to nantu for having brought his parents around :-))

Unknown said...

Nantu sounds amazing. Now if I can take a printout and show the brat what colouring within the lines really means....and if you call him scatterbrained, what will you call the brat? *Hugs to the wonderfully clever Nantu*

Preethi said...

Keith - Nantu claims he is 33.. Yeah I wonder what he will be like as he grows up.. My hair is graying already!! :P
Rayshma - Yeah he is a typical 3 yr old.. and they are all scatterbrains.. or so we think.. till they prove us wrong :P
Aryan's mom - He is creative.. I give him that!! :)
Gauri - I agree which is why Nantu goes there.. but remember when we were 3, how much we learned in school??!! :P
Karmic Kids - All 3 and 4 year old seem scatterbrained to us.. in the way they seem to flit from one activity to another.. and forget what they did all day.. that was my point!! :P I have read a lot about the brat..and he is a clever little brat for sure.. all kids are.. a lot cleverer than us don't you think??!:P

Rambler said...

hehhe.. I totally relate to nandu when he says "she spoke something" :).. I hate it when someone asks about what you did whole day :D

Lavs said...

3yr old?? His work seems quite advanced for his age. And you know I share his status now-scatterbrain!!

Fantasies of a Lifetime said...

Its called modern art :P. . .i love the little scatter brain:D

Preethi said...

Rambler - Point Noted ;)But mothers will be mothers and kids will be kids!!
Lavs - :) Nice status to share.. I share it most times too!!
Vish - Modern art indeed... :) As for loving him we all do.. but that doesn't make him any less of a handful does it?? :P

Cee Kay said...

Clever boy, Nantu!

I am glad he is having a fun time at pre-school. It really is important to keep him interested and motivated.

Preethi said...

Cee Kay - Amen!! :)

Neera said...

"Nantu's parents are clueless "Indian" parents who think a 3 yr old should do it all... Write, Read , Color, Sit in one place for more than 5 minutes, and what not!"

Thats us too :( Kids do humble us, don't they, and in wonderful ways at that!

Hugs to little Nantu!!

You have an interesting blog :)

Choxbox said...

hi.

came over to tell you that its some coincidence that i did the preeti post and you came over!

btw the 'edho pesina' bit is totally relate-able!

Preethi said...

Neera - Yeah our kids teach us so much.. they really do!! :) Thanks for visiting
Choxbox - uhuh.. you mean it was a coincidence? I thought it was aimed at me!! :) I need to send everyone over there to read about the sweetness of Preethi (and maybe I will;)..

Preethi said...

I will come here again. Looks interestin! Running late here.

But You've been tagged by me! Pls pick it up from my blog

aMus said...

i was so sure i had left a comment here, because i do remember reading and smiling!!!

give nantu a big hug from me...for knowing what he wants and how to get about it too ;)

Preethi said...

Preethi - :) Will pick up your tag soon.
Suma - will pass on the hugs!! :) None for mommy for being victim to all his manipulations?

Preethi said...

Wow! that a wonderful piece. Really.
And his drawings and art work seems so cute. If you ask him to explain it, i'm sure he'll have a perfect story line to it. My daughter still colours everywhere but inside the pic given to her! i obv. wanted her to colour inside but then a young girl told me 'see how vast they think, without limiting themselves and you want to curb it and make her think within the limits! This happened in India. After that i've been very careful to keep the limits only with me!

Preethi said...

Preethi - If we let them be, they are a lot more creative and will surprise us everyday!! :) I thrive on such surprises!!

Prats said...

heheh, so the lil nantu is twisting you around his finger...

But such a creative kid...don't ask him to color between lines...
I trie dwith my young un and its given me headaches with his answers.. :)

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