Memory of Kids: Cold War

After kids arrived, I started taking them to the society park and they loved it. As soon as they got off from the laps and their legs would touch the grass, they would start running. I decided to teach them to have closer look at nature. So, after we reached the park, I sat down and started touching the grass. Kids joined in and they started snatching the grass! And they made it a routine. Once in the park, they would spend the first couple minutes every day picking the grass! Those were the first few days at the place and our kids had not made friends yet. Then soon one day, our daughter had a company.

One day when we reached the park, we found another girl of the same age as that of my daughter. She had come with her mother. The little girl was unusually over-weight and her mother too was very over-weight. When my daughter saw her, she went to her with both arms open and extended – that was perhaps her way of greeting. But the other girl ignored her and did not respond. She did not even look at her! My daughter noticed that the other girl had not responded and then she moved on. We started playing usual games and kept to ourselves.

After a while the other little girl came to my daughter carrying a rubber ball, expecting some interaction. But this time, to my great surprise, my daughter just ignored her and moved aside. It happened once more after a few minutes – the girl came to my daughter and my daughter just ignored her and kept doing her stuff. It came as a shock to me. Was I witnessing a ‘Cold War’? Can little girls of 1.5 years of age execute such a ‘Cold War’?

After that, both girls played on their own. Whenever my daughter would reach near the other girl, she would behave as if the other girl was like some object, like a tree or an electricity pole. She just ignored her existence!

This was a new lesson for me. How often in our life we are offended by same person repeatedly just because we choose to be “friends” again? Sometimes people would offend us and if we say something in retaliation they would act as if we have offended them. “But I merely retaliated, while they had started it!”; “Come on, if anyone has right to get offended, it is me!” All logical arguments fell flat in front of such tough people. But my little girl showed me that day an alternative response. She stood up for herself and took revenge on the other girl for ignoring her by giving ignore to her in return. I wondered if girls are good in such psychological acts from such early age!

Rahul Tiwary