Parenting is never easy : A typical morning in our household

Mayhem starts early in the Gupta household - the son has to go to school , and to do so has to catch the school bus ,and for him to catch the bus the whole house  has to run around. And because we are all running around , often  falling over ourselves ,and of course over each other, tempers are on short fuse .

Sample a typical morning :

The alarm rings –of course on time. I know it is on time and so allow myself the luxury of two minutes more of snooze time.. The husband gets into the act before that. He pokes me,  always managing to do so on the least fleshy part, so that my first word of the day is 'ouch', to announce," hey! the alarm has rung". Having contributed for the day he turns on his back and -can you believe it- goes back to sleep. Well, silently contemplating ways to bump him off one of these days- a fact he kind of knows- I get out of bed .The fun now starts. I heat the milk and wake up my son .It starts cordially enough.

Me: baba, good morning. I love you ( I announce this first thing because very soon things start to slide downhill and I just manage  to stop short of giving him one 'tight one'.
Baba: hhhmmm
Me: baby, wake up. Mom has got your milk. Baby wakes up and smiles at me(my baby) and stretches his hand for the milk.
Son: mom ,its boiling hot!!
Me: no, its not.
Son: yes, it is
Me: no, its not.

Five precious minutes later I am back with the milk. He drinks it slowly, nursing it like it is a glass of 'the finest'.
Me: hurry up. You need to go in for your bath.

The boy gets out of bed and shuffles to the wash room . I dash back to the kitchen to organize his tiffin. The maid has still not made her entry. I debate mentally if I  have time to wake her up .Good sense never prevails so early and so I get into the act of waking her up. Five more precious minutes go, but I have woken her up. I hurriedly slap on some eggless mayonnaise onto sandwich bread, squirt some mustard sauce, arrange tomato slices and the sandwich is ready. Run back to the children's room. He is leisurely wiping himself- first one toe, and then the second...  My daughter has woken by now. We exchange terse good mornings. By this time the boy is on the shirt stage. This is when we discover that a button is missing.  I ask him how it happened.
He : "how do  I know?"
 Me: "who else will know?" He gives me an injured look. I give him an angry look. My daughter runs to his cupboard to take out another shirt. He wears the shirt. The phone rings. The maid runs in with the phone. We know and he knows that the phone will be for him ( always a classmate asking  what work was supposed to be turned in that day !!) and so he also runs. They collide and the phone falls. Crash !

Now ,we are on to the badges pinning stage.
Me : Hey, the badge pin is broken. How did it happen?
Son :  how do I know?
Me :  well, who the hell (yes, things are sliding downhill by now ) is supposed to know-you wear it.
Son : Mom ,if ManMohan Singh never knew   about anything happening in his Government I   think  I can surely be excused  for not  knowing about my broken pin!!

 Silence. His sister gives him a  thumbs up. They both flounce out of the room- the days he becomes 'her baby' she drops him to the bus stop. I am relieved, at least I can have my cuppa in peace. The door bangs- they missed the bus. The son gives his father  a  look. Dad of course melts. The boy goes in the car. The husband has the last word, " nothing in this house gets done without me".

 I flounce out of the room.