Parenting — The Single Dad Way

#GuestBlog by Gaurav Prakash

To start with I am not a single Dad – so why am I writing this blog post?

My experience of a ‘single dad’ is from the child’s perspective. Yes, I grew up with a single parent – my Father. He is 80 years old and simply does not give a thought to things online. Given that he would not be penning a blog in a hurry – I decided to put some memories online.

Growing up has moments one can simply not forget; they are like family folklore talked about at every family gathering and whenever one wants a good laugh. With only guys in the house, things can get very interesting. We have a fair-sized kitchen garden and there was a time when a large Papaya tree was full of fruits. Now you must be a real lightweight to climb a Papaya tree, it really is delicate. We had protected the fruits from birds with a gunny bag and I used to climb up to check if any was ready to be plucked. One afternoon I came back from school only to see the tree down on the ground (broken, can you believe it!!). One look at my father and the story was clear – I still can’t forget the look. With men, if one can do it the other can do it just as well. It’s just the tree which was not ready to believe in our adventure.

One would believe that mothers take the lead when it comes to resolving issues in the neighbourhood, specifically in India where we all play cricket and the ball is bound to land up in some neighbour’s house.  I remember Father being innovative here as well – one neighbour was very vocal about her displeasure with kids playing in the park. Simple solution for the senior was to play with us. Not much opposition to the kids when the big guns are supporting them.

Food is a special love and no one cooks better than mom. Well…yes , but we had our fun both in cooking and in designing short cuts around food. Quite often we would get things wrong but this never dampened our spirits or our enthusiasm to try new things or call friends and family over for good fun around delicious food.

The only place presentable in the house continues to be the “Drawing Room”, the rest of the house simply was our playing ground. Truly speaking, the drawing room was also a playground during our summer breaks back then. We had long afternoon sessions of carom where it was difficult to separate the men and the boys, often the boys would win the day, and an evening of celebrations would follow.

Most things people associate with house chores were games for us; the washing machine would do the cleaning but putting the clothes for drying was a FUN game. One man on the ropes and the other tossing clothes to him. Now don’t do a thing wrong else you will be the one going out and picking up all the laundry post drying, simple! Cleaning the house was also simple – put everything in a box or under the stairs. Tada!! The house is clean.

Somehow life was so simple and uncomplicated when we were growing up – it seems so complex and full of ifs & buts now that we are parents. Come to think of it, my Father’s ability to make things simple is what we all cherish even today.

-Gaurav Prakash 

 

– This a very special blog specially written for Father’s Day by my dearest friend Gaurav. He works as a marketing and product strategist. He is happily married and has a child. He has two older siblings who are also married and have kids. His father continues to be the centre of gravity in his family. He still maintains the kitchen garden, albeit now with the help of a gardener. Not a day goes by when all of them do not talk to each other. My heartfelt thanks to him for doing this for me.