Stop Ruining my Vacation


My 7 yo daughter would want one of us to be/work from home if she had a holiday or vacation. This was true as recently as her summer vacation a couple of months back. And then things changed, starting with her Dussehra holidays. Now she doesn’t want us home on her holidays. Apparently, like all parents through the ages, we get in the way of fun and freedom. Don’t watch TV all day. Enough of playing that game on the phone. No, it’s too cold to go to the pool. It’s too hot to go for a picnic with your friends in the afternoon…
                
I learnt this the hard way when I worked from home one day during her Dussehra holidays… to keep her company. And she was out of the house all day with her friends. In the night, she asked me whether I’d be working from home the next day as well. No, I said. Thank god, she replied. Ouch! But why, I asked, I didn’t stop you from doing anything all day. She had that pained look that seemed to say: Yeah, but if you’re around, there’s always the possibility of me being stopped from doing things I want.

Next morning, she was getting increasingly restless as the time to leave for office approached. Why are you still here? Go now, it’s OK if you wait at the bus stand a few minutes longer. And no, it’s not just me. My wife has had the same experience.

All that said, she only wants us gone during the day. At night, she still wants to be tucked in. For how much longer?

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