Mommyisms

Heres a bunch of life lessons my mom taught us - through violent and non-violent means - when we were kids. As an overworked mother of three absent-minded (demented??) kids and an ultra-absentminded husband, my mother was forced to evolve these strategies to preserve her sanity. While her torture techniques were probably inspired by the Spanish Inquisition (my mom is a voracious reader AND a Catholic) her teachings were her own common sense (something I've not seen in anybody on her side of the family.) Here are a few that I've tried to incorporate in my life with some success.

Keep Things Back Where You Took Them From

This is the key mantra at home - even today! My mom probably utters this phrase at least once every day. After she made the devastating discovery that her kids had inherited her husband's acute absent-mindedness, mom decided to set things right before things got really bad. Let's say, what if I became the prime minister of India and misplaced the keys to India's nuclear arsenal. Well, what do I say? So, we've been trained to put things back where we took it from. Does it help - always! Do we follow it - almost never!! We just forget to do it. When we were kids, we would get whacked for such transgressions. Now, she just screams at us. Sometimes I think my mom expends enough sound energy to light up a little town.

Be Quick

My mom's an army brat. She grew up on army units all over the country. Her dad was a humble and God-fearing man, but a tough disciplinarian. She probably learnt this from him. For my mom, a sense of urgency is key to success. She hates lethargy. Even as she raised three brats (and an absent-minded husband), under very challenging circumstances, she managed to find time for her hobbies - reading, needlework, and baking. She'd attack even the most mundane and boring task with zeal and finish it so she could work on something else. We've all imbibed this trait.

Jesus Lost and Found

This was my moms mantra for really tough cases of missing items. As kids, we use to go about muttering "Jesus lost and found" like a bunch of zombies. For some reason, it always worked.

Do Unto Others as you Would like Others do to you

We never had fancy terms like emotional intelligence back then - just commonsense. We were taught empathy at an early age. This rule applied to us at home and outside.

What did you do?

We never had the pleasure of being comforted with a big hug and kiss when we got home from a fight. Complaints like "he hit me first" were never accepted. Her question always was "what did you do?" This taught us never to come home crying. We always settled our fights outside the house - and recounted our tales of victory or loss at the dinner table. :)

Have you made your bed?

I am a trained housekeeper. I can make the bed, do the dishes, iron clothes, sweep the floor, and make tea. We learnt all this at a very young age - and I can never thank my mom enough for this. I do this even at hotels - I hate the sight of an unmade bed. It's not about aesthetics, it's all about self-discipline.