Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Girl Talk

Okay. Let me breath in for a while. Inhale. Exhale. Okay. People, the time has come when my daughter likes to ask me lots of questions that involves “grown-up stuff”. Yup. My daughter is 8 years old and she has a very curious mind. Being a very, very smart girl that she is, just like her Opa, Aki, Bapa and Ua Eza, it’s actually a no-brainer that she has a lot of questions in that super mind of hers. You see... Lately Kukka and I have been having conversations which she called "our girl talk". It usually starts with "Bubu, I have a question. But don't tell anyone! This is just for you and me. Our girl talk." And then we shake hands. So, you see. The conversations are top secret :) What I can share to you is that my precious girl's questions are difficult ones. Difficult as in... Well... If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'd know that months ago I had to explain to Kukka about animals mating. It was...quite challenging. And hilarious! The convo occurred because of the “drama” that happened between Blob-Blob and Fluffy. Check out my previous posting if you want to know. 

Then there was this one night, during our usual bedtime convo, Kukka asked me questions that made my eyes got wide, my jaws dropped and finally... The questions made me laugh. Yes. I laughed so hard while hugging her. I must confess though. I was hugging Kukka because I was buying some time to figure out what and how to answer her questions. I was and still am not ready for this. I mean... Come on?!?!?!? 8 years old?? I thought I still have 10 more years to have that kind of conversation with her. But apparently not with kids nowadays. Especially with a very smart and super curious child like mine. Objectively speaking of course. #proudmother 

Now... Because of her challenging questions, whenever Kukka gives me a question that I can't answer (right away), I ask her to give me some time. Afterwards I'll be googling like crazy. I'll also ask my closest friends how to explain to Kukka the correct answer, in the most decent and age-appropriate way. Why? Because I don't want to be a parent who just gives an answer without even thinking how it would later impact my kid. The way Kukka thinks, how she behaves, how she treats other people and so on... I believe it depends on how my husband and I show, teach or explain things to her. Kids nowadays are way more curious. I should be grateful that Kukka comes to me and asks me personally whenever she needs/wants an answer or any kind of information. Many kids search for answers by themselves and lots of them are...misinformed. Why and how? Google and cellphones. Yup. I just found out that many kids are allowed to use cellphones...without adult supervision. And on school days too! Kukka? Weekends and holidays only. Youtube kids channels only on certain hours. Instagram: pictures edited and uploaded by SiBubu, messages/chatting read and personally replied by Kukka only on holidays and weekends. Obviously, EVERYTHING, EVERYDAY is under SiBubu's supervision. Strict? Maybe. But I think it's very important and necessary.

Anyways... I use this moment... This phase... As an opportunity to tell Kukka that she can come to me ANYTIME, to talk and to ask me about ANYTHING. Absolutely anything. No limits. That it’s better for her to come to me than to anybody else. And that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. So does she? Come to me and ask me about stuff since then? Oooooooh you bet she does!!! :)))) Like what? Oh sorry, guys! TOP SECRET. But if I could give you some examples... Last night Kukka asked me what does *this* mean (*middle finger*) and what does the F word mean. I was shocked. Obviously. But I tried to calm down. Then like always, first I asked her where did she see/hear it. She didn't want to tell me (My daughter is not a rat/squeal. Noted.). She just answered "Somebody said it at school. Just somebody. Not to me. Don't worry, Bubu." Later on, after doing some very, very careful thinking and choosing the proper words, I explained it to Kukka. This is just one example. There are so many comments and questions from Kukka that I can't write them down here :) But one last thing that I can share to you is my feelings.

The feeling of being a very, very grateful person. The feeling of being a very, very proud mom. The feeling of being a very, very happy parent. For having the honor to be the mother of such a beautiful, smart and precious human being whom I can call:
 
"MY DAUGHTER".