I really wanted to put down this small incident which fills me with pride for my son.
We are a vegetarian family and normally don't eat eggs. But I in particular am not able to resist cakes and sweets even if they have eggs. My husband does not even eat biscuits and cakes with eggs. He does not want my children also to eat them. I respect his decision and so I don't usually bring such things in the house. I relish them at friends' homes or at parties. Very rarely I bring readymade cakes at home but don't offer to children. My son is extremely fond of cakes and so I make eggless cakes for him at home itself.
Yesterday a friend had come to my home for lunch. She knew that I like cakes a lot so she brought a readymade cake for me. When Vishnu came home she offered the cake to Vishnu. He did not take it. She kept on pestering him,"the cake is tasty. Why are you not eating it…". I said that he will not eat it because he knows that his Dad doesn't want him to eat eggs. She said she wants to hear him tell the reason. After being insisted upon so much he said that he will not eat a cake with eggs. Another friend said that it does not have eggs. She asked him if he could see any eggs in the cake. He said no, but that he knows eggs are put in after "grinding". This was really amazing that though he likes cakes a lot he did not eat it. The whole day cake was lying on the table and he did not once look at it or ask for it.
A few months ago at another friend's house he was sulking for the readymade cake. He was crying horribly and we had to give him that cake. That was the day when his Dad had a talk with him. So to test him further I reminded him of that day and asked him that why did he eat that egg cake then. Feeling a little embarrassed he said that he feels sorry for that. I am really amazed with this boy. He could have been easily tempted as his mother, meaning I was eating. Nor did he once question me that why was I eating it when Dad didn't appreciate it. I was really surprised by the strong resolution he showed.
I thank my stars for having this child. I only hope that I can nurture him properly and he gets a good direction in life. The hardest part of raising the kids, I feel, is to imbibe in them the courage to choose between right and wrong. Being able to identify right from wrong is one step and the next difficult step is to choose the right option after identifying it. If the children can do that, I think character, career, money, name and fame follows automatically. May God be with all of us!!
