Before I present Kym’s first blog post, let me clarify some things:
- I am so proud of her. I know this is privilege talking. I know this is tom-toming an average child’s normal growing up as some sort of ‘achievement’ to be recorded and shared just because she’s the kid of a privileged well-to-do UC urban hetero cis male who thinks the sun shines out of his kid’s backside. But then, that’s who and how I am. I think I am going to become (if I haven’t already) one of those irritatingly pushy fathers that constantly talk of their daughters to strangers and show them pictures of the kid and tell them how smart they are and cannot be gotten to shut up. If you wish, you may read on. If not, please ignore this post and focus on my more serious writing, of which you’ll find plenty.
- I explained to her the concept of starting with a bold, incredulous claim and then circling back to it at the end to pleasantly surprise the reader. I gave her several examples and we practised some. What she did with this blog was NOT one of them. This is all her. She thought this up. She did her research including Google, Wikipedia, dictionaries, thesauruses (shouldn’t this be thesaurusi?), everything. She typed it. She experimented (check out the pun about two greeting cards being too many). She made this. To repeat, this is all her. That is why I am sharing it.
- I helped with the punctuation, which is horrendous. How can a child know how to use a colon but not a comma and a full stop? I am nonplussed. I love it that she makes an effort to use a variety of words (thanks to the Thesaurus I introduced her to) and some of it (ecstatic, glum, jubilant, brilliant) is rather cute.
- I helped with some syntax, most of the formatting, and all the paragraphing. Especially breaking down the last 3 lines. She does not have the skill or understanding of creating impact with short sentence stops. Indeed, she told me that I cannot begin a sentence with ‘Because’. She’ll learn. Even given that the last 3 lines were one single sentence originally, I think she ended strongly.
- I love the way she veers off subject for a line right in the middle of her story and then brings it back. That’s all, I say again, her. I did not help at all with that.
- We did discuss the basic structure of the blog first on Sunday evening and she told me some ideas she had (including using the trick of starting with the bold statement, which she learnt from me earlier), after which I went on with my day and she wrote part of this, writing some more on Monday, and finishing it today. So, a rather long process. This will slowly shorten as she writes more.
- Most of what I write about her and share about her will embarrass her later when she grows up and realises that there are all these people she knows nothing about, but who seem to already know so much about her. I hope she does not hate me (just kidding, I know she will).
And with that, I present to you, ladies & gentlemen, without further ado, my little baby’s first attempt at creative writing.
Father’s Day 2022
I hate Father’s Day. Wait, wait let me explain.
Today is Father’s Day and I was planning a great surprise for Baba bear. I first need to tell you who invented Father’s Day: It was an American girl who started celebrating Father’s Day and it spread around America and then around the world, in 1910 Father’s Day was first celebrated. When I was three, my Father’s Day gift was to show Baba bear how I could take a bath on my own.
This year, I decided to tell him all plans were cancelled so that he would feel sad, and when I surprise him, he would be ecstatic. So, I called him and told him that I was mad at him and we won’t be spending the day together. As expected, he was glum. So, when I surprised him at Dohiti he was jubilant. Dohiti is a pretty little cafe in Viman Nagar and it has the best ham and cheese croissant and the most delicious marble cake with chocolate icing that I have eaten. Baba bear came on his motorcycle and I was so excited that I was waiting outside to welcome him. Mamma bear was already inside and having her coffee. I gave Baba bear his goodie bag in which there was a framed unicorn that I had coloured, two greeting cards (maybe too many!), and a heart which I had cut out of paper and decorated. Even the bag had writing and decorations outside. There was also a pack of Jim-Jam biscuits, Baba bear’s favourite, though he said he likes to eat them upside down. He calls them Jam-Jims. I also put two Fusen bubble gums in his goodie bag. I hope he likes it.
I just learnt how to change fonts. I like the Tahoma font. It looks so pretty.
Well, let me get back to what I was saying. After Dohiti we went to Phoenix Mall but guess what happened over there: all the places were closed so we needed to go to the Residency Club. I went for a nice swim. Baba bear was supposed to come but he said that it would take a long time to change. So, while Mamma bear and Baba bear were sitting by the pool, I went to the deep end of the pool. Isn’t that great? After the swim, we went to eat at Vibgyor. Vibgyor is a restaurant at Residency Club. There was a buffet and I enjoyed it.
Once we came home, we first changed into our night suits, switched on the AC, and went to bed. Baba bear and I snuggled for two hours.
It was a brilliant day.
But I still hate Father’s Day.
Because it only comes once a year.
