-- By Aravinth K.
January 13th is my beloved mother's birthday. I remember some lessons which we learned in the way she brought us up and which I hope and pray that I can implement myself.
Nutrition
My mother truly believed that the human body is the temple that houses the more precious soul and spirit. From the earliest days, I remember her researching, asking, learning and implementing good nutrition in our diets as my brother and I were growing up. There was an abundance of the essential minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, good fat and protein in our diets. I remember eggs in the morning on most days, three glasses of milk a day, yogurt at least once, if not twice a day, nuts, fruits, multiple vegetables, etc. There was at least one freshly cooked meal a day for us from someone who worked full time and many perceived discomforts on her part to ensure all of this, including cooking fish or chicken for us during the weekends despite being a vegetarian herself. Her flair for cooking and her ardent interest in experimenting in the kitchen made even the not so pleasant tasting but good for you type foods find their way into our bellies.
Exercise
She would enroll us in tennis classes, karate lessons, etc. as she felt exercise for the physical body needed to be accompanied by the mental discipline that comes from repetitive techniques and respect for others that is taught in pursuing martial arts. Disinterest or discouragement that we faced because of not being naturally athletic did not faze her. She let us go to these classes till we got enough of what we needed from them before she was fine with us pursuing other things.
Educating us outside the classroom and helping us develop a reading habit
This was without question one of her most valued skills and required all of the extraordinary patience she was capable of with me. Reading 1000s of books to us, explaining the pictures EVERY night from our toddler years to when we could read for ourselves, developed our fascination for stories, pictures and books that was the foundation of our reading habit. Countless trips to both private and public libraries, bookstores, book fairs and an almost unlimited budget when it comes to purchasing books for us both to educate us and to reward us was instrumental in making us hungry for information and entertainment through the written word. To this day, a book continues to hold more fascination for me than most forms of entertainment or sources of information, due to this invaluable habit that she helped us cultivate.
January 13th is my beloved mother's birthday. I remember some lessons which we learned in the way she brought us up and which I hope and pray that I can implement myself.
Nutrition
My mother truly believed that the human body is the temple that houses the more precious soul and spirit. From the earliest days, I remember her researching, asking, learning and implementing good nutrition in our diets as my brother and I were growing up. There was an abundance of the essential minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, good fat and protein in our diets. I remember eggs in the morning on most days, three glasses of milk a day, yogurt at least once, if not twice a day, nuts, fruits, multiple vegetables, etc. There was at least one freshly cooked meal a day for us from someone who worked full time and many perceived discomforts on her part to ensure all of this, including cooking fish or chicken for us during the weekends despite being a vegetarian herself. Her flair for cooking and her ardent interest in experimenting in the kitchen made even the not so pleasant tasting but good for you type foods find their way into our bellies.
Exercise
She would enroll us in tennis classes, karate lessons, etc. as she felt exercise for the physical body needed to be accompanied by the mental discipline that comes from repetitive techniques and respect for others that is taught in pursuing martial arts. Disinterest or discouragement that we faced because of not being naturally athletic did not faze her. She let us go to these classes till we got enough of what we needed from them before she was fine with us pursuing other things.
Educating us outside the classroom and helping us develop a reading habit
This was without question one of her most valued skills and required all of the extraordinary patience she was capable of with me. Reading 1000s of books to us, explaining the pictures EVERY night from our toddler years to when we could read for ourselves, developed our fascination for stories, pictures and books that was the foundation of our reading habit. Countless trips to both private and public libraries, bookstores, book fairs and an almost unlimited budget when it comes to purchasing books for us both to educate us and to reward us was instrumental in making us hungry for information and entertainment through the written word. To this day, a book continues to hold more fascination for me than most forms of entertainment or sources of information, due to this invaluable habit that she helped us cultivate.
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