Last night when I was struggling with E’s dinner (usual tantrums) after relishing Atif Aslam’s awesomatic performance at Global Village, I overheard some part of conversation between a mother and her daughter (about 14-15 years old). I was sitting right next to them hence I was able to listen, I didn’t do that purposefully of course! The chat went on like:

Mother: Where did you disappear all of a sudden during the concert?
Daughter: No mama, I didn’t. You were not there when i looked behind. Tried to call but you didn’t answer. I was with other cousins after that all the time, though. 
Mother: Your dad is quite unhappy about it. Now I won’t save you from his anger!
Daughter: But mama I didn’t go anywhere. You were lost in the crowd. Anyways, you also start scolding us rather than backing us in such scenarios.

This exchange of dialogues made me realize that all mothers face challenges at every stage of their life, the problems intensify to be exact. It seems like both of us were on the same boat, we were concerned about our daughters; the only difference being that I was sitting there fretting about E’s dinner and she was worried about her daughter being lost in crowd. These worrisome feelings come together in the package of motherhood.

Motherhood is just like a Mario Bros game, easy in the start and getting much more difficult as you keep on clearing the levels. Though the very first level doesn’t seem easy when you start the game but as soon as you proceed towards the next level, the last round appear to be pretty easy in comparison. We can meticulously map motherhood on these sentences too.

In my early days of mommyhood, I was super sensitive about E so much that I used to set alarms to wake up for her night feeds ( yes, I was that crazy). At that time I was so looking forward to the upcoming months when I’ll be weaning her off. And when she actually started it, I was literally missing the previous state of feeding because it was much much easier than to make her eat from spoon and bowl man.

I used to fancy about the time when she’ll start walking, the moment she began I was running behind her everywhere remembering the peaceful moments when I just used to sit beside her on the sofa. These are some typical desires -out of many- to which every mother would relate to.

Now that she is 2.5 yo mashaa Allah (God has willed it), I am so looking forward to send her to school. I know the game level is going to be more advanced from here onward.
-Who are the kids she is playing with?
-What is she learning from them?
-Why her eating habits are changing? (I prefer to give her fruits rather than toffees and chocolates)
These are some questions I am already anticipating. And these will be much harder to handle, I know. Mothers of older kids, please let me know how do you deal with them in such situations.

Hence the state of being mother can be termed as a Never-Ending-Mario-Bros-Game where you have to master the arts of walking, jumping, swimming, flying and killing monsters on the way. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t contain those “warp pipes” that allow Mario to advance to later worlds in the game, skipping over earlier ones but we’d love to play the game without skipping any level, right mommies?. The ultimate love you get back from your little ones are those bonus coins, invincible stars and 1 ups that motivate you to keep going on and on.

Enjoy each round with your kids before stepping into the next difficult one, you’ll miss it later on. Don’t waste your time imagining about the forthcoming better times, it is a mirage (trust me).

Cheers to all the mothers who are putting their level best to complete their respective rounds successfully (standing ovation for them). There is no right way or wrong way to raise a child (as there is none to play Mario too), your way is the only best way dear mother. Once you are through any stage, the points won’t matter much. Keep playing the game awesomely!