We went for dinner last night. Had Indian Roti Prata. My daughter ordered 2 pieces of egg prata, I had 1 piece of plain prata and dad had 2 pieces of plain prata and tandoori chicken. I had to speak up. "Honey, you cannot have two egg prata. Each piece of egg prata has one egg. So you have 2 egg prata, it means you are having 2 eggs for dinner. That is not healthy." She stared at me, "Why not? I love eggs."

I replied, "You may have eggs but maybe only 3 eggs a week. Not everyday." How do you explain facts about nutrition to a 7 year old? She just completed a worksheet about the types food for the school's health education programme and now I am stuck with words on what to say about the harmful effects of having eating too many eggs in a day.

So with a stern voice, I said to her, "How about mummy have half of your 2nd piece of prata?"

She nodded in agreement. That ended my struggle.

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning. Went to kitchen and wondered what to give my daughter for breakfast before she went out to school. "Should I make her french toast? or Milo?" The thought of having eggs and prata the other night kept playing in my head. I decided to go with freshly squeezed orange juice and a banana.

I think I can be strick to my daughter at times, but whenever it is bedtime or waking up in the morning for school type thing, I harbour fear of becoming dictatorial and demanding. This morning, I literally went into her room with the cup of orange juice and banana. "Honey, time to wake up." And literally fed her in bed. She rubbed her morning stupor off her eyes; in my mind, I only wanted her to get ready on time for school without feeling all stressed out about it. We live in the city and the din never stops. Noise can be stressful.

One of the things I do want her to start learning is to have morning prayers. So I encouraged her to get out of bed, take her ablution and join me for morning prayers. Both of us stood together and we prayed for 5 minutes after she had put on her school uniform (it's t-shirt and shorts today.)

I had made hot milo. The time was 7:00 a.m. Just right to walk out of the house and leave for school.

I imagine there are many parents who have to go through this daily routine like me for many years, maybe even with more than 1 kid at a time. What I do see happening to my daughter is that she learns to grow happy knowing mum is always by her side to support her growth. For her, if I am with her at bedtime and when she wakes up in the morning, her life is full. I see that in the way she waves goodbye to me at the schoolgate and how she insists I stay with her to massage her before she goes to bed. It does make me happy to see her being happy.