Kids inspire parents to take up new interests

Not for nothing do they say, relive your childhood through your child. As parents in the city are going all out to make their kids all-rounders, often they too start taking baby steps towards realising hidden interests and passions. A word of caution here though — never make the mistake of imposing your dreams on children.

It was only after he got his son, Sarthak, enrolled in violin classes did software professional Sarvesh Singhal start toying with the violin himself. “I used to see Sarthak practise his notes at home and would often sit with him listening. Gradually, it became a regular feature and one day, I took his violin and played a note,” says Sarvesh. Much to the surprise of his wife and son, Sarvesh did a fairly good job with the instrument. “It’s been two years now since that day. Of course, I don’t get time to go for classes but my practice is based on Sarthak’s note book. We have our own violins and Sunday mornings, we make music,” he laughs.

Vijay Divecha, director, Touche Golf School, recollects many such instances. “We have a flourishing junior programme and mostly, the kids are accompanied by their parents. While we don’t encourage parents hanging around while the kids are teeing, as it distracts them, what happens is that a lot of them get so involved with the child playing the game that they too want to learn, irrespective of age. We do have a lot of mothers coming in for the day programmes once the kids are off to school,” he states.

A few years back, Priyanka Pai, started sending her daughter, Shikha Pai, for dance lessons to Studio for Movement Arts and Therapies (SMART). “Shikha got deeply involved with the form in a few months and I noticed certain positive changes in her. It was obvious that she was enjoying her lessons thoroughly and I was quite impressed with the way things were,” recollects Priyanka. In the course of the five years that 13-year-old Shikha has been learning dance, it so happened that Priyanka too found herself getting drawn to it. “I would see how passionate and dedicated she was and it would make me very happy. I got busy with my younger son but when he grew up a little, I too joined the studio and started taking lessons from Brinda Jacob Janvrin. Now, I’m learning and taking workshops,” she states. Priyanka, who is now the studio director, confesses that following her daughter’s footsteps in dance lessons has brought them a tad bit closer. “It’s as if there’s a deeper connection through dance,” she explains, adding, “She’s now a teenager, a very crucial phase of her life, but I must say, we’ve forged quite a bond.”

Apart from the excitement of learning something new, this is an assured way of spending some quality time with the children, and makes for some endearing dining table conversations. So, here’s your chance to rediscover a new side to you.