A little dirt...

Work had been completely crazy for the past several months so finally since it started becoming more manageable since last week, I got to take Chubbocks to the park again. Ever since our live-in maid went off on holiday, he's been cribbing that he never gets to play as long as he wants because the other maid brings him home by 6:30 pm so she can leave. I also figured it was a good opportunity to figure out what exactly was going down in the turf wars on the playground and help Chubbocks out of his heartbreak.

It worked out quite well - when the kids saw this rotund momma bowling to her kid, they all crowded around to watch the circus and it was a short step from that to getting more of them involved in the cricket game, so by end of the week we wound up playing with quite a few other kids.

I was usually the only mom there - all the rest were typically supervised by maids. One day, we found a whole bunch of baby snails in little conch shells spread out over the canna lily bed. I and the kids crowded around to watch, and the kids took out a few snails to examine them better. You would have thought they'd touched a BOMB or something, the way the maids reacted. They screamed, shouted that the 'keedas' ( insects) would bite the kids, that they would get their hands dirty and carried on till we had a full-going crowd gathered. The poor kids looked most upset at having their exploration cut short - one snail had finally emerged from the shell and started crawling over a leaf! I explained to the maids that snails were harmless and wouldn't do anything to the kids. Since I was the 'memsaab' there, they couldn't argue but shook their heads dubiously and kept trying to drag their charges away.

A little later, we found a little centipede rushing along. It was beautifully striped, and with its many legs, rushing over the ground like an express train. Between the fast movements and the stripes, it looked as if a ripple was moving across the ground and I and the kids were watching it in fascination. Until the maids brigade pounced again, hollering and carrying on. One of them even tried to stomp on the poor little thing, at which I lost my temper and shoved her back. Again I told the bunch of them that this was a harmless worm, and also asked the kids not to touch it in case any of them were allergic. The maids were too scared to pay much attention and kept trying to physically drag the kids off, who meanwhile were protesting and asking me to help.

On Monday, when I accompanied Chubbocks to his dance class, I found a mother who had come there to pick up her two kids, aged 8 and 5, with a maid in entourage. The maid was responsible for carrying the kids bags and water bottles, because how could the poor things have borne the weight? The 5 year old started scrabbling in the mud when she found an interesting pebble. Promptly the maid started pulling her away and saying your hands will get dirty. The mother also chimed in saying you'll get mud all over your hands.

Some months ago, Chubbocks had gotten into this 'cleany-clean' routine, where he would refuse to paint with water colours or get a tattoo done because 'it would make him dirty'. To my mind, that was an awfully unnatural attitude, and I got very upset about it. What's wrong with a little dirt? What's wrong with kids getting their hands dirty and making mud pies? Why is it so bad for kids to learn to explore the world around them freely and observe nature in all her myriad forms? Why do kids not get to jump into puddles any more?

Yesterday my maid said she'd brought Puddi home early from the park because the ground was all muddy and Puds was enjoying scooping it up and playing with it. I promptly told her that the next time she saw Puddi playing in the mud, she was to go right along and letting her do so. I encourage Chubbocks to jump into puddles after every rain - heck, I do so myself, expensive shoes or not. We're always watching out in our little garden for unusual leaves or flowers, or insects that are doing something, and picking up ladybugs to admire their beautiful colours. Chubbocks loves to watch ants busily scurry home lugging enormous pieces of food far larger than themselves clutched firmly in their mouths.

Being tidy is one thing, but taking cleanliness to this level is frankly quixotic, at this age. Kids should learn to be free, to explore, to tumble down and fall and pick themselves up again, to see the pictures in the clouds rather than learn to keep their hands clean and colour inside the lines. I remember the old story about Krishna, and how Yashoda once found him eating mud. She promptly scolded him and he denied doing so. She asked him to open his mouth so she could check...and when he did, she saw the whole universe in there...