Proud of my girl.

Every alternate weekend, my husband’s extended family gets together for dinner at my inlaws’ house. That’s when all the little ones (all girls, incidentally) get together to play and make a huge mess in my mother-in-law’s study, which my daughter used as her playroom when she spent days over while I was at work.

It’s interesting to observe how differently all the girls are being brought up by their respective parents, and it’s clearest in the way they interact with each other as well as how they treat the room and its contents. There are two sisters who think nothing of snatching toys from each other and from other children, and who don’t bother to clear up their own mess. They literally throw or spill things on the floor and then walk off nonchalantly, which annoys me no end. There is an easy-going, sunshine-y little girl who gets along well with everyone.

And then there is my daughter – more outspoken and eloquent but less willing to share because she’s an only child still. Despite that, she is more polite than the others in terms of clearing up messes and taking turns at group games. She also offers to “help” in little ways like setting the table for dinner and offering her cousins sweets. Needless to say, I’m very proud of her and glad that my husband and I seem to have done fairly well so far in raising a sweet, obedient, well-mannered and conscientious child.