Celebrate your parents, with love and care. Despite the lockdown this year.

The Parents' house. It's the only house where you can go to dozens of times without an invitation. The only house where you can put the key in the door and enter directly. The house that has loving eyes that stare at the door until they see you. The house which reminds you of your care free days, stability and your happiness during your Childhood. (Excerpt from poet Khalil Gibran’s ‘Parents House’) Now that we are mummies and daddies ourselves, doesn’t the “Parents House" seem poignant? Before we know it, we will one day be that parent in an empty nest, that grandparent who longs to see the laughter of their grandchild. Maybe we have not thought that far ahead. And, if you have not read “Parents, House,” the last two lines read: The house that offers you all the laughs and Happiness. The United Nations proclaimed June 1st to be the Global Day of Parents "to appreciate all parents in all parts of the world for their selfless commitment to children". So as we prepare for tomorrow, let us be reminded of all the love and sacrifices. Oh Children, find out the value of these houses before it's too late. Inarguably, life today is far from simple. As time evolved, most of us grew up having a life better than the generation before. Our parents and grandparents toiled to make possible a better life for us. Through the labour of the past generations, came the advent of technology. Yes, it was the past that paved way to this present moment of high end tech. Technology was a means to simplify many aspects of life. It was to be the push factor to globalization, to help people stay connected and bring the world closer. And that it certainly did – mainly for large businesses. As technology advanced, humanity took a back seat. Inadvertently, what was meant to connect us, disconnected us. We see more people abandon aged family members, in pursuit of their own ‘happiness, and success’. Time (or the lack of it) plays a major factor in us not being able to visit our parents. This is perhaps a result of us assuming we have time and so our parents can wait; as we toil for our corporates just so we can have that bigger house, bigger car, upgraded toys and a myriad of other luxuries wrapped in the form of necessities. As we busied ourselves, engulfed in the rat race with no time for much else but work and tending to our families, dealing with a litany of stresses, the world gave us yet another stress to deal with. The COVID 19 Pandemic. A global crisis that plummeted upon us without warning. This pandemic with all its theories of how, what and when has compelled us to hit the pause button. It certainly created an avenue for us refocus our time, thoughts and choices. It brought us back to the basic and the fundamental value of family. Instead of wanting to reach a million likes on social media, how about we start with likes just from our families. You know the old adage “charity begins at home”, well, for our modern families and world, let’s start with love and influence begins at home. As we know, children don’t learn from telling them to do things right, they learn from seeing how right we do things. Our actions teach them, hence we as parents strive to put our best foot forward in the presence of our children. When Maya and Mikhal’s daughters were little, although they had help at home, Maya says having her parents, come by regularly, helped. The girls often stayed nights with their grandparents and this played a huge part in the values their daughters uphold today. The girls are teenagers today but “we don’t tell them what to do.” As teenagers today their responsibility towards their parents, and grandparents are now a natural given.” said Mikhal, who attributes this to the fact that growing up, their daughters saw how “we adults would run miles for our parents and they witnessed their uncles do the same.” We recognise that the dynamics in every household differs, hence why we all need a little help to get by. Folks, there is no better time better time to start than now – This parent’s day. Here are some ways in which we can create memories with our children while putting a smile on our parents faces, especially during this pandemic when we have to be isolated from each other. The Photo Album One of the best ways I found, was to sit with old photos and reminisce, tell them of days when life was simpler and family really mattered. You can work with your child on creating a photo book and get them happily entrenched in stories that reflect your past. Tell them about the ‘good old days’ Its makes for happy conversations. Photo Credit: Freepik Cooking or Baking for Grandma and Grandpa As Malaysians, we love our food and pride ourselves on dishes that reflect our heritage. So why not celebrate it. For Mummies and daddies who have not had time in the kitchen, here is your chance explore and cook a meal for grandma and grandpa together with your children. Cooking with children is a great way to bond As you bond with your children, touch base with the food of their heritage, something that can easily go amiss. Believe it or not cooking actually stimulates children’s minds. Watch the delight on grandma and grandpa's face – priceless joy. Food Delivery More things to do with food. It only affirms we are Malaysian, as we share this mutual love affair with food. If you don’t feel like cooking, just order. Have food delivered straight to your parents and grandparent’s home as they keep safe indoors. Family Game Night A family favourite in my household is the game Scrabbles. My parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, all sat down to a game of Scrabbles. Later on, my eldest daughter picked it up and would play with grandpa and grandma. Back when I was little, I recall playing simple board games with my grandmother such as Ludo, Snakes and Ladders and even Hangman. Today, there are many new board games for different ages which are a perfect way for the young and old to bond. Make that Call – Face time, Video, Zoom A simple home call to check on your parents daily. I am sure they will appreciate it. Teach our aged parents how to zoom or video call. Teach them a little tech and fun along the way. Seeing as how this pandemic has limited our movement, let’s spend the time we have inculcating in our children the “value of our parents' house". There is no replacing our parents' house in where lies a is a love without end.

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