Change

Shying away from change is common, even though changes - resulted from a change of job, a friend moving away, or kids moving out - are all a part of life.

My daughter struggled with a small change last night when my wife rushed to hospital where her patient needed an emergency operation. I was glad to have gone home early. Who would my daughter have played with if I’d worked late in the hospital too? No matter how much we enjoyed the Battleship guessing game and drawing after dinner, my daughter felt it's never the same without mummy. The longer she waited, the more she could not stop thinking about mum. Going to bed without mum around means a big change, that was clear. I felt a twinge of sympathy for my daughter. Pillow talk with mum has become such a habit for Jasmine that she found herself uneasy near bedtime.

"How about a bedtime story, dad?" she said as the clock struck twelve.

I rolled my eyes, and in the end, nodded. I wasn't sure what she really wanted. Is it my story or another fifteen minutes to see if mum would return home before turning off the light?

I chose the library book Through the Gate. This picture book turned out to be a good pick. Yes, it's the story of change. Sally Fawcett takes us deep into the darkest corner where a little girl disliked the change of moving house. We found that little girl mooching to school, mooching home, mooching all week long. We were unsettled by her staring at her "new" house with old drooping root, peeling paint, and cracks everywhere. We watched how she coped with changes, step by step, till she noticed a new smile, a new classmate, and then a new look of her house. And a new world of opportunity.

A new opportunity for me to teach my daughter to face changes too.