The other day, I was having a usual chitchat with a colleague. While talking over trivial things, the discussion moved towards his three year old son. Just like other kids of this age, he too is a really energetic kid who likes playing a lot and is a really healthy kid. We talked over how he likes playing pranks with his parents. As the conversation went further, he started showing me pictures and videos of his son, playing with his parents. This kid, owing to the healthy and proper mix of good lifestyle and balanced diet, was a good example of how a kid of this age should be - chirpy and naughty, playful and prankish. This is how a kid should be. Then I recalled the kid of my maid. Once in a while she used to bring her kid while she came to my home for her daily work. Her son too was around 5 years old, but never looked like one. His growth was stunted, and most of the times he used to cry, or sit silently at one place while his mother completed her daily chores in my house. Most often I would not even notice that she has brought in her kid with herself. Sometimes when I noticed her bringing the kid to my home while she came to work, I used to ask her what she was doing with the kid at a time when most other kids of his age group would be in school, she used to tell me that he doesn't like going to the school. I used to reason with her telling her that he is afterall a kid, and would do as she told him to, to which she used to tell me that he often falls ill, and then he was amongst the weakest kids in his class. And these were just a few reasons he would not like going to school, and she let it be. Afterall, she was a working mother, and that his father, who too worked would not be able to get back to school if he fell ill in the school, as had happened a number of times, when the school authorities would give a call to the parents to ask them to take the kid back, and send him back to school only after he would recover completely. And since this had happened a number of times, she would often keep him home, and since there was no one else to take care of him at home, he would accompany his mother to work, where he would mostly sit back, lost in himself, never showing any of the usual qualities of kids of this age. No playfulness, nothing else that other kids of his age usually do.
I told my colleague about my maid. My colleague being a parent for quite some time, had his two cents to of suggestions to give me so that I could pass it on to my maid. He told me to ask the maid to visit a kid's doctor with her son and let the doctor examine him properly. He told me that the possible cause of such a situation with this kid could be his improper growth which was often a reason which would make kids irritable, have stunted growth, and one of the biggest reason for them falling sick often. Apart from this, he suggested me to ask my maid to give her kid drinks like Horlicks that were supposed to help growing kids fulfil their nutrient requirements. Seeing me so concerned about this kid, he also gave me a link to check out and tell my maid how important it was for kids to have a balanced diet to lead a healthy life, both - physically and mentally. He also gave me name and address of one of the good kids' doctors he would take his kid to.
As I reached home I checked out the link and read what was given there. Horlicks, that had been one of the leaders in this area had been there since a long time, and though I too had been given horlicks in my childhood days, I never realized how could it help my maid's kid. I read what was there to read and see, and the next morning, as my maid came up, I explained her everything, and told her to go and see a doctor with her kid and also to give her kid horlicks as a supplement to the regular diet. She did, and was happy about my suggestion of taking her son to the doctor., after meeting the doctor. She thanked me a lot.
Months passed on, she had stopped bringing her son with her to work. I too had forgot about this incident, when one fine day, just a day before the festival of diwali, she again brought her son with her to work. This time around, there was a drastic change. The small kid who would stay silent often had grown considerably and was a much more cheerful kid now, thanks to my colleagues' suggestions. He was a much more playful kid now, and her mother was not a much prouder mother, since her son was doing well, in both, physical growth as well as in his studies too. This was when I realised that it is really important for growing kids to have a balanced lifestyle, balanced and proper diet to lead a healthy lifestyle - both physically and psychologically. This again was a reminder that it is really important for kids to catch up with their lost growth, well in time.
