My husband and I were returning from our honeymoon (I was already pregnant) from Italy.
When, an Italian family caught our eye.
I have to admit Italians are one of the finest people I have seen. Always well dressed, they are family oriented and always answered nicely when we asked for directions.
But it was the at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport that my husband and I actually got inspired. We had checked in our luggage and were waiting for our flight to board.
I was 8 weeks pregnant which is not much to show signs of fatigue, but by the end of the trip I had started to feel nauseated and felt low. I wasn’t talking nicely to my husband and hadn’t given any attention to myself. My hair wasn’t done neatly and I looked ruffled up. I guess I was intentionally stressing out. I mean minor headaches and feeling tired are issues more than normal in pregnancy.
Then my husband said, “If that’s how you feel right now, how will we manage trips with our child.” I simply sulked.
With nothing to do I just kept looking around till I noticed the Italian family. Middle aged parents who didn’t even look like middle aged with three kids. The eldest boy was around 8 years old, the younger girl was around 5 and the youngest boy was in the stroller. He must be around 2.
Now what surprised me most about the couple was their intense harmony and balance for those 45 minutes, even when the eldest boy kept pulling his daddy’s leg and kept screaming for something, and how not for a second they lost their patience.
Another thing that appealed me was their dressing. It’s not the big brands, of course I’m not a brand conscious person at all, it’s all on how you wear and carry your dress and accessories.
The man was dressed in blue jeans with a black coat and wore trendy pair of leather shoes and a nice watch. The lady, well her hair was straight and not frizzy, a very subtle makeup and wore black pants with a nice gray top. Some dull gold bangles which I don’t know whether were real or not, and barely noticeable ear rings.
The couple looked elegant and stylish.
At first my hubby and I kept looking at them; how smoothly they coped up with the screaming boy and how the mother always kept listening to her daughter, and even managed to prepare a bottle for the little one in the chaos.
And the best part was they didn’t frown for a second. They did all this without losing their cool, they didn’t show any sort of anxiousness or any sign of fatigue. In fact they looked so happy.
Lesson from the Italians
• Peaceful parenting can only be done when both the partners work as a team.
• It’s more important to maintain patience and tolerance while traveling.
• Looking good always is essential.
• Giving attention to your child is more important than checking your emails and fiddling around with your iphone or ipads and God knows what else is out there.
That day I made a promise to myself, I will be like them when I become a parent. But guess what it’s not easy, dealing with children is difficult and when you are traveling or waiting in line it’s even more difficult, and on top of that maintaining your style, looking good and fresh, well it all requires effort.
Italian people
Italians are very cultural people and culture revolves around society and society is shaped by family units.
Their divorce ratio is also pretty low as compared to other countries. In 2002 it was 10% as compared to the United States which was 48 %.( statistics quoted from divorce magazine)
I’m not passing a stereotype statement over here. But there are some distinguishing patterns of a country which makes one wonder; how and why?
My promise
As a mother I want to look neat and stylish. I want to make my hair nicely and wear accessories that compliment my dress. It’s just that I feel after becoming a mother I have become more conscious of my wardrobe and give more time to relax my body, which is not easy when you have a full fledged toddler around the house, but I guess that’s the beauty of it;
To look after yourself when you barely have time to do so.
