Bedtime stories for kids

A Son in need is a Son indeed!!

Suhas and Sandhya are brother and sister of 10 and 4 years respectively. They always bothered their poor mother by not obeying to anything told to them. Their mother had a tough time managing the naughtiest kids. One day, while teaching a particular lesson, Suhas's teacher asked her students to do an activity related to the lesson. All the students had to help somebody and share the experience of helping others in front of the entire class. They had one week to come up with their story.

All the kids were very excited about their new assignment and they kept their eyes and ears open to find their perfect candidate, helping whom they can make a beautiful story. Three days passed and Suhas couldn't find anybody who was particularly in need of his help. There was no old man/woman waiting for someone to help them cross the road or somebody needing help to carry heavy things to his home, that came to Suhas's attention. He was quite disappointed and was asking himself, "is there not one person on this earth who needs my help"?

Suhas, with a pale face entered his home after school in the evening. He saw that house was lying unclean and all toys were thrown here and there. Sandhya had done quite a mess. Suhas was surprised as his mother never used to let the house remain that way before. He couldn't find his mother anywhere in the living room and Sandhya was busy messing up the kitchen. He went to Sandhya and asked for Mom. She showed the bed room. Suhas went to the room to see his mother lying on the bed almost unconscious. He ran to her, gave her some water and tried to wake her up. He could notice she had high fever. After couple of attempts, mother opened her eyes. He asked, "What happened to you? How come you got sick all of a sudden like this"? Mother replied, "No Suhas, I had some cold and cough from a couple of days. But from yesterday night, there is fever also. I took some paracetamol tablets but the fever is recurring".

Suhas then recollected that his mother was coughing and sneezing and was looking tired from couple of days. But he hardly paid any attention. He knew his father was out of town for the entire week and he had no one for his help. He then thought for a while and gave his mother some glucose so that she could get some strength. He called up his family doctor and booked an appointment for evening 7:30. He cleaned up all the mess created by her sister, made some Sandwiches so that once they are back home, their dinner is ready.

At 6:30 PM, he called for a taxi and told his mother, "Mom just wrap yourself with a shawl. We shall go to doctor". At first, mother tried to say she is ok and she can't leave the kids alone in the house and many such reasons. Suhas, then interrupted his mother and said, "We will all go together. I shall take care of Sandhya in the clinic. The taxi is about to arrive. We need to be ready". Mother was surprised seeing her son behaving like a real grown up. She just nodded her head to what her son has to say and followed him.

Suhas took complete responsibility of his sister in the clinic till the doctor could check his mother up. Doctor prescribed some antibiotics along with paracetamol to get rid of the viral infection. He bought all the medicines from pharmacy on their way back home. For the next three days he took complete care of his mother and sister and behaved like a responsible son. Very soon, his mother became completely well and his father also returned home. Both the parents were very happy about the thoughtfulness and responsibility shown by their son.

It was Monday and all students had to share their experiences with the class. One girl shared her experience of teaching her driver's son Maths. Another boy shared his experience of nursing a boy who got hurt in his athletics training and the list went on. It was Suhas's turn.

He said, "We all tend to find other people to help, but what we neglect is to find our own people who badly need our help. This exercise let me explore in those lines. The person whom I helped was my Mother. My Mom sacrificed her career, job, health and most importantly time to me and my sister. We hardly cared about her well being. Last week, she was badly ill and my father was not in town. I took care of her and my little sister, took her to doctor, reminded her to take tablets on time, as she is the one kind who forgets herself when it comes to her family. It is needless to say I felt fantastic to see her recover and I was able to do my bit in the process. I'm thankful to my teachers for this opportunity without which it wouldn't have been possible to realize my duties".

Though Suhas's story did not earn him full marks, it did earn him lot of appreciation. He was his parents' hero after all. He was the Son in need who was son indeed!