Change....

This year, Sonny boy has stopped having tuitions. He'd been having them for the last 3 years.

It was not that he needed extra coaching. It was more that since the tuitions were in the evening, we had found a way to keep him occupied till one of us at least got home. Our house keeper would stay till about 6-6.30 and then she'd have to leave. We'd reach home only post 7 in the normal scenario.  The tuition class - 4 days a week- would start at 6.30 and go on till 8.
The timing was perfect, giving us enough time to get home and for me to get into 'home' mode.  The only pity was that we got to see so little of him, where we could generally chit-chat.
But then, earlier too, there used to be no time for that. After getting back at 7, we used to have an hour or two of homework sessions- gruelling for both of us. The last thing I wanted after a day's work at office was to yell and shout at my easily distracted son. (And I was not happy with the Acha supervising homework either, for he was not bothered about the quality of writing, in the effort to finish the quantity.) It was my Mom who advised me to lookout for a tuition teacher, saying that that would be better than subjecting Sonny boy to the daily shouting scene. Though initially I scoffed at her and the idea of tuitions for a kindergarten kid, of well educated and articulate parents, looking back, it was such a lifesaver. Moms do know best! Always.

We looked out for, and found B ma'am. There's a saying that goes- When God closes a door, He opens a window somewhere. For us, God's window opened out to B ma'am. She's a gem of a person. Sincere, and dedicated to a fault. Sonny boy liked her and had a healthy respect for her. Soon, the Acha and I learned that she was a hard taskmaster, taking us to task if the son hadn't done his work. We didn't have to worry about school homework, but we had a new worry. Tuition homework!!!! And since she would call/sms both of us,  both of us took care to make Sonny boy finish his work on time- as much as possible.
When we had to shift houses in between, we took extra effort to find one on the surroundings and finally landed one in the same complex, ONLY because of her.

This year, she's moving out into her new house, which is why the tuition has stopped.  But we'll be eternally grateful to her for the period in which she took care of our son for us.  Now Sonny boy is 9 years old. Old enough to be left alone in the complex even if either of us aren't around.   But we still try and make that time as negligible as possible. Which is another reason we scouted around for other classes for him.

So now, he goes for
Carnatic music- Mon and Thurs  ( the last 2 years)
Badminton- Wed and Fri ( the last year)
Keyboard- Sat.( this summer)

He has a good ear for music, but he's not too good at the singing part.  He fails to pitch his voice high or low as required.. .  the modulation is not there. I don't know if I'm being too critical. The worst part is that, being laypersons at music, neither the Acha nor I know to tell him where and how he's going wrong. We know he's wrong, but don't want to correct him for fear that we'd be telling him the wrong thing. There has, however, been some progress over the last 2 years.

He's doing good in badminton, and has progressed to the next level.

Keyboard is a very recent addition. He started it during the summer, when he went to spend his hols with his Ammamma. And my Mom being the busy beaver she is, searched around for something to keep him occupied, and found keyboard and guitar classes. He was not too fond of the guitar- said it hurt his fingers. But he liked keyboard and wanted to continue. So- we've just found a teacher and enrolled him for classes.

The music and the badminton are in our apartment complex itself, but the keyboard classes are out. And the class lasts for an hour, which is best spent there itself. . . Which brings me to the question of whether I should also learn keyboard. Or some other musical instrument.  They also have violin classes, an instrument I've always been very fond of. Am very tempted, but am afraid that I'll not stick on. Also- I have never had any formal education in music, so am a bit diffident as well.