Jet lag

Jet lag is an inevitable part of our vacation to India. Before my son was born, I never experienced much jet lag. I used to force myself to stay awake during the day for a couple of days and then I would be set. But now, it is totally different. Sarath does not let me sleep when he is awake. So, I have to get up as early as he is up. I am so tired by lunch time, that I just dose off. I do not feel sleepy at night and end up staying awake until past midnight. It is horrible. It has been three days and there are no sign’s of the jet lag being over. Somehow it was very easy the last time when my son was only 20 months old.

Add cold and runny nose to a kid with jet lag – you can imagine the rest. That is our situation now. Sarath does not feel like eating or drinking. He is cranky all the time because of the cold. It has been a real struggle to get him to eat a couple of chapati’s yesterday. Poor kid. He doesn’t even know why he is feeling this way. I really lost my temper and shouted at him for not eating anything. Later, I felt bad and decided that I am going to be very very patient with him. So, today with a lot of talking and coaxing, I got him to eat some food and slowly he is getting better with his sleeping schedule.

Added to all this, it is really hot outside. I grew up in Hyderabad and now I feel the heat is too much to bear. I am not used to this heat anymore. So, how can I expect my son to behave normal when everything around him has changed? He was born in a place where the average summer temperature does not go above 90 F and even if it does, we have controlled conditions inside the house and are never affected by the heat or cold as long as we are indoors. So, I decided to take it easy and let him enjoy while we are here. Once we go back, I am sure he will get back to his normal self and fall into the routine very easily.

Life with kids is ever changing. We never get bored and we learn something new from them everyday. So, this time my son taught me that I have to be patient with him because everything he does has a reason behind it. He cannot describe it all the time and me as the mom, has to understand this and act accordingly.