Aabha Arora

It was 9:30 p.m. Riya finally closed her laptop after a long day of back-to-back meetings. Her four-year-old daughter had already fallen asleep. As she tucked the blanket around her little one, she noticed a crayon drawing on the bedside table. It showed three stick figures holding hands. Above them, in shaky little letters, was written: “My Happy Family.” Riya smiled… and then her eyes filled with tears. All day, she had worried about not spending enough time with her daughter. Yet, in her...

Three-year-old Aarav came home from preschool covered in paint. His mother looked at his T-shirt, smiled, and asked, “What happened today?” With sparkling eyes, he replied, “I made a volcano, counted dinosaurs, built a bridge with blocks, and my team won because we worked together!” His grandmother, listening nearby, couldn’t resist asking the question many of us have heard: “That’s wonderful… but when will he start studying?” His mother smiled. “He already did.” That conversation perfectly...

It was admission season. Outside a preschool, two mothers waited patiently for their turn. One carried a file filled with school rankings, curriculum comparisons, and checklists of the “best preschools” in the city. The other carried nothing but her three-year-old, who was happily collecting pebbles and fallen leaves. The first mother turned to the second and asked, “What are you looking for in a preschool?” She replied with a smile, “I just want my child to come home excited to tell me about...