My parents linearly started their married life. First, they finished their basic education, then they plan of marriage and afterwards they thought of me. None of them dared to change the societal norms and had me before they went for the marriage. I grew up with the thought that I was watching TV when everyone clicking pictures for the ginormous wedding album. Until seven years of my life, I believed that I attended their wedding and hosted the party for them. Only much recently it came to my attention that they married before I was born and certainly that’s extremely unfair on my part.

Another thing that concerns me is my dad’s profession. I complained to my mum several times that she should choose a chef instead of a psychiatrist. No, it’s not that I don’t like the meals cooked by my dad, the only trouble is that writing a psychiatrist is a difficult job for a preprimary student and I was quite bad with my spelling. So now, one can imagine how I used to spell my dad’s profession-CYCTREE. Perhaps, my invention of spelling words wasn’t appreciated by my school, and this upset my parents as well. To fix me, I  was referred to an occupational therapist who later referred me to a speech therapist.

“Hi I am Sussan, what should I call you ?” As soon as I entered the occupational therapist room, I heard this melodious voice of a young lady. I was amazed by the number of toys she had in her room. She soon offered me a soft pencil grip and guided me on how to improve handwriting. I started liking to visit her place. I improved a lot in many areas; however, it seems not enough for a school setting.

 I was unable to bring any laureate to home, instead complaint of teachers piling up from handwriting problem to speaking problem. I felt my parent were unable to replicate a clone that could fit well in the societal predetermined puzzle set.

The ability of a child at a certain age when measured with his peer group can only give rise to the frustrating moments for the parents. Are we children delivered from a three-D printing technology that should look and behave identically?

Perhaps, our lense to fixing every child needs to be questioned. A child that is not a trophy often regarded as a misfit for the society. I understand at a very young age that I can’t be the trophy child, but I can be a child with humanity.

All these early years of struggle helped me to be resilient. I am proud of what I am: a bit different yet unique and thankfully not a three-D replica of my parents.