We follow a limited screen-time at home for our daughter. Even at that, we’ve been having a hard time keeping our daughter sit still on the sofa whilst watching her videos. She wants to have her face just a couple of inches away from the monitor. We’ve thought of many ways how to keep her face away from the monitor including drawing scary faces and taping it on the monitor’s edge which proved effective for a couple or so days. And then we’re back to square one again.

Last week, Hubs remembered that Yui gets scared of Daruma-san. So he thought of putting the charm atop the monitor. Like magic, it worked and Yui really did keep away from the monitor.

Until one evening. I was in the kitchen cooking when she ran to me, calling “Mommy, Mommy!”, her voice urgent. When I looked up, she was running to me holding the Daruma in her right hand, her right arm stretched as far away from her face as she could, her face also angled away from the Daruma, her eyes on a squint watching out for the Daruma yet at the same time (probably) checking it that it didn’t creep up her arm.

Instantly, I was barraged with a number of emotions. Of course there was the small chagrin of seeing our scare-tactic failing again. But the most prevalent of all the emotion was pride and wonderment. That this little lady faced her fears just so she can be where she wanted to be. That this little lady overcame her fear and handled her fear bravely, this fear that hindered her from fully enjoying what she wanted to do. And yes, there’s that Mommy joy, rejoicing with the fact that my little child is fully confident that Mommy is always there to support her.