A morning in the life of a meditation teacher… and a very curious child.
This morning, Aaghnya looked at me very seriously and asked:
“Amma, what is threatening? And what is scolding?”
It was early.
My day had already started.
And somewhere in my head, I was doing the usual morning calculations:
Five meditation sessions today.
Three advanced.
Two beginners.
Need to prepare for the advanced group.
Need to remember what I have to do between sessions.
What are we having for lunch?
Did I drink water?
Where is my phone?
Why am I holding this spoon?
And then…
“Amma, what is threatening?”
My brain:
Excuse me?
😂
I looked at her.
She was genuinely waiting for an answer.
So obviously, everything else had to pause.
Because that's the thing about children.
They don't care that you have a schedule.
They don't care that you have clients waiting.
They don't care that you have a meditation session in a little while.
If a question enters their head…
it needs an answer NOW.
So I put on my very serious “mother-teacher” face and explained:
“If you say, ‘If you do this, I will do this,’ that's threatening.”
She listened.
Okay.
One down.
Then came:
“What is scolding?”
So I explained:
“If you have already done something, and I say, ‘Why did you do that? Why did you do this? Why did you behave like that?’ — that's scolding.”
And while explaining it, I suddenly realised something.
Oh God.
I'm literally a meditation and wellness coach…
and my child has brought me a topic that belongs to Parenting 101.
Five meditation sessions today.
Three advanced.
Two beginners.
And apparently, one completely unexpected session on the psychology of threatening and scolding.
😂
I could almost imagine putting it on my schedule:
9:00 AM – Advanced Meditation
10:30 AM – Advanced Meditation
12:00 PM – Parenting Vocabulary Consultation with Aaghnya
No registration required.
Attendance compulsory.
And the funny part?
She was so genuinely curious.
There was no argument.
No mischief.
No drama.
Just:
“Amma, I want to understand the difference.”
And I thought about how children do this.
They collect words from everywhere.
They hear something.
They notice something.
They store it somewhere in that little brain.
And then they suddenly pull it out when you're least prepared.
Usually when you're:
busy.
Very busy.
Extremely busy.
Preferably with one hand occupied and the other hand looking for something you can't find.
Because apparently, children have an internal radar for maximum parental inconvenience.
😂
And let's be honest…
Every parent knows the difference between threatening and scolding.
But when your child actually asks you to define it, suddenly you become very careful with your words.
Because now you have to explain your own behaviour.
You can't just say,
“Because Amma said so.”
The child has requested clarification.
And honestly, I loved that.
Because beneath the funny question was a child trying to understand how adults communicate.
And maybe that's one of the unexpected gifts of parenting.
They make us explain things we normally do automatically.
They make us listen to our own words.
They make us notice ourselves.
Even when we're standing in the middle of a chaotic Chennai morning, mentally preparing for five meditation sessions.
So today, Aaghnya learned:
Threatening:
“If you do this, I will do that.”
Scolding:
“You did this. Why did you do that?”
And I learned:
Being a meditation teacher does not mean I get peaceful mornings.
It just means…
I have a slightly more creative vocabulary for describing the chaos. 😂
Because after all my years of meditation, mindfulness and inner awareness…
there is still one little voice in my house that can completely interrupt my inner silence with:
“Amma…”
And honestly?
I'm not sure there is any meditation technique for that.
Yet. 😄
Meenakshi R Karthikeyan
AAGHNYA™ | Your Inner Awakening Space
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