“Aminah, you are still watching cartoons while you had only taken permission to watch them for half an hour,” mamma screamed angrily when she entered the room and saw that Aminah was busy staring at the screen of her mobile phone.

“But Mamma, I couldn’t figure out when that half an hour got over,” Aminah’s voice was low and weak as she made a lame excuse.

“I told you clearly that when the big hand of the clock becomes straight upwards, your watching time will be over,” mamma scolded. She almost snatched her mobile phone from Aminah.

“But mamma I like watching cartoons all the time and ...,” she murmured but there wasn’t anyone to listen, because mamma had already gone back to kitchen.

Aminah was a three-year-old naughty girl. Her mother loved her very much, but, at the same time, she was fully aware of the harms a mobile phone can do to little kids. It can weaken their eyesight at this tender age, resulting in serious problems for the rest of their lives. It also hinders their mental growth. Researchers say that the brain tissues of children absorb about two times more MWR (microwave radiation) than that of adults, and the bone marrow of children absorbs 10 times more MWR than that of adults.

Moreover, not every kind of cartoons were suitable for kids. Though Mamma had downloaded some good ones for Aminah, she wasn’t confined to those only. She had recently learned turning the wi-fi on and going straight to YouTube app.

Now Mamma had put a complete ban on cartoon-watching and started keeping her phone on higher places i.e. on the refrigerator or on the highest shelf in the cupboard, where Aminah could not reach easily.

Aminah hadn’t got the chance to watch cartoons for almost a week now. Although she liked her colouring books as well as the story books Mamma brought for her just a few days ago, but she liked cartoons the most.

Daddy used to come home during lunch break. One day he wanted to eat biryani for lunch, so Mamma was busy preparing it. She was taking help from a video of a biryani recipe saved in her mobile phone. When Aminah woke up from her midday nap and peeped into the kitchen, her eyes sparkled with a naughty idea as she saw the mobile phone lying on the kitchen shelf, perfectly within her easy reach.

At that time mamma was almost done with cooking biryani and was cleaning the kitchen. After completing the work, she went to her room to get refreshed. Later, she went to Aminah’s room to wake her up for lunch as daddy was about to reach home. But Aminah wasn’t in her bed.

Mamma looked for her in the lounge, on the terrace, in the washroom, in daddy’s study and outside in the lawn, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. She checked the main gate, which was locked. So she went upstairs to find Aminah but in vain.

Now mamma became seriously worried and thought of informing daddy. She looked for her phone to make a call, but to her dismay, it was nowhere to be found.

Wondering where both Aminah and the mobile phone had disappeared, mamma began her search again. When she checked under the study table, she was surprised to see Aminah, hiding there with the mobile phone in her hands, engrossed in watching cartoons. Mamma called her name aloud, “Aminah!”

No response came because she had head phones on. Then mamma touched her shoulder gently. Aminah was startled and instantly looked worried as she was caught red-handed.

Instead of scolding her, Mamma laughed at the naughty idea Aminah had come up with and hugged her tightly saying, “Aminah you could have taken permission to watch cartoons, why did you have to ‘steal’ my phone and hide yourself here?”

“Because you have put a complete ban on my cartoon-watching. Mamma, I love story books but I love cartoons the most,” she said innocently.

“Okay, I promise to allow you to watch cartoons for 20 minutes daily from now on,” said Aminah’s mother smiling. “We’ll watch some together after lunch every day. And I admit I couldn’t take out time to read those wonderful stories aloud to you, but I’ll read one out to you at bed time daily. I’m sure you’re going to fall in love with them more than these cartoons.”

“Really?” Aminah’s eyes opened wide with wonder.

“Yes!” Mamma kissed her pink cheeks.

Mamma realised her mistake. Putting a complete stop on anything in one go wasn’t such a good idea, and children always love stories read aloud by their mothers.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 22nd, 2020