It’s a hot, humid day (you know what I mean fellow Karachiite mums). You’ve showered, donned the lightest of lawns and are walking into your child’s school while having an inner dialogue with yourself,
“I’m going to stay calm today…”
“I’m not going to answer a tantrum with one of my own…”
“I am the adult in this relationship…”
I will not give in and buy her an ice cream to maintain my own sanity…”
But before you know it, you are walking out of the same gate, holding your child’s hand and with each step to the car, you can feel that hand getting sweatier, her steps slowing down, her voice (which, just five minutes ago was happily saying “Bye bye” to her teachers) becoming whinier. You can feel YOUR heart pumping faster, your hands clenching tighter and your pace getting faster as you anticipate the imminent meltdown.
And if you happen to be your own driver and have a longer walk to the parking lot than the pickup point like other mums, you can actually feel all those resolutions made above flying off into the (non-existent) wind. I feel you mama, I know how much you’d rather buy that ice cream (for you AND your kid!), how much that whiny voice is getting to you and how LOUDLY you want to scream, “STOP WHINING!!!” BUT there IS a light at the end of this burning hot tunnel (pun absolutely intended)!
Around a year back, I was probably like you too. But then I found God’s own gift-to-mums-for-maintaining-their-sanity-at-hometime-madness (they don’t call the 12-3 p.m. show on FM 89 “Midday Madness with Ghazal” for nothing! 
)
So back to the after-school, heat-induced tantrum hack…
This, my lovely but mentally exhausted mummies, is IT. It’s a spray hand fan with a small container for water which spritzes the child (those whines will soon become giggles, trust me) when turned on. I, for one, am pretty sure the pankha jhalnay walay (hand-fan bearers in yesteryears) that our Nanis and Dadis talk about, would have killed for this gadget!
When we got this from Billboard in Clifton, Karachi, for around Rs. 200-300 (I forget) there were two types. One was battery-operated and had a Doraemon face and then there was this one which is, manual. But the shop assistant was nice enough to point out that this was more hassle-free in terms of batteries dying out and so on (don’t you guys HATE your kids’ battery operated toys and the disaster that entails when the battery dies….and you don’t have spare ones at home!?). Also, pushing that little lever up and down means that your little one will be working on those fine motor skills while cooling himself/herself down…two birds with one stone, right? 
So, it’s been two years since we’ve had it. It stays in the pocket behind the front passenger seat of my car (for the most part) along with my son’s P-cap and I just carry both items to my son’s school at hometime. And if the container is empty, I just fill it from the school’s bathroom, much to the amusement of the domestic staff!
And even though it’s been two years, my son’s delight at seeing it at hometime everyday is just the same as it was that first day. Think about it…you’re four-years-old, you’ve had a long day at school, you’re hungry and tired and it’s HOT! Who wouldn’t whine???
So, whoever in China came up with this absolutely simple but amazing gadget, perhaps you didn’t know it would be used by a four-year-old at the end of a school day, but I do hope that somehow you receive the dil se dua that this mama sends your way every day!
When Mum Needs a Break 