The happiness quotient...

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"My son has been sleeping on his own since he was three!"
"I simply decorated his room with Spiderman stickers and he happily moved in...ta..da"
"Oh...it was a breeze..."
That's the gist of the depressing comments I used to hear from my friends. Everyone seemed to have done a beautiful job of moving their little boys and girls into fabulously decorated rooms of their own when they were as little as three or even one!

And me, the loser among all these super moms...here I was struggling to keep an 8 year old out of our bed! Shameful!

But, somewhere a little elf of a doubt persisted...what if my friends were wrong? Could the childcare pundits who advocate independence and individualism in kids be wrong? I don't know.

All that I know is, no longer able to bear the imploring looks and pleadings for one laaa....st night together (my little ones used to call the weekly Friday night community sleep...the 'family sleepover night') I finally gave in.

Now all five of us and a clutch of teddy bears sprawl out on a king sized bed pushed against another super single bed...little legs wrapped around me, stubby fingers rummaging my locks. Amidst muted giggles and quiet shushhs and the eternal fight for a corner of the comforter, we drift into a huggy, happy sleep, a Hotwheels car snoring contentedly under our pillow.

But you know what? I have a sneaking feeling that the happiness quotient in our family has simply shot up...their teachers wonder why the little ones are smiling more these days...and I wonder why I am feeling a trifle happier...