Cloudburst that caused an outburst!

"Can you narrate your research finding instead of reading out from your mobile?", I quipped. I did this as soon as my mid-teen daughter started reading out the Google search definition of 'cloudburst'. My witty and quick remark did not go down well as it led to an outburst.

It was her turn to tell a story in the storytime ritual, which we started during the COVID lockdown. There was a cloudburst the previous day in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, in India, that had caused a lot of casuality, of both life and property. So, I asked her "to do some research" about cloudburst and "narrate her finding" in the storytime. And, I instructed my son to help her with her reseach. Idea was for all of us to learn something about nature as part of our storytime ritual. 

Being a child who follows instructions to the T, she did exactly that. But, she focused more on the "research" part than the "narrate" part of my ask. She, apparently, spent some time to find science articles explaining a cloudburst and saved it on her smartphone memory. I would have preferred she saved it in her own memory and recalled it at storytime. One of the reasons for this ritual. 

So, when I insisted that she recall whatever she remembers and narrate, it led to an emotional outburst. She retorted, "But, you only aked me to find the actual science behind cloudburst and not share a layman version". Some other nagging (usual bro-sis and mom-child) incidents that preceded during the day possibly added to her frustration. 

Witin a few minutes, tears gushed down the valley between her nose and red cheeks; like a flashflood post a cloudburst. When my quipping hit the stress and frustration already builtup, it triggerred that emotional outburst. Just like, when the upward warm air currents in a valley hitting heavy clouds hovering over a hill triggers a cloudburst.

Patriarchy falters when there is a flash flood from a child's eyes. I took a step back and requested her to take it easy and asked her to continue with reading out her research. My son, for a change, maintained silence through out and positively contributed to the storynight. He recited a few cloudburst incidents from history with some data facts that he had put little effort to memorize.

Storytime that night was stressful and I presume the new knowledge about cloudburst may not sustain for long. It made me further ascertain my hypothesis that, "Learning through self-realization sustains; longer with eustress than distress."

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