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Parenting is no cakewalk and when one is a celebrity parent, the challenges are manifold. Along with the scrutiny that comes with the paparazzi culture, the expectations put forth by the world on a child born to a successful parent are immense. Former tennis champion Sania Mirza understands this. Today, her and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik’s son Izhaan Mirza Malik maybe only seven but she has already had a conversation with him on how he can navigate the pressures of being born to ‘high-achieving’ parents. Speaking exclusively to News18, Sania says, “Izhaan is born into a family of high achievers. The public eye is constantly on him. Even before he was born, I was being asked if he’s going to be playing cricket or tennis. I understand where that’s coming from. I know that the intention isn’t bad but it’s just ridiculous that someone who isn’t even on earth yet was expected to choose between two sports! And this question is going to be a part of his journey for a long time.” While Izhaan plays football, Sania made sure that he doesn’t feel the need to play a sport just because her parents are also players. “I’ve already sat him down and spoken to him about the pressure that the world is going to impose on him. I’ve explained to him that it’s okay to lose and that it’s okay to not play a sport if he doesn’t want to. Just because I’m his mother, people expect him to play but the odds of that are very small,” she tells us. For Sania, the first step of parenting was to acknowledge that despite all her efforts, Izhaan won’t be able to have a regular childhood. “As parents, we’ve to protect him and try to normalise his life as much as possible. Having said that, I’ve to understand that I can’t fully normalise it. I’ve to accept that that the set-up he’s in isn’t normal. I can’t be in denial and say that he’s a normal child. He isn’t born into a normal family. If I’m in denial about it, parenting will become even more challenging,” she states. It all began when her son asked her a question at the age of four and that’s when Sania decided to address the elephant in the room. “I remember he had once asked me how everyone knows my name and why people come and ask me for a picture. He asked the same question to his father. For Izhaan, that’s his normal. But now he knows that things are different in our home. For instance, the parents of his friends in his school do a nine-to-five job. They go to work in the morning.” Sania further continues, “But he knows that his mother doesn’t go to an office. There are pros to it as well as I’m always available to pick him up and drop him off to school. On the other hand, he also knows that I’m often away from him for four-five days at a stretch for work.” For the unversed, her son plays for the U-8 football team of Juventus.
