CHENNAI : Mumteen Reasons To Write. True to the name, the book is a dialogue between a mother and her teenage daughter. What makes it special is that it is co-authored by a mother-daughter duo. Ruchi Mohunta, an educational consultant at Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School and positive psychologist has authored the book along with her 13-year-old daughter Parthivi Mohunta. Their love for writing and maintaining a journal brings them closer.
The book was launched on Wednesday at the Madras Gymkhana club by an eminent psychiatrist Dr Kannan Gireesh who is also the CEO of Livelife Education. Narrating some of his personal experiences, he shared “Putting down your thoughts on a piece of paper truly helps when there is a turmoil. The book is a classic example of developing a better understanding between a teenager and a parent.” After a couple of stories on motherhood, there was an emotional moment among the audience most of whom were parents.
“This is a way to encourage journal writing. The book has both our perspectives towards common teenage issues like messy rooms, loss of loved one, peer pressure and more. This helps us to be more empathetic towards one another. There are no judgements involved. These are mere feeling and reactions. Parthivi makes a journal entry on the issue and so do I,” said Ruchi who started writing her diary when she was in class 8.
The challenges and issues that she faced as a teenager 20 years back are similar to what her daughter experiences. Except for the pressure of social media, she can relate to most of the problems. Ruchi chanced upon one of her old diaries a year back. She showed it to her daughter. The two went on a laughter ride and that’s when the journey to write a book began. ‘Mumteen Reasons To Write‘ looks more like a journal with personalised handwriting on ruled pages. There are 13 tumultuous episodes of war and peace, designed with relatable illustrations.