Elder son wants to stop the online Malayalam class his grandparents arranged

linen_river_75136 Aug 2026

My parents found a teacher in Kerala who teaches Malayalam reading online, twice a week, and they pay for it. Our elder son was keen for the first month. Now he sits through it with his camera pointed at the ceiling fan and asks every Tuesday whether this can be the last one. We speak Malayalam at home, but he answers in English and can't read the script. I'd like him to have it. I also don't want it to become the thing he resents, and my parents will be hurt if he stops. Did anyone push through this stage with a home-language class, or let it go and come back to it later?

1 comment

mint_veranda_71646 Aug 2026
We let our daughter drop Marathi reading at around nine because the weekly class had become a fight. At nineteen she asked why we had let her, and she has been learning it on her own since, slowly. So dropping it isn't fatal, but restarting as an adult was harder than either of us expected. One thing I'd try first: change the format, not the decision. A different teacher, a shorter class, or reading something he likes. Ours read cricket news in Marathi long after she refused the textbook.
- linen_river_75137 Aug 2026
  That's the outcome I keep imagining, him asking at nineteen why we let him. The cricket news idea is a good one. He reads anything about football, so that might be a way in.
- linen_river_75138 Aug 2026
  Update for anyone who lands here later. Spoke to the teacher and to my parents. We're keeping one class a week instead of two, and for a month she'll use football match reports and comics instead of the reader. He agreed to try it till the Onam holidays. Not solved, but the Tuesday negotiations have stopped for now.