Guilt forms the basis of women’s opinions, relationships: Kajol

“You always feel guilty. I have said this 100 times over that one of the biggest things that we as mothers deal with is guilt, we as women also deal with this. It forms the basis of so many of our opinions, about ourselves, about the world around us and our relationships with people. I think you erase the guilt that we have and our relationships would be much, much healthier. But at the same time there are a lot of situations where you cannot erase that guilt. My kids… They are one of the places where I struggle every day. That’s something I have not yet managed,” the actor said.

Kajol is, however, glad that she has never been questioned by her family for the choices she made as a mother, and in fact, has always had their support. “Ajay’s support matters a lot. I was very lucky that I had in-laws who were so wonderful. My mother, sister, father and my husband… Nobody ever made me feel guilty. It was all me. I still feel guilty. Now that I am here, my son was like ‘You are not coming swimming with me,’ It’s not as if I was not with him for the whole week, we were together, I took him for swimming twice but yes the one time that I didn’t take him, I feel guilty about it. It’s not on a colossal level but it’s there.”

While the actor is yet to make peace with this self-reproach, she said it can never make her stop working because she loves it. Also, Kajol believes that by continuing to work, she is setting a fine example for her kids.

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“It’s just forgiving yourself and you (need to think) that this is what you have to do daily, the smallest, the biggest, the things that don’t matter to anyone else but to you. Those are the times that you need to forgive yourself and go forward. And work is one of those things. I know for a fact that when my kids grow up, they will respect me all the more for it, and my son will turn around and want a working wife because he would say, ‘I want to respect my wife as much as I respected my mother.’ I hope and pray that he thinks like that! I am working him towards that, slowly and surely. I am subconsciously giving him that message. So, I think my children will be better tomorrow because I am working today and I am giving them a better example as a parent to look up to.”