How much is too much ?

Clutter clutter everywhere!

There can’t be a more appropriate time to address this dilemma. The lockdown witnessed society and individuals behave in ways that were beyond the realms of ordinary and in some cases far from rational. I don’t think anyone would consider stocking toilet rolls for a decade as normal behaviour! It made us all rethink what we considered essential and what simply served as unnecessary add- one. And more importantly somewhere it made us look within and face the real us – one with no makeup to hide the puffy eyes caused by sleepless nights of worry, with no masks to cover our sometimes selfish acts and no fake facade of having it all under control as you witness your house your kids and work literally all spiral out of control.

Spring cleaning took on a more intense avatar with every item intently scrutinised for not only when it was last used but if it was even really needed. Made me question the piles of barely used puzzles, games and diy activities that I loved but S couldn’t care less about! Infact when I asked him to select some of his favourite things and move them temporarily to another room for a week while I deep-cleaned his room, I was shocked to see all his “essentials” fit in one box!

It also made me wonder if the clutter in his room reflected my own constant need to ensure he has it all, even when he neither needs nor wants it. We have been doing just fine without any new additions to the toys games activities or room decor. That line between enough and excess can get fuzzy especially when sprinkled with the forever mom guilt or the fierce competitive spirit.

And this obsession with ‘more’ is not simply limited to material things. The first few days were filled with online classes, offline practice schedules, online story telling sessions, baking experiments , art and craft projects to flaunt on the Instagram – basically trying to run some sort of a strange lockdown marathon which resembled our normal schedule but on steroids! By the end of it we were exhausted. S was cranky, baby Y picked up on the overall anxiety and was having his own tantrums and I was annoyed and irritated at everything. We decided to give it all a break for a day and what a revelation it was. We were relaxed, the boys were actually quite disciplined and fun to be with and I actually went to bed feeling happy and content.

“This was a lockdown and not a motherhood 2.0 challenge”

I hadn’t achieved anything in the traditional sense of the word but instead had discovered something priceless – this was a lockdown and not a motherhood 2.0 challenge! We don’t need to prove anything to anyone, nor do we need to cover a few years worth of skills and activities within a week. Yes, the kids need some routine to feel a sense of normalcy but that in no way means that every second of every hour must be accounted for! Yes, it is an opportunity to learn a few skills but that’s what it should be limited to – a few interesting online workshops and activities maybe, and for those who want to simply play, relax and read or even watch a movie, there need not be any judgements passed either. The accomplishments of the day should be counted by the number of smiles and hugs! And applauded for the fact that we survived another day of this strange new normal with all our sanity intact.

Christmas Book Reading to make the holidays extra special!

BabyS loves reading and storytelling ! So when we discovered a book reading session at our favourite Wishing Chair at South Point Mall, we couldn’t wait to find out what exciting stories were in store for us!

The book reading by Harper Collins of their new book Lucky Its Not Just A Christmas Story by Nalini Sorensen and illustrated by Shamika Chaves, left the little ones completely mesmerised! A beautiful tale that highlights all that Christmas is really all about – sharing and spreading joy and laughter to all! The story is simple to read and understand and keeps the little ones engaged and curious to find out what happens next! The descriptive language encourages children to imagine the characters and their surrounding. Thus, enhancing their creative thinking skills. Besides, every chapter carries a lovely illustration for the kids to colour, adding an extra layer of excitement and fun.

The book reading was followed by a colourful art session, where kids used their imagination to colour different scenes from the story and then decorate it with colourful stickers. What an exciting start to the holidays! We are super excited to read the entire book and are looking forward to more such exciting book readings with Harper Collins and The Wishing Chair.

Ideas for a Spooky Halloween! “Boo”

With Halloween almost here, BabyS and I have put together some fun Halloween plans. Here are some of our favourite Halloween activities.

A spooky read of the Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson

We do this almost every year, but somehow its always the most fun way to kick start the Halloween celebrations. A great read about a kind and generous Witch who would always lend a helping hand to all those in need. When the Witch finds herself in trouble, all those little animals, whom she had helped earlier, come together to save her from a deadly monster. While we enjoyed playing the different characters in the book, and coming up with spooky mantras for the Witch’s potion, Baby S also learnt an important life lesson about kindness and generosity!

This year since BabyS is now a little older and can memorise a few lines too, we are planning to enact the book with all his friends and ask them to dress up as the different characters to add that extra magic!

Making our own Halloween costumes

BabyS has decided that’s he want to be a super hero this time and are making our own cape!

Easy Steps to make your own Superhero cape

• Cut out the shape of the cape on velvet or any other plain fabric and ensure the cut-out is comfortable when tied around the neck
• Place velcro at the end of the two strips to clasp the cape comfortably around the neck
• Make cut-outs of your favourite superhero’s shield, spider etc. on another velvet strip and simply stitch or glue it to the cape. You can even add your child’s initial to the cape to create more excitement!

Me and Mine! Halloween Team

What can be more fun than dressing up with your little one! Baby S and I are dressing up as mommy and baby superheroes! There are a host of other spooky mommy and baby Halloween costume ideas!

Halloween Themed Baking

Baking with toddlers is always most fun! Pick some easy recipes and design your own friendly ghosts! And if you’re not the best baker like me, you can get a muffin or a cookie and whip up your chocolate sauce and toppings! We made an adorable ghost cupcake with muffin, chocolate icing, lollipop and some ready made fondant mix

Simple steps for a Ghost Cupcake

• Begin by rolling out the fondant to about 1/16-inch. Be sure to dust your work surface with cornstarch so it doesn’t stick.

• Use a 4-inch cookie cutter or paring knife to cut circles.

• Place each circle over a lollipop and form into the shape of a ghost.

• Place the ghost lollipop in the center of a cupcake already covered with chocolate icing.

• And finally make ghost eyes with some extra chocolate icing or edible black decorating gel

Halloween party with fun science experiments!

And finally we are excited to go to the spook-tacular Halloween by Birthdays’n’More and WonderLab at V Club, Gurgaon.

We had a great time at their Halloween party last year, where witches and wizards conjured magic with the help of some super fun science experiments! We made slime, found spiders in the witch’s gooey potion and also collected some colourful and magical gooey marbles. But the best part was watching the wizards experiment with dry ice. While Baby S was enthralled by the drama and mystique created by dry ice, somewhere along the way, he also developed a genuine interest in understanding how things work. There are various science kits that can be used to create these experiments at home. Would definitely recommend these kits to add some science to the magic!

Do share your Halloween fun ideas with us! Happy Halloween..Have a Spooky One.

Teaching kids all about Janmashtami and Lord Krishna

Growing up Janmashtami was one of my favourite festivals with the yummy mithais prepared for Bhog, the strings of fragrant mogras that adorned the temple at home, the pretty swing set decorated specially for baby Krishna, who looked absolutely adorable in those special clothes and jewels especially bought for his birthday ! But what I enjoyed most was listening to his innumerable childhood stories as I helped my mother string together those vibrant marigolds and mogras.

Every Janmashtami I try to relive those same childhood memories but now with my little one turning 5, I hope to pass on that same excitement and create new memories with my own baby Krishna. We began the excitement by decorating our own dahi handis. Baby S painted small clay pots with beautiful and vibrant acrylic colours and decorated them with shiny stones before filling them up with cotton to represent Krishna’s favourite makhan and malai.

We decorated the temple at home with the beautiful matkis and strings of marigold and mogras. Baby S was most excited to bathe baby Krishna in milk and dress him up in new his new colourful attire. I felt extremely nostalgic watching him meticulously, entwine the mogra strings all around Krishna’s swing.

Baby S wanted to know all about Janmashtmi, so we read the Krishna trilogy, from the Amma Tell Me series to learn all about Krishna’s cute and naughty tricks that kept his entire village resounding with laughter as well as his brave encounters with demons and Kansa. I love the way these books are able to recreate the most complex mythological tales in the simplest and most engaging formats to allow children to understand the meaning behind the stories without feeling lost or overwhelmed.

And finally we made Krishna’s favourite Panjiri for the Pooja. It is an integral part of the Janmashtmi celebrations and also extremely easy to make. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add coriander powder to it. Cook coriander powder on low-medium heat until it starts emitting its aroma. Keep stirring as it gets burned easily. After it is well-roasted remove from flame and mix in rest of the ingredients such as sugar to taste and anuts of your choice. And the panjiri is ready.

Festivals are a great way to teach little ones about the vibrant cultures and traditions of our country. And making them part of the celebrations, makes them curious to learn more about it and also teaches them the importance of offering a helping hand. Our festivals celebrate a sense of community with every member doing his or her bit, so why not allow our little ones to experience the same joy of being a part of the festivities and contribute in their own little way.

HAPPY JANMASHTAMI

5 fun activities for Easter!

With the Easter weekend right around the corner its time to plan those super fun Easter activities for your little one! Here are a few activities that shouldn’t be too difficult to plan but would still ensure an exciting weekend for your little bunny!

The Easter Hunt

Baby S is all set to invite his friends for an exciting Easter Hunt. Creating an Easter hunt is actually quite simple.  You need a  dozen multi-coloured plastic eggs.  Fill them with clues. The eggs can be hidden all across the house. Try to pick places that are special to your child, for instance hide an egg in the bookshelf behind his favorite book or in the toy box close to his favourite Hot Wheel. The notes should be simple and age appropriate as kids can loose interest pretty quickly if they are not able to follow a single clue! You can also make some fun cut outs with bunnies. These can be placed around the house or garden to add to the Easter Fun! The child with the most eggs wins but to ensure that all kids go home happy I usually place a big basket of KinderJoy eggs at the end of the hunt to avoid any disappointment or tears.

And the Easter Bunny Says…

A fun game to keep the little hunters entertained. Place some activity notes inside plastic eggs. Place these eggs in a colourful Easter basket next to the Easter Bunny. Each child will pick an egg, open it and then perform the activity listed in the note.

Sponge Painted Easter Egg Basket

Take a chart paper and trace a basket. Next cut egg shapes from colourful sponges. Set out some paint in various colors. Allow the kids to dip the sponges in the paint and use these as stamps to stamp eggs onto the paper, right above the basket. Ask the kids to cut  brown construction paper into small strips using child friendly scissors. Ask them to glue the strips all over the Easter basket. A great way to keep kids entertained as well as develop fine motor skills.

Egg Wash Station!

This activity works extremely well for toddlers as it includes multiple sensory play. And given the rising temperature, messy play that includes water is always a welcome relief! This activity requires some plastic eggs, 2 tubs, shaving foam,  clean cloth, scrub, a spray bottle filled with soap water and a sieve. Fill one tub with shaving foam and the other tub with water. Place the plastic eggs in the shaving foam and let the kids enjoy rolling the eggs in the foam. You can also add some poster paint or glitter to add to the colour and fun. Next ask them to clean these eggs using the scrub and the spray bottle filled with soap and then soak the eggs in the tub filled with water. The kids can then use the sieve to catch these eggs and finally wipe them with a clean cloth. A great activity that also teaches the kids the virtue of cleanliness and importance of taking care of their belongings.

Decorate your chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies

This is the most fun and delicious Easter activity. Ask your little chef to help you decorate chocolate Easter eggs with icing, gems and other sprinkles. And for those moms who can bake up a storm in the kitchen, Easter is a perfect time to add a chocolate bunny on a scrumptious cupcake!

Have a great Easter! and do share some of your favourite Easter activities.

Winter Picnic with GurgaonMoms!

With the weekdays being extremely busy with schools, classes and work, we make sure weekends are filled with lots of cuddles, laughter and family time! This weekend GurgaonMoms gave us the perfect opportunity to catch up on some much-needed family fun at their Winter Family Picnic organised at Aamod’s Golden Turtle Farm near Manesar.

While the farm with its lush green surroundings and adorable rabbits and ducks offered the ideal setting for a picnic under the warm winter sun, GurgaonMoms created the perfect ambience for an exciting afternoon with activities and games specially curated for our little ones. We were welcomed by all the delightful farm animal cutouts by Priyanka Gupta of Pastel Petite that were beautifully placed across the farm along with colourful balloons, transforming the venue into a gorgeous barnyard, almost identical to the one in our favourite nursery rhyme book! Baby S was thrilled to ‘moo’ and ‘baa’ with his favourite animals as he posed for pictures at the stunning photo booth. But the fun was not restricted to animal cut outs, the children had a great time feeding the rabbits and prancing around near the ducks. While books are a great way to introduce children to farms and farm animals, a visit to a farm such as the Golden Turtle, where children can experience these animals in their natural habitat, helps reinforce these concepts in a fun and engaging manner. After all, nothing can be more fun than watching your favourite animals from your farm books come alive and play with you!

To further emphasise the theme of nature and our environment, the moms from LitJoys – Nurturing the Joy of Learning and The Story Goblet shared an interesting tale about the Gulmohar tree using beautiful props, leaving the children mesmerised by the magic of nature. They were most enthralled to spot the Gulmohar tree and colour the cutouts of the Gulmohar flower. LitJoys creates interesting learning boxes focussed on different themes such as nature, travel etc. to introduce young children to these concepts through a fun and engaging manner through fun stories and unique craft material including stickers and paper cut-outs.

The picnic’s theme was further extended by the organic and healthy food experience offered by Slurrp Farm – a range of scrumptious and healthy recipes with ragi, millet and other healthy grains that are created especially for children. Meghana Narayan from Slurrp Farm shared its 100% yummy-ness experience through a slow cooking counter where children could make their own delicious and healthy millet pancakes and decorate them with healthy fruits and nuts to compete for the most creative pancake design. Baby S couldn’t imagine designing his pancake as anything other than a cute and healthy race car! The food fun was further enhanced by an interesting cake pop and cake jar making session by Neha Dhingra of Fun with Food. Baby S enjoyed making his healthy and delicious cake jar with carrot cake, but what left his eyes sparkling was the sight of his tempting cake pop decorated with gems and sprinkles. After all, picnics are about some indulgence as well!

To build up our appetite for the delicious food specially curated for the picnic, Gurgaon Moms arranged some exciting games and races for children as well as adults. We can never get too old for tug of war.  There was also an exciting grooming competition hosted by Havells for their new and innovative product – Havells Baby Clipper. Haircuts are a nightmare for most mums as children scream and refuse to let those scary scissors and clippers near them. Havells Baby Clipper with its low noise and less vibration offers the ideal solution for a calm grooming experience. This was witnessed first-hand by the mothers present at the picnic, with both mum and baby leaving the grooming counter smiling and happy.

Baby S’ favourite activity was the piggy bank painting organised by La Pintura . He was most excited to create his own little masterpiece with colours under the loving guidance of Vidhya Venkat of La Pintura. We cannot thank GurgaonMoms enough for curating a perfect afternoon with engaging stories, exciting games, creative art and food workshops and an ideal farm experience. The fun take-home gifts were organised by Gunjan Kar generously by Tupperware India. We had the best time bonding as a family as well as watching Baby S run around and have a great time with the other children. Afternoons like these, spent in the midst of nature, are a great way to create some precious family memories and this one is definitely getting a mention in the family scrapbook.

Jodhpur diaries with BabyS!

There’s no better way to teach children about different cultures, landscapes and history than by letting them explore and experience the wonders of the world. Watching in awe the mountains that he had learnt about in school or witnessing the myriad of colours different cultures have to offer, are probably some of the most important and most enjoyable learning moments for Baby S.  Work has been exceptionally busy for Mr. S and I, giving us little time to relax and unwind with Baby S. So with winter finally here, we decided we’d take the weekend off, spend some much needed family time and explore the stunning city of Jodhpur.

Baby S was most excited to pack his personalised hand luggage with his toys and his art book to capture memories from his holiday. He has recently taken to sketching and colouring and I can’t be more excited about this new hobby. I’m finally seeing actual cars and planes in his school diary, rather than the usual excuse of “Its not a scribble mom! There was a car here but it sped away leaving just the smoke!” or the classic – “There was a plane here but it flew away so you can just see the smoke!” While I was mighty impressed with my 4 year old’s story telling abilities, its nice to see things in his diary that I can actually identify.

While there is a lot to explore in Jodhpur – Umaid Bhavan Palace and the Mehrangarh Fort are the more popular tourist sites.  Standing tall at 120 km above jodhpur’s skyline, Mehrangarh Fort, is an architectural marvel. Mehrangah is one of the most majestic forts in India. The 15 minute uphill drive from the city is an experience in itself. Baby S was excited to see the glimpses of the ‘blue city’ as well as the grand Umaid Bhavan Palace, as we drove up to the fort. Built around 1460 by Rao Jodha, the fort is a testament to Rajashtan’s architectural excellence.

The Stunning View From The Fort

Exploring beauty and grandeur in every corner of the Fort

As we walked through the grand doors of victory -The Jayapol , built by Maharaja Man Singh and Fattehpol, built by Maharaja Ajit Singh, I could see Baby S looking absolutely awestruck to see his bed time stories about forts and palaces come alive. Exploring the different galleries with paintings, royal palanquins and arms used by the royal cavalries, was not only exciting, but also lit a small spark of curiosity in Baby S to learn more about our magnificent history.  While Baby S might not remember the names of kings and queens or even the important historical events that occurred at this fort, but the image of the majestic fort, the old cannon, and the overall display of bravery and royal grandeur are sure to stay with him.

The intricate jharokas

Beautiful Royal Art Collection

Traditional Rajasthani Attire and Hookah

Travelling is also a great way to introduce kids to India’s colourful traditions and culture. The beautiful rendition of traditional folk songs on our way up to the fort, streets lined up with colourful bandhej and laherias, and the absolutely delicious traditional dishes – kabooli, kachoris and crunchy jalebis, gave us a glimpse into the Jodhpur’s rich heritage and culture. We were mesmerised by the display of colourful textiles, beautifully crafted traditional Rajasthani shoes – mojris and the stunning  traditional furniture. While most tourists explore Circuit House, I would strongly recommend visiting the market place around the old clock tower -‘Ghanta Ghar’ as well. It might be a little more crowded but you are sure to find hidden gems like surplus stock of expensive designer shawls and exquisite bangles at great prices.

I was skeptical about Baby S getting cranky and overwhelmed by the crowded markets, so we ensured that we kept our shopping trips short and avoided the evening peak hours. While the traditional food is delicious, it might be a little spicy and heavy for the little ones so I would recommend, giving the kids just a sample of authentic Jodhpur delicacies and not making a meal out of it. And while there are a lot of places popular for Jodhpur’s popular delicacies- mirchi badas and pyaaz kachoris, you must try these at Surya, located at Jalori Gate Circle. And do not miss the thin and crunchy jalebis – a Jodhpur speciality!

Since this was a weekend getaway to relax, rejuvenate and get some much needed family time, we kept the itinerary short and gave Umaid Bhavan Palace a miss. However, if you have the time, you must visit this splendid palace to witness the grandeur of Rajashtan’s  royalty.

We had a great time exploring the  beautiful city of Jodhpur and look forward to our next visit to explore the other lesser known marvels of of this magnificent blue city!

Accommodation and Accessibility

There are number of stunning heritage properties that one can explore. If budget is not a concern, then stay at the Umaid Bhavan Palace to live like the royals of Rajasthan. Other options include The Taj Hari Mahal, Raas, Ajit Bhavan and The Park Palace.

Jodhpur has its own domestic airport which is just 5 kilometres from the city centre. This airport is well-connected to other major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Udaipur and Jaipur. However, the airport is operational for only a limited number of hours, restricting flight options in the evening. Jodhpur is also well connected to most Indian cities via the railroad.

 

Some Fun Suggestions for a Spooky Halloween

I happily put away all the Diwali decorations and couldn’t wait to put my feet up, when Baby S excitedly announced that we would be celebrating Halloween this year! While it sounded a lot of fun, I soon realised I had absolutely no idea about any Halloween activities for a toddler! Simply decorating the house with skeletons and spider webs just didn’t make sense. Here are a few fun Halloween ideas that we have immensely enjoyed.

A spooky read of the Room on the Broom  Julia Donaldson

A great read about a kind and generous Witch who would always lend a helping hand to all those in need.  When the Witch finds herself in trouble, all those little animals, whom she had helped earlier, come together to save her from a deadly monster. While we enjoyed playing the different characters in the book, and coming up with spooky mantras for the Witch’s potion,  Baby S also learnt an important life lesson about kindness and generosity!

To make the book reading more fun, invite your little one’s friends and ask them to dress up as the different characters to add that extra magic!

Making our own Halloween costumes

We decided to make our own Halloween costumes and since we had read a Witch story we decided to make Witch and Wizard Hats. It was a fun and yet fairly simple project. All we needed was some black chart paper, a hole punch, string, glue, stapler, scissors, glitter and potion of giggles and smiles!

Easy Steps to make your own Witch and Wizard Hats

• Cut out a semicircle with black chart paper and shape into a cone. Attach the point at which the two sides of paper meet using the stapler and try on the hat for size. If it’s too big or small, remove the staples and try again.
• When you’ve achieved the right size, apply glue along the seam.
• Measure the inside diameter of the cone. Use this measurement to create a circle on a piece of black chart paper.
• Next, draw a larger circle. The center is the same for both circles. This will become the outer edge of the hat’s brim. Its size will depend on your taste and you’ll need to experiment a bit. Cut the larger circle and then cut inside where the small circle is; it should look like a tire when cut properly.
• To finish making the witch hat, attach the brim to the cone. Make the necessary adjustments before applying the glue and press firmly. When dry start decorating the hat with glitter and paper cut outs!

Mini me dress up!

What can be more fun than dressing up with your little one! Baby S and I are dressing up as mommy and baby pumpkin! There are a host of other spooky mommy and baby Halloween costume ideas!

Using inexpensive and easily accessible materials, a milk costume for mommy and chocolate chip cookie getup for baby couldnt be a more delicious pairing for a night of trick ortreating.

Halloween Themed Baking

Baking with toddlers is always most fun! Pick some easy recipes and design your own friendly ghosts! And if you’re not the best baker like me, you can get a muffin or a cookie and whip up your chocolate sauce and toppings! We made an adorable ghost cupcake with muffin, chocolate icing, lollipop and some ready made fondant mix

Simple steps for a Ghost Cupcake

• Begin by rolling out the fondant to about 1/16-inch. Be sure to dust your work surface with cornstarch so it doesn’t stick.
• Use a 4-inch cookie cutter or paring knife to cut circles.
• Place each circle over a lollipop and form into the shape of a ghost.
• Place the ghost lollipop in the center of a cupcake already covered with chocolate icing.
• And finally make ghost eyes with some extra chocolate icing or edible black decorating gel

Halloween party with fun science experiments!

And finally we had a great time at  a Halloween party where witches and wizards conjured magic with the help of some super fun science experiments! We made slime, found spiders in the witch’s gooey potion and also collected some colourful and magical gooey marbles. But the best part was watching the wizards experiment with dry ice. While Baby S was enthralled by the drama and mystique created by dry ice, somewhere along the way, he also developed a genuine interest in understanding how things work. There are various science kits that can be used to create these experiments at home. Would definitely recommend these kits to add some science to the magic! 

Do share your Halloween fun ideas with us! Happy Halloween..Have a Spooky One.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s be Proactive rather than Reactive

While a lot has already been written and said about the unfortunate incidents from last few weeks, the anger against the perpetrators and the fear for the security of our children, lingers on. Almost every school is busy assuring the parent community that they have every security check in place and almost every parent community is livid at the lapse in security arrangements, that they probably never bothered to check about earlier. While it is admirable to see the government, schools and parents wake up and take charge of the safety and security of our little ones, it makes me wonder that why did this important rather crucial realisation only occur when a little child is forcefully snatched from his parents and loved ones? Why does it take a video going viral, for us to realise that bullying, irrespective of the intention or outcome, is not okay? Why have we, as a society, become so passive that it literally takes the brutal death of an innocent second grader to wake us up and question our child’s safety?

We quietly stand in long ques, filling forms after forms, providing every possible legal document, without even questioning its relevance, just to make sure that our child is admitted in one of the so called ‘best schools’ of the city. We perform an exhaustive review of the school’s infrastructure, the board exam results and of course the snob value it holds amongst our friends, and voila we have the holy grail – perfect school for our precious angels. At the time of admissions, how many of us, bother to really do a thorough due diligence of the security systems? By this I don’t mean asking the schools authorities whether they have CCTV cameras or checking on the number of support staff provided. How many of us question them on the placement of these cameras, or the actual monitoring of the live feed? How is the support staff hired? How thorough is the verification system? Is there a routine check done on the support staff? I know I didn’t ask any of these questions and kept my focus on the teaching methodology, results, infrastructure and the usual parameters used by most parents. While the schools are and should be completely accountable for the safety and security of our children, is it not important that as parents we should also be a little more involved with the safety procedures? While of course academics and extracurriculars are important, safety should also be an equally important parameter used by parents at the time of admissions. Schools are busy upgrading teaching methodology and infrastructure because they believe that these are the only parameters that they are judged by, and rightfully so. If we as parents had always been so vigilant about the safety and security processes, I can assure you that every school that is now suddenly checking and upgrading their security processes and sending letters of assurance, would have put these in place much earlier and included them in their admission brochures with much fanfare!

While we are busy making our children run from one class to the other, ensuring that they excel in every subject, every sport and literally every extracurricular activity, let us as parents pledge to spend the same amount of time and commitment in teaching our child the basics of safety and security both at home and outside whether in school or at the park. Teaching basic self-defence, simple signals to call out for help or just simple poems that talk about good and bad touch, should be an equally important part of the goals we set out for our children. Let us not let this momentum wear out and demand that all the schools in the city, ensure the highest standards not just in education but also security. Let us not be afraid to ask the most detailed questions about the school’s safety and security standards. And most importantly, let us not be afraid to withdraw admission if the school is unable to offer satisfactory response to our safety and security queries. Not even the best teaching methods or the swankiest infrastructure can ever compensate for the safety and security of our little ones. It’s time that not only schools but also, we as parents, make safety and security of our children a priority when picking the right school!

Overindulgent Parenting – More Harm Than Good?

A lot of times when I meet mums with toddlers, we invariably end up discussing how this next gen is bound to grow up as brats and share our fears of watching our little angels inevitably turn into these egoistic, always demanding and never satisfied, brigade of young tyrants!While we are quick to blame the indulgent grand parents who are ever so ready to cater to every demand of their little prince or princess, we are equally quick to point out how we completely disagree with this over pampering and are always worried about ensuring that we are able to preserve our kids’ inherent  simplicity and not let him become a part of the show off brigade. But honestly none of us are really able to talk about a single concrete step that we have taken to actually ensure that we and our kids are not swayed in by this new tide of over indulgent parenting!

Most of us grew up without even a quarter of the kinds of toys, gadgets and in general just opportunities that are now available to our kids, so somewhere I guess it is natural for us to want to make the most of it for them! More than Baby S it is often I who is tempted by the really cool car wash station that can create foam or polish the car, at the press of a single button or the huge firetruck that has lights, sounds and even a water hose that can spray water or the super cute cooking set with every possible cooking amenity! More often than not we end up giving our children all and more of what they could even desire or imagine! Imagine being the key word here. Because this over indulgence is not restricted to the material things, it spreads pretty quickly to all aspects of parenting, starting with the zillion classes we decide to enroll our kids into. Before they even know or understand sport, they are already 6 months into football and tennis lessons. They might not even understand the basics of the game but we as parents take it upon ourselves to develop their interest, thus robbing them the experience of actually developing an interest for a sport and the yearning to learn or excel at it! It’s almost like creating our own little fairy-tale with our kids as central characters where we have pre-decided all their likes and dislikes and created the’perfect’ world for them.

I still remember the barbie doll house that my parents bought me after months of cajoling and only when I scored well in my exams! It was my favourite toy not only because it was absolutely adorable, by the standards of those times of course, but because it gave me this great feeling of having accomplished something. And if like us, my parents had just handed it over to me the first time they saw it at the store or at my first demand, it probably would not have given me half the happiness that it did. And that lesson stayed with me long after I was in college and for something as insignificant as a snow globe! Even though I could have just walked into the store and bought it right off the shelf as soon as I saw it, I waited and bought it only when I scored well in my finals and it sat pretty next to my bedside, reflecting my happiness and pride. Maybe somewhere in our excitement of giving our kids everything that we can possibly afford, we are robbing them of these simple and yet imperative life lessons that will hold them strong long after that new shiny guitar breaks down.

Having said that I completely agree that trying to break this cycle of over indulgent parenting and teaching our children the virtue of earning a reward is not simple. What could help is taking baby steps, instead of trying to make extreme and drastic changes at the first instance itself. We worked with a reward chart for Baby S. The chart had every day of the week listed along a column of goals. Initially these goals were created by me and ranged from eating his meal without a fuss to picking up after playtime. And for every activity that Baby S was able to successfully complete he received a star or a stamp and once he received 5 stars he could get a toy or a trip to his favourite play area.  However as Baby S started enjoying this routine and taking pride in earning those stars, we started changing the goals every week with Baby S playing an active role in determining the goals as well as the rewards that would follow. A simple routine that slowly but surely helped Baby S develop the habit of not just demanding things but actually working towards earning it and experiencing the pride and joy of accomplishing the goal that he would set for himself!