Category: Happy childhood

Let me put it differently

My hobby is gardening. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When  plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well.

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD. A blog post by Roshni Shukla, Educator & Happy Parenting Coach on how small things can burden a child, if the activities are not age appropriate.

By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Childhood is all about joy and happiness.

It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have. It is also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season. It is July, also season for school admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds. It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child. It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects.

Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.

Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They  make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.

Similarly,  we admit our toddlers to a playschool or preprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools and preprimary schools are places  which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child.  Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.

As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything.

Some parents come to our school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.

Some parents come to us with better plans.

” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”

To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children  are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.

Some parents agree, and some don’t.

This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request. 

Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.

Imagine this girl sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes. Oh! and this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow, than shift him to the next setup.

Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.

DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD. 

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.

I wish this message reaches every parent. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.

What can I do to help my child eat well?

There is a question that always pops in my mind and to every parent at some point of time.

What can I do to help my child eat well?

There is no fixed answer to this question, but a list of ways, that can surely help in solving this problem.

Photo by Igor Starkov on Pexels.com
  1. Sit and eat with your child. And serve every thing in small portions, that you have served in your plate.
  2. Show your child what eating healthy is like. You are your child’s best role model. They will learn to eat and explore new foods by watching what you do.
  3. Offer new foods many times.Children often need to see, smell, and touch a food many times before tasting it. Your child may need to taste a food many times before they eat it. Continue to offer new foods and include foods your child has refused in the past.
  4. Give your child enough time to eat.
    Young children learn by touching, smelling and looking at foods. Give your child time to learn about the foods you offer. Learning to use a spoon and fork also takes time. Plan time to sit and eat slowly with your child.
  5. A mess is also part of learning how to eat.Try offering the same food in different ways.Be patient. Keep giving your child foods made in different ways: raw, cooked (steamed, roasted), in stews, soups and sauces. If your child likes vegetables cooked a certain way, give them other vegetables made that same way.
  6. Offer new foods with foods your child already likes.Offer new foods often and serve them with at least 1 food that your child likes.
  7. If your child doesn’t want to eat, or eats very little at a meal, offer a healthy snack 1 to 2 hours later. Making a different meal for your child will not help them become a healthy eater. Sometimes young children only want to eat the same foods over and over again. This is normal and may last for a few weeks or months.
  8. .If the “favourite” food is healthy, continue to offer it along with a variety of other healthy foods. If the “favourite” food is a less healthy option, give it to your child less often.

As parents, we can teach them to enjoy food. Earlier the better, because, it will make our lives easy.

Wishing you happy parenting, that leads to happier you.

Make it precious not beautiful

(Tuesday morning)

“Rahul,when is your science project submission date. “
“Mumma, it’s next Monday, we still have a week to finish.”
” Rahul, ask your classmates today, what are they making.”
” Why, Mumma?”
“Because, your’s should be the best.”

(Thursday morning)
“Rahul, did anyone deposite their project?”
“Yes, some have done. When will we do our project?”
” Don’t worry, I am there.”

(Saturday evening, after school)
” Rahul, don’t go for playing today, we have to do our project.”

(Sunday)
“Rahul, no playing, we have to decorate our project, it should look the best.”

(Monday, in school)
Teacher: ” Congratulations everyone, for finishing your project works on time. Please come and explain about your project.” Indeed Rahul’s project was well designed and presented.

 But was it needed?Now let’s look at the unseen part of it.

Tuesday 2:00 pm, Sarita, Rahul’s mom, had finished all her work, googled all the possible topics for son’s project. She made a list of all the projects, which they can do.
Wednesday, Sarita, called some of her friends and relatives to enquire for the best topic to make the project. She then, struck off the common topics from her list.
Thursday 2:00 pm, she deleted the topics that were done by Rahul’s classmates.
Friday she collected all the requirements.
Saturday 2:00 pm, she arranged every thing to one place.Night, Sarita sat with Rahul, after finishing her daily chores. Rahul was sleepy by 11:00 pm so Sarita finished some portions, just to help Rahul.Sunday, They sat again, this time they had to hurry up. Sarita helped him, by finishing most of his work. Rahul’s work was not very neat, so Sarita did the finishing tough to the project.They finished it on time.Monday, Rahul was feeling proud as he was praised by one and all. 

Such a happy ending to the story of making a science project.

But, was it worth? Was it solving the purpose? Was it by anyway helpful to the child? 
You all might not like it, but the answer is 

NO. A big NO

Was Sarita student of that class? The answer is again NO.
You can replace mother in this story with father or any other elder. As long as the effort is done by anyone other than the person, it is meant to be, the effort is useless.
I am not saying a child of any age can do their work all by their own.
I am just saying, 

BE THE GUIDE, DON’T BE ASSISTANT.

Help him by questions like,

 what do you think should be our topic?

From where can we get the informative material?

Will you just collect some information, then, we will together discuss on the best doable topic.

Can you collect the required material, that we have at home, make a list of things we need to buy or arrange. 

And many thought provoking questions like this. 
Let it be your child’s project. 
  

And most importantly, it is not required that it appears best, it should solve it’s purpose the most.

Haha, as a mother, I know, it is tough to control ourselves from taking over the task, but have patience, it is possible.

And believe me, as a teacher, I can assure you, their teacher will like it more, when it is done by your child and not you.

Please make every small experience, a precious learning for life. 

P.s. By making a project by his own, our child is taking small steps towards learning to handle his life.
If you agree to this thought, please like, comment, share and follow. And also comment if you disagree at any point.

Let me put it differently

My hobby is gardening. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When  plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well.

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD. A blog post by Roshni Shukla, Educator & Happy Parenting Coach on how small things can burden a child, if the activities are not age appropriate.

By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Childhood is all about joy and happiness.

It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have. It is also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season. It is July, also season for school admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds. It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child. It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects.

Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.

Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They  make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.

Similarly,  we admit our toddlers to a playschool or preprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools and preprimary schools are places  which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child.  Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.

As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything.

Some parents come to our school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.

Some parents come to us with better plans.

” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”

To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children  are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.

Some parents agree, and some don’t.

This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request. 

Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.

Imagine this girl sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes. Oh! and this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow, than shift him to the next setup.

Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.

DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD. 

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.

I wish this message reaches every parent. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.