The undivided quality time we as parents spend with our children not only strengthens the bond and adds to emotional fulfilment, but also does wonders in the social growth of our children. A few simple rituals can help you and your children get the much-needed time together. For example, reading them a bedtime story every night, letting them help in meal prep, dancing together and putting aside technology while you do all of these, it’s as simple!
And you know what the best way of spending time, especially with young children is? Let yourself be a child again and explore the world together with them, but this time from their perspective!
So, intend spending time together mindfully with your little ones.
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‘The child is thinking and receiving vibrational thought from you on the day that he enters your environment. That is the reason that beliefs are transmitted so easily from parent to child, from parent to child, from parent to child. The child is vibrationally receiving your fears, your beliefs, even without your spoken word… If you want to do that which is of the greatest value for your child, give thought only to that which you want, and your child will receive only those wanted thoughts.’
Excerpted from the book “The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham”
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Give your child the freedom of choices, with ceiling guidelines wherever necessary. For a simple example, what s/he wants to have for lunch can be a choice, but that it will not be changed once the food of choice is cooked, acts as a cap. This way, it helps in fostering the sense of responsibility in children. It also helps a child honour boundaries.
While you teach them responsibility and they enjoy freedom, don’t forget to remind yourself, to enjoy your freedom while you take care of all responsibilities. You deserve me-time!
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The best way to gift your child the indomitable power of imagination and the sense of freedom is to read them tales and awaken the love of reading.
Help them explore the genres that interest them and let them dive in!
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The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry on 21st July 2020 has launched ‘Manodarpan’, an initiative under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ mission, to mobilize the psychosocial support and the mental health needs of students, parents, caregivers and teachers during the Covid-19 situation and beyond. It is a comprehensive platform that provides national toll-free helpline number, podcasts, motivational posters, advisory for school & college students, practical tips for students, parents and teachers, do’s and don’t’s and an interactive online chat option.
📌The handbook of 21st Century skills can be of great help to teachers, parents and caregivers to provide the necessary support.
📌A student can reach out for their queries on the national toll-free helpline number: 844 844 0632 anytime between 8:00 am IST – 8:00 pm IST to seek support from the counsellors at Manodarpan.
Please encourage children to share their feelings and be open to discuss their queries, concerns and fears. Make them aware of such platforms to reach out for help.
Let’s acknowledge mental health just like we do physical health; they go hand in hand. We don’t have to struggle in silence!
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Parenting is the life-skill which we learn and hone by experience. It differs for each one of us, and it varies with every child. Here, we are the life-long students all over again. Parenting can never be termed as right or wrong. It is a miracle though that most of the time and instinctively, we, parents come up with the favorable or ‘right’ choices for our children. We also cannot forget that as a parent, we are as young as our child, be it the first one, second, third or nth one. Every child is unique, and so is the nursing, nurturing and parenting journey. Parents are life-long learners, and this journey begins as many times a new one comes in our world.
SheNarrates intends to make your parenting experience fulfilling and enriched by bringing together real-life experiences and self-help tools. It is an inclusive platform of writers, authors, psychologists, metaphysical teachers, healers, educators and counselors of all ages/ classes/gender/affiliations to share their contributions on parenting, life skills and on soulful writing prompts. SheNarrates is a platform of awareness and comfort, all at one place- be it for parents and their little ones, or individuals- looking out for some help, or share their own experiences, or maybe just for some fun reading!
SheNarrates firmly believes in:
>The wisdom of the quote by Gandhiji “Be the change you want to see in the world. Practice before you preach.”
>The virtues of inculcating the early habits of reading and creative writing in kids and teens.
>The holistic (body, mind and spirit) well-being of parents and primary caregivers is equally essential. It plays a vital role in raising a child- the future generation.
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In real-life situations, some questions don’t necessarily have one answer or one solution that fits all. Thus, developing critical thinking skills in a child is essential.
Wondering how you can help them? It’s simple! Listen to them. Integrate continual questioning whenever you see the opportunity to do so (use more of ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’) and let them come to a solution while you stand by their side in support. Give the child ample time to think, to synthesize what they know, and respond; controlling the urge to answer or refining their answers.
In the hypercritical world, we live in; critical thinking cannot be separated from understanding of emotions. Helping a child feel and name his/her emotions is essential too. And while you drive them to solutions of their problems, incorporating this process as a life skill would help a child thrive!
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! But how about, all work with ‘role play’?
Batman effect can help when the child wants to quit midway or has a shorter attention span.
Studies support that children engaging in pretend play while performing mundane or difficult tasks can have enhanced focus and better attention span. While they role-play Batman or any fictional character they tend to engage longer and be more focused. They tend to mirror the qualities they admire in their favourite characters and take steps towards building perseverance.
So, the next time when you want your child to complete a task/assignment especially a tricky or challenging one, invite the child to self-distance and ask them to approach the task this time their favorite superhero way, Batman or Spiderman, or Rapunzel or Elsa way. The child dwells longer around the given task, also the second time the approach from the child’s end would be unconventional.
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The New Education Policy 2020 aims at the dynamic world as a whole. The vision is to emphasize on research and empower a youth that empowers the world.
Let’s look at some key points that stand out:
– For the School Curriculum,
• The present 10+2 system will be redesigned into a 5+3+3+4 system, with 5 years of foundational education, 3 years of preparatory education, 3 years of the middle stage, and 4 years of higher education.
• Board examination will be restructured to test for ability and proficiency.
• Critical thinking expected to be moved to the forefront with discovery- and discussion-based curriculum.
• Emphasis will be laid upon vocational education in the area of choice.
• You can expect the conventional report card to be replaced by an unconventional one, that brings forth all dimensions of holistic education.
– For the College Curriculum,
• A common entrance exam would be conducted for admission to all courses.
• Entry and exit options will be available at various stages, with a certificate, advance diploma, Bachelor’s Degree, and Bachelor’s Degree with Research options over the term of 1-4 years respectively.
• After years of debate, global education integration can be expected. Top Indian institutions will be encouraged to go global, and the global institutions will be welcomed to India.
Apart from the points discussed above, we appreciate the emphasis laid on adult education, multilingualism, teaching sign language, and steps being taken to foster digital and online learning.
We do have some concerns over proposed ‘no affiliation and deemed university status’ and ‘graded autonomy’.
We hope these educational reforms are a step away from mere privatization of education, and a step towards making education more inclusive, truly making ‘India a knowledge superpower’!
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Home school study plans for kids & teens: According to psychiatrist Dr Colette Poole-Boykin, parents and caregivers should multiply the child’s age with 2 or 5 minutes (child’s age X 2 or 5) to find out the attention span of the child. When parents get worrisome thoughts concerning their child’s concentration & attention span, this rule can give enough respite to parents. This guide is also essential for parents and caregivers to fair better with their kids’ study plans at home and sail well with their virtual online classes, during the COVID-19 period.
Further to this rule, she suggests that elementary school kids should spend from one to two hours of instruction based learning per day, middle school kids two to three hours and that of high school students three to four hours of instruction based learning per day, as maximum.
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There’s a huge possibility that we weren’t raised the way we raise our children, or we weren’t raised the way our sibling was. It’s simply about the evolution of parenting and us learning with experience.
So, if there’s one value you want to add to your child’s journey of learning, normalise failing for them. Pat them on the back for trying even when they make mistakes. Because it’s okay to fail, and it’s normal to make mistakes.
Being acceptable towards failures and growing from them is what adds not just height but depth to our lives!
So is there a better way to enrich the lives of our little ones?
And you never know what they might end up creating out of those beautiful mistakes; after all, from the first antibiotics to chocolate chip cookies and fantastic playdough were all just mistakes!
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Redesign the reward system for your children & for yourself too. Fruits & vegetables are essential and good for young growing children, make those fun! Let your child assist you in preparing for them or maybe just setting up the plates and the dining table. You’ll see their enthusiasm light up!
Desserts are good too, but only to the limit; they are enjoyed and not looked up to as something essential and worth having vegetables for. That’s not right with our nature too!
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As much as we encourage guided play or playing with our children or supervising them as they play, it is important to let them enjoy unguided/unsupervised play as their ‘me-time’. Research results, too, have raised caution that children can develop high-stress levels and low satisfaction when they are overly dependent on their parents. With a little part of the day with relatively less involvement of parents, children tend to experiment, do things on their own, and ask for help from peers- building social skills, emotional maturity, and interdependence.
And at the end of the day, we are introducing them to the concept of ‘me-time’, something they will really appreciate and can make use of later in life.
Saying ‘No’ is very important, ‘No’ to something that isn’t right with us, standing up for our self-esteem, and protecting ourselves. Again a skill, children can really use well later in life! We as adults too struggle to say ‘no’ in many situations and a little help in the corner since the beginning might strengthen our stance.
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We have many times talked about how little children look up to the elders and caregivers and try to mirror what they do. As much as observing and understanding this is easy, it’s difficult to make ourselves mindful about this when dealing with difficult and stressful situations. But a little practice, a little attempt to remind ourselves of this even in tough situations is important. Responding to stress in better ways like meditating and going for a walk is a good practice. And again, Practice! Be gentle with yourselves too.
We always say parents are the child’s first friends. So isn’t it important to keep the ‘fear’ of being honest out of the equation? By teaching them to be honest but not letting them be honest, we aren’t helping them. Appreciate them for their honesty, hear them out attentively and, of course, for unavoidable behaviours and severe mistakes; discipline the child accordingly.
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Aren’t our children the most beautiful, most capable? Then why hold them back? A little gift of independence, not looking down upon who they want to be, and a little reassurance can go a long way! Don’t worry about them, be with them!
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For your children aged 3 years and above, start emphasizing the importance of memorizing personal details such as the spelling of their names, father’s name, mother’s name, grandparents’ names (optional), complete address along with the PIN code, nearest police station, post office, contact number of parents and caregivers (optional), and nationality.