TV and Kids

Some days back, I wrote a blog post in my other blog Granpa in my pocket. It was about my daughter addiction to TV. Yesterday, as I was working from home and had so much of work, she was watching TV for a long time… I saw her and immediately realized that she is feeling very sleepy. I asked her to switch off the TV and come to sleep. She started crying telling that she is getting bored if we switch off the TV..


I was wondering how this little five year old know about boring. And felt very sad with that. Her life revolves around Mr Bean and Chotta Bheem now. When she talks, she talks about Bheem and Chutki. She don’t want to go out and play …. It is their age where they should play. I realized that she hasn’t taken her toys out for long ..

It all happened because I got a little busy with my office work and had to spend some more time in the office. No, I don’t want this to happen to my kid . I want to pull her out of that ..

I somehow made her to sleep. When she woke up, I was ready. Fed her Dosa and started my actions. We started with an art work. Gave her some coloured paper and asked her to do it. She was happy. Glue stick was also given. No scissors. Initially she asked for scissors, I told No. then she found out other ways to cut the paper. Soon I was happy to see that she got too engrossed in that work.

After sometime, she came up with something very beautiful. She has stuck many coloured papers and made an art form. Good, see this is the way kids should be ..Not watching the dumb TV all through the time.

My daughter was not used to TV. She knew the cartoon characters from books. She knew Thomas, She knew pooh, she knew Dora ..All through books. Because I got busy in office, She got diverted to TV.

Dear Parents, I would like to tell all of you, please don’t make your child sit in front of the TV for long. It will kill the child’s creativity. It will tamper their thinking power. Because they are seeing all pictures in front of them .

When we read a book to the child, he /she starts thinking. They will think on all possible ways and from there their questioning starts. Mamma, why it is like this ? what happens then ? etc etc. ut when they watch the TV, there is less scope of thinking .First reason is because it is fast and second , they see the things and they just take it inside. Too bad . Also now a days, many cartoons contain mostly evil things.

A sincere request to all of you parents, make sure that your child is not addicted to TV and lose his creative spirit. Once lost, it will be very difficult to get it back.


Some updates :
Saturday when I was in a book shop, I saw the series Chotta Bheem book I immediately grabbed the copy of it . As soon as I reached home, we gave it to my daughter.  She was so very happy with that ..and her face was glowing with happiness.. From that day onwards, she spends lot much time reading those books...
I felt happy about my right choice of getting her book of her favourite hero  : Chotta Bheem .. She is trying to read htat, joining words .. and she is very happy doing that ..

A small tip : Get books of their  super hero ..

Communicating in your Child’s Love Language

Each child is special in his own way and understands love in his own terms. We as a parent should communicate to the child in his love language.

The book The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman gives the detailed explanation of all what we need to know about this.

Chapman's five love languages are:

Words of Affirmation: In this language, the kids need to hear compliments and good words from their parents.

Quality Time : The quality time is what such kids treasure more .. Sitting with them ..with them—listening, walking, talking, going on trips etc

Physical Touch: Kids who hear love in this way need to be touched; hugged, sitting close together, back rubs, and such.

Receiving Gifts: Such kids think of gifts as a token of love ..It may not be some expensive gifts ..small card, or a toffee will also give them the happiness ..

Acts of Service: If we do some service to them, these kids are happy. Services might include making their bed, arranging their books, helping them in their activity etc.

Check this link for a beautiful explanation

Good Read : 4 - 5 year olds

Current read of my daughter .. She is 5 year old ..
Step in to reading series are good .. 

Some more books are updated here in my other blog  : Jingles

Personalized cards

Treasure your little ones drawing and make a card out of it ..

This is a picture which my daughter made .. With the help of Photoshop and SnagiT, I created this card .. We can personalize this also with names and send it across to our loved ones ..

Topsy and Tim

Topsy and Tim is a series of children's books written by Jean Adamson and Gareth Adamson about twins and their adventures.


Simple wordings, colorful illustrations and their naughtiness catch our attention. The way in which they explore the world, get to understand it etc is depicted very well in the books.

Some more information are here 
 
So why delay, grab a book and enjoy reading with your kid.

Maths Worksheets

Links to Maths worksheets which will be useful for kids who is learning counting ..


http://www.freemathtest.com/Kindergarten.asp

http://www.10on10.in/TenOnTen_Online/SampleWorksheets.aspx

Finger Arts

Some art works which we can do with our kids .. This section is about Hand Arts ..

We get colors in the market which is specifically used for finger printing..

A tree made from a print of hand .. .

A beautiful flower made with finger impressions

Cute Finger Men

Flowers made with Bhindi Printing

Art Corner

Read in a book that it is the responsibility of the parent to give room for the child to develop their creativity. We shouldnt shunt their growth by making them routine works of writing and reading ..and also colouring a built in color book. Instead, the required materials should be given to the kid and they should be allowed to think and draw and color as per their choice..

I tried that with my little one .. Gave her water color, papers and the necessary things ..It works as magic ..she will stand their for hours..and will do some or the other designs .. Will play with colors ..mixing colors ..

If we see the picture, we will not be able to make any sense in that ..but just ask them the question of what it is, their imagination starts bursting out ..

This picture was colored by her and when asked she told its an almirah ..

Its suggested that the child is provided with a Writing Box, which contain all the things needed for them to express themselves. Pencils, Color pencils of diffreent types, Erasers, Water colors, Glue, Plain White paper etc .. And motivate them to do soemthing .. they will be so happy to work and we can also see the creativityu in them blooming 

Step in to Reading

"Step into Reading" series books are good for kids . With beautiful color illustrations and small words, they can explore the wonderful world

More information can be viewed at

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/books/step/

Cute Handwritting

Its very good to see the kids learn how to write the alphabets and all .. And the sad thing is as they improve, the old ones are lost.. We cant ask them to write in the old way ..rite . .. ha ha ha ..

To preserve it, at times scan pictures of their writing and save it ..

Picture talks Louder

I had posted in my blog http://montessori4kidz.blogspot.com/ about making kids learn the concept via pictures. To make my child understand morning and evening, I had created some pictures. She got the idea fast and is able to explain it to others too.  Learning via Pictures
Whenever possible, try to give a pictorial view of the things. It will have an imprint in the minds of the children and they will learn very fast.

I had read a story to my daughter about a Tree and an Eagle. Eagle is making fun of tree telling that the tree is static and is not moving and hence is not getting the news .

The tree in turn is saying that He has the most up-to-date information and narrates it to the eagle.
To Eagle’s surprise, tree replies that so many animals/birds stay in the tree and they give him all the news.
Squirrel – eats fruits / live in the hole
Sparrow - Stays in the nest
Crow - Build nest with Twigs and leaves
Wood pecker - Lives on insects
Caterpillar - Lives on Leaves and eats Leaf.

Nice story and a good idea to make the kid learn. Good story. Taking this forward, I introduced my kid to the bird Eagle and mentioned some characteristics. And also the birds mentioned in the story.
So much learning from a short story.

First things First

My friend anitha made this today as a memory snipplet. It contains the list of things which her son did for the first time.. A good idea for all the moms who want to treasure these memories .

Getting your child to talk

Children are not born talkers. They need to learn to become one. And as a parent, we should also out our efforts on to that.


From the day she is born, the mother will start talking to the baby. When nursing, when dressing her, when changing the nappy etc, the mother will talk to the baby. The baby listens to the mother’s talk and then understands the lip movement and try to make sound on its own.

As they grow up, they respond to sounds and will try to imitate the sounds. In this stage, the parents should talk a lot to their child. Always when doing some tasks, the parent can mention about it to the child.

“Now let us apply the powder in your hand. Where is your hand. Haa, here it is”

“What is this ? Hand .. H…a…n…d..”

These kinds of words should be repeated again and again. And when the child is making his effort to talk, we should appreciate and make the child repeat it.

Once they are of some one year of age, we can start singing rhymes to them. A rhyme has a significant advantage in the development of kid’s growth. Rhymes have rhyming words and kids love chanting them. You will have to sing it n number of times before the kid captures the words.

Once they learn the words, anytime we can ask them to narrate a rhyme and they will be happy to do it. You can also sing along and it can be made a wonderful time spend together.

Talking to the kid is very important. Talk to her whenever possible. When you are going for a walk, when you are bathing, when you are feeding her etc etc. They will pick up the words and will start using it during their speech.

Reading story to the child also helps. When narrating a story, you can pause in between and ask them and ask questions which will make the kid to answer the questions. Repeating the same story again and again. Believe me, a child will love to hear the same story again and again. She has the capacity to listen to it even 100 times, (and as a parent we get bored with the same one hearing again)

Yummy Cakes

 

Cakes are yummy. You should see the excitement on the kids face when the cake is brought for cutting during a birthday celebrations. Kids and elders will be curious to know what kind of cake is ordered for the day.

Go to a cake shop, you find n number of shapes. Barbie, spider man, Mickey, Car shape, etc etc. Many a times, as a parent we will have to leave the decision of choosing the cake to the kids.

From the time the cake enters the house, its a great tension to parents to save it from the naughty hands of the kids. The little ones will be eager to touch it and lick it . So one elder person is appointed as a security to guard the cake.

 

Yes, the time is up. Bring the cake.

 

Kids are happy . The cake is bought. Candle is placed and lighted. Now also there is an issue. Some naughty little one will blow it as soon as its lighted. And the birthday boy/girl will feel bad. Again it is lighted.

 

In between, one smart person will be licking his finger which is dipped in the cake. mm..

 

The best way is to cut the cake and finish the function. Yes.

 

Happy Birthday to you  ...  All of them sing..

 

The birthday girl/boy cuts the cake and give it to her/his father/mother/friends/cousins etc etc. Many a times, it will be in a single piece of cake.

 

All the kids will be waiting for their share of cake. Now the security guard will come in to picture again adn he will take the cake away.

 

Somehow I feel very bad when they take the cake away. Hence now a days, whenever there is a cake cutting, I make sure that all the kids get a chance to cut the cake once. Which means the birthday boy/girl will cut the cake first and then all the others can cut once. Kids are happy, we are also happy :) 

 

 

 

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Other Women

Currently I am reading the book with Title

"Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Other Women By B. J. Gallagher"

Yesterday as I was about to leave the library this book caught my attention and just a scan , I felt like reading it.. Read some pages at night and some today morning. Very good book ..

Small small articles .. Motivational .. Inspirational .. True facts etc etc .. with examples from real life .. The author has written it with her experiences from other woman in her life ..

She talks about Attitude , Family, Work, Body and many other topics .. Well written, each page has some take away ..

Jolting down some points which I remember from the pages I read ..

• Attitude is everything. We should try to build positive attitude and it will help us in going forward in our life
• Washing your face will make us feel better  -- A universal Fact
• Always be grateful to our physical self. We will get to know about the importance of health only when we lose something
• Dont take anything personally, especially in Professional cases. Try to keep it seperate as much as possible.  
• Before talking to your friend think twice. If its something to do with the other person's personal thing, better dont comment. 
• Complaint is a gift -- that only when you receive complaints we will get to know more about ourself and can improve upon. So take complaints positively

I was thinking of the woman in me when I was reading this book and was recollecting all those points which I can also add to those ..Will write sometime about my views on each ..

You can read preview of some pages here : Google Books

Pratham Books

" Pratham books " publishes a set of wonderful books for kids with read india initiative

I happened to see one book in the library and liked it when I read it.  Small cute stories with pictures with bright colors, the kids will definitely love ..

And the best part is the cost is very less.Rs 20, Rs 25 is the average price.

http://www.prathambooks.org/

We can order the books online. Money can be transferred online also. Just we have to mention in the comment section that we need to transfer amount online. The sales executive will get in touch with us.

The books arrived the next day after i did the payment.  Excellent customer service too


Sample book covers ..

My  four year old is a fan of these books now :)

KIds Tooth Care

The child’s tooth needs special attention especially during the early days of developments. Jolting down some points which are coming to my mind.

• Everyday brush the child’s teeth both in the morning and at night. Night brushing is very important. Else the food particles might stick to the teeth which lead to tooth decay

• Elders should brush the kid’s teeth till at least 5 years. And brushing should be such that the brush reaches all corners of the mouth.

• Use the toothpaste which has less fluoride content. There is a chance that the kids swallow the paste and fluoride is bad for health.

• Don’t assume white teeth are healthy teeth. A tooth being white is an indication that it is lacking calcium.

• Do have a consultation with a doctor once in 6 month for a regular check up of the teeth.

Slokas for children

Chanting slokas is said to have very good effects.. Not even for elders, also for kids. We can teach slokas to kids. It can be made a part of the learning together with rhymes and other stuffs.

Here are some slokas which can be taught to kids ..

"Ekadantam Mahaakaayan,


Taptakaajnchanasannibhamh

Lambodaram Vishaalaaxam,

Vandeaham Gananaayakamh"



"Ramaya Rama Bhadraya

Ramachandraya VEdhase

Raghu Nathaya Nathaya

Sitayah Pataye Namaha "



"Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu

Guru Devo Maheshwaraha

Guru Saakshat Para Brahma

Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha "



"Anjanna Nadanam Veeram

Janaki Sokha naasanam

Kapeeksha Maksha Handaaram

Vande Lanka Bhayangaram "



"Sarasvathi Namastubhyam,

Varade Kaamaroopini

Vidyaarambham Karishyaami,

Siddhir Bhavatu Mey Sada"



vakra tuNDa mahA kAya

sUrya kOTi sama prabha

nirvighnam kuru mE dEva

sarva kAryEshu sarvadA



Ekadantam mahAkAyam

tapta kAnchana sannibham

lambOdaram viSAlAkshm

vandEham gaNa nAyakam



namastEstu mahAmAyE

SrI pIThE sura pUjitE

Sankha chakra gadA hastE

mahA lakshmIr namOstutE

 
 
Trust me, they learn very fast :)



Reference sites
http://www.sadhanaschoolofarts.com/PDF/SanskritSlokas.pdf
http://www.hindudevotionalblog.com/

Quality time with kids

Too much worried about my 4 year old daughter’s behavior. She behaves very cranky at times, sometimes shouts and many a times I feel that she don’t listen to what I am saying.


Yesterday evening I realized that now a day she is not talking to me anything about her school. Before as soon as I reach home she used to come and narrate the things. Now that was not happening. I asked her about her school, she was not ready to talk to me. She replied that she forgot what she did in school and committed that she will explain it the next day. I felt very odd.

Sat near her and talked to her and explained that she needs to tell about school and all. After some 10 min discussion, she finally told me all about her school. I knew that there is nothing to curse my little one.

The entire mistake was at my end. I didn’t took effort to ask her how her school went and what all she did in school. I was too busy with my own tasks in office and many house hold things.

Every day I rush from office, pick her up from home and speed to playground. There she will be playing with her friends. Back home, after a good bath, we sit to finish the home work and then dinner. As I complete my work, she will be playing on her own. Then sleep.

In between, somehow I missed to spend some good Quality time with my daughter. I realize that with a heavy mind. And now it’s time to act. But How?

I started recollecting all the information which I had gathered. I was not like this; I used to spend some good amount of quality time with my daughter before. And it used to reflect in her nature and her face. Her face used to be smiling always.

I said to myself. I should do the following.

1. Try to find time for a story every day. As per my opinion, this is the best way of bonding. Reading it aloud, narrating the plots etc etc. Visit the library can also be scheduled.



2. Spend an evening together and go for a good walk. Yes, I remember she used to talk a lot when we used to go for a walk. Now a day, I always commute in my bike and the talking time is reduced.



3. Do some activity together. Sit with her and do some art works which she will enjoy. Her creativity will be boosted. Oh god, I used to do that also. But where I deviated, and why I am not doing it now.



I really don’t know what had happened to me in the past one month. I was not doing anything of this sort. Now I know that it’s high time I start all that. And I am happy now, just realizing that I was not so a bad-mom as I thought. I used to do all that with my daughter and somehow for some reason, I was not able to do that for the past few days.

Quality time with kids is very very important for bonding with your kids and I as a parent is responsible for kids behavior. This is what I believe as a parent.

Baby Page Toppers

Many a times, we will be confused as to what need to be put as a Caption for photos .. 

Bundle of Love


You are my sunshine

Run...Run Away (from Mom)

Why walk when you can crawl

Daddy's Little Angel

Little boys/girls do cry

There's only one pretty baby in the world, and everybody has it

With my good looks, I can stop traffic

Check this link which can be used ..

Check this link for more captions ..

http://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/bbypgs.htm

Raise a book lover

Found a good article which talks about Reading to a Child.. 

http://www.parentree.in/Parentree-editors/journal-719/Raise-a-book-lover.html

Rhymes

Jack and Jill went up the hill …

Twinkle Twinkle little star ..

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed …

No comparison for a little one singing a rhyme and doing the actions. Everyone will love that for sure.

Rhymes are the first thing which kids learn from the school. Now a day’s many parents teach their kids rhymes as soon as they start talking. Initially the kid many not understand the words and may not be able to sing along. But constant repetitions will teach the child the rhymes.

Researchers have shown that singing rhymes have very great effects in the brain development of the kids. Also their language skills will be improved by the constant use of the rhyming words.

A few things which can be incorporated in our daily life with kids.

• When ever we get a chance, sing a small rhyme.

• Ask the child to sing along.

• Make some small rhymes with your daily routine things

• Pick rhymes books from library and sing showing the pictures

• Explain the meaning of the rhymes and assist them in imagining



I am against Rhymes CD. I feel it’s a readymade package where the kids will lose their imaginative power. They listen to the rhymes in TV and see the pictures and just associate it together. There will not be any need for them to imagine the things.

Instead spend some time with the kids, sing a small rhyme and enjoy the moments together. Trust me, these moments will be a treasure.

No .. No .. No

No, Don’t take that knife. You will get hurt.

No, Don’t go there. You might fall.

No, Don’t say like that. It’s bad manners.

No, Don’t talk loud. Your throat will pain

“No” . this is the word which I use most now a days.



The list continues. These are the sentences which I usually tell my 4 year old daughter. Sometimes I feel tired of saying No these many number of times and I take a decision, not to say anything for the coming 10 min. And definitely, as if to break my decision, she will be doing something and I will again have to chant the same mantra starting with No.

So my search term today was “Alternatives to No” and I came across many interesting articles. I was consoled that I am not alone in this. However, some articles explained beautifully how to handle this

Some points which I learned

1. Rephrase the sentence. Instead of saying No, Don’t do that , we can tell “Why don’t you do this”

2. Just watch her actions and before she commits something, slowly and carefully divert her attention

3. Many times instead of shouting, kids will understand with your actions and facial expressions. Try that.

4. Appreciate the kids when they do something good, which will motivate them.

Let me try these out from today onwards. Only time will tell my success percentage.

Wonder Kid photography

For all the parents here in bangalore .. just check this site.. For cute phographs of your kid ..

http://www.wonderkidsphotography.com/

The link talks the rest  :) 

Developing vocabulary for kids

For the past few days, I am doing some research in developing vocabulary of kids ..Google search, discussion with my friends etc etc . Just jolting down my findings


Reading books is the foremost thing which is necessary for increasing vocabulary.. Read books To your kids again and again ..

For small kids, who don’t know alphabets and all, they listen and then learn the sounds and words

For kids who know letters and words, during reading point to the words / letters and stress the word so that they will notice it and remember it.

For kids who know to read, give them appropriate books( books depending on their age), so that they can read and their vocabulary will automatically increase.

My daughter is now 4 plus and she knows the alphabets and some three letter words and four letter words. She is having Montessori system of education where

They will be recognizing words with sounds and given one word, they make the spelling with respect to words.

One activity which I am practicing with her now is this ..

Take a set of 6 – 8 words .. I took 4 simple ones and two new ones .. and written it on small pieces of post-it notes.

I read those letters to her and asked her to stick it in some place of her reach.. and we made Sentences out of it .. Whenever we are together in that place, we say those sentences again and again ..

Like two words were ‘ice cream’ and ‘happy’

And we made the sentence that

“I am happy when I eat icecream”

Small small sentences .. Which they will remember…

Now they can remember those words and make sentences ..once thorough with these, introduce other set of words ..it helps a lot..

As mentioned before, Cross words is a good idea to make kids get to know about the spelling and words .. in the net, there are sites which help us to make our own crosswords. So collect a few words which the kid know and make a cross word of your own.

To teach more than one language, like hindi and English , tell one word in English and then tell the word in hindi ..They will then relate the words and learn it ..

For a kid of 4 years , repeatition is the key. You will have to repeat, repeat and repeat and they will remember it .

Make learning fun for the kids and yourself, and enjoy the learning process.