Come to our school please...

Chat with a 4th standard student...

She - "Hi. Can I see your cell phone."
Me - "Sure. Here. Take it."
She - "What pictures are there?"

And I showed her a few pictures and then there was this Teacher's day pictures where in children have written why they like their teachers. So she stared reading what is written in there. And then she turned and asked me - "What do you do?"
I said -"I take class for teachers."
She - "Teachers! What do you take for them"

 So I asked her - "which teacher do you like and why?"

She said -"I like my math teacher, because she doesn't beat anybody. I also like my English teacher because she is very beautiful."

So I told her - "This is what I teach teachers. How to take class without beating." (Obviously I can't tell her all the stuff that I do. She wont understand.)

and then I could see a smile in her face and she said - "Will you also come to my school?"

I just smiled.


The other day I saw in a school a teacher twisting the hand of a student and pressing an other boys ears hard with both his hands!
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Is it so difficult to discipline children without beating?

Is it so difficult to bring about a change in children using love?

I have been a teacher too and I absolutely feel it is the inability of the teacher to handle kids without getting  beating. It is their weakness. What is your take?

My dear teacher... i like you because...

Courtesy: EZ Vidya's signature campaign on teacher's day across Chennai schools...

Who was your favourite teacher and why you liked him/her?

What do you really want for your children?

I was fortunate to get a hand on Wayne Dyer's book 'What do you really want for your children?'. I have seen many parents worried about their child's behaviour. "He is not able to decide something on his own. But his younger sister is very clear what she wants!" "He is not mingling with relatives." "He is not having many friends." "He sits in front of the TV for a long time." and so on... One very important exercise we need to do is to list "What we really want for our children?" Once we are clear what we want to build in our children the next step is to work towards it, to devote time to help your child to think on those lines.

Suppose you think that you want your child to take 'informed decisions' then look for the opportunities to trigger the thinking.
"Mom! I want an ice creame!"
instead of you saying "No. No. Not at this time!" ask
"remember what happened last time when you had ice cream at night?"
"No!"
"remember you got a soar throat and then cold. and then we had to give you medicine! You still want to eat ice cream now or you think we can have it in the morning!"
"Hmmm... "
(I don't know what a child would decide. But At least we are making the child to think on the effect of a decision and then make the choice. :)

The book was a very interesting and thought provoking one! If you come across one, please send me a copy too... :)

LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM

The hurried kids

Lights on. It was interval time in the theater. A kid who was sitting beside me started asking her mom - 'Why they are putting the light?' 'why only few people are going?' 'why we are not going?'

Kids always are full with questions. They are in this world trying to understand what is happening around them. after a ten month darkness the child is out in the light suddenly. It is out from a world of stillness to a fast paced world. it is out from a place where it could only hear her mother's voice to a world where technology speaks more than humans!

It is a feeling that we have gone through and forgotten. But it is important we try to empathize with the child and what it is thinking and why it is thinking. A child learns the most from the age 1 to 6. And what is learnt within this age probably remains with the child for a long time. And as parents and teachers we need to AWARE of the impressions, the thought process that we are going to leave behind in our children.

few principles that we need to keep in mind is -
1. Kids are not miniature adults:
They will run around in the restaurant. They cant sit in one place when guests are home. They WILL be 'naughty'. they will shout. They will break things. Kids are kids. we need to accept that.

2. Every child is not the same.

My 2nd child need not develop all the cognitive and socio-emotional skills that my first kid developed at a particular age. The learning pace is different for every individual. we need to be patient and allow the child to progress at its own pace. we need to wait for the flower to blossom. It is a crime if we force the flower to blossom at our pace!


there is no point in hurrying the kids in their cognitive and emotional abilities. We would probably end up damaging more to the kid. How sensitive are the nursery and kindergarten schools in our country to the child's learning. are they caught in a race to show that they prepare the kids faster than other kindergarten schools around. is it the fault of the parents to HURRY their kids to adults! The moment a child goes to school the parents expect the child to master the art of writing the alphabets from A_Z! If it is not happening they question the schools and the schools not aware of the child learning theories are left without reasons to convince the parents or educate the parents.

when a child asks us a question we are busy enough to just TELL the answer rather than taking the child through a thought process to help the child discover the answer. We feed the child rather than teaching the child to fish!

The other day I remember a kid said looking at the speedometer - 'Look. A clock' it is easy to say it is not a clock and it is a speedometer and go ahead with your other work. but it is important to lead the child to observe, list the differences between a clock and this device and then let out the name to the child. This helps the child to build a thought process rather than memorizing an other gadget's name!

 NO HURRY. :) what  is important is to teach the child to fish. stop feeding.. :) Let the child blossom.