Thursday, November 26, 2020

PINK or BLUE?

November 26, 2020 0 Comments

One morning, I woke up in a good mood. Enjoyed my morning tea, got my little one ready for school and on my way to the office, I was listening to some beautiful music and humming along. Happy happy day! And then something got me really mad!!


That day was a costume dress in my girl's school and she was wearing a plant dress that we made together (had great fun 😁). She won the hand made costume award and as a prize, a small blocks toy to build a car was given to her. She was happy as she loves to play with blocks and cars. However, later it was exchanged with some girly toy prize. What happened was, the person giving the prizes thought she's a boy (my girl has short hair and wears jeans mostly) and gave her the prize that was decided for a boy winner!  This made me furious!! Categorization of boy and girl prize or toy is beyond my understanding.  I spoke to the teacher and gave my feedback. 


And when I think about it, gender stereotyping is so common!  😔😡


A few days back, kids were playing in the park and a boy was thirsty and took out his Elsa water bottle, and some aunties were like why does he use a girl bottle! His mother simply said he loves it.

From a friend, I have heard wherein a school girl kids were given dolls to play and boy kids were given balls to play. 

I have also heard comments when my daughter wore a Spiderman t-shirt or on how she doesn't like wearing a dress, 

There are even brands with the name of Pink and Blue! 


What is this Pink and Blue thing anyway??


I find it absurd. When I was little, I played with dolls as well as football. My friends were always a mix of boys and girls and we played together cricket and with Kitchen toys. My little brother used to play with my dolls.

I feel we should give a neutral environment to the curious minds to flourish and become sensible individuals. I feel stereotyping should not be promoted and I raise my voice whenever I see that happen.


Why keep girls and boys into cages of pink and blue when together pink and blue can make beautiful creations!


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Friday, January 10, 2020

School - love or hate?

January 10, 2020 2 Comments
Last night, I was spending some time on Quora and came across this question -"is it weird that a child hates going to school?". Responses were mostly, yes very normal. Well, to me it's not normal at all.

 I disliked going to school for a very long time. I was an introvert child, didn't have a lot of friends and was bullied at times. There was this one big group and the leader of the gang, a girl, would always convince others not to speak to me if i said something which she didn't approve of! I have always been this person who would just not agree to anything for the sake to being in good books. So, i was always left alone. This happened for few years. Then my school came up with this concept of shuffling students of different sections when they were promoted to the next class. That's when things started getting better. New kids were kind and i could make a few friends or at least have communication.

 My daughter usually loves going to school but there was a phase when she would just cry and say i don't like school. I got very worried and tried talking to her to understand what is it that is bothering her. After a lot of effort, she finally said that her best friend now plays with this other girl and the other girl just asks her to go away when she tries to join them in play. We comforted her and told her story that when Mumma was little, this happened to her and what she did. We also spoke to her class teacher and he said, he would observe and correct the situation and he did that! Few days later, she was again feeling good about going to school.



A friend's daughter, cried for days because kids in her cab would say nasty things to her.

 When a child doesn't want to go to school, makes excuse or cry, parents at times think it's because they don't want to study and just have fun at home. Well, i think, there is always a reason if a child hates going to school -be it getting bullied by kids, scolded by teacher, unable to cope up with a subject etc. which leads to low self esteem and not wanting to go to school!

 If you are facing this situation, please talk to your child to understand what is causing this behavior and work it out together.

 A child spends significant amount of time in school and it is supposed to be a place where the child feels welcomed and happy.

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Thursday, January 2, 2020

MATH for kids (3-5 year old)

January 02, 2020 0 Comments
There are certain things in life you wish you had done differently, for me that would-be MATH! I am not good in Math and I wish I learned it better.

 I would say introducing MATH to kids (early years) is very important. Math is not just about numbers, it's about reasoning and thinking. If taught in fun way, it will increase their curiosity and liking for Math.

 We started with Math concepts when our daughter was about 3 years old. Kids at this age like learning new things and she totally loved it. 

 I feel just sitting for some time to teach is kind of boring for kids at this age so it should be in form of play. Here are the few things you can try:

  • Pick the toy your kid loves the most and use that to teach counting. We used blocks and stacking toys. We started with 1-5 and moved further as per her comfort and interest.
  • Extend it to counting steps of walk, stairs, cars on road, number of times you catch the ball etc. Slowly your kid will think and relate numbers to all objects! 
  • Kids love to play with household utensils and that can also be used to teach counting.
  • Once comfortable with counting, you can introduce comparison (greater, smaller, equal). Place stack of 3 blocks on one side, stack of 4 on other and discuss which has greater number of blocks. 
  • You and your spouse can do jumping/running or skipping and ask your kid to keep a count of it and declare the winner!
  • Counting sides of different shapes that your child already knows is also a good activity.
  • Introducing addition would be next. Use objects or toys your child loves. Give 4 apples to your kid, ask to give one to mommy and discuss how many are left.  Repeat with different toys and games.
  • When we play with blocks, before building, I would just ask my kiddo to segregate the different blocks and count each set. You can try the same. It's fun! 
  • Teach counting and adding on fingers. Or mark lines on paper and add. 
  • Make it your daily routine play addition games. There would be a time when your kid would be very comfortable to add single digit numbers orally. 
  • Introduce to the concept of subtraction once you feel your child is good with addition. Use objects and make it fun.
  • Introduce to double digit numbers when your kid is good with single digits. 


Happy Learning!!
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