Parenting

Sometimes casual conversations with our kids lead to pertinent discussions. Like the other day, a simple topic of ants led to an intellectual exploration of the concept  “it’s all relative”. You know the – ‘your yuck could be my yum’, ‘boring to you could be interesting to me’, ‘silly to you could be offensive to me’ – sort of talk. But coming back to ants – We were all in the van headed out for breakfast. One thing led to another, and soon we were talking about these friendly six-legged insects.  “Do you know a… Read More »IT’S ALL RELATIVE

We have a problem in our house – a paper plane problem. There are paper planes in the living room, there are paper planes in the bedroom. I see them swishing through the kitchen during the day, I see them buried under my pillow at night. They fly like the blue angels in the backyard and float on borrowed water receptacles in the bathrooms.  Two little hands stay very busy milling out these paper planes. They belong to my five-year-old. Like any great artist, my son is versatile in his art form. There are paper… Read More »CREATIVITY

It was one of those days when lethargy takes the better of you. The summer heat was on full display outside. All I wanted to do was to sit, legs outstretched, on my sofa and sip on a tall glass of cold lemonade. But it was the summer holidays, and I had two energy balls, a.k.a my five-year-old and seven-year-old, with me at home. The energy balls had other plans for the day. They wanted to go swimming. “Come on,” my seven-year-old goaded I groaned. “How about we take a nap instead?” I proposed to… Read More »MOTIVATION

  Having a conversation with my six-year-old can be challenging. My voice just doesn’t get through all the distractions he submits to.   I ask him to wear shoes in the morning, but he can’t hear me over the ‘swoosh’ and ‘whoosh’ of his imaginary bay blades in action. I chide him about his half-eaten lunch, but he is busy commanding two giant yellow leaves into battle. I try to pry the details of his day from him, but pokemon Hyno has him in his rapture.   Hence a few times a day, I find… Read More »ARE YOU LISTENING?

I am loving the vivid imagination of my 4-year-old The stories that he weaves are part magical and part hysterical. Here is this morning’s one.

As I lazed on my bed this morning, somewhere in the region of delicious half awakeness, I heard the urgent pitter-patter of little feet. They were loud as they passed by my door and then softer as they scattered around the house. Little A had woken up. I knew something wasn’t right. 

  My son was helping with gardening. He picked a flower, ran inside and handed it over to me. I took it from him and exclaimed it was a beautiful flower. He asked me to hold it in my hands, close my eyes and make a wish. Someone would hear it and know about it and give me my wish. (Thank you Kindergarten teacher!) I held the flower and made my wish. Then he ran outside and came back with a couple more. Take a picture take a picture for Facebook he exclaimed. I winced… Read More »Make a wish!

A for… Transitions can be hard especially for a five-year-old. Remeber your first day at college or workplace? We have all been nervous about meeting new people, anxious about connections, the pressure of performance, the need to establish oneself and of course, letting go. New beginnings also mean goodbyes to something that might have been a wonderful part of your life. During the first week of Kindergarten, an assignment given was the letter A. My son decided to write his best friends name that starts with an A on the page. Later in the car, he… Read More »A for