Positive Parenting

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A must watch!

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[positiveparenting]

Allow Our Children to Express

I am working in the education domain and has lots of access to see how children learn in their classrooms. From most of my interactions with teachers, one question that always pops up in my mind is ' in the name of interacting with students, are we really interacting with our children?' Aren't we always trying to push what we want to think into our children's mind? One question for us parents is 'Are we having meaningful interactions with our children? If yes, hire is it helping them to shape their personality? Let's reflect on this!

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There and Back Again!

A story from ‘Five o’ clock tales’

 It was Mollie’s birthday the next day and he meant to buy her a book. Bob emptied the pennies out of his money box. He had two pounds altogether, so off he went to the bookshop. He saw there a book he wanted very badly for himself - Tales of Brer Rabbit - and he felt Mollie will like the book.

On the day of birthday, Mollie the naughty did some naughty things like pouring milk into teapot, threw a stone to a cat and hurt its leg. Mother got angry and said she is not getting any gift for her birthday. Mother decided to give the gift Bob presented to the milkman’s son.

Milkman’s son received the gift and he opened it. WOW! the same gift he received for Christmas. He decided to hand over the gift to a friend is not well. He ran and gave the gift to his friend. His mother opened the gift and saw what is inside and thought her son can not read any books now. Doctor asked him to give rest for the eyes.

She thought for some time and decided to give the book to Alice who lives with her grandmother. She ran to Alice’s house and kept the gift  near the door and came back.

Alice’s grandmother opened the door and saw the gift. She too opened it and thought ‘Alice is gone to the city to meet her parents. She will take few moths to come back. Let me give this the kind boy who once helped Alice.’

Do you know who the kind boy was? Its our Bob. The next day, he too received a gift pack and was surprised to see the book he wanted to buy for himself.

Do good without any expectations and good will come to you automatically. Let’s share this knowledge with our children too to create a bunch of selfless, kind and responsible human beings.

[positiveparenting]

Parenting Lessons from Vedanta

Parenting is difficult - it has infinite challenges, can be tiring, and the "rewards" can be far out in the future. One might even find themselves asking "Am...

Parenting Lessons from Vedanta.

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Wonderment

So, how many of us still have this wonderment in us? Now a days, life has become fast paced, busy with lots of activities. As always lots of other activities are happening around us which will definitely evoke the sense of wonderment in all of us.

But, do we have time to stop and enjoy them? What can happen if we don’t cultivate this attitude in our children?

It’s a question for you all to wonder about. What is that our children going to miss if we don’t cultivate this attitude.

Please mail your responses to [email protected]

Let’s play a game with your children.

Show this picture and ask

What do you see in this picture?

What do you think about this picture?

What do you wonder about this picture?

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Summer is here! What’s your plan to engage your child? 

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Stargazing!

Have you ever tried stargazing with your child?

I am sharing a link which help you to take it forward.

Enjoy the nights!

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/science-nature-activities/summer-stargazing

[positiveparenting]

Happy New Year!

What's New with you all?

Well, let me tell you all what's new with me. Remember, the book challenge which was going for a round for few weeks in Facebook? (For those who doesn't know about it: People nominate other people to list down 10 favourite books that they have read. Once they list, they need to challenge other set of people to list their favourite books.)

So, i am  not an oracious reader.  I normally start reading some books and in between I loose interest because of the language which was hard for me to decipher and sometimes it's just pure laziness. Books which I read are only spiritual books.

So this challenge caught my eyes and I started collecting the names of the books. And I am reading my 4th book :)

What is the relation with parenting?

Modelling. Let's be a model for our children. Children like to imitate their mother or father. Let them imitate the good qualities of parents. Grab a book for yourself and sit to read. Give your child too a small book which he/she can read by themselves.

Grow together and learn from each other :)

Happy Sunday!

[positiveparenting]

What's New?

Recently i attended a session and the ice breaking activity in that was to share 'What's new?' in groups of three.

Isn't it a powerful question? Take a moment and think of what's new with you!

Well, one thing I realised was it is such a simple question yet a power packed positive vibrant  one. It forcefully makes us think positively.

To make positive thinking a habit, let's ask ourselves 'What's new?'.

Let's ask our children 'What's new?'. Let them start counting the new things they get/experience/give/feel on a day to day basis!

[positiveparenting]

tantrums - to test you!

Tantrums are not unusual. It is a testing period for the children to check what is your patience limit is.

This helps the child to understand which is acceptable or not by his or her parents.

What can we do as parents?

- Involve your child

Make clear about the rules and what you expect from them before in hand.

-  Listen to them.

Encourage your child to talk to you. Sit with him/her and then listen to them.

- Explain to them.

If your answer is NO to anything, give a good reason and give an alternative suggestion.

Happy parenting :)

[positiveparenting]

It's vacation Time!

I remember how i waited for the last exam to get over and come back home and arrange all the books to sell to the paperman in our locality. The vacation meant helping mom, cleaning the house, one week trip to grandmom's place and play play play!

So how is your child's vacation? I was thinking what i can give you all to enjoy the vacation time with your child. Here is an idea which i am practising now.

My sister is very busy nowadays and my niece wants her to read stories for her. But she does not have time for it. Suddenly i got an idea! I started reading the books and recorded it with little questions and explanations here and there like how we tell the story when the child is nearby. Everyday i record one story and send to her. She can listen to the story whenever she feels like.

That was one of the idea of mine. Hope to get more brainwaves like this :)

[positiveparenting]

Reinforce!

Very rarely my niece gets a chance to play games in laptop. That was an evening, and her mom made her noodles as a quick snack.

She allowed us, both the sisters to take our share of 1 teaspoon each from her plate and added her very own tomato ketchup into it. Mixed it thoroughly and took it to the laptop table to play her favourite game.

Seeing this, my sister called me and asked me to check with one line that she learnt in her computer textbook. I didn’t know what she meant and as a messenger just went and told my niece.

To my surprise she exclaimed,”Oh God” and took her plate to the dining room and finished her noodles. After that she went and started playing.

Yes! Children sometimes forget what they learnt! It is our duty to reinforce and remind them about it in a non threatening manner.

[positiveparenting]

Positives in Negatives

A young woman was sitting at her dining table, worried about taxes to be paid, house-work to be done and to top it all, her family was coming over for Thanks giving the next day. She was not feeling very thankful at that time. As she turned her gaze sideways, she noticed her young daughter scribbling furiously into her notebook. “My teacher asked us to write a paragraph on “Negative Thanks giving” for homework today.” said the daughter “She asked us to write down things that we are thankful for, things that make us feel not so good in the beginning, but turn out to be good after all.” With curiosity, the mother peeked into the book. This is what her daughter wrote: “I’m thankful for Final Exams, because that means school is almost over. I’m thankful for bad-tasting medicine, because it helps me feel better. I’m thankful for waking up to alarm clocks, because it means I’m still alive.” It then dawned on the mother, that she had a lot of things to be thankful for! She thought again… She had to pay taxes but that meant she was fortunate to be employed. She had house-work  to do but that meant she had her own home to live in. She had to cook for her family for Thanks giving but that meant she had a family with whom she could celebrate.

We generally complain about the negative things in life but we fail to look at the positive side of it. What is the positive in your negatives? Look at the better part of life this day and make it a great day"

Let spread this message to our children too. Give more such opportunities for them to think and act :)

Happy Parenting :)

[positiveparenting]

The art of communication!

The communication is the key in today's world. Here is a tip to develop a good communication skill in our children. Teach them to

Speak truth always

Speak to others without hurting them

Speak to others thinking the benefit of others and

Speak only when required that too crisp and short.

Here is a short story to explain the same :)

The King And The Astrologer A king produced his horoscope before an astrologer and asked him about his future. The astrologer pondered the positions of the planets and consulted the Shastras and finally gave his verdict. "Maharaja, all your relatives will die before you. You will perform their obsequies with your own hands." The king became furious. He was very much attached to his relatives and could not tolerate such a verdict. The king at once ordered that the poor astrologer should be given imprisonment for life. Then the king met another astrologer. This man was more tactful than the first. He found that the previous astrologer’s readings were absolutely correct. So, he tactfully put the same truth the other way round. He said, "Maharaja, you have a very long life. You will live longer than all your relatives." This also meant that all his relatives would die while the king was alive. The same fact had been very tactfully told to please the king. The king was highly pleased with the astrologer and gave him rich and costly presents. Therefore it is said that even while telling the truth, one should tell it in a pleasant manner. Even a truth should not be told in a way that will hurt the feelings of others. Your speech should be truthful, pleasant and beneficial.

[positiveparenting]

Hug Hug Hug

Here are few points on why hugging our children is important!

1. The nurturing touch of a hug builds trust and a sense of safety. This helps with open and honest communication.

2. Hugs can instantly boost oxytocin levels, which heal feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger.

3. Hugging boosts self esteem. It gives a feeling that I am loved and I am special.

4. Hug releases tension in the body.

So, are we ready to give hugs to our children? Start today, give as many hugs to your child!

[positiveparenting]

NEVER GIVE UP!

Here is a story to tell our children.

Once upon a time, there were two frogs. They were playing together in a farm and eating the different insects which came in front of them.  

Suddenly, they saw a bunch of mosquitoes flying around a pot. The two frogs hopped together to get the mosquitoes.  ‘SPLASH’ both the frogs jumped into the pot. The pot had milk in it. They both felt sad and tried their best to come out from the pot.

Both of them started to swim vigorously in the pot trying their best to come out from the pot. Alas! One frog felt very tired and he said, ’I am tired of swimming. I don’t thing by swimming inside this pot is going to be any help to escape from this pot.’

The frog decided to not swim further and drowned in the milk.  After sometime, the frog died.

But the other frog said, ‘I am not going to give up. I will try my best to come out from this pot.’ The frog kicked, and he swam in circles until he became tired.  He used his legs to push off the bottom and kicked with all his might until he came to the surface again.

He kicked and kicked.

Then, something strange happened.  The milk began to turn thicker around him.  At first, this made kicking even harder.  The thickened milk tried to suck him to the bottom of the pail.  It was harder than even to swim and to kick.  But, still the frog did not give up.

Finally, the milk turned thick enough that the frog could stand on top of it instead of sinking in.  The milk had been turned into butter through all the kicking and turning and churning of the frog.  The frog was able to climb out to safety and to return to his family.