Jul 30, 2016

How Free Play Can Bring In Creativity And Order


I have read & experienced myself how important is free play for a child. Free play can bring out the most exciting moments & experiences I bet. I have seen them myself many times. I have seen him doing many things on his own while free play which otherwise he might not do when I sit with him or when I tell him to do.
Today one more exciting thing happened.
I have got this shape & color sorter game for him. I have done a quick product review of it which I will link it up soon on my YouTube channel. Meanwhile don't forget to subscribe to my channel at http://www.youtube.com/kg141083
So this is what happened today -
I give him this shape sorter game for free play.
He independently puts all stars in one rod without me telling or prompting him anything.
After that he puts all the octagons on top of stars. 
Of all the shapes in this set, he chose to sort stars & octagons!?! To give a background, he already knows shapes like circle, square, rectangle, hexagon, triangle, crescent, star, heart. He was able to point to them when asked at around 14 months if I remember correctly.
Then he puts back all 64 shapes back in the box & closes the box. Everything without me prompting anything & on his own. 
This shapes set contains 8 pieces each of triangle, circle, rectangle, star, pentagon, octagon, diamond & square. Total 64 pieces.
A is 17 months right now and it isn't easy to dig out all the stars & all the octagons from 64 pieces, and to distinguish between pentagon & octagon, all the more. 
I was really amazed to see this free play exercise & a sense of order he adhered to, of putting his stuff back to its place. And did I tell you this is an amazing fine motor skill development activity? :)
Kids surprise us, right?
Have you seen something magical while your child played on his/her own? Please do share in comments :) 




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Jul 27, 2016

Days Like These Reinforce The Blessing Of Being A SAHM


I am a SAHM to a 17 months old boy. I have had my share of the corporate world for some 8 years after getting a post graduate degree in computer science engineering from the very prestigious IIT Bombay. I chose to be there for my son all day all night in his formative years. I know soon he will be independent & would probably just come home for having meals! I want to nurture his childhood in the best way I can, I want to be there for him when he experiences his first things (step or drawing or whatever). I have happily let go (not sacrificed) of my career aspirations for few years.
But as any other woman who used to work before having a baby, I have days of self doubt when I see other women managing work & baby nicely. Grass suddenly becomes greener on the other side! I admire them for their superwoman capabilities. And then for some time, I convince myself that it is my own choice to do what I'm doing and I'm right in my decision. To each her own.
And there are days like these when I feel literally blessed to be a SAHM. My boy is down with loosies for 4 days now. He isn't eating ANYTHING. Not even water. I thank my stars that I could continue breastfeeding till now because breast milk is the ONLY thing going in his tummy, which is coming out in sometime anyway, but still that is keeping him hydrated. All day I am either comforting him or breast feeding him or cleaning his poopy nappies. Not to forget sleepless nights when he is breast feeding all through the night. If I had been working, I would have stressed out so much, I cannot imagine! Asking for leaves, worrying about half done work in office, worrying about when to join back, what not. I see & feel my husband's pain who texts/calls me every few hours to know how the little one is doing. At least I can cuddle up my son, soothe him, pacify him, he knows mumma is there for him always. It goes a long way in forming his emotional quotient. Days like these help me reinforce belief in my decision to be a SAHM.
I wonder in awe how working moms handle such days! Hats off to their strength. Are you a working mom or SAHM? Do you also see the green grass on the other side at times? Do share your feelings.
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Jul 23, 2016

Montessori Inspired Rainy Season Activity With My Toddler



We did a rainy season activity to celebrate the rains. He finds umbrella fascinating these days so umbrella it was for the activity. At 17 months, he knows shapes & we are working on colors. So I did this quick diy activity to reinforce shapes & to learn colors. I drew four umbrellas freehand & colored them with sketchpen leaving out shapes in white. And I cut out those shapes from cardboard (amazon packing material zindabaad) to match with umbrella shapes. I also took out colored popsicle sticks to match with colored umbrellas. The umbrella paper was then kept in transparent plastic leaf
A had fun doing this activity. Costed me not more than 30 bucks may be?
What did you do in rainy season with your kid, do share?






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Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Jul 22, 2016

Four Ways How We Damage Self Esteem Of Toddlers


In day to day life, we often knowingly or unknowingly damage the self-esteem of our super enthusiastic toddler. At one moment, we consider our child to behave as a grown up & another moment, we snatch away their control or reprimand. All the experiences of a child help in shaping the personality in the long run. We should be wary of this fact & change our behaviour accordingly.

Here are some common scenarios where the child's self-esteem gets severely hurt -


  • Comparision - Few kids are around & you say to your child, look how beautifully that particular kid is playing. Why are you glueing on to me? It is pretty useless to compare any two individuals, rather it's dangerous to their self-esteem.

  • Reacting To Wrong Answers - You are reading a book of animals to your child & asking who is this & that. You point to a zebra & ask what is this, your child replies elephant. You say, NOOO, this is zebra!! The child is still learning. Imagine you are in Japan & trying hard to learn what water is called in Japanese. And you are bashed by the shopkeeper by asking for water & saying something else. Instead tell your child, this is an elephant (pointing to the elephant) & this is a zebra (pointing to the zebra) with a mild tone.

  • Prohibiting The Exploration & Curiosity - You are out in a supermarket & your child is picking up the minutest trash he can see on the floor & collecting happily. You see that & say what trash you are collecting, go throw it immediately! This world is an experiment for them & they want to touch & feel everything. If it is not anything dangerous that he is picking, I would let him do this exercise, give him a bag to collect all this stuff, come home & explore it with him. Hear his version of stories about this trash. Name them myself. It's a great sensory & language building activity & will boost the creativity of your child.

  • Snatching Away Control - You gave him a bowl of porridge to eat himself, he decided to get messy & spoil his clothes. You snatch away the bowl saying I will feed you. He is learning to eat, learning to hold the spoon, learning to be stable, sudden change of control sends him a message he is not capable of eating himself. If you are not in a hurry, let him be. If you want to take over to feed him, tell him that you are going to help him eat quickly & that you need to go out soon.

Have you seen yourself or others practicing like that? I personally see this happening many times when I'm in a park or a social gathering etc. As a mother, I try to avoid such remarks or reform my sentence to a gentler tone to help boost my child's self-esteem. I agree, practicing is tough & this may not come to us very naturally. But in the interest of our child, let us refrain from such negative conversations & make our surrounding positive.
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Jul 19, 2016

My Routine With My 17 Months Old Toddler


One of my mommy friends asked me what is my routine with my 17 months old A. I thought a blog post answer would be better so that many other moms might benefit from it. This is a very broad level routine, it changes here & there almost every other day ;)
8.30 am or 9 am - A wakes up. He breast feeds if he wants to after waking up. Immediately, I remove his night diaper & make him on potty seat. Usually I'm lucky. Then I give him bath & get him ready.
He plays around freely with his vehicles or blocks or Montessori shelf or ride on car or balls etc. Or if he wants me to read books, I do so. He is crazy for books. If he wants me to read to him & I'm busy in something else, he will make sure I leave everything else & attend him. Many times he involves me in his play. I offer him breakfast that I eat, like poha or upma or vermicelli or dosa etc. He usually doesn't eat much but happily gulps down some cow's milk. All day long, I take him to the loo every 30-40 minutes. We are toilet training!
12 noon - my domestic help/babysitter arrives & she plays with A for some time, though he needs mumma in front of him all the time. She feeds him lunch at around 12.30 pm. If I'm lucky, I steal around 30 minutes to do tasks on laptop. A is super mobile now & follows me everywhere  so I rarely can do anything alone & with concentration :D
1.30 pm or 2 pm - A takes his nap, I nurse & pat him to sleep. Then I eat my lunch, do household chores, some social networking etc. Then depending on my mood & capability, I either read or prepare early learning activities for him or do some music or remaining chores. If I'm tired, I sleep too. If I'm lucky he sleeps at a stretch for an hour without demanding breastmilk. If he demands, he feeds & goes back to sleep too. Usually he naps for around 2 hours.
4 pm - A wakes up, breastfeeds compulsorily. Again I take him toilet just after waking up. We play together from whatever he wants or read books or gaze out from balcony. I offer him evening snacks, mainly fruits & cow's milk.
6 pm - outdoor time. We go to society garden downstairs. He enjoys outdoors a lot. We recognize logos of cars, see cats & dogs, spot the moon, play with ride ons, play in the rains etc. Approximately in an hour or so, we come back home. He breastfeeds if in a mood.
7 pm - Again we play together or read together.
8.30 pm - A's dad returns from office. They play & I cook dinner. We all have dinner in sometime & that's the only time the TV is on for 30 minutes. No screen time other than this for A, except for 5 minutes laptop screen time for an educational CD. A plays freely after dinner with whatever he likes, mainly vehicles, boys & vehicles have some inbuilt bonding ;)
10 pm - I give him cow's milk so that his tummy is full before he sleeps. Finally he goes to bed at around 11 pm. I know it's late but he doesn't leave his dad & wants to play play & play with him. I drag him to bed literally :) After that, it's my me-time. I read, do social networking or write the blog posts. Before I sleep, I give Reiki to A & myself.
So that's how our routine looks like these days! Do let me know what works & what not in your case :)
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Jul 18, 2016

What NOT To Say When Your Toddler Gets Hurt


It's quite common for a toddler to fall down or get hurt, thanks to their growing levels of independence ;) There are few things that we have been hearing since ages when dealing with a hurt or crying toddler that do not seem right to me after evolving as an individual now. Read on to know how can the situation be dealt in a better way but don't beat yourself up for doing apparently the wrong thing all this while :) I did the same till some time back!


  • Don't say 'it's ok, nothing happened' - Why do that? Why not acknowledge their hurt? They know they are hurt, you know they are hurt, then why hypocrisy? Let's acknowledge their hurt, it helps them feel better, trust me. Don't you feel better if someone says 'I understand your pain'  to you when you are in pain? Yes you do, right! Toddlers are no different. This makes them feel emotionally better. They realise their parents understand them. In older years, this acknowledgement will go a long way & as teenagers they will come to you as a friend for any advice they need or to share any thing because they know you acknowledge their feelings & not push the feelings to trash like nothing happened. It is REALLY important, isn't it?
  • Don't say 'oh you fell down, see the ant just died' - I don't see a need to create this fantasy. Either they will absorb they were the reason for the poor creature's death or celebrate the moment getting up, yay the ant died. Or may be neither of the two. But being realistic is easier, just telling that baby, you just fell down & got hurt!
  • Don't say 'go & slap the floor/table/drawer/etc, it hurt you?' - Wait & realise what exactly are you sowing in your toddler's mind with this action! You are telling them it is somebody else's fault & hence you got hurt, and you need to react with violence to make it tit for tat. NO, we don't need to teach this :(
  • Don't preach 'I told you not to climb up there, didn't I' - Your child is crying & the least s/he wants is a preacher. This is a moment to soothe & not preach.
  • Don't be inconsistent - one caregiver deals in one way & another in a different way, let's try to be consistent. Toddlers love a sense of routine. They get confused easily if people around them behave in different ways for same action. So decide mutually how you are going to deal with a situation.
Now the right way, well let's say K's right way (because there is nothing wrong a parent does to a child), to handle such situation -
  • 'Oh baby, you just got hurt! Come in to my arms, I will give you a BIGGGG hug' (acknowledge their hurt & keep them close)
  • 'Tell me where did you get hurt? I might be able to help you ease the pain. Oh toe? Let me kiss your toe :) I will also massage your toe. Tell me are you feeling better?' (Tell them a loving touch is what they need to heal a wound, in a broader sense too)
  • 'Is it still hurting? Let us give it some time. Do you want your favourite book/toy?' (Toddlers are easily distracted)
  • 'Baby how did you get hurt? I think that chair was too high for you to climb? Let's be careful next time, OK? That's how we learn, it's ok to fall or get hurt.' (Put in their head that it isn't BAD to fall in life, it is perfectly OK. After they are pacified, we can preach in a gentle way.)
Hope the post didn't preach too much ;)
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Jul 17, 2016

About 'K'

Hi There,
I'm K, mom to a charming little prince A, who came into our lives after a lot of years, wounds, scars, prayers & struggles. In all those years, I read a lot, learnt a lot, experienced a lot, absorbed a lot, changed a lot! I still read & learn & all of it helps me in my journey ahead, as a parent & as an individual. This blog is to share with you my adventures related to parenting, early learning, healing and other creative stuff.
On the other note, a post graduate degree in Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay gave me an absolutely wonderful experience in life. However my passion for music was bigger than the weight of the degree :)
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