We, as Indians have so much to complain, crib and whine about the Indian politics, Indian Government, Indian politicians, systems, laws...yes, yes and yes, it is a big list! No matter how big and bold the headlines of a good initiative appear on the newspaper, we can with ease spot a crime, an unfair justice, a city disobedience to make us feel unworthy of living in India. Do you think we can change this perspective of Indians about India? Perhaps, we can, and we must!
Globe Trotters Box is an activity box for children available in India on a subscription basis. It provides interesting learning activities for children aged 4 to 12 years on the theme, ‘countries of the world’. Each box contains starter materials aimed at learning the geography, art and culture of a specific country. Children make use of the box contents to create, solve or learn through an activity such that while working on the activity they also get to learn facts about the country.
If you think your home air is clean, devoid of pollutants (as I did once upon a time), re-think with the check-list of indoor pollutants discussed in this post. When was the last time you serviced your gas stove? Are you sure your house is free of dust mites? Before you answer 'yes' do you even know that you cannot see a dust mite without a microscope? How often do you spot cockroaches in your house? How many wooden furniture decorate your home? Are your building walls prone to rainwater seepage? Do you have pets at home? Do pigeons love your window sills? Does anyone smoke cigarette in your house? How ventilated is your house? Are you aware of house plants that can reduce indoor pollution?
It is important for children to learn about the several particles that can pollute the air in our homes. When they understand the harmful effects these pollutants cause, they may as well follow some good habits in order to reduce air contamination. Here is a short video that explains with the use of toys, a few major air pollutants, their health impacts and preventive measures, in a simple manner, for children to understand.Â
Six months past the baby's arrival, the ambition of waking up at five in the morning to practice Pranayama and yoga did spring up, as it did with the first. However, needless to mention, I could get nowhere near my ambition amidst the haystack of piled up chores. Yes, yes, yes, I have written all about it all through my blog, I know! So, let me quickly tell you the silly 'work-outs' I get to do with two kids around.
I often ask to myself, if parents can be perfect beings at all times? Doesn't being mindful of all that we speak and do in front of the kids, restrict us from our spontaneous flow of life? And most importantly, if it is really necessary to understand, contemplate, dissect, dig, and study parenting in order to follow on some parenting rules in our everyday lives?
As a mother, while I portray my everyday difficulties in looking after home and children as struggles, I am glad I am not a father for I will HAVE to shoulder a lot more than what I do as a mother.
Globe Trotters Box is an activity box for children available in India on a subscription basis. It provides interesting learning activities for children aged 4 to 12 years on the theme, 'countries of the world'. Each box contains starter materials aimed at learning the geography, art and culture of a specific country. Children make use of the box contents to create, solve or learn through an activity such that while working on the activity they also get to learn facts about the country. Here's our detailed review of the Globe Trotters Italy Box.
You reach home back from office to find your kids already sound asleep. At first, you feel relieved that you can get some lone time in peace. But, when you have a second look at their sleeping faces, you realize that you have missed a day of their school stories; you have missed some sweet little conversations and you have missed a few precious hugs and kisses. Yes, we all run, run and run with our everyday schedules - boss, assignments deadlines, presentations. At the end of the day, the realization that all of these took away your priorities an edge over spending time with your kids, can leave you with a feeling of bad conscience. And its not too uncommon for fathers!
With a laptop crash, I couldn't pull up the fatherhood series. Well, my laptop revived back just in time on Father's Day. I shall continue to write on the series until the end of the month. It is about Daddy time today! It's one of the joyous phases in fatherhood when the child begins to share his love and time with the father, after having been solely dependent on the mother in the initial days. The mother to child bond is instinctive whereas the father to child bond is mostly acquired. And the very fact that the little one begins to look for the father's presence, is a sign of an exuberant connection.Â
By highlighting this emotion of fathers today, I would like to raise awareness to stop tagging men to financial responsibility, to support stay-at-home-dads, to change our perception about gender-biased parenting and to understand the emotional confinements of a father. If there is a father at your home - your father, husband or brother - speak to them with concern about the career difficulties and anxieties they are facing. Listen to them, that's all they need!
Ask a dad who looks into the screen to see his baby the first time over a skype call. Ask a dad who returns home after an exhaustive day of work and driving to see the baby squeal in excitement to see him. Ask a dad whose hands his daughter refuses to part on the first day of the school. They all will tell you that they simply felt that something which they don't know how to explain. As a matter of fact, the essence of fatherhood lies in many such small things.
With the recent World Political maneuvers, House of Cards season five was much awaited as the show intentionally or perhaps, intuitively shadows the real political situation in the US. Does it augur a beginning of another rift between the Underwoods? Does it throw a fortuity on Mrs. Underwood to swear the Presidential robe? Will it drag their feet from working together for the elections? Will the Underwoods win the election? What will happen to Frank's warmongering appetite? These could be a few of the questions that might pop up instantly in the audiences' mind #HOConZCafe #HouseofCards #HomecomingofTerror
Of course, I couldn't disclose my secret fears to her because she's pregnant. Neither could I to anyone else for I will be looked down upon for the father I was going to be or even for the man I was. Even if I share with someone, I will be counter-attacked, "You are going to be a dad, become responsible." Thus, while my wife, the family and the extended families celebrated the good news, at a secret corner of my heart, I was afraid if everything is going to be alright.
Starting from the 1st of June until the 18th of June, I am plunging into a bold attempt in bringing to light, the emotions behind being a father. I say bold because I shall leave behind the superior tag of a 'mother' to explore the deepest secrets of fatherhood.
Do you have a kid who loves to pretend play a doctor? Does your child's face glow in excitement when he/she places the toy stethoscope on your chest, stomach, hand and face? Are syringes and injections are a part of your Lo's playtime? Then, you must try making a play doctor's clinic!
The thought process that kicked me to write this post today is the 'virtual perception vs. the actual perception' I had experienced at the meet. When we interact with the same few people over a period of time through distant modes, our minds begin to form perceptions about those few. At the meet, it was interesting to observe the distinctive differences between my imaginary beings and the real ones.
If you think the pretend play courier game can be fun for your little ones, get to the floor with them, build it all and pretend. That's the best we can give them now - our time!
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Now having completed the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2017, I am glad I wrote all the posts from my heart. Until I sat to write, I wouldn't have had anything framed in my mind about what to write. In spite of holding my sleeping baby on the shoulders and in addition, sometimes, my son sleeping on my lap, I managed to bring in my emotions in words while typing with my left hand. It isn't a feeling of having achieved something; rather it has been a hearty experience of having run through my motherhood days with the little ones close to me. I don't think I could have done this better any other year, for my new born has revived it all from the scratch, making it more intense. It has been a truly, from-the-depth-of-my-heart memorable experience.
Sometimes, we expect but it doesn't happen. Sometimes, we least expect but it happens. The second kind is more interesting. We breath, eat and sleep as though we are aware of what happens inside our bodies. But, we are not even close to being aware of what happens within. This is the first enlightenment that the news of pregnancy brought with it. Developmental biology used to be my most favourite subject during my master's days. I've studied every detail of zygote, embryo, blastula and gastrula; yet when it was happening in reality inside my body, I had no clue of it. It - the miracle of nature - seemed mysterious to me for the nth time. It could have happened with any set of genes of the hundreds of the sperm cells. To put it in a funny way, one man is just half zygote away from becoming another.
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