It was Vibhu's last exam today. I can't say about his happiness because he is still too young to express his worry or joy about this matter, but I am happy. It was Vibhu's first school year. Everything was new. New city, new school, and new people. On top of it, he joined school 2 months late. As it was a mid session admission, no as such joining test or interview happened. It was just one day his father took him to school. Back home I was so tensed that how would he behave there! As I always say, he is a blessed kid. He was all fine in school. Now his first school session is over. He did well in his class and I am so proud of him. Being a working mother, I rarely go to drop or pick Vibhu from school. My husband is carrying this responsibility wonderfully. At days when it is a company holiday or when for some reason I am working from home and there are no meeting clashes, I also join my husband when he goes to pick Vibhu from school. The little chit chat with Vibhu's...

The very thought of being away from my son all day long sometimes makes me feel low. Being a working woman, I seldom feel that my responsibilities as a mother remain overlooked. The talks of some non-working friends & family ladies add more to this worry of mine. Some of them never worked and many of them had to leave their jobs in order to fulfill the responsibility as a mother. My life often takes me to the thought of becoming a homemaker so that I can stay at home all the time for my son. However, at the same moment, I also realize my responsibility towards my family which includes my in-laws and my aging parents who need financial support from me. My role of being a working woman allows me to share the financial responsibilities of my husband. I have worked against all odds to make a career. So, how can I abandon all this? But should I not take better care of my family? When my boys was an infant, I saw him playing and enjoying with the family living in my neighborhood. He...

Recently a survey is done by Flipkart over the fathers of our country. Close to 1700 fathers of different cities (metro and tier two both) have been surveyed and the results are really welcoming. First, let me tell you what was the purpose of the survey. It was done to know on the ground level how much today’s Indian fathers are involved in raising their kids. And contrary to the set image of Indian fathers, today’s fathers are really inspiring. They are productivity playing their parenting duties. As per the results of the survey, fathers in Bengaluru were found to be most active, doing 91% of activities with their children. On the other side, fathers in Hyderabad contributed the least, with only 20%.  A couple of other findings of this survey are: Close to 80% fathers attend school activities regularly and half of them wouldn’t mind being stay-at-home dads. 58% of the fathers had become more patient. Around 27% quit cigarettes and 22% gave up drinking. Isn’t it a great n...

Dear Kid, First of all let me tell you that I am eagerly waiting to meet you. You might still be in diapers somewhere. Or, you would be enjoying the diaper free days (just like my boy) and would be finding reasons to hit the flush button in the bathroom . But soon we'll meet and I'll get the pleasure of having a daughter-in-law . So, welcome to the family dear! You are going to get a new mother, may not be as perfect as yours, but definitely a caring one! This may be too early to talk to you but darling time passes in blinks and I want to be prepared for your wedding with my son. I promise that I would give you the best man of your life. For this, I'll put my best efforts to help my son in finding you. I'll make sure that he understands the meaning of "being a Husband" which is one of the two most important titles a man carries in his life. Other is of course "Father". He will surely know that he has to carry two biggest responsibilities...

When you say "Don't touch this" indicating something to your children, what happens? Their curiosity bones keep tickling them to touch that thing which is supposed to not touch. Children these days are very curious about their surroundings. They want to touch and feel every new thing around them. Their continuous exploration of the world mostly happens with touching objects that pull their attraction. And they are unstoppable when they are being told to stay away from them. Stray dogs, dirty swings of the park, dust-covered vehicles, as you said "No, don't touch it", the first thing children do is to touch it to find out why not to touch! For kids, touching is learning. They understand new things mostly by touching and playing with it. And in this process, they get their hands dirty and come in contact with a lot of germs. This is the thing that we mother fear. We want to keep kids safe from germs and any kind of bacterial infection. That's why w...

The more I meet with new age parents, the more I feel that in their houses, the kids are in charge, not the parents. Parents are living as per their children's routines. They worry so much about their children's self-esteem, their health, and their choices. They even worry whether or not their children like them. And the reason is clearly today's parenting prescriptions. If you are a parent who also belongs to the good old days when parents were the bosses and child rearing was not a democracy, you can understand why I feel today's parenting is making parents paralyzed. My mother always was a tough parent and she is still, even when I am also a mother.  Denying my new stationary demands, denying half an hour extra while playing outside, denying my request for a piece of a pickle when she cooked Lauki in the dinner and even punishing me for not obeying her house rules. Clearly, she was the boss of the house. In my childhood, I always thought that she had been doing t...

Imagine the time when kids no longer play outside, they will not smile upon birds and butterflies and they will not be able to connect to our Mother Nature. For some kids, that time is coming very soon. At-least, city kids are very soon going to be affected by this " Nature Deficit Disorder ". Nature Deficit Disorder has no meaning is medical world but it's a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. Studies have proved that kids (and the rest of us) need direct experience with nature for their healthy development of body and mind. When I was a kid, I used to get amazed at seeing the ant armies and how they put so much effort to take a break crumb from my kitchen to their ant hills. I used to notice different colored butterflies in my backyard garden. Even dung beetles used to amaze me with their dedication to pushing a ball of poop. I can't get all these things for my son right now where I live. It's a crowded place with buildings everywhere. ...

Stress is a body’s way to respond to any kind of threat or unwanted circumstances. In terms of psychology, stress is a feeling of strain and pressure. Positive stress is good for performance, but over stress can be harmful to your body. Our kids can feel this stress too. Generally, we have a perception that children are free from any sort of anxiety or stress, but this perception is actually wrong. Even your children can undergo some stress and it is a responsibility of a parent to identify the signs of stress in your child. If your child is under stress, then you may observe some changes in his emotional and physical aspects. Change in Emotions / Behaviour Young children find difficult to understand this situation and hence unable to communicate their feelings to their parents. This leads to the change in their behaviour. They feel irritated, behaves moody, and do not indulge in their hobbies too. They start complaining about the negligible matters and cry a lot. Children o...

After having a kid in our life, we husband-wife were completely consumed in our parenting duties. Those initial days were very busy and hectic. I was trying to balance both, my work and an infant at home. Although my mother-in-law was with us to look after our few months old son, we both hardly had any free time.  I once read that the best way to spell love is “T.I.M.E”. And we both were drained on this front. I knew it was a usual phase that every couple goes through after becoming parents, however, we both needed a break from our usual life. We Planned The Perfect Getaway  Then one day I read a post on traveling and reading this, I couldn't stop myself from forwarding this to my dear husband. The post was promoting new parents to go on vacations with small kids. As per the post, when kids are small and yet to join the school, this is the best time to explore the world with them. Realizing the fact, my husband planned a week-long travel but this time we were not alone. ...

Last night I had my husband's office mate and his family as our guests. They were curious to see how the flat is designed in our society and looked at what is where at our 2 bhk house. 2 BHK means we have two bedrooms in our house and a hall. While we have a little one who sleeps with us only, the lady questioned me about making the other bedroom as kid's room while we could have made that our guest room instead. Well, this is a question I was ready with the answer for as I had to face this several times before and I am expecting it to be repeated there for me in future too. I politely smiled at her and said, "I could not name it anything but the kid's room." I then explained her why. The wardrobe in that room is filled with stuff that I have to buy in bulk to keep it an economic purchase like, the baby diapers, baby wipes, and bags in which I dispose of them.  I also showed her how the wardrobe is filled with the clothes that are bigger in size for...

Exam season is up here and families are under stress. Last week I was there at my in-law's place. My nephew is going to sit for class 10th exam this year. And almost everyone in the family is worried "Aayush ka 10th hai es baar.." On the day of Sankranti, my nephew, Aayush was enjoying the kite flying. Call it ignorance or over-excitement, he climbed over the topmost story of the house where only the water tank is placed. And while chasing the kites, he fell down. Fortunately, he did not get much of injuries. Still, his right-hand suffered a hairline fracture. He got a temporary bandage for a month. Aayush was able to move his hand. The whole month went in pressure. At one end where I found Aayush chilling even with his temporary plaster, his mother (my sister-in-law) and his grandparents (my in-laws) were extremely nervous. It was the high time when school and tuitions start revisions and last minute preparation for the board exams. And Aayush was not able to write. Hi...

When I saw the prompt of this week "How to teach kids importance of Republic day" I was both amused and confused. Teaching kids anything around nationalism and patriotism is really tough. These are such abstract feeling that can only be understood when one really realizes the importance of Independence and how the collective efforts of our freedom fighters brought it to us. In today's time, when most of the adults are ignorant in executing their duties towards the country, how can we expect kids to be loving for our country!! However, I remember my childhood when I was very patriotic. Reading stories of struggle of freedom was in the curriculum. I was in touch with theories and ethics that made our country. How rules and regulations were made, how tax system was introduced, how policies were made and how our country progressed. I was loving our country so much.  Slowly, as I grew up, I started forgetting all that I read and with that, I also became the part of the c...

Yesterday my husband and I were arguing over some topic. We started it when Vibhu, our boy, was asleep. We thought it was the best time as our 3-year-old was sleeping and he would not be able to witness the tiff. However, during our little-heated discussion, he woke up. He came to us in the next room and sat next to his father. When we were silent for few minutes, he said  "Baat karo aap log, mai baitha hoo yahi.." We both burst into laughter. So, we continued our argument. And when I raised my voice a tone above, Vibhu interrupted me saying "Mumma, Papa ki baat mano.."  Strangely, he took it absolutely positive. Most of the posts on the topic "Is It Right To Fight In Front Of Your Child" state that argument in front of kids is a big NO NO. It emotionally damages them. They feel scared when they find their role models, their parents, fighting with each other. Kids who witness anger, heated emotions and battles between their parents, are most likely to ...

New Year 2018 has started, and one recent normal looking happening made me vision about one thing that I want to see improved this year. Parenting is achieving horizons of both the poles. Mothers, working, managing family and offices, are trying their best to prove themselves as a balance maker. One pole is family where you need mammoth of patience and sweet talks to manage scenes. The other pole, work, needs being strict with deadlines, commitments and your own goals. As a working mother, I expect some help from people around me as sometimes my two hands seem not sufficient to carry on with my double roles. And when people fail me, I feel we still are far behind in understanding words compassion and consideration. I take my son with me to office as my office also provides a daycare for women employees. Every other day, my boy sleeps during the bus ride and when office bus finally reaches the destination, I need to carry three heavy things. My 3-year-old son, his diaper bag and...

In our country, we celebrate life and all those things which help in living our lives well. One such celebration is Harvest festivals. In different states of India, harvest festivals are being celebrated based on the main crops of that region and its timing. But regardless of state or time, the main reason behind every harvest festival is to welcome new food and to bid thanks to almighty for giving us an important aspect of our lives, harvest. Here are few harvest festivals that we celebrate with excitement and zeal every year :  1. Makara Sankranti in January:  Makar Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in almost every state of India. This festival is to honour the beginning of the harvest season and end of the northeast monsoon in South India. Makar Sankranti is respected as the beginning of an auspicious phase in Indian (Hindu) culture. It is cited as the 'holy phase of transition'. Makara Sankranti is known as Pongal, Uttarayana, Lohri, Kh...

Mothers. We love them for many reasons. They brought us in this world, nurture us, mould us and support us whenever we need them. We owe our mothers big time. Right? Ever since our new Miss World Manushi Chillar has bowled judges of the pageant with her answer, everyone is going gaga over one old yet new topic "How much salary should be given to a mother?" Although mothers our there are doing their jobs selfishly and they never claim their dues, the reality is that the household tasks done by women are neither acknowledged as work nor do they get paid for them. A job where you work long hours, no fixed routine, no leaves, no promotion and extra work every now and then, I guess no one would like to apply for this strange type of role. Being a mother myself, I never thought if I should be paid for my hard work. This could be because I am a working mother. I already get paid for my work in my office and this works as a boost for myself so that I can keep myself moti...