Wednesday, December 18, 2019

ROUTINE - A NECESSITY

I have always been a person who associates the word 'routine' with monotony. I would purposefully do something out of the everyday routine to just break it, like I'd skip bathing for a day if nothing else is working out. So, hearing from me about routines for children, can be a complete shocker or stupid or essential. I mean come on, if I can now relate routine with harmony rather than monotony, the story is worth going through, right!

Okay, you don't have to go through everything to learn a lesson. It's not necessary to take the harder way always, I chose an easy one here. If I say my parenting began before I had a baby, then it won't be wrong. I am this, analyzing, judging and ruminating over facts kind of person. So, before conceiving I observed all the kids around me, asked their mothers about their day to day activities and much more. I have seen that, those babies who had no regular bedtimes became the preschoolers who gave their parents tough times in the morning when schools began, those toddlers who did not have proper eating habits became the teenagers who bent towards junk food more often, those who were never taught proper communicating etiquette became adults who were annoying in the public scenes. I came to a conclusion that if I have a baby, I will have to turn upside down to retain my sanity in future. No matter what it takes, who says what (giving that the Indian family routines are bizarre), I will have to stick to proper routines.

I mean, everyone is born with a concept of time even if they can or cannot read a clock. Look at my first babe, Limo loves sleeping and sleeps late in the evening on the sofa but exactly by quarter to eight, he wakes up, stretches out and by dot eight he is right in front of me, nose to nose, just an inch away, starring into my eyes and saying "it's dinner time mommy, get your lazy butt to kitchen and warm up my meal". So, if a dog can sense time then a human baby is expected much more of - routine.

No one loves routine, neither a baby nor a toddler and never a teenager. But at every stage in life, routine plays a different role. When a baby goes through same routine for meals and bedtime each day, he knows what to expect and what is expected of him. He might fuss in the beginning but a few days down the line, he is habituated. When he turns to a toddler, a few things that would excite him are to be added to keep him aligned to the plan but the routine remains constant. Even if he hates it, he himself reminds you if you skip a step between. And what happens when they turn teenagers? The routine by then is memorized by their body and it is easy to trick the mind but not the body.

You can endlessly argue over why you are not able to set a routine with your child but the winner will always be a - routine. A good routine or a bad routine, set by purpose or unintentionally, it will have a domino effect on the coming years of the child and you'll see that. Observe

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

THE BOOKS WE LOVE

Like every other sincere parent around, even I want my son to grow up with books, loving them and wanting them. But whenever I go out to buy some for him, all I see around are the navneet books of ABC, 123, names of animals, fruits and things. Ugh..... To hell with the ABC, man. A two year old is least bothered about the facts and lessons plated out to them in a very straight manner. Then there are nursery rhymes books of baba black sheep, humpty dumpty and what not, not relatable either. And the panchtantra stories...!! Yes I get it, they are all moral loaded but still not age appropriate for a toddler and then those classic stories like Cinderella and pinocchio, seriously but they have so much text that needs patience which no two year old exhibits. So is it an open and shut case? Should I just postpone my book indulgence fantasy for a later age?

I would have but thanks to Amazon.com, I found many books and authors who really understand the toddler brain and their learning ways. And once you buy a few from Amazon, it just keeps suggesting more and more similar books. Ah, I love Amazon for this and I am sure Amazon too would love me for buying hysterically.

But, trust me once you see what amazing magnetic qualities these books have and how creatively they impart knowledge to the kids, you'd prefer signing your will to Amazon than breaking your head teaching your child from textbooks. So, let me list a few of my favorites with description and many more with just the titles.

1. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by ERIC CARLE -
Ergonomically, the book is perfect for a tiny toddler hand and sturdy for his explosive ideas. This hardcover book, not just shows the child the life cycle of a Caterpillar but also teaches the names of the days of week, numbers 1 to 5 and the power of eating greens. Boom...!! So much in a pint sized book...!!

2. YOU, ME AND EMPATHY by JAYNEEN SANDERS -
This one as the name suggests, teaches empathy. It has rhyming text and descriptive pictures that work best for a 2-3 year old. A has definitely learned to empathize with me to begin with and I am grateful for that.

3. DON'T LET THEM DISAPPEAR by CHELSEA CLINTON -
This book has a collection of 10 animals that are close to extinction. Not a storybook but a book that describe each animal, their daily routines, food they eat and fun facts . Ok, this one is going to cost us a fortune as A wants to visit these animals in their natural habitat places. But anyways, we had pledged not to introduce him to the caged animals and lock in his mind the prevailing myth that human race is the only significant specie on earth.

4. THE TINY SEED by ERIC CARLE -
This one teaches about different seasons and all the conditions that are essential for the germination of seed and growth of a plant. Amazing concept and story line.

5. THE BAD TEMPERED LADYBUG by ERIC CARLE -
Along with the repercussions of being bad tempered, this book teaches about the concept of time. The book has pages, graphics and story sequenced so beautifully that you see the movement of sun throughout the day and also learn reading clocks. Eric Carle is a genius..!

6. GANESHA'S SWEET TOOTH by SANJAY PATEL -
Looking at the mind blowing graphics of this book, I thought I bought a wrong one for his age but watching him decipher the complexity of graphics to understand the characters sketched in the book, I think it was totally worth the buy. And ofcourse Ganesha is the God all kids love, may be because of the sweets...

7. RHYMES FOR ANNIE ROSE by SHIRLEY HUGHES -
Okay, it's not A but me who hates the typical nursery rhymes and honestly, there is no rule that without knowing them you cannot move further in life. So, I bought this one for A. The pictures are very realistic in this one but what I loved the most is that all the rhymes are grown around the character Annie Rose and her everyday life and activities. Very relatable and imaginative.

8. ONCE UPON AN ALPHABET by OLIVER JEFFERS -
Like I said, learning ABC from the navneet books is very cliche and uncreative. So we got more graphical and interesting ones, out of which I really liked this one. So, every letter has got a story which has characters and events that start with the same letter and hence the lessons of letters and phonics happen together. Isn't it wonderful...!?

9. THE MONKEY WITH A BRIGHT BLUE BOTTOM and THE VERY GREEDY BEE by STEVE SMALLMAN -
These were the very first ones I bought for A, from a bookstore! The stories are fun and the pictures are really descriptive. A loves them so much that they have withered within two years of buying them.

Now, I am not an expert or a critic to review books. But the fact that I love books (and now children's books), encourages me to buy more. I have loved all the books that I bought for him but him, I tell you, these little experts can be cruel critics. He listens carefully and then observes the images on the page and if they don't relate much, that book is touched rarely and only when forced, like this one we bought called "Farmer Falgu goes to the market" and then he has his own sense of graphics and if the book does not have catchy pictures or interesting lines than that too goes in the back of the shelf like this one we have called "The ant thief". But there are many more that we love like "Here we are, notes for living on planet earth", "Clouds", "Energy - makes things happen", "Forces - make things move", "The mixed up Chameleon" and almost all by Eric Carle.

Sure, these books will cost you five to ten times that of the navneet books but what they have to offer, is priceless. These books by great creative artists and writers, brings so much art in these little people and art is enticing, irrespective of age. To grab a child's attention the book has to be appealing in every sense. You feed your eyes before you feed your other sense organs, does not just stand true for the food we eat but also for the food we feed our brains. Feed good, reap even better.
P.S. Check my upcoming Instagram story feed for future book purchases.