Women Lines

Womenlines wants to share this article on parenting by Pooja Kawatra Gupta with its readers. Pooja is a mother who is enjoying her motherhood period by sharing her experiences with a group(she has formed on orkut) of other mothers(1000 mothers approx) on orkut. Here goes the story-

The day Aayan was born we knew that we both have come a long way from just being good friend, as a lover, as a husband & wife and now as a parent .He has given the new meaning to our life.. we realize that as a first time parent there were lot of things which we will be learning everyday .

Just reminded me that ” Kids are teachers and we are student”

Every new day comes as a beautiful moment to cherish for the life long. The day when you saw your baby in scan reports, when baby took the shape, his tiny little hands & feet, his heartbeat and every time your heart beat you think for a moment is it my heartbeat or my baby..Then you just smile back and say he is my heartbeat .That’s one in a lifetime when you have two heartbeat ..

When you hold your baby for the first time and keep remembering many of his first few and the day he says Papa & Mumma..You are at top of this world ..!! Aren’t we waited for this long to hear these beautiful words .

We know that with every new generation parents wants to give best to their baby .Trust me it not only babies have change over a period of time , parenting has gone under huge change. In today’s world it’s not just mother who is taking are of babies at home.. Fathers are equally involved in all the activities..right from the doctors visit at Gynaecologist to vaccination for Baby, which definitely gives mothers sometime for themselves.

Though with raising your baby, parents hardly get anytime for themselves but believe me raising your baby together not only give your baby but yourselves a lifelong security and comfort that both yes we were always there with our kids in each and every step he took in his growing years.

I still remember the time when I was expecting as been a working mother & staying far away from our parents, a first time parents we had enough of queries in our mind.. Why my baby is crying, is he hungry , not well, is there anything which I am unable to understand and so on..
So, my this first hand experience with raising my little son Aayan gave me the inspiration to start a platform where not only we all mums come together to help and resolve each other queries but to become friends for a lifetime. This is when I started a community : Mums & Babies ,we are close to 1,000 mums.. today with love & support of all wonderful mums, who have come long way to share their valuable experience, the best of the tips.. Our little wonders have got friends as well..

 http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=50694960

If you are a new Mom then join her community to share the warmth and happiness of one big family……

Womenlines welcomes Rupali Sarkhel Desai as a guest writer and is sharing her write-up about ’Fine Motor Skills in Kids’ with its readers! 

Twiddling your Thumbs as a toddler can take you far in life! 

My recent experience with a bunch of kids at my creative workshop led me to write this article on ‘Fine Motor Skills’. The workshop also made me realize the stark gender differences between children. One major realization was that girls are much faster than boys when it came to finishing their artwork/tasks. (already proven fact!)  It’s very easy to make sweeping statements like ‘boys are not interested in artwork as much as girls are.’  ‘Boys are too lazy’ ‘Boys are interested in more physical activity compared to girls’ not being too convinced by these stereotypes, I decided to dig deeper.

It was very easy to understand one simple fact - girls were able to somehow fold paper very well (we did origami @ the workshop). Boys took twice as much time to do the same. The very basics of  origami - which meant folding paper, led them to delay at every other stage, which led them to be disinterested eventually in the ‘artwork’ It was very easy to discern the fact that the development of fine motor skills is so crucial and weaknesses of the same can eventually affect a child’s self esteem. Come to think of this, one of the student’s mother also mentioned to me that her son is slow in writing but exceptionally quick in reading!!!   

What is Fine Motor Skills? (FMS) 

FMS involves the small muscles of the body that enable such functions such as writing, grasping small objects and fastening clothing. FMS involves strength, fine motor control and dexterity. (1) FMS can be defined as small muscle movements those that occur in the finger, in co-ordination with the eyes. (2) Lack of the same, can affect a child’s ability to eat, write, fold paper, wear clothes, etc. Which can eventually affect his self-esteem? 

If you have already recognized that your child could be lacking in this area, you need not worry. These skills can be developed with the right kind of activities over a period of time, love and acceptance, and loads of patience. Following are some practical ways to develop the same:- 

1)   ‘Grasping in the mind’ - Let the concept of ‘writing’ fit into your child’s mind through his hands. Best way to do that is simply showing him how to write in the air. Can start with writing alphabets in the air. (for toddlers you can start with shapes, and for little bigger kids you can follow it up with short words). Also this can be turned into a fun play by taking it a step further. Writing in your child’s palm/hand/back can not only be fun at the same time quite interesting. Next you should now encourage your child to do the same to you! This activity will help to trace his fingers. Finger tracing is crucial step to writing. Kids can do this even on textured surfaces like sand, mud, etc. Give them a plate full of rice and let them draw alphabets on them!

2)   Puffed rice (toddlers)- A very easy way to develop the ‘pincer grasp’ is to give puffed rice, titbits, cereals, etc in a bowl as a daily/weekly activity to your toddler/child. This helps to pick up small objects using your thumb and forefinger thereby using the smaller muscles in the fingers.

3)   Exercise - Simple exercise like opening and closing of palm, moving your fingers - playing abracadabra , moving each finger at a time, playing inchworms etc. Also playing regularly with the ball - fetch and throw helps a lot to build up those small muscles. Twiddling your thumbs with your toddler can go a long way in his FMS development

4)   Look out for toys/activities which claim to help in eye-hand co-ordination.

5)   Drawing /painting - Finger-painting is an excellent and fun way to work on the small finger muscles, which help in FMS. Fine tracing also can be introduced. All you need is a pencil, a book with good pictures and a tracing paper. Teach your child to trace objects from a book/magazine etc. This not only helps in learning to draw also helps to develop FMS. Spray painting with a toothbrush also is extremely effective. Try taking print-outs of template and cutting it out and spray painting on it. Can be fun activity. Lots of templates are available on the net. You can try for ex - http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/zoo.html. This site has lots of templates of animals, cartoons, etc. Watch out for totally fun and crafty ideas !

6)   Placing and pasting activities -  place variety of forms eg blocks, felt, paper, string, yarn, cereal, cotton on outlines. Also you can encourage your child to match shapes, color, pictures to a page and paste them within the outlines.

7)   Dough/clay play - let your child squeeze, knead, pat, roll out dough. If you have moulds then it gets even more interesting for your child to try different veggies, food items, etc. A plastic toy knife can be more helpful to cut the dough (with adult supervision). A dough kit I have at home also has a mini extruder which helps to make spaghetti. My lil one finds this the most interesting of all.

8)   Everyday activities - this would include -

• 1. Buttoning shirts,
• 2. Zipping pants, bags,
• 3. Locking and unlocking door knobs,
• 4. Tying and untying ropes, strings etc, tying shoe laces,
• 5. Manipulating coins different sizes - piggy bank activity.
• 6. Opening and closing lids of jars,
• 7. Sweeping, washing dishes,
• 8. Trying to use spoon, fork, chopsticks while eating their favourite maggie can also go a long way.
• 9. Pinching bubble wrap between fingers…
• 10.Playing the piano
• 11. Playing with a squeeze/stress ball!
• 12. Bead making, punching holes in paper and connecting them with yarn.

DOING ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES SPECIFIC FINGER MOVEMENTS. Get your child to be more involved in housework, indirectly you will help him in developing FMS!

9)   Typing - is also an excellent way to develop FMS for older kids…. so handover your laptop for a while, mums! Don’t we teach our children always to share their toys? It’s time to share ours

Resources - A very important guideline to parents is to make the right kind of resources available to the child. The quality of resources can make a real difference in the actual learning ability of a child too. Bad/sad/cheap quality of colour pencils/crayons/sketch pens etc can make the child disinterested in creative activities sooner than you think. Variety is also equally important.             

 Vertical chalkboards; easels for painting; flannel boards; lite bright; magnet boards (or fridge); windows and mirrors; white boards, etc. Kids can also make sticker pictures; do rubber ink-stamping; use reusable vinyl stickers to make pictures; complete puzzles with thick knobs; use magna-doodle and etch-a-sketch as well. The benefits for these include: having the child’s wrist positioned to develop good thumb movements; they help develop good fine motor muscles; the child is using the arm and shoulder muscles.

There are occupational therapists who also help to do the same, incase you think your child could do some good with extra help. 

With time, patience, positive assurance and encouragement your child will be on his way to grasp Fine Motor Skills!!!

Rupali Sarkhel Desai

In today’s busy pace of life we at times wonder that how we can possibly involve our self or show interest in our child’s education!

As both parents are working it is not possible for them to put much time with their kids for their studies. It is also possible that you have never performed well in school and never excelled in mathematics and then you are not eager to involve yourself in your kid’s studies as you are reminded about your days.

Getting involved with children in their studies does not mean that you have to involve yourself in your child studies

Simple ways like listed below can definitely help you to relate to your child through studies-

1.Show interest in what they are learning. Do ask them”What did you do at school today? Then you can discuss about what are his problems in any particular subject or what is it that he likes most. Try to make your conversation very light one not like a strict parent.

2.Do find time to attend his school meets and various other programmes. You can participate also in some activities which involves parents and kids both. This will boost his morale.Try to go to his co-curricular classes, sports classes and discuss with him about his interests.

3.What type of environment you have created at home also effects your child’s personality. Buy books, magazines. Provide him  all those extra resources that will help him in studies. If he will never see you involved in some type of study then he will never get motivation. Try to discuss about books he is reading from the library.

These activities will help you in better understanding of school activities. You can observe how well your kid is performing and progressing. Besides this it gives a chance to parent to personally interact with his child and thus helps in strengthening their relationships. When your child will see that his parent is so involved in his activities then his self esteem will increase. He will grow with a positive attitude in life and will excel in all spheres.

Playing cards have always been a fun part of every family and has helped in bonding between family members.Portable, cost effective and easy to handle, makes the set of cards a must to have by every family, specially with kids.

I was never aware that playing card can not only bond various family members but also kids of the family can get benefited from it.

Card games can help them in improving their addition skills, logical skills, eye coordination and memory skills too.

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy  paper, thin card, or thin plastic, figured with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.

A complete set of cards is called a pack or deck, and the set of cards held at one time by a player during a game is commonly called their hand. A deck of cards may be used for playing a great variety of card games. Because playing cards are both standardized and commonly available, they are often adapted for other uses, such as magic tricks, encryption, boardgames, or building house of cards.

The front (or “face”) of each card carries markings that distinguish it from the other cards in the deck and determine its use under the rules of the game being played. The back of each card is identical for all cards in any particular deck, and usually of a single color or formalized design. The back of playing cards is sometimes used for advertising. For most games, the cards are assembled into a deck, and their order is by shuffling.

Cards are inexpensive, easily portable and endlessly adaptable. Families can enjoy a game together, kids can play in groups on their own, and a solitary child can while away the hours playing “solitaire” games or building card houses. We have many suggestions below.

Instructions:
Select a number of pairs of cards appropriate to your child. Older children can use the whole pack of 52. 

Shuffle, and spread all the cards out face down on the table between the players (you can either choose a random arrangement, or lay the cards out in grid form; the latter makes it easier to remember where cards are placed).

The object of the game is to find matching pairs. Players take it in turns to turn over 2 cards. Let all the players see them and study them. If they are not a matching pair, try to remember what and where they are, then turn them back over. Play then passes to the next player. If they are a matching pair, that player removes them from the table and keeps them, and then has another turn.

When all cards have been removed from the table, each player counts up the number of cards they have collected. The player with the most cards is the winner.

Easy Snap

Extremely good for younger children, this variation of the game has only one central, face-up snap pile. The players each add a new card to the snap pile until the top card matches the one beneath it. The first player to shout “snap” takes the whole central pile and adds them to the bottom of his own face-down stack.

If a player runs out of cards, he is out. The winner is the player who ends up with all the cards.

Social responsibility is an ethical theory that every individual has some duties towards the development of the society at large!

Society progresses when growth happens evenly for all sections. It’s not necessary that every section of the society progresses together. As responsible human beings we should contribute towards the progress of the underprivileged section of the society. In order to continue with the concept in coming generations, it is very necessary that children should know about the concept at very early age so that they can carry out their responsibility very well when they grow up.

There are various ways through which social responsibility can be taught. First of all we have to become role model ourselves, so in order to teach our kids first practice what you want them to do. Become a member of a social organization. Start doing volunteer work and help the needy as and when required. In this way, parents make valuable contributions to both society and to their children’s own personal well-being.

Local food drives, in which various organizations collect  foods  which is distributed to families in need, are an excellent opportunity for parents to introduce children to concepts of social responsibility. Even young children are able to understand what it is to not have food. Humanizing the issue makes it less abstract and easier for children to empathize with those in need.

Social responsibility of respecting each other and working together in a group is also important lesson in life for children. They should be having the understanding to learn and respect the ideas of others in their classroom and work together happily with any group.

There are numerous ways and acts which we can carry out in our daily life to motivate our children to be socially responsible. We as a human are socially responsible for our environment, our surroundings, and our society , so work together for pleasant progress of everybody!