Your child manages to complete a particularly difficult task and you applaud her with “Good Job”!
Your toddler shares her snack with her friends and you want to positively reinforce this good behavior so you toss out a “Good Job”!
We read plenty of books that warn us against using punishments and spankings to model behavior so we instantly rely on a “Good Job” for positively reinforcing any example of good behavior or accomplishing a worthy task. Seems easy enough, right?
Understanding baby tears can be very daunting for new parents. Have you heard about an Australian lady called Priscilla Dunstan who claims to understand the baby language? It’s old news but many new parents in India still don’t know about this.
Ever since Priscilla Dunstan was a toddler, she had a special gift. This gift enabled her to remember sounds she has heard only once for the rest of her life!
This graphic memory with sounds helped her when she became mother to her son Tom. This gift enabled her to pick out certain sound patterns made by him in infancy. When he would repeat these sounds again, she realized he was actually communicating to her about his needs.
Have you heard of an ‘Empathy Map’? Seasoned writers and marketing people use it to communicate with their target audience and get better results. It occurred to me that an Empathy Map might be quite useful for a parent to understand the child better.
Here is what it looks like.
Create an Empathy Map for a 15 year old kid, Vijay.
There are articles and researches abound on the topic of being a playful parent and how it helps the baby in long term. In this article we aim to provide a bird’s eye view to this theory and demonstrate ways of being a more playful parent to your baby right from infancy!
Join the infants in their world of wonder
Get down on the floor (or the bed) with your infant and join them in their world of discovery. Infants learn through their senses of sight, touch, hearing and smell. Every little thing that we take for granted is a magical discovery for them. Join them in their world for as much time of the day as you can spare and marvel at the little things that your baby finds interesting.
So many companies manufacture products, but very few companies do it from the heart. Products created from the heart invariably start and stop with how it will create or enhance the experiences one shares with their loved ones. Only experiences impact the soul, and a product that helps create such positive experiences is what one should invest in. Research proves that people who spend their money on experiences are much happier than those who buy the latest gadgets. The Brilrider is arguably the only toy in the world that will take the parent and his / her toddler on a roller-coaster of positive emotions and experiences that can be captured and cherished for life. A parent never forgets a child’s first steps, so can you even begin to imagine experiencing your 2-year-old balance a bicycle? It’s an insane and inexplicable feeling and can only be called The Brilrider Experience.
To learn more about how I and thousands of parents felt experiencing the Brilrider, start with the following blog post and then watch the videos below:
Click the link to read the blog posts:
https://blog.brilindia.com/brilrider-balance-bike-raghav-learns-to-balance-at-2/
https://blog.brilindia.com/can-you-imagine-your-toddler-riding-a-bicycle/
Watch these videos to see what your child and you will experience with the Brilrider:
So to experience these highs like thousands of other parents and kids have, we have launched a brand new model and design of the Brilrider experience! The Brilrider AF comes packed with all the benefits of the Brilrider Classic, but with an Angular Footrest instead of a flat one. Click here and buy a Brilrider AF for your little one today!
Click here to see how many parents are raving about the Brilrider experience on Amazon! There’s little wonder why Brilrider Balance Bikes are India’s Favourite and Highest Selling Balance Bikes!
Annaprashan is the Hindu custom that marks your baby’s transition from liquids to solid food. It is known as chorunoo in Kerala and mukhe bhaat in Bengali. The rites of Annaprashan may vary according to region, but the aim is the same. A successful transitioning and celebrating the fact of baby starting on solid foods.
Why is Annaprashan performed?
A baby who is on breast milk or formula fed milk gets all the nutrients that she needs from this liquid diet. But babies grow at a healthy rate and will soon need nutrients, particularly iron, that a liquid diet alone cannot provide. That is why an elaborate ceremony ofAnnaprashan is performed. From the day of Annaprashan, the family slowly starts introducing solids to the baby.
What is the best way to introduce solids after the Annaprashan ceremony?
The best way to is to introduce one solid food at a time. Every new food can be introduced on the 5th day.
Babies are learning not just about the taste of the food, but also its different textures and aromas. Just like the taste of cheese, these new attributes need to be given time to get used to.
Which is the best first food?
You can safely start with fruits like banana, vegetables like mashed potato and rice. All of these have a smooth and non irritating texture. Moreover there is usually less issue with their aroma and taste.
How and when to transition from purees to chopped and mashed food?
Every baby will take its own time to get used to a certain food and be ready to move on to the next. At 6 months, purees are your best friends. You can continue this for a month (or more if the baby isn’t ready for mashed) and at 7 months try to introduce the same foods in a mashed or chopped form.
Which foods to offer
At 6 months your baby’s immune system is still delicate so it is important that you use only filtered water and well cooked food to lessen the probability of acquiring a stomach bug.
Once you are sure that your baby likes any 2 different types of food, you can try to mix them and offer it to the baby. Don’t expect her to immediately take to it, though.
Seasonal fruits and vegetables offer the maximum amount of nutrients when compared to off season fruits and vegetables that have been lying around for long and most likely have been injected with preservatives. That being said it is also advisable to steer clear of salt, added sugar and foods that are high in sodium. Your baby digestive system doesn’t need these additives and isn’t developed enough to flush them out successfully.
The food habits that your baby acquires during this stage plays the groundwork for her food preferences in adult life. For example if your baby has been offered sweet foods more than required, your baby will be fond of sweets in later life.
Another important fact to remember during this time is that all the fat cells in your baby’s body are formed until 5 years of age. This means that you are actually in control of the fact whether your baby will be overweight in adult life or not!
Fats are important for brain development and should be offered regularly to the baby in the form of ghee, butter etc rather than empty calories like canned juices, biscuits, etc.
In the 1900’s when Maria Montessori began teaching children with special needs, she noticed something spectacular. Her specially curated methods of teaching were showing extraordinary results in these children with special needs. So much was the difference that her children outperformed other children educated in schools for regular children!
After this she was convinced that if regular children were allowed play independently and choose the activities that they were interested in, they fared much better.
Much has been written about the Montessori method of teaching and its benefits. But today we bring you an account by a former Montessori teacher and a new mother to a 4 year old girl, Shalaka Mahadik.
I have learnt a lot from my Montessori teaching days. I do believe that I am a better mother to my daughter than I would have been otherwise. I was able to recognize when my daughter was going through a developmental phase and needed my support. When she started crawling, her best game was to climb up on things. Whatever came in her way was like an obstacle that had to be conquered! I remember my friends telling me what a little adventurer she was, but I needed to protect her from falling as well. So here was a typical dilemma that many mothers face.
The child has not yet acquired a sense of danger and obviously needed to be protected against a potential fall without hindering her explorations. She was also learning a new skill at that time and quashing her attempts at any perilous climbs was going to hinder her development if stopped repeatedly.
We were living in a apartment where there weren’t any stairs so I made a makeshift climbing base for her with cushions on each side for a soft landing. Well my daughter went up and down through the day for an entire week!
Not surprisingly, Shalaka enrolled her daughter in a Montessori Playschool. She also emphasizes the importance of mixed peers groups in a balanced development of a child.
The mixed age group creates an environment where I have seen children become more patient, helpful and able to interact freely. Not only do they learn a lot from each other but it also allows them to have a sense of community inside the class. The world is not full of people who are the same age, so why should children be kept in a learning environment that doesn’t expose them to a varied age group?
Is there a downside to Montessori? We asked Shalaka.
Well apart from the fact that it is harder for teachers to teach a varied age group instead of one, I personally haven’t seen any downside to Montessori Method of teaching!
It is always great to know what you think! Please share your stories with us below.
Dear Working Mother,
It is difficult to stay away from your children at work and consistently tell yourself that you are doing your very best for them. But believe it that your children will turn out just fine. Really.
If you are like most working moms you probably don’t feel that way. You may feel that you are constantly struggling to find time for your children and something or the other is always left undone. Be it spending time with your children amid stringent deadlines or living up to promises you made to them. And to top it all, there is your extended family who make demands on your time. Ageing parents, important marriages and of course socializing for your own benefit.
Every stay at home mother has a few confessions that she would rather keep to herself. But bring in anonymity and there are some surprising (and funny) revelations! We spoke to some to stay at home mothers to children of varying ages and came up with some gems that will have you smiling, if not rolling with laughter.
So, here goes!
Take a look at this video, and I will explain why we need imagination to understand children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_hGQuTjI3U
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Have you seen the video?
If you postponed seeing the video, saying ‘let me read the rest of the stuff first’ you lack the curiosity required to deal with children. Nor do you have the patience. You would like to follow your own rules, not withstanding what is required. You would prefer to see everything through your lens. If you are having trouble understanding children, I won’t be surprised.
If you have seen the video, ask yourself. What would you done if you were the parent of the child in that video? Why?
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