Care for Child-a poem

It’s an amazing thing to take care of a Child.
To have a Child trust you.
That makes me feel I have a purpose.
I didn’t know what I would be like as a parent.
I learnt that I love being a parent.
If the Child is okay,
If he is healthy, Nothing else matters to me.

If you hugged your child today, chances are it’s due to Dr. Spock

Dr. Spock’s Baby Book, has been dog-eared by so many million parents it is hard to imagine it wasn’t always at hand to inform and reassure. Yet it was only in the post-World War II baby boom, that it first appeared. At a time when young families were sprouting everywhere, mostly removed from older generation s and traditional approaches to child rearing. For such a gentle and informative manual, the book was nearly revolutionary: it held that a baby was a person too, with a need for affection and understanding. Necessary discipline will follow. For his insight the Doctor was condemned. That charge is heard no more. Instead he is viewed as the father of us all.

His famous line to parents,"You know more than you think you do.” was in a way very reassuring to the new parents. The theme, that new parents are fully up to the task at hand, that successful parenting is , above all, a matter of relaxing and trusting one’s instinct would alone have been enough to set the book apart from its grim predecessors; so , too the work’s extraordinary thoroughness in covering the physical and behavioral problems common to small children.

How my child studies and does his homework ….

I hope everyone has started to settle into the back to school routine. I know one of the things here that I have had to adjust to and think about, as a parent , how my child studies and does his homework. It has been difficult to establish one set routine. This brings me to some things you could consider when establishing good study habits. I believe that the primary goal is that you and your child find the best way for your child to do their best. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it is not always that easy. One thing to consider is your family routine. .In our home, our list of activities includes craft, Boy Scouts, and some other activities! My son loves having some ”downtime” when he comes home from school, but because of our schedule, this is very limited to nonexistent, say around an hour. After this he settles down with his studies. I let him concentrate on his studies without any distraction. It is not the number of hours , rather than the quality of time he spends on his work. I make sure that this is well used. I do not force him to continue if I feel that he has finished his work. This , I believe will develop in him the intention to finish his work properly , rather than sitting with his books idealy, killing time

Writing for Children…. has become a challenge

Writing for Children is an increasingly intrusive visual world has become a challenge. And soothsayers in the entertainment industry predict more video vis-à-vis the written word in the decades to come. So perhaps the themes of childhood, rites of passage, friendship between child, and beast, aliens, fantastical creatures, and spirits-have to be handled differently, particularly with a post Harry Potter generation of young readers in mind.

It is here that Richard Scarry comes in. Scarry revealed to children the secrets of everyday life. His worlds were easily understood, populated by polite, well-mannered animals with a keen eye for absurd human behavior. His characters are almost always animals portrayed in human activities, and wearing human clothes. His most famous series of books was about Busytown. Using animals in place of humans allowed Scarry to avoid giving the characters specific racial or ethnic traits, which may have helped broaden their appeal. Fun seems to be the key to Scarry's works. Not only should the work be fun for the author and the child, but "It is also more fun for the parent, teacher, or babysitter, who has to read and reread these books over and over. I try to put as much fun and action as possible into each book so that the reader may find something new each time it is read."said Scarry himself.With sparse text, his stories are a visual experience.

In 1963 Scarry made his breakthrough with Best World Book Ever.
The large-format book, with more than 1 400 objects identified with labels, sold seven million copies in twelve years. My son grew up with it. The book was larger than him and he used to sit on top of the book to peer on to the animal characters and learn different words related to activities.

Scarry himself bumbled his way through a charmed life of good luck and fortunate circumstance, pretty much doing whatever he liked until the day he died. He wrote and illustrated over three hundred major picture books for children, each one dense with slapstick and visual humor. More than three hundred million copies of his work have exchanged hands, some of which were translated into thirty languages. This qualifies him to be the most popular children's book author of all time.

It can be argued there are two types of people: those who grew up reading Richard Scarry, and those who remain perpetually maladjusted to society.

Children's Emotional Intelligence

Children with a high Emotional Intelligence (EQ) are more successful in life, says Dr Kenneth Lyen
“Emotional intelligence is as important, if not more so, than IQ”,
He said that there are many fields a child is likely to excel in, including:
Abilities with the use of words
Mathematical abilities and pattern recognition
Thinking visually and artistic skills
Music and rhythm skills
Physical abilities
Social skills
Understanding one's innermost thoughts and feelings

It is up to the parent to understand his child’s prowess and encourage him. If you observe your child closely, you will know what he is interested in and what he is good at. He focussed on emotional intelligence and said that children with emotional intelligence tend to succeed in life; academic brilliance alone does not guarantee success. “Those with high IQ levels may be selected for interviews, but those with a high level of emotional intelligence are most likely to be selected for jobs,” said Dr Lyen.
How do you know if your child has emotional intelligence? He has a good EQ (emotional quotient) if If your child is very popular If your child has self-control If your child is adaptable and friendly If your child is persistent If your child can empathise You can teach your child how to make friends, overcome failures and succeed in life. How can you raise your child’s EQ?

Encourage him to care for others
Teach him the importance of being honest
Teach him to apologise for his mistakes
Teach him to approach problems optimistically
Praise him for good deeds
Participate in all that he does
Don’t be too bossy

“Emotional intelligence is more important than IQ levels because IQ cannot be changed, whereas EQ can be enhanced,” said Dr Lyen.

Yes, that is Dr. Kenneth Lyen, if you are wandering. Other than being a pediatrician, he also plays the violin at leisure

The greatest evil that can happen to a Child ...for the Child to think bad of oneself….

Of all the beliefs and judgment that a child has, none is more important than the ones he has of self. . This belief is the single most telling factors in determining the success and failure in life. Although many believe that –talent, opportunity, money, high level of intelligence, families and positive attitudes are the predictors of success in life. Actually these are secondary to a healthy positive self-image. A child’s Self-image is the direct result of the reinforcement that he or she receives from you, on a daily basis. Hence the question to ask is, “ What does the children really think of themselves?” And perhaps NOT what we think of them.

Often we parents, create the barriers. Thus the lack of love in a person’s life is the internal fear that a child does not deserve it.
The absence of happiness may stem from the internal belief that “Happiness is not my destiny”.

Hence the task of motivating children to have greater aspirations is all about working on their self-portraits.
When a child grows up to love himself, to be self confident, to have a high self esteem and to respect himself , he will not be let down by failure , will respect others and will have lots of love and not hatred for the others.

This is not a modern day dictum ....it has been there through the ages.
That is why the great philosopher Goethe said:
“The greatest evil that can befall a man is that he should come to think ill of himself”