Activities Preschoolers - II

Leisure Activities - Pre Schoolers

Being a working mother, I always long to spend quality of time with my daughter. I love to rejoice doing coloring ;  art n craft and writing with my daughter. These activities help me understand the creative side of my child.

One such opportunity comes during summer vacation, when she gets her holiday homework.

This years book had activities as:

a) Reinforcement of cursive letters from a - f and drawing six objects / paste six pictures starting with the respective letters. To give an understanding of basic drawing to my daughter I preferred drawing objects over pasting pictures.

Thoroughly enjoyed doing the activities with her. Sharing here the snapshots:

Pen Whizz

Activities Preschoolers

Leisure Activities - Preschoolers

• Decorate a "Helicopter" using craft materials, like radiums; art paper; dust powder etc.

• Color and decorate "Mushroom House". Decorate using Color - Cotton bolls.

• Decorate an "Igloo" using Cottons.

• Cut n Paste a "Dinosaur".

• Design an "Engine" using shapes triangle; rectangle; square; circle.

• Decorate a "Fish" using pencil shavings and other craft materials.

Pen Whizz

The Four / Half Cookies

Once upon a time Aashi and Ira had nine cookies. Each of them got four cookies but there was one cookie left.

Ira said: I should get it as I am the older.

Aashi said: I should get it as I found the cookies.

On hearing their conversation mom came and said you both can divide the last cookie.

That way you both can have four n half cookies. Ira and Aashi agreed to what mom suggested and divided the last cookie.

Moral of the story: Believe in sharing!

Pen Whizz

Owl Always Loves You 

A Friend in need is Friend in deed 

Dew Drops 

Nightmare at Forester                    

Frosky World

Activities Preschoolers - I

         Leisure Activities - Pre Schoolers

• A prop designed to express little ones views about life. Here a prop was design for

                                                           "New Year Resolution."

• Make Kids Understand about Seasons using a prop:

"My Season House"

• Make Kids understand about the senses with respect to season using a prop:

"My Senses - Summer Season"

• Decorate a "Fruit Basket".

Pen Whizz

Adapting Changes - Working Women

Gigantic companies have taken steps to break their folklore for Women employees’, from preventing the latter to drop out from the workforce. By increasing the number of weeks for maternity break; making security enabled provisions to work from home; is a step towards acknowledging Women’s credibility as an employee. The said changes are being appreciated by people around but still there are literate people who think that  such incorporation will make the work place like ‘walk in the park’ for women and in the worst scenario latter has to face nastiest remarks such as “Why don’t she leave the job?” , “What’s the need to work?”It hurts, isn’t it? Indian society has adapted the custom of having a working daughter-in-law; daughter; wife but they are still struggling to come to terms of being demanding with respect to household chores as well as upbringing of children. It’s like grabbing the opportunity and making a choice but the outcome is not satisfactory. A rebellious behavior to not change the thought process of being conservative towards women. Society need to ‘move the cheese’ by adapting the changes and giving women space to grow in life accordingly.

Believe, we are a stone’s throw away in moving the cheese completely from the society as companies are in process of taking initiatives towards women development. Recently, it is Amazon who has formed the women courier delivering station in Kerala [team consists of 7 women], it’s a first kind of experiment and the feedback is positive.Read here @ http://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/in-kerala-amazon-starts-an-experiment-with-7-women-1490?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=msn-india

Pen Whizz

Papu Rama – A Father Daughter Relation

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She enjoys his company, loves to be around him, misses him when she is hurt, understands why she is being denied something by him and love him the most – her Papu Rama, this is what my daughter calls her father and at times she even calls him ‘Papua’ J. My husband felt not complete until he saw the child he has created, his face expressed it all and since then he has put in a lot of effort to make the bond stronger. I would like to share few occurrences when we were not together and these occurrences made me realise that a father – daughter relation is as beautiful as of mother - daughter:

#Occurrence1: It was July’ 2013 and I was assigned a project for which I have to go to another city for 8 months on deputation. I discussed it with my husband and we decided that I should say yes for the project. I believe it was stimulating for my husband to say yes for my assignment. With a heavy heart he said she would be gone L but I love him more for this as his ‘Yes’ was very fundamentally critical for my professional growth. And when our daughter grow up and starts understanding the facets of life, she will be more proud of her ‘Papu Rama’ for loving her mother ‘Unconditionally’.

#Occurrence2:  On one of my husband’s visit, I was keenly waiting for him along with my daughter at the hotel window. The moment my daughter saw him getting down of an auto she started leaping. For a minute when he moved towards the hotel porch and she wasn’t able to get his glimpse, she loudly clamor. By this time she has started walking and my husband was not aware of it. I made her stand at the door of hotel room, and the moment she saw her father coming out of the lift (I asked my husband to stand near the lift) she started walking and on nearing her father she clasped around her father’s leg with enthusiasm. Though being the priceless moment I still can’t forget it.

#Occurrence3: On turning one, I sent her to stay with her maternal grandparents. I believe she did not miss me initially as she was travelling with her dad to her nani house, who by that time had already developed a strong relation with her daughter. He left her with my parents, where she got acquainted with the place. After a month my husband paid a visit to her, by that time she has settled down and  has not forgot her Papu Rama all this while. With him she felt secured. On the night when he was leaving for home she expressed her emotions for the first time. When she noticed her dad getting ready, she ran towards the bedroom to check whether his luggage is there in the room or not. She found out that it wasn’t there then she hurriedly ran towards him and clutched his leg asking him not to go. At a tender age the way she expressed her love remains momentous for us.

Life with different shades but crafted beautifully!!!

Pen Whizz

Prakrat

PRAKRUT

Winter has started and so has the dryness of skin. I was looking for something which is not cosmetically designed and is developed with pure essence of nature, when I came across Prakrta’s virgin coconut oil and as  have a zest to use things which are made naturally I ordered the oil. On receiving the product I liked the packing and on using it I fell in love with ‘Prakrta’ and increased the curiosity in me to find about the birth of such an amazing product line.

‘Prakrta’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Prakrut’, meaning nature. It had been founded by two beautiful sisters Ms. Rupam Singh & Ms. Anupam Singh. Rupam left her flourishing career for the most responsible profile in the world ‘Motherhood’ where Anupam worked for 10 years as a brand manager for start-ups till both the sister joined hands to open their own brand.

Inception of Prakrta: Five years back Rupam’s five month old daughter was diagnosed with Pediatric Eczema. Baby’s cheeks used to turn dark red and would itch so much that scratch it leaving cheeks bleed. Five different dermatologists were consulted and all of them prescribed steroidal creams to control the Eczema but there was no solution provided to stop it from erupting. Being a mother, Rupam was worried about her daughter’s well-being which kept search alive and one fine day she came across a dermatologists who suggested her to stop applying the prescribed cream regularly it could be harmful for the child. And as it was difficult to find out the reason the allergy asked to stop using any soap as all of them contains harmful chemicals and advised to go ‘Grandma’s’ way for making baby’s skin healthy by using unrefined coconut oil and for bathing use neem leaves. That’s when Rupam started off on researching about the natural essentials to cure eczema. And then sourced that extra virgin coconut oil (extracted from coconut milk and not dried copra) from Kerala and Anupam helped her sourced cocoa butter and aloevera. Rupam started making home-made cocoa butter cream, and in three months result was unbelievable the allergy got controlled and baby’s skin became better. On seeing the results friends & neighbors expressed their desire to buy the cream from us and that’s when Prakrta was born.  

Prakrta team have framed few principles and believes to follow the same firmly:

1.100%natural

We want to promote only 99-100% natural skin care. When we say 100% natural then our products will not feel sophisticated like commercial products, but they will do a better job minus the chemicals (our hair conditioners are the only product that is 91% natural, because of the fact that conditioners require certain chemicals to be stable and effective)

2.Skin friendly products only

 Our products cater to sensitive skin  (minimal or no fragrance) . No artificial fragrance and minimal use of essential oils because both natural and artificial fragrance is not good for sensitive face skin ( example our Serum of youth face serum may not smell great, but it has some truly exotic oils that are great for the skin. )

3.Purity matters to us  - more than 60% of our raw material is edible grade purity

4. 100% of the oils we use are extra virgin/ virgin or cold pressed oils that have high levels of anti-oxidants and provide maximum benefit

5. Social impact - we source more than 35% of our raw material from self help groups that promote rural employment for women. We plan to increase that to more than 60%.

6. Eco friendly  - Of course our product is 100% eco friendly but more importantly more than 50% of our packaging is glass packaging to avoid the burden of plastic in the environment (although it will be much cheaper and easier for us to use plastic!!!)

7. Finally ....all products are first tried on ourselves, friends and family (NO animal testing at all :-)

 Reach Prakrta @http://www.prakrta.in/

Pen Whizz  

Mammu – What my daughter taught me in three years of our togetherness?

Ahhh…so here I am a quench mom, who is warmheartedly call out as ‘Mammu’ by her baby. Journey had not been bed of roses for us, it started off with ‘Ma’ and today has reached to ‘Mammu’. I am at peace as she has accepted me and I have a space of my own in her life. I still remember people being judgemental about her, being like her father not me, it never actually bothered me much but somewhere I knew that she might not look like me but possess the best of her parents and has her own identity as I have.

Most importantly her understanding for being respectful towards others, whoever it may be; thankful to people who are there to support her; clarity between wrong & right; need of being religious; being clean. And I am glad that she has adapted all the characteristics nicely and is in a process to transform as an independent individual more than me. I admit that all this while I had been strict when my child was trying to understand the need of things, which she was being told / asked to do.

Things which I learnt from her are:

 1)      Control your anger

       2)      First do it then  expect others to do it

       3)      To be calm in pain

       4)      Be persistent in whatever you do

       5)      Understanding the importance of both the parents in life

       6)      Being completely independent

       7)      Have no expectation

       8)      Being conscious, careful, supportive

I am glad that every day I have something to learn from her.

Thank you baby for being considerate and understanding.

Mammu!

ENGLISH VINGLISH – HI FI 

English Vinglish – hi fi J

Proficiency to speak English fluently…without any pause no stammering has always been a challenge for me. Oops there you go, I forgot to introduce myself, you all must be wondering whose this person, what is he / she is talking about. People I am Mangla from Hubli a small town in Bengal. I belong to a middle class family where the top priority is to learn ethical values and respect them throughout your life. It was not only the case with me or my family, it was same in every family who stayed in Hubli. Probably every city has its own way of lifestyle, a culture purely based on people’s belief.

I was in Hubli till my graduation, which I did in Psychology. I was enjoying the life without having any understanding of adeptness of life until one frosty night in December we all were sitting around the bonfire and eagerly waiting for a cup of Hot Chocolate made by my mom when my father popped up a question to me about my goal in life. Here is the sweet conversation that occurred between us:

Dad: Mangla, what are your plans after completing graduation?

Me:  I was spellbound by his question and remained like that for few minutes.

Dad: What happened? Did I ask a wrong question?

Me: Taking a deep breath replied, no dad.

Dad: I believe you never thought about it. Isn’t it?

Me: Yes dad, I never thought so. Till this hour I was clear in my mind that post completing graduation will settle down in life.

Dad: Oh is it. What do you mean by settle down in life? Do you mean by getting married and having family?

Me: Yeah..

Dad: Mangla, my child I want you to rethink about your concept of life. Life is not only about going to school / college than coming back home on time and one fine day get married and settle down. It’s not even about earning money and become financially sound. Life is all about learning, exploring and enjoying every bit of it. My advice to you is to do post-graduation and pursue a career of your own choice and work as per your convenience not others. Being your father will support you for your studies and believe you would be able to pull it further. This is just a suggestion you are sensible enough to take your decision. Request is just let me know in two days as have to prepare accordingly for it. After a brief discussion about life and my point of view towards life we bid good night and went to our rooms.

For me everything had become stagnant, that night I kept thinking is two days enough to make a judgment about life but there was something which was changing in me, which I could not realize that moment. And then came the day when I have to share my choice of life to all. Reluctantly I told my father that I want to pursue my career in Business Administration for which had to do MBA. My choice brought a smile on my father’s face wherein it brought concerns on my mother’s face. Her concerns were will she be able to do it? What is the need of it? Why can’t we get her married? This is the right age for girls. To which my father replied I want her to be independent even when we are gone. I want her to sharpen her brains to understand all the prospects of life.

Matritva

Most precious feeling of a woman’s life is ‘motherhood’. A responsibility which revolves as life moves on, with countless sleepless nights. Being a non-expectant relationship, mother just has a wish to see her child in the best position of life, always ready to opt for things which the former has never dreamt of doing OR had confidence that she can pull it but does it to give the child a better understanding of life. That’s a mom.

I still remember, it was October and as the days wane, was struggling with the complications that has occurred in my pregnancy and then there was she, a cute little doll was born. Her tears used to bring tears in my eyes and it still does. 

A mom’s work is ‘like clockwork’ always regular with time, have no chance of being delayed. I am an IT consultant, but have to handle two profile hand-in-hand i.e. of a consultant and of a mother. Being a working mom, I have to be out for 10-11 hours, which is when my daughter used to be with my maid, in the supervision of my mother-in-law. Since the first day, I made it a routine to make a call back home (on priority base) and find out what my daughter is doing? Instructing my maid about her food and the time table she need to follow for her. So, here is a working mom, whose job ends with sunset but her another job of ‘being a mom’ never comes to an end.

Now my daughter has started going to pre-nursery, but still there is no change in my schedule rather the to-do list has increased. While I am working, the subconscious mind calculates the things which is to be done to enhance her personality, the activities which need to be done as per school all has to be taken in consideration. So, here is a mom whose weekends are planned in advance, and it will be like this forever because now I am a mom.

I want to take her along, wherever I go and the biggest problem which I used to face was – commuting? For my daughter I decided to learn driving, and today I happily drive her around the city.

Whenever I plan to relax by lying in the bed or by taking a nap or by just being myself or by going on a holiday with the family, the plan of relaxing never actually takes place, because if I try also I’m being told that ‘a lazy mom’ you are; have no concerns for the child etc.I reminisce an incident when my daughter has fallen sick and I could not take an off due to work load. It was a difficult phase to leave my daughter and go to work, and it became more painful on receiving a bizarre comment from my senior, who said – What kind of a mother are you?  My knee-jerk reaction to it was ‘I am a strong independent mother’, if I fail to balance my work life than it would become a demotivating factor for my child.

So, people I sign off with a wish for all the mommies to be an ideal example for their kids.

Pen Whizz

Learning

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Hand - Made Cards

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Healthy Baby Healthy U

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Kiddopedia

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Mommies - III

We bring you the fourth part of MOMMIES SCHMOOZE.

Mommies - II

M

OMMIES SCHMOOZE

Mother-Child relation is like seasons full of shades which comprises of some bad some good memories yet inseparable they are. So here we bring you the third part.

For more read @ Mommies &  Mommies - I

Pen Whizz

Mommies - I

M

OMMIES SCHMOOZE

In continuation to our endeavor to bring different personages to share the only common space to talk about i.e. ‘Motherhood.’ We bring you the familiarity of mothers.’  

For more read @ Mommies , Mommies -II & Mommies - III

Pen Whizz

Mommies

M

ESMERISING JOURNEY

Happiness + Strength + Liable + Inspiration + Comfort = Mother

World’s most astonishing and selfless relation is of ‘mother n child.’ A non-expectant kin filled with an unconditional love, her child means happiness to her wherein she’s the first one to feel the pain of her child. Post becoming mother to a child, former looks at life with different prospective. Mother is the first ‘guru’ in a child’s life, an institution who take’s stride for instilling values and the implication of culture in life.

P

RE n POST NOTIONS

Motherhood is the actuality and is the true-life example of chance, change, satisfaction and adaption. Chance to become a mother as there are ill-fate cases where to have own baby becomes a complication. Nowadays infertility is on increase pad line, reason being unorganized lifestyle which comprises of sleep disorder, stress, hectic schedules, and escapism from taking the responsibilities, mistrust among the partners, girls being unaware about their own cycle, casual approach towards body-mind connection and indeed there are unavoidable medical reasons associated to it.

Firstly life need to be in place by organizing the lifestyle structurally. Secondly as the famous phrase goes ‘Patience is the key to success,’ so the couple planning need to be patient, as it is said it takes one full year to conceive. In case it is more than that then consult the medical practitioner immediately. However other things to be taken in consideration is to be calm and compose, ‘Z^zzzzz’ need to be one full cycle peacefully, any deviation lead anxiety into many women, always be positive about the circumstances around and avoid the negative story/conversation and be habituated of listening to elders. Science has progressed with solution to help people for fertility and enjoying the motherhood.

Read the pros n cons here: http://elpodio-aspects.blogspot.in/2014_12_01_archive.html

Philosophy behind this article is to accustom the young generation with ‘Parenting’ and ‘Motherhood,’ it is not a burden rather a beautiful thing to happen. Difficult to walk over, but not impossible.

Of all the relations mother is one who make changes in her life to have a baby by adapting the variations marvelously without any grumble and flow with it elegantly. Strong belief in ‘Motherhood’ gave me a kick to share the experience of ‘Journey of lovely ladies to be a mom’ at this forum. A journey full of anxiety; excitement; changes. I trust everyone must have enjoyed thoroughly walking down the lane making them forget things around for a while.