All posts by : Little Millennium

While surfing through the net I chance upon this picture (pasted above) and that begins a debate within my mind.

It is human nature to compete. Competition is a good form for survival. The newspapers, media, hoardings, advertisements are copiously overflowing with multiple brands/ individuals/ products competing against each other. And this is what our children see, read and experience everyday. Competition against each other.

But if we talk about education & schools, should the focus of all learning be centred around competition?

In schools, should the focus of all achievement be centred around competition?

Schools are the nurturing grounds for skills, values, academic expertise, friendships, community service, camaraderie, sharing and so on. The first lesson that a child learns outside the home is on the school grounds. Kindergartners experience their first singing, rhyming, dancing experience at school and if we turn each learning into a competition, how good is that for the child?

Children develop their gross motor & fine motor skills at Preschool .They learn to balance, jump, run, skip, dodge and catch. Should we turn each of their dance moves, stage moves, dabbing skills, running, colouring skills into competition? How good is that for the child?

Children are developing their language skills at Preschool and picking up new rhymes and songs and stories. Should we turn their entire learning experience into a competitive one? How good is that for the child?

What they learn at ages 0 – 6 is actually the roots of all life skills and yet we hurry to pitch their colouring skills against each other, their writing skills against each other, their recitation skills against each other.

Firstly, no two children are alike.

Secondly, each child learns at his or her own pace.

So it follows that Every Child is Unique. So how do we set up competition benchmarks between two children that are completely unique from each other?

A certain amount of competition is healthy and natural. It helps us develop a perspective and set a few goals. But to use this as a constant so early in a child’s life proves detrimental to our students in the long run. It is no wonder then, that we have anxiety, panic attacks and depression within our Formal classrooms. Each learning experience need not turn into a competition. If we indulge in too many competitions at the very beginning of a child’s school life, it robs the joy, the pleasure and the thrill of attending school. It deprives the child of bonding opportunities with friends. It robs the joy out of a pure learning experience.

One of the best ways to beat this is to shift the focus.

Shift the focus from competing against others to competing against self.

Train yourself & your child to think on these lines:

And of course:

If we focus on a pattern of self improvement rather than competition, then our children will naturally develop better habits and values.

There will be less of envy, jealousy and hatred.

Our children will strive to be better version of themselves each day.

And that’s what the true aim of education is. To create a better self and to be lifelong learners.

To practice the same will of course be a journey and not a day’s affair. But let us start thinking differently.

Let us make a beginning.

Happy parenting!

Clearly remember the Chalk and Board days when my teacher used to teach my class of 40 students in a uniform style or strategy and most of us used to end up giving a chorused reply. I am sure many of you have also grown up in similar classrooms as front-benchers and back-benchers. The point here is not to argue about the pros and cons of teaching methodologies of the years gone by. The point is to leverage and learn from what a huge body of research now tells us. A significant amount of research is now available on the Importance of Foundation Years (0 -6 years of age). This Research has thrown a lot of light on how Teaching – Learning strategies should be customized to Student – Learning preferences. The simple logic behind this advocacy is that we are all born with certain learning preferences. We may grow into certain learning styles with the passage of time and add on to our innate learning styles – that’s a distinct possibility as well. But to say that all children in a particular class learn optimally through a single teaching style is clearly an outdated strategy. Teachers at Little Millennium today practice varied teaching strategies that are suited for varied learning styles. As a parent, it is equally important for you to know the same. Here is why you should know about various Learning styles inherent in young children:

• Your little one shows no interest in a reading session but the minute you put on the audio version of the story, your child is all ears!
• Your child is not interested in writing pages of continuous A’s , B’s and C’s but the minute you show them a picture and ask them to trace the letters underneath the picture, your child is all eyes!
• Your child cannot decipher calculations like 2 + 2 = 4 but the minute you draw some match stick figures and explain addition, your child gets the right numbers.
• Your child is a shy speaker and refuses to sing a rhyme or a song at home, but the minute you put on the audio version of the rhyme, your child is happy to sing along.
• Your child doesn’t remember the colour of fruits like orange or strawberries but the minute you let the child touch and feel a real strawberry / orange, your child remembers their colour for a long time afterwards.

To understand the above better, let’s talk about certain Learning styles in detail.For classroom and children related learning, we often talk about four major learning styles:Visual Learning style – Children with a dominant visual learning style, learn better through pictures, colour coded lines, posters, charts, graphs, videos, diagrams, detailed notes, directions on a map etc.They love to read a story or a poem, learn faster if the text in the story has visual effects, recognize text and pictures easily in storybooks, hoardings and Bill Boards.Auditory Learning style – Children with a dominant auditory leaning style learn better through reading aloud, self-talk, audio books, recording & listening to directions.They love to set a rhythm to their rhymes and stories, hum along a poem, give sound effects to what they are writing and love to listen to audios repeatedly. They may also love to have an audience who is forever willing to listen to their chatter, their rhymes and their songs.Kinaesthetic Learning style – Children with a dominant Kinaesthetic Learning style learn better through drama, role play, charades, gestures, hands on activities and enactment. In short, they learn better through doing things themselves.They love to act out a story, watch others act it out, like to touch and feel objects & props, are more open to physical gestures of affection like shaking hands, holding hands, putting arms around each other, dancing & miming.Reading & Writing Learning style – Children with such a dominant learning style learn better through comic strips, learn better if someone explains to them in detail on paper, write their homework assignments, learn rhymes & stories after writing them out, learn through the print word in books, newspapers etc.They love to read all instructions before attempting a puzzle or a game, refer to dictionaries, underline words while reading, play games like Scrabble and eventually like to take notes in class, write a diary about their day to day routine, as they grow up and join Formal school.Needless to say, our children often display an eclectic mix of several learning styles during any given task as well. Your child may like to sing, dance, mime and read story books aloud at the same time. Which is also fine! Young children are often experimenting and developing their learning styles during the Foundation years.An introduction to varied learning styles helps a parent to provide the right environment at home, understand children better and refrain from building stereotypes around their learning graphIf a child is not happy while writing, it does not mean that he/ she is not learning at all. It could just mean that maybe you need to vary your strategy.If a child is not happy reciting rhymes in front of a group, it does not mean that he/ she is not learning. It may just mean that your child is exercising his/ her right to remain quiet.So parents, loosen up your seat belts and enjoy the journey.One style does not fit all.

Happy parenting.

Walking is the job of our feet Dancing is their hobby!

If you walk into your child’s preschool and see a lot of music and dance happening, be rest assured that you have chosen the right preschool for your child.
Children are born to move, not to sit still.
And by movement, I mean natural, rhythmic, innate movement.Children are born with a natural rhythm and flexibility.
When we try to curb that innate flexibility and encourage only practiced or choreographed moves, we are killing the natural instinct of the child. So let your children move! In early childhood, movement means to jump, sing and dance. The more they dance, the better the control they have over their body and their emotions.
At Little Millennium, the curriculum is built around nurturing this innate instinct of every child.

  ● We sing our yoga poems and dance around our yoga stories.
  ● We turn our stories into poems and dance with the characters.
  ● We learn our cognitive concepts by dancing with the parachute.
  ● We learn spatial skills by dancing with the pool noodles.
  ● We learn our alphabets and dance around with them.
  ● We learn our alphabets and dance around with them.
  ● And a host of other such fun stuff!

How can the parent help in nurturing the movement skills of their child:

  ● To raise a child, be a child (at times).
  ● Sing and dance with your children as often as possible.
  ● Do not lay over emphasis on choreographed movements. Let your child move any which way to all rhythms.
  ● Do not remain a spectator when your child is attempting to dance. Join them as often as possible.
  ● Try to sing a story at bed time, every once in a while.
  ● Try to sing your conversation with your child, few times a week. “What ….did……you ….. laugh……at…..in….. school….today ?” “What ….did….you…..colour…..today ……?”
  ● Coin a secret dance with your child and use it to calm down your child in stressful situations.
  ● Coin a goodbye dance or a welcome home dance, with your child. Do that when you reach home, as often as possible.
  ● Minimize watching online or screen dance performances. Turn the online to real. It will help your child gain more confidence and motor control.
  ● It is easy to switch to screens to destress after a day’s hard work. Try to reverse the trend. Try some music and rhythm with your child, instead.
  ● Remember, one of the best ways to get any child engaged is to make sure they can see the fun in an activity. Children like to have fun and use natural explorative senses to find out more about the world. The best way to combine that, then, is with dancing!

5 signs to know if your child’s innate rhythm is being nurtured:

  ● Your child loves to move along with singing rhymes. They don’t just lip sing the rhymes, they move along while singing. This means that they are actually building a concept – meaning relationship. They are building a muscle memory.
  ● Your child tends to listen or tell a story, gesticulating with their hands and parts of body. “There was a bigggggg mountain and a really fast flyingggggg crow”. The more they gesticulate, the more is the whole body learning. It means that several parts of their brain are being fired together.
  ● Your children begin to move at the first sound of music, wherever they are. Be it at a party, at a cinema hall, at the shopping mall or even while listening to grandma’s Caravan radio. It means their natural rhythm is not being stifled and they are being encouraged to move at their pace and timing.
  ● Your child has a smile and attempts to sing a rhythm while being engrossed in self play / onlooker play / unoccupied play. This means that they are innately feeling happy and not stressed out by their day to day routine.
  ● Your child listens to your instructions and is getting better at expressing him/herself. It means that they are getting better at putting their thoughts into words through body signals like nodding, smiling, frowning, gesturing with hands and arms etc. This reveals that your child is getting better at releasing his/ her emotions and expressing their feelings.

Remember, dance is a whole body workout.

A love of dance at an early age can help motivate children to stay active as they grow into adults.

Music instruction accelerates brain development in young children.

Dancing is sheer fun and anticipation of fun is the key to all learning.

So come, let us pledge to put on our dancing shoes more often than we did in 2019.

Happy parenting.

Preschoolers transition through various stages of development and one of them is the egocentric stage. According to the child psychologist, Jean Piaget, “A child has difficulty understanding life from any other perspective than their own. During this period, the child is very me, myself, and I oriented. At this stage the child is unable to see a situation from another person’s point of view. The egocentric child assumes that other people see, hear and feel exactly the same as the child does”.

Hence the “me” at this stage is of prime importance.

No wonder that the first letters of the alphabet that many children recognize are the ones that form their name!

To a preschooler, the most important word in the world is his or her own name. It is personal and it is special.

And that’s exactly what we do with our Little Millennium Preschoolers. We build up on what is so very special and dear to them – their own name!

We try to build in the name games at every step of their early literacy journey. That’s because the name game has a series of benefits:

• Recognising their own name makes children develop a sense of identity and feel good factor
• Reading their own name gives them a sense of accomplishment
• Recognising others’ names help build social skills and a strong sense of community and social belonging
• As caretakers label their bags, books and belongings, it builds a sense of ownership in them. They begin to recognize the fact that they need to look after their belongings
• Art work labeled with the student’s names and displayed around the room evokes a sense of pride in each little artist.
• Cubbies labeled with student’s names mean that each child has a special place to put their belongings. They feel wanted and loved within the classroom space
• It begins the process of sight reading and print recognition
• Finger Painting and sponge dabbing the letters of their names develops the much needed fine motor skills in kindergartners
• Reading their own names kindles a desire within them to try and write their own names. And so they happily begin the act of writing
• And thus begins a joyful journey where these tiny tots try to label their own books , cubbies, pencil boxes and so on
• Recognition of letters of the alphabet leads to reading and reading can inspire writing

So I guess that answers a lot of queries as to why do caregivers at Little Millennium take great pains in putting up the child’s name anywhere and everywhere. On their books, on the Boards, on several charts or window panes, on dining mats and on their tiffin boxes as well.

Additionally, at Little Millennium, we weave in their name in songs, rhymes and stories. This helps the teachers to break ice and build a warm connect with the children. It also makes the children pick up new concepts more easily because the minute you add in their name, it invokes a sense of belonging. Children feel safe and we all know that, only children who are emotionally secure dare to learn more.

• Our Classroom settings have innumerable songs that go like this:
  
  I like the way that Moulik’s reading
  I like the way that Meher’s reading
  Can you read like that?
  
  Tina Triangle, Tina Triangle,
  Look at me, look at me.
  Count my sides, count my sides.
  There are three, there are three
  
• We introduce our Preschoolers to each other through such energetic Peer introduction songs:
  
  Will you be a friend of mine
  Friend of mine, Friend of mine
  And dance around with me?
  Poorna is a friend of mine,
  Friend of mine, Friend of mine
  And dances around with me
  
• Our stories are often sung along like this:
  
  Chiku has a birthday, birthday o man
  Birthday cake, cake with jam
  Chiku has his birthday in the afternoon
  All his friends will pay with balloons
  

The whole idea behind such play is that children should be able to interact with their name by looking for it, dancing with it, moving with it and using it.

Name recognition happens naturally over time. It just takes keeping those names visible and an interactive part of the children’s day. Everyday our children keep looking for their names – on walls, doors, balloons, charts, papers and in the games & stories we play.

Eventually they expand their vocabulary to things and people around them, But this journey begins most happily with their own name.

So dear parents, no harm in putting your children’s names on their cubbies, tables and toys at home.

It helps them belong.

Gradually, they will themselves opt to move on to more complex formations of the letters in the alphabet.

We will be happy to hear more about this from your end!

My teacher put my name
In a special frame
I see it on the cubbies, I see it on the walls
I see it when I run, I see it when I crawl
It’s not for decoration, my teacher told me that
She said I am very special and that is a fact !

Parent,

Last academic year we had shared an article with all of you on “Cultivating Self Esteem in Daughters’.

A powerful and relevant thought to pursue indeed. Many of you read that article and reached out to us with your thoughts as well.

Carrying somewhat similar thoughts forward, some interesting studies and research has been done in the last couple of years focusing on busting gender stereotypes. I happened to read one such research which talks about Sweden and its recently coined gender neutral pronoun, “Hen”. Let me explain this a bit more elaborately:

• Hen is a gender-neutral personal pronoun recently introduced in Swedish language, intended as an alternative to the gender-specific hon (“she”) and han (“he”).
• It can be used when the gender of a person is not known or when it is not desirable to specify them as either a “she” or “he”.
• The word was first proposed in 1966, and again in 1994. However, it did not receive widespread recognition until around 2010, when it began to be used in some books, magazines and newspapers, and provoked media debates and controversies over gender neutrality and parenting. In July 2014 it was announced that ‘hen’ would be included in Svenska Akademiens ordlista, the official glossary of the Swedish Academy.

As nations and societies have evolved over the past few decades, the use of gender-specific language has or rather is becoming a thing of the past. Although the extent of this may still vary from country to country, it is now becoming more common and acceptable to use gender-neutral terms when writing and speaking in English.

A deliberate research reveals that writers and speakers of the English language are showing a marked shift in vocabulary usage. People are using more of gender neutral equivalents, such as:

Preschooling and gender neutral language

• Now the whole point of discussing the coining of the Swedish word ‘Hen’ is that a number of preschools and its teachers in Sweden have consciously stepped over to gender neutral words as they believe that it aids in diminishing gender stereotypes.
• In simple words it leads to a marked decrease in the young kids making gender specific assumptions.

For e.g. – Sam is a boy and he works in the fields.
Jane is a girl and she cooks food in the kitchen.
The emphasis here is on the assumption that Sam is a boy and hence that is why he works in the field!

• Preschool practitioners believe that stress on gender specifics reduces opportunities available to children due to gender specifications.

Why should Sam, the boy, be assumed to be working in the field and Jane, the girl, be cooking in the kitchen?
Instead, we could say: I am Sam and I work in the field.
Such a verbal tone opens up infinite possibilities for Sam. Sam works in the field but he could work anywhere else too!
By simply de-emphasising the gender differences, we open up a whole world of possibilities for our young children.

Gender neutral language and parenting:

• A number of surveys and studies also reveal that parents’ behaviour towards children is traditionally gender specific.

As for instance, when greeting three year old Sam you are more likely to shake hands with him and while greeting three year old Jane you are most likely to pick her up in your arms and greet her with a kiss!

Food for thought:
At Little Millennium, we engage our kids in a variety of activities such as ,

• Doll washing
• Car washing
• Role play in the kitchen
• We encourage your children to participate and enjoy each activity. Do the same at home too. Do not curtail their natural responses by bringing in gender stereotypes
• If it’s a car washing Sunday, involve Sarika in the entire process. Talk to Sarika about changing engine oil, flat tyres etc. If Sarika has to drive a car, she better know all that goes along with it.
• If it’s clothes washing Sunday, involve Shiv totally. Teach Shiv the importance of keeping clothes clean and crisp. If Shiv wants to be well turned out, then keeping his clothes washed and clean is his responsibility!
• Continue the process after they step out of preschool as well.
• Do not delay putting Sarika behind the wheel and hasten putting Shiv instead. Driving is a skill, it is not gender based. It is necessity based. The
• Do not laugh off Shiv’s passion towards baking as a joke in the family. Nurture it.
• Remember, language influences thought patterns and thought patterns determine responses. Responses form behaviour and behaviour defines personality.
• Do not confuse the gender neutral coinage with feminism or chauvinism. It is not a battle nor a war of sexes. It is simply about evolving and paving a world of limitless possibilities for our children. Be it a boy or a girl.

Happy parenting 

Do share your views with us.

Schools build a child’s daily routine around a set curriculum.

The teacher facilitates the same and the child begins to learn.

Typically, a standardised method of ‘testing the taught’ in our schools is through periodical tests, examinations, projects etc., the resultant of which is a series of grades or marks in the child’s Report Card, isn’t it?

We teach the child some alphabets or numbers and check their learnings through some tests or assessments or activities.

We teach children some new vocabulary or tables or multiplication and check their understanding through some more Monday morning recap tests or Activities.

And so it goes on.

The child is learning, showing progress in his / her alphabetic and numerical literacy and we feel pretty happy about it.

Then why do concerns like these, surface from time to time in every Parent Teacher Meet:

• My child has started lying, why is that so?
• My child is sometimes whining and sometimes obstinate. Why is that so?
• My child does not share his things, why is that so?
• My child refuses to listen to me, what should I do?
• My child does not eat what he / she should be eating? Why is that so?
• My child is refusing to go to school. Why is that happening?
• My child never sits still. What do I do?

All these and many more.

Why do all adult guardians face these issues?

If the primary concern of the child’s education is to know some rhymes, learn the alphabets, the numbers and study the subjects, then the schools are addressing this concern, isn’t it?

If that is the case, then it follows that the issues / concerns listed above – are actually concerning the untaught!

Smiling, laughter, sharing, jumping, hugging, asking a zillion questions – are topics which are actually untaught. Yet every child needs to learn these.

How do they learn these and where do they learn these topics?

We monitor the subject literacy progress of our child very diligently but how many of us realise that the channel for equipping our child with literacy is actually through the untaught topics?

How many of us ask our child / school / or teacher the following:

How many times did my child smile today?

How many times did my child hug a friend today?

How often does my child laugh in class?

Was my child introduced to all teachers in the school?

Did my child pick up a lost yet very attractive pencil in class and put it in the Lost and Found Box?

Does my child try to lie?

Did the school Principal meet my child today?

Did my child do anything ‘different’ today?

Is my child able to make a ‘happy’ face?

Did he/ she solve any new puzzles in the Activity corner today?

What did my child doodle today?

Did my child cook up a new song or story today?

How many times did my child jump in class today?

Did my child yawn in class today?

Did my child dance in school today?

Did my child take the lead in story yoga today?

We spend so much energy in monitoring subject progress without realising that the tools for subject literacy are – sharing, smiling, listening, laughing, speaking like a chatterbox, running, jumping and voicing a thousand questions, not related to subjects taught in the class room at all!

Such vital skills are truly the teaching aids used for subject/ concept literacy.

If the parent will pay more attention to this, the teacher will pay a lot more attention to this. And energy flows where the attention goes.

Preschool is the foundation period for such skills. This is the only period where the untaught has a huge role to play in building the foundation for the taught (eventually the subjects that the child will study in formal school).

It’s time to divide the focus and pay equal attention to these foundation skills.

Gradually and surely, it is through the untaught, that children will build a strong and unique character of their own.

We will discuss this in detail in subsequent articles.

Meanwhile, it would be interesting to know what the guardians of the young souls feel about the ‘untaught’.

Do share your comments in the comment box below and let’s get a conversation going.

There was a fellow called Homework.

No one really knew where the Homework came from, which gender was it, which race and which school did it come from.

In the days of Gurukul teaching, Homework was very good friends with Classwork. The two were really close friends and no one could really make out the difference between the two. In fact, Homework and Classwork used to live together!

So the journey went on smoothly till the print letter was born.

With print letter came books and note books and Gurukuls metamorphosed into schools. Schools that were made of cement and wood and had a huge board outside with their name shining far and wide.

When Homework and Classwork entered the brick walls of the school, the two slowly started having differences.

“I am very important”, said Classwork. “Without me, no child can learn and no School can survive.”

“Without me, the notebook will remain half-filled and look incomplete”, said Homework. “Without me, no parent or teacher will be happy.”

“Listen fellas”, said the teacher. “Give me a break. Lets split and make it 50:50. Let Classwork call the shots in one half of the day and Homework reign supreme in the other half.”

“Oh My God”, said the parent. “My dear Class Work, why are you bringing home so much Homework? This is not done!”

This altercation attracted a lot of passerby’s attention. And in stepped Mr. Rules and Ms. Regulations”.

They declared that this needed a thorough investigation. Who should live where and who is more important became issues of grave concern.

The issue gained momentum and became a point of debate.

The Home, the School, the Parent, the Teacher and all their kith and kin jumped into the fray.

Lo & Behold! Even those who did not know the School, the Teacher, the Parent and the Class also joined the bandwagon.

And thus began an interesting merry – go – round.

A merry – go – round which is not so amusing many a times.

And so my dear parents, while you smile after reading the above story, the fact of the matter is that Homework is not the villain of the piece as it is often made out to be.

Homework was born to aid the classwork and not complicate it. After all, a child spends almost equal amount of time between home and school.

Homework gives the child a routine. Inwardly, all children look up to their environment and adults for discipline and routine. They may rebel outwardly but their neurons are looking for repetition and routine to strengthen the myelin sheath.

Do not look at the length of the Homework. Look at the depth of the Homework. If it provides a preschooler an opportunity to revise concepts learnt, then it’s serving your child pretty well.

Just as children need their teachers around during Classwork, so do they need the parents around during Homework. Your child may just need your presence or a verbal embrace or a simple acknowledgement that they are doing things right. Try being a Homework Coach for your child. Its fun and rewarding.

It is not the Homework that leads to disinterest or boredom in the child. It is the manner in which you treat Homework that leads to such behaviour. If you develop a habit of shouting or yelling or threatening your child with consequences for not completing their Homework, your child will be “turned off” from Homework forever.

Allow Kindergartners to do their Homework at fun places. Or rather create such fun places for them. The garden swing, the family area like the kitchen table, a chair by the window or sprawled on the green grass. If you make the Homework a fun affair, children will naturally not dread it.

Older kids may need the discipline of a study table and chair, depending on the kind of home assignments they get. They like to have their own space while tackling Homework but the younger ones prefer otherwise.

Children learn effective Time Management while doing Homework. If you tell them that a game of football or a round of Ice cream is to follow after they are done with their Homework, they are likely to accelerate the same. They learn to manipulate their time and find a balance between work and play.

Homework has benefits for parents too – it gives you the chance to see what your child is learning at school. And showing interest in your child’s homework is a great way to let your child know that you value learning and education.

It’s a good practice to request your preschooler’s teacher to stick to reading Homework or some creative tasks Homework. Many parents persist on writing Homework alone. Think outside the box and support your child’s teacher to create a new box too, with regards to Homework as well. Its all a matter of demand and supply!

Young children can concentrate for a few minutes at a time and they need a brief break in between Homework. Factually speaking, even older children need breaks. You can encourage your child to do some neck stretches, arm shakes and finger wriggles or play outside for a few minutes during this break.

Try to minimize distractions during Homework time, such as phones, television, visitors etc. Carrying the Homework to bed is a strict no as well. Give due sanctity to Homework time. If you do that, children will start respecting their Homework a lot more.

Treat Homework routine as naturally as you treat other routines in your child’s life, such as bathing, brushing, exercising, playing etc.  Just as all routines require an effort, so does Homework. If you adopt this approach towards your child’s Homework, it helps build a positive attitude towards Classwork and Homework.

And yes, if you find your child struggling with Homework most of the days or if you find that the Homework is too much, do walk up to your child’s teacher and discuss the same.

With a little bit of your support and careful planning by the school and the teacher, Homework can actually be a suitable ground for cultivating essential life skills.

It’s really not so much of a Devil as we make it out to be.

And if once in a while, your child misses his / her Homework and gets a “homework not done” note in the Almanac, just relax.

We all have a ‘cheat day’ while following a diet, isn’t it?

Running is the most natural form of play for a child.
Just like every athlete aspires for the Olympic opportunity, every toddler aspires to be able to run.

Be it an infant’s crawl or a toddlers shaky walk, children have a clear singular command for their legs – “Make me run!”

And very rightly so because children live intuitively. They eat when they are hungry and the minute they eat and gain energy, they need to expend that energy as well. And that is why they love to jump, run and play.

Unfortunately our packed schedules and compartmentalised existence, leave our children with lesser opportunities to run.

As a parent guardian, we need to ensure that we create opportunities for our children to keep moving. Because if children do not move, they are going against Nature. Do not forget that a child’s body and mind are connected to each other through movement. So we need to allow that natural movement to happen.

The minute children discover their feet, they love to jump. Jumping leads to hopping and hopping paves way to running.

This is where we need to step in!

Keep children hooked on to running. Or even better, get ‘you and your child hooked on to running’.  

You know why? 

• By running, children learn that feet are meant for running and not for kicking others. The most natural step to take is to put one foot ahead of the other and let the feet play the game with the ground below. Children learn that running can actually be a fun sport.
   
• Running gets the adrenaline going and that releases even more energy and the feel good hormones .So running is a great mood elevator.
   
• Running is a lifetime sport. It has no age bar. Once children happily fall in love with running, they can carry on this sport for the rest of their lives.
   
• Running is so very simple. And easy. There are no rules and the only equipment needed is the ‘body’.
   
• You can turn running into a fun sport by adding obstacles, flags and little trails all along the running track. It builds up excitement and makes sure that boredom is kept at bay.
   
• Just as you got down on all fours and got ‘muddy’ with your child, you need to slowly graduate to running along with your child. Start with a run in the park, in the driveway or maybe even up and down the stairs. Remember, the family that runs together, stays together.
   
• According to research, running can enhance your capacity to learn and recall new information and vocabulary. So running is a great cognitive enhancer.
   
• When children run together in a short distance marathon, it takes the shape of a wonderful group sport. They run together as a team, wearing the same logo and T shirt. This has a great bonding effect ,It is collaboration at its very best.
   
• Running a short distance run, teaches them about goal setting. They see the finishing line at the other end and get a clear vision of where they need to reach and how.
   

Little Millennium Preschool follows a curriculum that encourages children to learn through their bodies.

They act their rhymes, do the Animal Yoga and move their bodies to the rhythm of Story Yoga. And a zillion other purposeful movement routines.

Their hands and feet are forever in a constructive discovery mode or rather in the learning mode.

This Sunday, the 9th of December let us participate in the Children’s Marathon in Mumbai as they ‘Run for Fun’.

Come, let us together make our children fall in love with running.

Father once told me that if I wanted to learn how to drive, I must know how to change a flat tyre.

That brought a slight halt to my teenage zest but I made a silent steely reserve to get down to knowing more about automobiles.

Years later, as a young adult, when my ‘spend’ and ‘earn’ were chasing each other like Tom and Jerry, I turned around and asked my dad,

“When you gave me money to spend, why didn’t you ask me to learn where it came from?”

My father stroked his peppered beard thoughtfully.

But I mean what I have stated earlier. All during my childhood years I thought that money actually grows on trees!

Most Indian parents do a swell job of talking to their children about values, discipline, academics, school and family. But when it comes to sexual awareness and money, most of us shy away from it. The parents either pend it for later or don’t know how to deal with it or just sweep it under the carpet as they are uncomfortable and ill equipped to talk about it.

An interesting survey conducted by CCN Money – Teaching Kids Financial Responsibility 2015, about ‘Talking Money Matters to Children’ reveals that only 24% of the 50,000 parents surveyed actually talk about money to their children.

WHAT AGE TO BEGIN TALKING ABOUT MONEY TO CHILDREN?

Let’s just say that the minute your child has learnt to count, they are ready to begin learning about money.

Doting grandparents, aunts and uncles dutifully follow the Indian tradition of doling out ‘shagun’ to young ones at all occasions. Well, if they are old enough to receive it – they are old enough to learn how to deal with it as well!

And we must begin with baby steps, teaching them to treat money as a resource. Just as we teach them how to use water, electricity, plastic etc, so also we must teach them how to use money. Treat it as simply as that.

WHERE AND WHEN TO TALK ABOUT MONEY TO CHILDREN?

Just as we read stories and sing songs with them, so also we must talk about money. In a child like manner.

While shopping, filling fuel, buying groceries, shopping for toys, buying books – talk about how much they cost, incidentally. Do not make a distinguished effort to talk about issues such as cost, expense etc. But rather, let’s just say:

This book has 50 pages and now lets just flip and see how much it costs. Rs 100, I see !

While driving, when you stop at a roadside stall to buy some coconut, enjoy the cool water and ask your Preschooler to count the money that needs to be given to the coconut vendor.

When shopping for a packet of biscuits that cost Rs 20, explain to your little one as to why did you receive Rs 80 back from the shopkeeper.

No harm if your little one watches you pay your electricity bill online. That’s a great opportunity to tell him how adults handle household affairs related to money.

If you decide to go and shop at a ‘Sale‘, you could talk casually to your child as to why you opt to buy during sales.

Begin to teach your kids home economics by asking them to switch off unnecessary lights and bulbs, as it saves both money and electricity – two precious Resources.

And that is how the story about money should be told to our young children – in a pleasant and open manner.

MONEY DOES NOT GROW ON TREES

When you bring home the daily groceries, tell your child that these are basic needs that money can buy.

When you talk about saving money for buying the next mobile phone, tell your child that this is a ‘want’, a ‘desire’ that you want to save money for.

When you role model such situations before children, they instinctively pick up the difference between wants and needs.

This is a valuable life skill lesson for your child. The child learns the skill to use money wisely to cover their needs and save it to satisfy their desires.

Such lessons will help them gain financial prudence in life later.

Eventually, your little ones will grow up a bit and start asking for POCKET MONEY AND ALLOWANCES.

Since you have been talking openly about money matters with your child, it will help you deal with pocket money issues as well.

Your children will accept the limits and rules set by you regarding spending of money.

Make sure that their pocket money is big enough to allow them minor purchases (such as an odd toy or a chocolate) yet small enough to require them to prioritize their purchases.

Remember, that along with verbal, alphabetic and numerical literacy, your children need financial literacy as well.

Treat it as naturally as learning how to use their A’s, B’s and C’s.

That’s the real trick – keep it simple, conversational, open and inclusive.

Do not hide money matters in the closet!