All posts by : Little Millennium

Playing comes as an inherent nature in a child. A child considers play his/her “work”, his/her devotion. And by that we mean serious work.
Time and again, child psychologists and early education experts have laid great emphasis on playing as the best form of learning.

Child’s creation, be it a picture, an attempt at painting,  building a sand castle   – whatever he has curated feels important to him. His/Her work has the same meaning and significance, as a power point presentation or an embroidered piece of cloth may mean to you. Perhaps even more significant because your child’s work (read play) represents newly-acquired skills and abilities. Maybe this was the first time he put the train tracks together himself, or maybe he finally figured out how to put the pieces of a dinosaur puzzle together.  

And just after he /she has reached the “Eureka “moment, comes in the parent declaring that it’s clean up time!

Asking the child to clean up immediately after he has managed a difficult task or acquired the roots of a certain new skill, is almost like asking a team leader to abandon the team just after it has started showing some profitability. Or like asking the captain of a ship to abandon the ship just after it has cleared the rough waters and is looking ahead for a smooth sail.

Stopping short or having to slam the breaks on creative play  is understandably going to be difficult at times for any toddler/child  — especially when  the main ambition raging within the child at that point of time is  – to feel in control – and you are usurping that need.
That said, playtime does eventually always have to come to an end — that is inevitable, but it’s also inevitable that our children may not always have to immediately clean up. Sometimes, we can actually allow them to leave their toys and creations, as it is.  It may contribute to an already overflowing playroom, it may literally and figuratively add to our feelings of drowning in toys and clutter and it may require that we have to go out of our way to walk around or over something treasured in our path, but when we do this, when we allow our child to preserve his/her “work,” we are sending a strong message of respect and appreciation for the time and effort he/she put into his/her project.
If you sense that your child may be reluctant to put his/her  toys or play material immediately away once playtime is over, acknowledge the importance of their work by telling him/her that they do not have to clean up pronto. Instead, make them feel that their creation is much valued, by saying:

• Let’s put your name on your creation so that everyone can appreciate it
• You don’t have to put this away, but we do have to move it. Let’s find a safe place to put it together.
• You can leave this out, but we have to take a break. You can come back to your work as soon as we are back home
• Let’s set it up where we can close the door, or where it won’t be in our way later
• You sure worked hard on this,  let’s take a picture of it before we put it away
• We need to put part of this away, but we can leave some of it out, you choose which part to keep out.
• Superb! This is such a special creation, let’s find a special place to hang/display it
• We are taking this as a gift for grandma next time we visit her. Until then, where do you want to keep it?

Being willing to consider their play as meaningful work actually models the kind of behaviour and skills that we would like our children to emulate.

Such as:
• Each effort is worthy of respect
• It’s okay if things don’t go our way, at times
• Be appreciative of everyone’s effort, time and creativity
• Sometimes it’s nice to let things just be!
• You don’t have to be in control all the time

And one of the biggest advantage of showing respect towards your child’s work of play ‘by just letting it be for a while, is that the child innately develops the ability to let go.  If you let the mess remain for a certain time, chances are that your child’s ability to move on improves drastically and in all likelihood, he /she will willingly let the project go. Gradually you will find the resistance to clearing the mess diminish.

So try. Try not to insist that your child has to clean up immediately after play all the time. It will mean so much to your child and show him that you really do respect his/her important ‘work’.

Let your child know that most of the time, it will be important to clean up but sometimes, you can bend the rules.

Just sometimes you can let the clutter reign and let his/her masterpiece steal the spotlight!

Self-esteem in simple words is an attitude towards self.  It can be explained as ‘having great respect towards your own self’.

Self-esteem means coming to terms with your complete self, just the way you are and embracing yourself in a most certain manner. For children, self-esteem translates to “emotion towards self”.

It is extremely important to cultivate self-esteem in children as it is self-motivating for them. They take better control and command of their lives. And most importantly, they develop an ability to surround themselves with people who support and encourage them.

It is true that irrespective of gender, boys and girls both need to be nurtured with a sense of self-esteem. But today in this article, Let us simply focus on cultivating self-esteem in our young daughters. A well thought of and deliberate approach will lead to better adjustments in later teen years and possibly give the world many shining stars to the likes of Aung San Suu Kyi, Saina Nehwal and Chanda Kochhar !

Parent’s Role: What you could do?

Build a strong foundation: – From her very first breath, remind your daughter on a daily basis, through words and action, that she is strong, smart and beautiful. Research confirms that girls with low self-esteem most commonly receive less praise and more criticism from either parent. Let her know that she was loved and treasured even before birth.

Part of A Bigger Picture: – Right from a young age, show your daughter that she is part of a bigger picture.  Tell her that she is an essential part of the bigger family. There are people in the family who love her, like her grandparents, aunties, cousins, friends, siblings. Let her feel the sweet feeling of being ‘cushioned’ by loving relatives and close friendships.  Tell her that her presence in the family as part of the bigger picture matters a lot.

A Role in Her Family: – Apart from knowing she is loved within her family, let your daughter know that she has an important role to play in it. She is a big/little sister, a cherished daughter, a niece, a granddaughter, and each relationship in her life is enriched by her being in it. The family would not be the same without her; she is valuable and special and needed. Let her know that! Be sure to encourage her role in family.

Focus on her uniqueness. : – Apart from regular school activities, help her to make time in her weekly/monthly schedule to focus on her hobbies. Let her know that her hobbies and passions are so important and that she should look for ways to work at them. Help her define what they are as she grows up.  Ask her leading questions about her interests and listen to what she tells you. Expose her to a wonderful variety of activities, hobbies and sports and see what she loves doing. . Perhaps she aspires to be a motivational speaker; a caring physiotherapist, a doctor, a professional athlete who inspires young children, a great writer. Help her to know herself, to develop her talents and to share them with the world.

Teach her to speak up: – Encourage her to find and use her voice. Teach her to use her voice as a muscle — the more she uses it, the stronger it will be.  Remember – Speaking on behalf of your daughter most or all of the time limits her self-worth.

Introduce her to active physical sports: – Do not underestimate the power of organized sports. The earlier you can get her hooked to sports and physical activity to keep her involved, the better it is. The opportunity to develop strong relationships with other girls and boys  while working toward a common goal and to develop confidence related to something she does rather than simply how she looks, talks and acts is essential to building and maintaining self-esteem. Studies also suggest a significant decrease in participation in risky sexual behaviour among girls who play sports.

Help her to know her own body /her own physical self: – Remember that knowledge is power. It is crucial that your daughter knows and understands her own body.  If she does so, she will be better equipped to deal with hormonal changes in her physical self later on in life and the impact that such changes have physically, emotionally and psychologically.  The golden rule to follow -she cannot value nor protect a body that is foreign to her!  If she cannot get open, honest and accurate information from her parents, she will get it from less-educated sources that may leave her misinformed and far less able to protect herself.

Limit her access to media early:-Media tends to build stereotypes.  A great deal of television and print media sets unrealistic physical standards and portray over-sexualized, disempowered girls and women. If it goes unchecked, it will shape your daughter’s sense of reality and the standard she is expected to meet for acceptance, desirability and success. Additionally, it is essential that you gradually help her to achieve media literacy so that even when she is engaged with it, it will be with a more discerning mind.   Let her see more of real men and women than digital ones!

Daddy – you are always being observed! : – All fathers need to be aware of the power of their words and actions. The way a father expresses his feelings and respect for women directly impacts the way his daughter sees herself and the degree of respect and overall value she will expect to receive from boys and men, later in life.

Mummy – you are a living role model:-Mothers should   never forget that they are the most important role model for their daughters. So if we obsess too much over physical appearance, appear low on confidence, and do not exhibit strong values – our daughters are likely to imbibe the same attitude.

Self-esteem is a fragile thing. Once broken, it’s difficult to piece together. But once cemented, it is difficult to rip apart.

Happy parenting!

‘We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.’
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former US President

Today, a good academic education is no longer the only pathway to prepare children for the future. Young learners also need certain key skills to take advantage of the unique demands and opportunities that await them in the 21st Century. These critical skills which should be inculcated in a preschool child are:
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Creativity and Innovation
• Communication and Comprehension
• Collaboration

Our children are living in a world that is significantly different from yesterday. Newer technologies have risen and enhanced the way we live, work and collaborate. Rapid globalisation and technological revolution has brought about, and will continue to bring, changes quicker than ever before. It is intriguing to imagine the future and the fascinating change it will bring.

We might not be able to envisage the tomorrow, but we do know that our children will graduate into a world that will be radically different from today. Their academic, professional and personal lives will be full of innovative challenges and novel opportunities. By equipping them with the key 21st Century Skills, we will ensure that our children are adequately prepared to take on and address these challenges and opportunities, and be successful in this ever-changing and inter-connected environment.

In this century, knowing is not enough. The ability to use that knowledge, in different ways, to solve problems, is crucial to succeed in an increasingly competitive and global 21st century. Problem solving and critical thinking skills need to be fostered to help children, not just know facts, but have the capability to understand and analyse them, infer from them, connect and transfer them to other concepts, evaluate and manipulate them, put them together in new ways, and apply them to find solutions to new problems.

Critical thinking also leads to development of other skills, such as a high level of concentration, deeper analytical abilities, and metacognition, or the ability to think about one’s own thinking.

To be an effective critical thinker, one also needs to be creative and innovative. Successful problem solvers create many original and unusual possibilities to solve problems. Author and business thinker, Daniel H. Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind, claims that we are moving from a logical and linear Information Age to an inventive and empathic Conceptual Age. People with right brain thinking capabilities, like artists, inventors, designers, storytellers and big picture thinkers, will rule this century. Right brain characteristics, like creativity and inventiveness, will equip our future generations to look critically towards the big picture and come up with unconventional ideas and solutions.

Communicating effectively and clearly has always been one of the key factors for success. However, advances in communication technology in the 21st century demand exceptionally refined communication skills. Children must be able to communicate with speech and text through multiple communication mediums. Good communication skills are needed to not just express thoughts and ideas, articulate opinions, and communicate coherent instructions, but also to listen effectively to decipher meaning and intention in an increasingly inter-connected and multi-lingual environment. Strong communication and comprehension skills are also becoming increasingly important to analyse, process and effectively use or leverage the tremendous inflow of new information in this fast evolving world.

Collaboration is another key skill that children need to imbibe, in this complex and increasingly shrinking world. Sharing responsibility for collaborative work, willingness to help and make compromises towards a common goal, value individual contributions in a team, effectively and respectfully work with culturally diverse teams, is needed to meet the 21st century demands and flourish in an inter-connected world.

Parents, today, need to focus on building these critical 21st Century Skills from early childhood, as a child’s brain is twice as active, as that of an adult’s, during the first six years of their life. In these formative years, they actively seek knowledge. Their natural inquisitiveness and spontaneity to learn must be nurtured, as it will lay the foundation for all their future learning. The right learning experiences during these years will have a great impact on development of their future intelligence.

Inculcating 21st Century Skills with life or career skills like flexibility and adaptability; responsibility and accountability; initiative and efficiency, inter and intra-personal skills, is what is needed to help us raise competent global citizens for a global world.

Children who will have the knowledge and skills to be unfazed by constant change and reinvent themselves for new jobs, situations and lifestyles, will succeed in this continuously changing century.

We live in a right-handed society. Our civilization has been built around a tradition that regards the right hand as preferable to the left. Hand tools, machines, even doors were designed on the basis of this attitude. However, several years ago, Dr. Frank Freeman observed:

“The number of left-handed children seems to have increased in recent years. This may be due to relaxed home and school discipline as well as the recommendations of medical authorities that children who show early preference for the left hand should not be changed. Whatever the reason, these children are entitled to just as much guidance and help in the development of the skill of handwriting as the right-hander receives.”

Recent studies indicate that the number of left-handed children is still on the increase. Estimates range as high as ten to 15 per cent of the population. Almost assuredly, the elementary teacher will be teaching handwriting not only to right-handed children, but will also have the responsibility of instructing the left-handers. The role of parents too is extremely valuable here as important support.

Determining Hand Dominance

How can one decide which hand the child should use in writing? Wrong choices at the readiness and pre-primary level could be detrimental to the child’s writing and perhaps to the child’s learning ability and personality. The choice, then, is an important one.

If the child is definitely left-handed, it is better to teach her or him to use that hand in writing. If, however, there is some doubt as to which is the dominant hand, there are several simple ways of determining which will be the hand to train.

A few guidelines should be observed in these procedures. Do not tell the child that she or he is being tested.  Keep a record as to which hand is used for each specific situation. Let the child pick up the testing materials; do not hand them to the child. Keep a tally of the procedures. If the child indicates true ambidexterity, it is probably better to train the right hand.

Several procedures are listed below. Create simple play situations with these procedures that will help the observant teacher or parent for determining hand dominance.

Hand puppet

Place a hand puppet on the table. In a play situation, observe the child to see which hand she or he puts the puppet on.

Key and lock

Padlock a cupboard in the child’s room / classroom. Place the key on a desk. Ask the child to take the key and unlock the padlock and bring you an object from the cupboard. Observe the child as she or he unlocks the padlock and picks up the object.

Hammering  

Place a toy hammer and toy nails, or pegs and pegboard on the table. Observe the child as she or he hammers several nails into place, or puts pegs into pegboard.

Screwing lids on jars

Place several jars of various sizes with removable lids on the table. Place the lids in a separate pile. Ask the child to match the lids with the jars, put the lids on the jars, and close them.

Throwing a ball

Place a rubber ball on the floor. Ask the child to pick up the ball and throw it to you.

Holding a spoon

At lunchtime or in a play situation where the child must use eating utensils, observe which hand is used.

Cutting with scissors

Place a pair of safety scissors and a piece of coloured construction paper on the table. Instruct the child to cut the paper into strips. Observe which hand is used to pick up the scissors and to cut the paper. Next, place paper of a different colour on the table and have the child repeat the process. Did the child use the same hand or change hands? Repeat with a third colour.

Positions for Writing

Paper Position

For manuscript writing, the left-handed children should position the paper with the lower right corner a little to the left of the midsection. For cursive writing, the paper is slanted less, with the lower right corner pointing toward the midsection or just a little to the right of it. The strokes are pulled down toward the left elbow, whether manuscript or cursive is being written.

Pencil Position

The writing instrument is held between the thumb and first two fingers, about an inch above its point. The first finger rests on the top of the pencil or pen. The end of the bent thumb is placed against the writing instrument to hold it high in the hand and near the large knuckle. The top of the instrument points in the direction of the left elbow. The writing should take place within the left half of the desk surface, i.e., to the left of the midline of the body. The paper should be shifted to the left as the writing progresses across the page.

Special Problems

The Hooked Position

The hooked wrist is caused by incorrect paper position. In an effort to see what she or he is writing, the left-handed child often adopts the hooked position. This is a problem that should be dealt with early in the child’s development, since twisting of the hand or wrist can be detrimental to legibility and fluency.

Reversals

The problem of reversals is common to the left-handed children. Most errors result from confusion between the lowercase manuscript d and b and p and q. Awareness of the problem and concentration on the formal teaching of left to right progression and forward and backward circles before introduction of the teaching of the manuscript letters b, d, p, and q result in fewer reversals of these letters.

Chalkboard Work

Chalkboard practice is important because it lends itself to full, free arm movement and allows the child and the teacher / parent to easily spot incorrect habits. The position at the board for left-handed writing is similar to that for writing with the right hand, except that the eraser is held in the right hand and the chalk in the left, and the left-hander stands to the right of where the writing takes place for both manuscript and cursive. This is not true of the right-hander. The right-hander stands in front of his or her manuscript writing, but stands to the left of cursive writing because the down strokes are pulled toward the body’s midsection.

Special Provisions

Left-handed children should be provided with scissors designed especially for the left-hander. If table and armchairs are used, make certain left-handers don’t have to sit at desks for right-handers. Before children begin to write, demonstrate paper and pencil positions for the left-hander as well as the right-hander. It is often helpful for the left-hander to hold her or his pencil a little higher than the right-hander. The pencil points toward the left elbow, not toward the shoulder as the right-handers do. When given the proper attention and instruction, left-handers will write as well as right-handers.