Posts in category: Child Development

As the world and its people inch towards the Post Covid era, there are umpteen coping strategies that rise to the fore.

Huddle together, Less is more, develop an attitude of thankfulness, be flexible in your thoughts, inculcate lateral thinking and so on.

Each strategy has its merit and rationale. So let’s raise a cheerful toast – to each their own. When it comes to children and Reopening of Schools, there is immense focus on covering up for lost time.

Educators and Caregivers are busy formulating strategies for helping kids cope up with learning loss with a fair amount of focus on paying attention to curriculum completion, annual assessments and so on.

Being an educator, I completely understand the value of a structured learning approach and am a strong believer of the same. At the same time, Covid and the resultant Lockdown have considerably re-shaped the pattern of my neuron connections. My neuron synapses have been screaming out loud to me that the children have learnt a whole lot in this year, which can perhaps be put down as out of syllabus.

What children have been through in the past year, has no parallel in world history, in child pedagogy and behavioural science.

Their neurons never went into lockdown. Rather, they have been busy assimilating the present day scenario and trying to make sense of it.

No child had heard of social distancing before. In fact the warm Indian culture had only taught them that, the more the merrier. Teachers and parents had always stressed on ‘sharing is caring’ and holidays were always meant to be spent with extended families, friends and travel.

So how did their young minds make sense of a topsy turvy world in lockdown with no flights, cars or buses running?

Why did they need to be suddenly masked up all the time?

When did doctors start giving a virtual check up on screen and when did birthdays turn into virtual celebrations?

I am very sure that each young mind would have found a peculiar logic to these equally peculiar situations. Did anyone really listen to their logic, their young rationale?

Did anyone listen to their version of history in the year 2020?

So dear friends when the schools re open, let us not be in a hurry to pick up the text books and complete the syllabus. There’s a lot more that needs to be done, along with it.

Let us allow large chunks of time in just listening to our children.

Listen to themListen to all the new rhymes, songs and stories they created in the year gone by. Make time to listen to their chatter about how they spent these months. Try to answer the million questions that will in all probability be raised to you. Listen to the stories of their families and friends and how they fared in the year gone by.
Make audio anecdotes and save it in your library. Year after year, children can listen and learn from it.

Read to themRead stories about pandemic heroes. Let the children listen to stories of hope, courage and valour. Let them see hope even in tragic stories of loss, relocation and illness due to the virus. Choose your stories well. Choose stories that are real yet not without hope. Feed the hope in them. Read stories that will help them make sense of the upside down world.

Dance with themLet the children express themselves freely. Have periods for performing arts liberally spread out through school the time table.
Some will perform, some will applaud. Yet all stand to gain

Let them drawGive them paper, colours and crayons to scribble, doodle, paint and draw, whatever they want to. Give them that window for expression. Yes, that’s right – help them express themselves using any medium. Some will speak, some will act, some will dance and some will draw.

Integrate laughter in your classes.Crack a lot of jokes. Release some feel good hormones. Begin the day with Laughter yoga. Dress up silly one day, just to tickle the stress out of the kids. Remember, it is extremely stressful even for kids to be without a routine. They may show outward calm but inwardly, every child craves for a routine.

Make them your partners in establishing safety protocols in your schools & classrooms.Do not brush the safety concerns under the carpet. Let your children know that these concerns are for real. Let them know that there are some rules which are non-negotiable and safety is one of them. Let them know that safety is a joint responsibility and not the job of the teacher / parent alone. Put up posters in the class that talk about safety, have children do role plays talking about safety. Let them talk about the new vaccine and how it will impact their society and school.

Have the courage of conviction to alter your curriculum planners. Make it inclusive of all that stands valid in the post pandemic world.Don’t worry too much about your students not matching up to your idea of where – they – should – be. Lets first get to know where – they – are at the moment. Savour that moment with them. Lets get comfortable with their persona at the moment. Once we know clearly where they are, the journey gets much easier.

Do not be in a hurry to write Progress Report Cards.Let us re-look at our rubrics, what are we assessing them on? It is quite possible that they would have learnt more of science than maths in the year gone by. They may know more about vaccines, about migrant workers, about immunity, about physical fitness, about making videos at home, about Zoom calls etc. These may be out-of-syllabus, but they have been new learnings for them nonetheless. Accept this new learning curve.

Remember, that our attitude as educators will set the pace for learning in the post Lockdown era.

And what children learn at school, they are very likely to emulate at home.

Tons of happiness and sunshine to all those who work so dearly with children.

More power to you!

Through the park for my much cherished evening walk I sight a cherub little boy, maybe six or seven year old, busy in solitary play with a few blades of grass and some cups and saucers.
As I walk past him with measured treads, he is distracted from his symbolic play and shouts across to me, in a merrily concerned voice.
“Ma’am, do you think Santa Claus will need a sanitiser to clean his hands before coming into my home?”
The question threw me off track and I halted my purposeful strides.
“Why do you ask that?”
The little boy replied, “Well, because my Mom & Dad have put up this rule everyone has to follow it. Be it our Vimlesh didi or Amazon bhaiya or any aunty or uncle coming in.”
Hmmm, that’s a question that had not tickled my adult brain as yet. I turned around and answered him with an open ended question.
“Well, do you think he will need a mask as well?.” I must admit that the little boy had tugged my curiosity to a greater height than the pollution level in Delhi.
He replied, “Of course. It’s a combination, mask and sanitiser. But ma’am how will he travel? Papa says that there are very few planes and trains running?”
Our banter was turning serious now.
“Good question. We need an expert to answer this. Whom should we ask?”
“My teacher.”
“Why, your teacher? “
“Because mummy says so. Every question of mine that she cannot answer, she says, ask your teacher!”
My heart swelled with secret pride at the awesome respect in the little boy’s heart for his teacher. But before I could fly on wings of unadulterated praise, I gave a jolt to my fanciful flight.
“Why did you call me ma’am and not aunty?”
“Because I have heard all mommies discussing in the park that you are a teacher!”
Oh my my! So even in this pandemic the gossip mills were churning at full speed but what tugged my neurons was the little boy’s train of thoughts.
His imagination was running as fast as a deer.
His curiosity was so high that he was questioning the movement of a fabled character like the Santa.
His questions were infinite in count, Covid or no Covid.
His urge to get attention was as robust as a toddler learning to walk. His energy was totally focused on getting the answers to his zillion questions.
Amidst the Covid, the pandemic, the lockdown and the closure of schools, nothing had dimmed his neurons.
That really set me thinking. How were children at large coping up in the year of no school?
How were they expending their humungous energies? At what rate were their neurons connecting or were they not connecting at all?
Were all of them as curious and as hungry for answers, as the little boy in conversation with me.
The school doors have been locked since March 2020 and children have been deprived of a school routine ever since then.What all have the children lost out on? What does this loss encompass?
According to the World Bank, around 1.6 billion school children were affected by Covid-related school and childcare centre closures, which is close to 90 % of the world’s school age children.
Most of us look at the school as a place for text book learning, testing, grading, examination and a Report Card stamping authority.
But if you look beyond the school bags, syllabus and examination, you will see a lot more.
If you look at it from a child’s perspective, you will see even more!
And if you see it from a child’s lens during times of lockdown, social distancing and fear of Corona, you will sight an unprecedented view.
Have we thought of what the school playgrounds teach?

The team games, the leisurely walks, the swings and the eager queue outside the Sports Equipment room? The whistle of the PT teacher to line up to go back to class, to participating in Inter School Sports Events and the thrill of winning a trophy.
They teach you to feel a thrill, an excitement, team spirit and a survival of the fittest attitude, that becomes a part of the child’s DNA.
It’s not a text book that teaches you the above, It’s the experience.
Surely, children must be missing that?
History tells us that even at the Time of the Second World War, Britain closed its schools only in the urban areas where heavy bombing raids could be expected. Schools in rural Britain continued to function though they had to share their grounds with urban evacuees. Universities in Britain remained open throughout the War.
The School Assembly, the march past, the drill and standing ‘saavdhaan’ to the tune of our National Anthem.
The School fete, the Principal’s address, the early morning adrenalin rush because you know you are late to school and the gates may close!
They teach you that there are certain aspects of life that need an order, a sequence, an innate discipline.
I had often heard my school Headmaster quote, “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”. (It meant that the games and sports played on the sportsfield of Eton college had made the men great soldiers)
Surely, children must be missing that?
Deciding to close schools for a longer period of time is a “delicate balancing act,” more so now than it was 100 years ago when, for example, it was much less common for mothers to work outside the home.
The corridors of the school is the place where camaraderie springs up between class sections and never met before faces.
A walk in the corridor is equal to hearing a news bulletin or the All India Radio broadcast. You get a whiff of what’s brewing by just a friendly peek here and there. It trains your senses and nurtures your gut feel.
Surely, children must be missing that?
What happens to children when schools close in developing countries?

Previous experiences have shown that the longer children are out of school, the less likely they are to return (UNICEF, 2015a).
The school canteen and the jostle for that samosa is no less an ordeal than – a survival of the fittest.
Perhaps children get their first lesson in spending pocket money at this edible joint and get a fair taste of inflation, pricing, demand & supply. (The samosa now costs one rupee more!)
Surely, children must be missing that?
What happens to children when schools close in developing countries? During past epidemics, school closings often led to lower graduation rates. This was mostly because teenagers started jobs and did not return to school even after they were open.
That slanting look into the staffroom as you walk towards the water cooler for a drink, is actually ventured to find out which teacher is on leave?
And the thrill of being the first one in class to announce that a free period is coming up, is nothing short of a Captain Marvel moment.
The planning that goes into wrangling a free period from your Maths teacher, I think that’s when negotiation skills are learnt.

The ringing of the school bell and the grudging respect that the child learns to give to this steely authority, teaches them that the day needs to be planned and perhaps compartmentalised.

Surely, children must be missing that?

The feel of sitting on a desk with a classmate and discussing your day, isn’t that what peer learning and sharing is all about?
The Project work, the Flipped classrooms, the Robotics class, the validation look and assurance from the teacher – are so much a part of school routine.
Surely, children must be missing that?
Global data shows that prolonged school closures could lead to increased loneliness, anxiety and depression. With loss of supportive routines and structures, healthy behaviours could decline dramatically.
Undoubtedly, the Covid 19 has been a tremendous loss year
Children need to be safe and back to school. Both.
No compromises on either front.
As parents, Teachers, Educators and Caregivers , let us push our collective energies to ensure that our children get back to safe schooling.
Meanwhile, I still don’t have an answer to the little boy’s questions.
Will the Santa need a sanitiser and a mask in the year of 2020?
Happy parenting!
W

Parent waiting at the reception for one to one meeting, a substitute teacher who is unable to handle the class, a team meeting to be chaired within the next 15 mins, lunch time is already over, a student got hurt while playing in the field, an expected high profile visitor has already reached the campus” – welcome to the world of a school leader.
School leaders have a tough operational job which is all about balancing priorities. A typical school day is mentally and often emotionally draining for the school administrators. A clear outcome of that is that most of their time gets spent in the first qudrant of “The Eisenhower Matrix”, the urgent – important quadrant.

*https://www.developgoodhabits.com/eisenhower-matrix/
Let’s take a look at another set of scenarios. A teacher, who was doing very well as an individual contributor, messed up a new across the school inclusion initiative that was close to the Principal’s heart. Nobody knows what went wrong; the Principal gave complete freedom to her for the initiative. Another senior-school teacher, who had been in the school for 15+ years was hand-holded personally by the Principal on a new academic senior school initiative. However, 1 month into the implementation, she quit citing personal reasons. There were speculations in the school over her disagreement with the Principal on the ways of working but again no one really knows what went wrong. If we look at it objectively, two great resources, who had all the right credentials, failed miserably in something new that was assigned to them.
How could have the Principal handled it better. Could the “Situational Leadership” model have helped her?*https://toughnickel.com/business/What-is-the-Situational-Leadership-Theory
Maybe the first teacher under discussion needed a lot of “Coaching” since she was in S2-D2 segment. She needed a lot of direction and may not be great at handling inclusion specifically. The other teacher under discussion possibly was an S4-D4 but was handled with a S2 approach leading to her resignation. A lof of times school leaders end up judging a person, a teacher and generalize both positive and negative thoughts about them. However, what’s really important is being able to dissociate the situation and the individual. This is one of the key pillars of situational leadership model which mentions that we all may be at various levels of development depending upon the task at hand and the level of commitment and therefore need different directive behaviours depending upon the situation. Maybe the first teacher under discussion needed a lot of “Coaching” since she was in S2-D2 segment. She needed a lot of direction and may not be great at handling inclusion specifically. The other teacher under discussion possibly was an S4-D4 but was handled with a S2 approach leading to her resignation. A lof of times school leaders end up judging a person, a teacher and generalize both positive and negative thoughts about them. However, what’s really important is being able to dissociate the situation and the individual. This is one of the key pillars of situational leadership model which mentions that we all may be at various levels of development depending upon the task at hand and the level of commitment and therefore need different directive behaviours depending upon the situation.
Imagine the hundreds of transactions like this that take place in a school on any given day. Be it interactions between the top leadership and the middle managers, or between the middle managers and the foot soldiers (the teachers) or between the leader of the class (the teachers) and students or their parents. Now throw into the mix the constant churn across the school leadership, teachers and students leading to a highly dynamic environment. Therefore, a school can’t get success by just the quality of the teaching-learning, the academic performance or student placements. What differentiates a great school from a good school is the ability to systematically handle these interactions to generate the best possible outcome for the school. Basically, avoiding sub-optimal decision making.
The reason I mentioned these examples was to bring out the importance of “Leadership Training and development in schools”. The idea should be extended to the students at school as well but my note today keeps that out of the mix for now.
School administrators are often assumed to know it all as they are experienced individuals. However, just like in any other field, there is a constant need to train and re-train the leadership team. I would refer back to the cliched “sharpening of the sword” adage here. So how should a school design the professional development plan of their top and middle leadership for taking care of their leadership needs. Here are some pointers: –

What may look like a significant investment actually delivers the desired results very quickly. Not only does investment in leadership development lead to better leadership alignment but also makes the school a happy place for the students, teachers and parents.
After all, that’s what we all want. Don’t we?

Written by-
Avneesh Singh,
Director – Schools for Little Millennium Education Pvt. Ltd

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.