January-February 2016
Vol 5 - Issue 4 - `100
What
SportS can Offer your Child Pg 08
Does your Child Refuse to Go to
School? Pg 28
Understanding the Play Way Method of Preschool Education Pg 44 Going Abroad for an Undergrad: What to Keep in Mind Pg 56 Raising an Only Child Pg 31 Are we Giving our Children Too Much Salt? Pg 18 Educational Apps for Children Pg 41
Vaccines for Children – Are they Essential? Pg 22
Communicating with Pg 36
Teenagers
Wellness
Vaccines for Children – are they Essential?
Paediatricians remain strong advocates of vaccination, irrespective of the controversies that keep cropping up. According to UNICEF, vaccine-preventable diseases cause an estimated two million deaths or more every year, of which approximately 1.5 million deaths occur among children below five years of age. India started the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) in 1985, aiming to vaccinate, free of cost, against six vaccinepreventable diseases (tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis or whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, and measles). The aim was to immunise all eligible children by 1990. Thirty years later, we have still not reached the goal. Perhaps a detailed understanding of vaccination will nip in the bud any campaign that suggests withholding any mandatory vaccines.
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January-February 2016
Dr. Krishna Mahathi is a paediatrician with postgraduate diplomas in the management of allergies and developmental neurology. She is also training to be an expressive art psychotherapist.
Everyday Parenting
Does your Child Refuse to go to School?
“No I won’t goooooooooo.” It was surprising that such a small body could emit such an ear-shattering noise.
This was Darling Daughter, all of three, vehemently refusing to go to playschool. I was mystified by this. A couple of weeks ago, the very same tyke desperately wanted to go to school. What could be the reason for this volte-face? Being middle class, well-educated people, having a child who does not want to study was the ultimate horror. But we decided not to force the issue. It wouldn’t do to turn her off school forever. The headmistress also advised us not to compel the child but slowly bring her around.
Sia Mitra is a freelance writer and blogger with more than a decade Every day she would get dressed and proceed to school but not step inside. She of experience. She has been would wander around the campus instead. It was a playschool so the grounds fortunate to meet myriad people had many distractions too. There were rabbits to be fed, swings and slides to be from all walks of life, and her sampled. The scrumptious titbits in her tiffin were munched on during recess writing is a reflection of these along with other kids. interactions. Sia has written for major publications like Femina, Prevention, One morning, I did not get her ready for school. Complete Well-being, “Mom, aren’t I going to school today?” Child, Mother & Baby, “No baby, you don’t like to go so what is the point? We will stay at home.” Parent & Child, “But I have to feed the rabbits. And you said you will make pasta for tiffin.” Women’s Era, etc. “You can’t just loiter around the yard. You have to go in.” There was a lot of hectic thinking. “Ok but you have to stay inside with me.”
So there I was, incongruously huge on a red kid-sized desk at the back of the class. Darling Daughter would turn back, check from time to time, and feel reassured to find me sitting stolidly there. As the day went by, she turned around less frequently. Playschools are interesting places. There are so many activities going on that the kids really enjoy themselves. The next day she happily hopped in to her classroom. Her teacher praised her, “You are a smart big girl. Say bye to Mom!” There was a minute of hesitation and then she was gone after a quick wave. 28
January-February 2016
Family Matters
Fifty years ago, big families with three or more children were common and often seen as an advantage. Although our culture perpetuates that the perfect family includes at least two children, rapidly changing times have ushered in the era of single-child families. Recent studies show that in most developed nations today, only children constitute 20-30% of all children.
January-February 2016
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Making Sense of Adolescence
Dr. Divya Prasad is a clinical psychologist and Academic Director of “Expressions India”, a Comprehensive Life Skills Education and School Mental Health Program.
with Teenagers
Communicating
If you were a fly on the wall in a room full of parents with teenaged children, you would be sure to hear the following laments: “I don’t know what I am supposed to say. Even when I say something positive, he takes it the wrong way.” “What’s the point of a mobile, if she is never reachable?” “Thank God you have a son. Girls are just so dramatic. She is so moody, the littlest thing can set her off, and then we have tantrums and crying!” “No, no, at least you know what is going on. Boys just clam up and then you have to keep playing the guessing game about what is bothering him.” And the pièce de résistance, “We are broad minded and have given her all the freedom she wants, but she has to know her boundaries. I have told her she can have friends but this is not the age for boyfriends. She has to focus on studies.”
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January-February 2016
Quick Resources
Bulbul - Bedtime Stories for Kids Ages: 2 - 5 years Developer: Bulbul Inc.
BabyBus Ages: 1 – 4 years Developer: Baby bus
The Bulbul app brings you a unique collection of stories. It is an interactive app that develops a child's listening and reading skills with colourful and beautifully illustrated tales. From classics to folk tales, this app brings to life each and every story using sound effects and fun animations that can be activated with just a tap of the finger. This app is a free download and new stories—both free and paid—are added to the library every week. The best part is that the app offers a ‘pay per book’ feature that allows you to buy books based on your child’s interest.
BabyBus offers dozens of apps that feature games introducing the young ones to different early childhood education concepts. The apps can encourage cognitive learning on a wide range of topics such as health and food habits, music, travel, toilet training, weather, colours, etc. This collection of handy apps is free and helps parents introduce their toddlers to the world of learning in an easy way. Your children will love playing with the adorable panda to solve challenges.
January-February 2016
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Product Review
Science Box from ZLIFE Education Science Box from ZLIFE Education is a box comprising four experiments around a scientific concept. The box contains all the apparatus and instructions necessary to conduct simple experiments at home that will introduce and explain scientific concepts to children. A sample of the topics that these experiments touch on includes rocketry, acids and bases, electricity, batteries, etc. The objective of the Science Box is to explain scientific concepts to children and reinforce them through hands-on involvement and experimentation. Each box comprises the apparatus and tools needed for the experiments, safety gear, an Activity Guide (explaining the concept), and instruction sheets that include images. According to the manufacturer, the Science Box is intended for children between the ages of 7 and 12. Availability This box is available on order. Interested parents can subscribe online by visiting http://www.zlifeeducation. com/ and the box will be delivered to your doorstep (anywhere in India and internationally as well) on a monthly basis, with each box presenting a different concept. Pricing Each box is priced at INR 1500 (this includes shipping), but different subscription plans are available for 3-, 6- and 12-month subscriptions, which lower the cost per box.
What we like • That the box arrives with all the apparatus necessary for the experiments, such as test tubes, bread boards, wires, chemicals, etc. All you need to supply from home are things that are easily available—scissors, colours, etc. This makes it easy for the child and the parent, doing away with the need to visit a store or track down the requisite material. • The Activity Guide that accompanies each box and clearly explains the scientific concepts. This booklet will help the child understand different aspects of the concept. For example, the Activity Guide for the box ‘Chemistry and Colours’ explains what acids and bases are, how they can be identified and marked on a pH colour chart, how they react to form different compounds, etc. The explanations are simple, and even a young child who has not been introduced to these topics in school can understand them at a basic level. • That each box has four experiments that are sufficiently different from each other and explore the concept using a variety of approaches. In the ‘Electronics & Circuitry’ box for instance, a child can learn how to complete a circuit and power a motor in different ways, learn to read voltage, use LEDs, etc. • The quality of the materials used, which are very good. Science Box uses real, working apparatus that will excite your children— this is not a toy!
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Parenting Quotient
Is your Child Facing Dr. Jaishri Ramakrishnan is a consultant psychologist with over three decades of experience. She has conducted several seminars, workshops and training programmes on parenting, handling children with special needs, and stress management.
Little Anu did not seem herself last week. All of nine years old and in grade four, she was generally a little nightingale, chirpy and full of life. A very chatty and lively child who was always bursting with news as she came home from school every day, she suddenly seems withdrawn and does not want to share anything with her parents. Koushik, the ever-active twelve-year old, suddenly refused to go out and play and then refused to go to school as well. Sending him to school every morning became an ordeal for his parents. These are but some of the symptoms of children who experience social isolation in school, but are unable to talk about it to their parents. This happens when the child experiences the uncomfortable feeling of being uninteresting or unacceptable to peers. It could be a temporary phase, which they may soon overcome. However, if it persists, there may be serious implications on the child’s behaviour, routine, academics and self-esteem. Even as adults, most of us can recall feeling left out of peer interactions at 60
January-February 2016
one time or another. Recollections of such self-conscious awkwardness can still be so poignant that we may feel particularly sensitive if our child seems to be struggling with similar feelings. When a child is being ignored and overlooked by peers in school, the parent must try to discover if it is a passing problem or a persistent one, and if the child faces benign neglect or aggressive rejection. If the child repeatedly has an issue with pleasurable peer interactions over a long period—two to three months— there is cause for concern. Research shows that the pain of being excluded is not very different from the pain of physical injury. Rejection also has serious implications on an individual’s psychological state. Social rejection can affect emotions, cognition and even physical health. It increases feelings of anger, anxiety, jealousy, sadness and sometimes, even leads to depression. When social neglect affects a child, it tells on his ability to send and receive non-verbal cues, such as tone of voice and body language (on which social relations depend). The
child may also show physical disturbances in the form of disturbed sleep, and low immunity. Even brief episodes of rejection can sting. Though social rejection can affect a child of any age, it is during adolescence that the experience affects the child the most. Adolescents are already struggling with fluid in-group and out-group rules, and as such, maintaining peer relationships can be fraught with difficulties, leading to complications. Adolescence, therefore, is a period during which social exclusion maybe particularly distressing. When selfesteem is attacked in the teenage years, adolescents experience a sense of helplessness and, what is termed, a ‘meaningless life syndrome’. The child is unfocused and is not able to articulate any achievable goals.