Active Parenting - Quantiy v/s Quality time!

19th Feb'11 marks a significant step towards some serious value add to XSEED Preschool parents. XSEED Preschool (XPS) PVC team put up a special session for the preschool parents with Dr. Rachna Singh, a parent psychologist. Just the effort of putting up this session amidst all the annual function preparation & time crunch faced by the mentors & the acting Principal Anjana makes me sit up and applaud. Kudos!

On my way to XPS, a lot of thoughts played on my mind. How will the session go? Will the expert connect? How many parents will turn up? The first sight of many vehicles parked just outside the park view campus relaxed me on some counts. While i stepped in the XPS premises, the new security guard made an impression by doing a thorough job & sanitizing my hands. I noticed Miloni, Bobby and Anindita among children just about begining a story telling session. Soon after i walked to the community centre and took a seat behind. With close to 25 engrossed parents, the session had begun.

Anjana had clearly done a lot of research on the expert, Rachna Singh a seasoned psychologist from Escorts Heart Hospital & Artemis came across as hands on and made a solid connect with the parents throughout. The session started with a settling in drill for all parents followed by an informal interaction with parents around their concerns. Next, it dwelved into various parenting styles, the changing environment & culminated with some fabulous role plays from parents.

I'm sharing some key statements and moments here in no necassary sequence.

a)What has changed today compared to the times when we were growing up!
-Joint family is amiss todaywhile we grew up with chacha chachis and bhaiya, didis, our children don't have the extended family support
-children are perpetually busy with electronic gadgets and hardly seen in outdoors with nature like our times
- Children have too many choices on their behest today, right from what do they eat, to clothes, to toys & so on so forth
-Father today needs to be a friend compared to an authoritarian cum FYI character in yester times
- Going out for a meal used to be a big occassion, once a month at best compared to now when we almost take our children out to malls almost every weekend

b) Some common parent concerns & suggested tips by the expert
- If not given what he wants, my child revolts, holds his breath, cries incessantly, throws things. What do i do?
Tip- Use diversion as a tactic, be assertive, take a time out.
-I have twins, one is demanding and the other is equally giving? there is a clear imbalance. what do i do?
Tip- Talk to both your children and discuss with instances and role model the behaviour you would like to inculcate in your young one
-My son is obsessed with cars/cranes. Is there something wrong
Tip-Nothing at all, just be observant, its a fad which may change with times to come
-My child doesn't share his toys even with his best friend whereas his best friend shares his.what do i do?
Tip- Have a discussion with your child and help him realise that his behaviour is unruly and how his friend may also behave similarly and they both would then miss out on a good time together if he doesn't share his toys.
-My son imitates some of the cartoon characters and hits and throws things. what do i do?
Tip-Don't pay too much attention nor react while your child imitates. also, moderate you child's media habits.

c)Some very powerful statements
- Treat your child like an adult
- Your child is a reflection of your own behaviour
- Consistency in parenting styles between the two parents and over a period is crucial for your child's overall growth
- Conflicting parenting attitudes between husband and wife can result into a confused child
- It's important to have both, Quantity as well as Quality time
- It's important to have a separate time between you and your spouse without the child
-The first 3 months after the delivery of your child should always be prioritized with the mother in centre. Only when a mother is in her best emotional health can she raise a child well.

d) Some interesting moments
- Anuj's portrayal of a 4 year old
- Mothers definitely were attentive, but some great and active participation from fathers in the group
- Overall a highly interactive session

My personal key takeaway was
"Consistency in parenting attitude & styles is crucial to a child's overall growth"

Great initiative Anjana, Shafi, Amrinder, Ajit & the entire XPS team at PVC.

a child's imagination

Today by far was a special day.What made it special was a visit to a special abode, some very special company & a magnificent realization. Imagine a place just 15 minutes away from the city hustle bustle, quiet & inhabited by some animals in need of support and shelter. I reached Jeevashram a little earlier, i could notice the focus of the team on genuine care and upkeep of the resident animals. Jeevashram is a 10 minutes drive from NH8, EXIT no. 19 and falls in rajokri. While i waited for the XSEED Preschool children and mentors to arrive, reading through the mission of Jeevashram kept me occupied. Jeevashram means "refuge for animals", like the name suggests it works for animal welfare and also has a veterinary hospital.

After a while i saw some young and bright faces approaching Jeevashram. Lead by their mentors and Principal, they immediatly caught everyones attention at jeevashram including the resident animals, doctors & volunteers. Among the mentors, Snigdha had led this entire initiative. Being an animal lover herself, she had propsed this field trip for children sometime back as she felt strongly about the fact that a focused interaction for children with animals at Jeevashram would be a great way to help children build lasting concepts about animals, especially pet animals.

After settling in initially, each mentor got children in a close huddle and we had three groups of children led by mentors & accompanied by the preschool support staff ready to go for a round of the place. The smile on children's face signalled excitment and anticipation of what lied ahead. Doggy, puppy, white puppy....and so on started the buzz among children. Peacock caught the imagination of a few, especially the way it walked with the neck going back and forward making it really facinating. Bunny, rabbit caught the eye of some whereas some children loved the cats and imitated with the sound of "meow". They next saw a donkey and some cows from a distance calling them out,with a "eureka" tone as if they discovered something live out of their books. The mentors were keeping a close vigil on each child, making it sure that children had their water bottles and rest in right time. Arti, Aditi, Sujata, Bobby, Shweta, led by Anjana & supported by Ajit made this experience enjoyable for each child.

While i could not help being happy & pensive at the same time, i imagined how would it look from a child's eyes, this truely was close to a fairy tale for the child. I realized the true value of experience and action in learning a concept. Just the fact that each child now saw these animals in a manner true to XSEED preschool philosophy made me realise the value of timing these field trips, closest to concept introduction so as to staying true to building lasting & strong concepts. Animal refuge, Jeevashram truely was a fairy tale of cats & puppies, rabbits & peacock for each XSEED preschool child. Today is special.....Thanks Snigdha!

Innovation for superior learning outcomes

Everytime i observe a classroom from a distance or closer, many thoughts
cross my imagination. How it used to be for me in the classroom, my favourite
subject, my favourite teacher.And then i realise that how it's so coincidental that
my favourite subject was always the one taught by my favourite teacher.May be, its not so coincidental afterall. I then thought of asking some friends about this and got the same answer, their favourite subject was the one taught by their favourite teacher.

The role of teacher is often thought in a set framework, but then is it really enough to operate in these set coordinates, that of syllabus, assessment, observation & so on. Perhaps these are very important parameters for effective teaching, but then, isn't it about the child, about learning. If we keep learning ahead of teaching, an imaginative teacher, is may be, more important in the classromm than anything else she may be. No formal grounding, degree or training can compensate for this crucial quality in a teacher.

If i was to be a child again i would like to be taught all my subjects by Sir. Eric, M'am. Manjula, & Thomas sir. They helped me learn different subjects in different classes, right from an early age to senior schooling. Now, when i look back and think, i realise that the biggest common virtue among them was "Imagination & Innovation". More than anything, they always used to introduce concepts in a new way every single time, answer a query with some great examples and on the spot innovation to build basic and lasting understanding. None of them ever seemed to have had a fix notion.

Among many such thoughts, three broad thoughts perhaps are the keystones which differentiate a good and an exceptional teacher.

1. Innovation while preparing for a class
Have noticed that this is most critical while introducing a new concept in the classroom. Difficulty levels go up inversely with the age of a child. Younger the child, the more difficult it is to effectively introduce a new concept. Imagine, introducing the concept of "wild animals" to a 2 year old. I remember observing the class of this young teacher and the experience left me stunned. This young girl welcomed the class & started by uncovering the cloth over a hand made forest, she called it "wild". Soon after, she started telling a story about the "wild" and one by one introduced a wild animal to children, with puppets, sounds, music, & pictures.Not only did she create some handmade props but also crafted a story carefully and prepared for hours to get best results in those 20 minutes of concept introduction. Innovation in advance while preparing for that crucial "concept introduction" adds immensly to learning effectiveness.

2. Innovation in the classroom
Got to read this wonderful mail recently from Calicut XSEED Preschool mentor, shamima. She's shared one of her class innovation in this mail.Am pasting the mail copy as it is here.

"we at XSEED Preschool calicut are happy to see the way our kids write. They try their level best to write in their own way n they manage to write it well, our only concern is their formation and handwriting which we are working on.
I would like to share with you that when we do the word wall we play a small game called ...Find who is hiding in...This happened when i was introducing the word bone and and i just told them hey there is a number name hiding there, and all of a sudden the kids got very excited and said its 'one' and one of them said its so easy just put a 'b' in front of one and we can write bone and since then whichever word we introduce the kids try to find who is hiding in, last week when we introduced the word machine a child said 'chin' is hiding in and now every single child in the class knows to write the word 'machine' without any mistake. This technique has helped us a lot in implementing word wall and sight reading has become much easier and a lot more fun for mentors and kids :)"

This is a classic case of impromptu innovation in the classroom. Some may argue that this is a matter of chance and may happen to any mentor anywhere. True perhaps, but then i believe that only when a mentor is alert about these opportunities and believes in continious improvement would she be able to exercise impromptu innovation in the classroom, makes all the difference.

3. Sharing & monitoring effective innovation
It's one thing to imagine & innovate and another to make it a habit. If shamima didn't share and document her innovation of "find who is hiding", none of us could have benefitted, including her ownself. Imagine to have a repository of "innovation for effective learning", with some detailed case studies like the one from shamim. I can't stop thinking of the power of such shared repository of effective innovation across XSEED preschool mentors. It would enable each mentor to "prepare" so much better for each new concept, each day & hence improve learning outcomes for each child. Keeping child at the centre of this innovation for effecive learning will ensure best experiences for each learner & mentor.

Look forward to your views on this.