10 SIMPLE RAINY SEASON ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS 

I`m in love with rains since childhood, I miss the crock crock of the frogs which we use to hear all night (I no more hear or see any). But times have changed and kids have to stay indoor most of the times during rainy season. This can be very boring. So here I bring 9 super easy activities to keep your child happy and busy this rainy season.

·                     PAPER BOAT FLOATING - our childhood memories can never be complete without those paper boats No electronic gadget can beat the fun of enjoying floating paper boats with your kiddy gang. So if you have forgotten to make one, check out how to make it on YouTube and add this bonus to your little one`s childhood memories.

·                     SPLASH IT– When did you last got out to enjoy the rain? Kids are not electronic robots to be worried of playing in rain all the time (though now robots are also waterproof). Take out the umbrellas and rain coats, go out get wet, hop and play with your little one. Enjoy the 5D beauty of nature for free.

·                     WATERY CRAFTY – Try out some cool watery craft, take out those water colors, brushes, colored chalks and go creative  with- water color painting ,drawing with chalk on wet floor, balloon painting, finger painting, tie-dye are some options you can explore.

·                     ONCE UPON A TIME- Rainy season gives wonderful opportunity to treat your kids with storytelling games. Apart from the regular storytelling, try out some twist like making a story on imaginary situation, completing the story, new ending for a classical fairy tale, try adding rain scene to any story etc.

·                     GO CAMPING –indoor camping is fun. Don’t worry if you don’t have a proper tent, put your creativity to work using an umbrella, bed sheet, cushions and torch. And see your kids enjoying as if in a real camp.

·                     NAP SHAP- Oh yes nothing more relaxing then enjoying a nap with your little in the cozy blanket, hearing the sound of pitter patter raindrops.

·                     BOARD GAMES  – Most of us pretend to love them, but they are lying in our cupboard. Take out that Ludo, carom board, chess, bingo, junga blocks, believe me you’ll have a great family time with them.

·                     MOVIE TIME - Put on some all time favourite movies for kids like- Ratatouille, Stuart little, Home alone. Pop some corns and let the kids enjoy the matinee time.

·                     CHAI PAKORA PARTY Rainy season can never be complete without the yummy veg pakoras with ginger tea. So let your kids enjoy the rains relishing all time favourite chai-pakora, in your balcony.

·                     TELE GET- TOGETHER – Today kids life has become so busy that they have no time to know about even their closest relatives. Why not use this indoor time to have a family chat with your relatives, elders and let the child talk to them. Teach them how to talk to elders on phone.an Skype or Google hangout is even better.

Enough of gyan. Before the rains stop, let the kids go out enjoy with these simple tips. Happy Rainy season.

आयुर्वेदा FOR KIDS

आयुर्वेदा  FOR KIDS

Aurveda -the science of life  needs no explanation. Here we are refreing to it`s paediatric branch

known as Bala Tantra or Kaumarabhritya. This is a branch of ancient science , offering simple wisdom to keep our kids  healthy and happy in this fast paced world.

Aurveda devides body types into three variants - Vata, Pitta & Kapha. Check out the prominent characteristics in your child and tips to deal with them.

VATA- very active but low stamina and poor muscle tone.lean and thin, tends to drop wight easily, always have demand  of food. no regular bowel habits- constipation /loose stools. May pass hard & dark coloured stools.These children have trouble getting to sleep and wake up several times. they memorise easily and forget too. generate new ideas, sensitive, irritable, anxious . Good at making new friends.

RECOMMENDATION - Always carry a jacket or sweat shirt along, as they feel cold even when everyone else is cosy.use earth colors to decorate their room.include honey & sweet fruits in diet, avoid beans, sprouts & cabbage.Touch therapy is important.

PITTA- these children  can perform vigorous exercise.medium body structure with average weight, gains & losses weight easily.Good appetite,become irritable,when hungry.no constipation.mostly have a restfull sleep. wake up fresh even after a short sleep. remember & retain easily, Strong visualisation, very emotional, get angry easily. fearless,good at making friends, work for self development. 

RECOMMENDATION -Allow some alone time daily, Use blue & green clothing & room decoration.Use aromatherapy of jasmine, lavender to soothe the child,When you see them heating up, use water, wash hands & face . They are competitive themselves, so avoid pushing them to compete. 

KAPHA- strong built,tendency towards overweight.children with plump cheecks and easy in weight 

gain. moderate desire of food. They are energetic even  without adequate amount of food. bowel habit is usually regular.enjoy sleeping a lot, drop off to sleep quickly and  sound sleep.  memory is long lasting.have a stable mind.emotions:they are very emotional. need care.They avoid confrontation with other children. calm & quite.responsible & committed to task.have  very few friend.

RECOMMENDATION -Reduce cold milk, cheese, sweets and processes foods. Include ginger, garlic onion in food preparation. Use yellow, red & orange clothing & room decoration.

Apart from individual tips, here are a general " AURVEDIC ROUTINE" for all kids:

1. Early Bird Routine –   early to bed - early to rise  and  eating balanced meals on time in are  the  foundations  of  good health.  
2. Warm  Oil  Massage  –A  daily  oil massage before bath time  boosts children’s immunity,  and calms  their  nervous  system.
3. Freshly Cooked meal - Feeding kids  fresh, warm,  nourishing meals eg. hot cereals,  stewed  fruit, vegetable  soups  provide them daily nutrition,  adding digestive  spices  like cumin,cinnamon,  and  turmeric clears the toxins.
4.  Honey  &  Ginger   –honey  helps  to  reduce excess  mucus  and  the ginger  juice  keeps  digestive  fire  strong.  A  daily  teaspoon of this combination (plus a pinch of turmeric) fights off common colds, flues, and allergies.
5. Warm Milk –Milk has Ojas qualities, cooked with spices like cardamom, ginger, cinnamon,  nutmeg, saffron, natural date sugar, and a dab of ghee is easily digested. One cup before bedtime balances emotions and induces sound sleep.
6. Cut off  screen time- TV,mobiles,computer,commercial advertisements  leaves  lasting  impressions on kids’ minds.Avoid them as much as possible.
7. Physical Play–  Playing stretches provides exercise and also develops  their creativity  and  imagination.  

Note- All this information has been taken from reliable websites,but  kindly contact an aurvedic doctor for authenticity.

Happy Natural Parenting...

10 SELF TESTED FAMILY TIME IDEAS TO ENJOY NEW YEAR SPIRIT

10 SELF TESTED FAMILY TIME IDEAS TO ENJOY NEW YEAR SPIRIT

Though the New Year party is over, but the kids are still in the celebration mood. Constantly craving for more family events. We are but in our busy life forgetting to utilize this time as a wonderful opportunity to create lifetime memories for our kids.So here I bring you some simple but practical ideas to enjoy quality family time.

1.      BONFIRE PARTY- Nothing can beat this amazing experience. Venue can be your lawn area or any of your friend`s house with lawn area. Get the barbecue on, light up the fire and you are ready for the best family time ever.

2.      PICNIC TIME – Winters are the best picnic time, plan for a place which has large area to run and play, may be a lake side or a zoo, even your neighboring park would do. Pack the picnic basket with fruits, cakes, cookies, rolls, coffee, water bottle, cups and hand towel. Do carry some activity kits, outdoor & indoor games and coloring kits along.

3.      PAJAMA PARTY- Try out a family pajama party, get into your pajamas, ensure your music and pop corn basket is ready, and start the fun. You can start with truth or dare.

4.      MOVIE TIME- Decide upon a movie which all agree on, can be a comedy, science fiction, anything you can agree on. Get the nachos & popcorn handy with cold drinks. Get lights and sitting arrangement ready and switch on the player.

5.      GAME NIGHT- This one is an all time hit, and needs no planning. Just grab the indoor games, puzzles, quiz games and off you go.

6.      ROCK & ROLL – What better a family time then having fun with dance and music. You can play musical games like paper dance; statute etc., guessing the song is also a good one to enjoy or just play the music and jus dance, dance, dance.

7.      ART NIGHT – Decide on some art activities like coloring, drawing , painting, craft etc. collect the material available at home and play on. You can even display it later.

8.      STORY PARTY – There is no age bar to enjoy stories; nothing can beat the experience of enjoying story time in cozy quilts during winters. We all enjoyed it in our childhood. So pass on the same memories to your kids.

9.      EXERCISE TOGETHER –A morning exercise ritual for the whole family is a healthy family time ritual and fun too. You can get some aerobic or yoga videos, if you need guidance.

10.  SOCIAL WORK – What better way to start a new year then a joint family activity to help the less privileged ones. You can decide on collecting woolens from neighborhood and then visiting an old age home or orphanage to distribute happiness.

These are just few ideas which you can mix and match to create your own customarised family time event. Enjoy & have fun. 

10 TIPS TO IMPROVE KIDS IMMUNITY THIS WINTER:

10 TIPS TO IMPROVE KIDS IMMUNITY THIS WINTER:

I`m sure you would have already taken out the woolens for your little ones. You have already started instructing them to avoid ice-cream & cold water. But still you are worried to improve the immunity of your child as each year we not only face the cough & cold but some new allergy or infections also.

Here are  10 tried and tested traditional ways (scientifically verified) which has been here for generations, to help your child have a good immunity shield to fight diseases:

1.     GO COLORFUL – fill your child`d plate with colorful seasonal veggies. And winter is ideal season for getting large variety of veggies. You have green leafy vegetables, cabbage, turnip, onion, broccoli, carrot, tomato, beans, peas, the list is endless. If your child screams at sight of them then try out dishes like stuffed parathas, pakodas, salads, pasta, sandwiches, tehri, soups, cutlets , omlette, chilla , uttapam, poha, upma & more.

2.     LOVE THE CARROT-Use ample amount of carrot as it is a good source of antioxidant & beta-carotene, try making- Halwa, juice, salad, carrot fingers, sandwich.

3.     ONION & GARLIC IN DIET -These also contain antioxidants, crush them & use in curries, soups & pasta where they are hard to be picked & thrown by kids.

4.     DRY FRUITS KICK THE POWER-Dry fruits are rich in Vitamin E & minerals. Use them in puddings, kheer, porridge, badam milk & cakes .

5.     BONE BROTH IS A MIRACLE – if your kids are non vegetarian, you must give them bone broth during winters, it`s easy to make (not quick), you can use it in soups & curries, it protects kids from cold.

6.     SLEEP LITTLE BABY- Proper sleep is essential for immune system throughout the year. In general kids require 10-12 hour sleep daily.

7.     DAILY MASSAGE- Daily oil massage during winters is an old Indian tradition running in most families. Massage improves immunity in kids.

8.     WARM WATER- During winters give kids warm water to drink. Keep boiled water in a flask & use it throughout the day. Also ensure hot drinks like hot milk with turmeric, hot milk with dry fruit powder, soups etc.

9.     WASH YOUR HANDS- make it a family ritual to wash hands with antiseptic soap whenever you come back to house from outdoor. This small change would go a long way in general health of the family.

10.  TOP UP WITH SUNLIGHT- Sunlight is the biggest source of Vitamin D which no other supplement can substitute. Vitamin D helps in calcium absorption, hence sun bath makes bones & teeth stronger, apart from improving the immunity.

So go out in the sun, play with the kids & don`t forget to take the healthy snack basket with you.

Have healthy & funfilled winters.   

8 WAYS OF TEACHING KIDS TO VALUE FREEDOM

8  WAYS OF TEACHING KIDS TO VALUE FREEDOM

It`s AUGUST- THE INDEPENDENCE MONTH. All the schools and parents plan to celebrate it in their own creative ways..fancy dress, craft, flag making , folk dances...I feel though celebrating freedom is important , it`s equally important to teach our little one`s why freedom is so precious and why they should avoid any trap that can take away their freedom in any form. Here are a few ways to do the same

• Switch off the NET- we used to read as kids -" technology is a good servant but bad master" . Today i see most of the kids spend their free time with technology, they crave for it, and they are addicted to it. It has started showing in their behavior that they no more play with these devices....now these devices are controlling our kids. Don`t let it happen. Once in a while specially AUGUST..ask kids to switch off all internet devices else these devices would take away their freedom..Controlling their urges, emotions, time, behavior & mind. 

• Avoid commercial trap - most often the commercial advertisements make kids their easy target, forcing kids to compel their elders to buy those unhealthy..useless things just for a free gift or to make them smarter, taller, fairer as promised . Explain your kids this is also a way to lose your freedom..teach them to make choices based on their needs and logic not because of a catchy ad..believe me this Z & alpha generation knows logic better than us...just facilitate them.

• Freedom has a price called self-reliance - So they want to have freedom..great..give it ...their own room to start off but them keeping that room clean and tidy is their responsibility, no help.  0-8 years of child development, are crucial to teach them self reliance. Avoid doing anything for your child which he/she is able to do as per their age. You`ll be amazed how happy your child would be to be self reliant..only if you let them with patience.

• Stories and tales of freedom- I grew with stories of great freedom fighters told to me by my Dadi, Nani and my mother. This had a lot of impact on me, on how much i value freedom. Tell them stories which give a message that freedom is not free; it was fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

• Creative ways - There are a lot of creative ways to teach value of freedom to kids. Ask them to write story on a picture with a girl releasing a bird from cage, to write on how they would feel if they were taken away the right to education. Ask them to recite a poem on freedom, making a collage on freedom fighters of India. For elder kid try a practical project on RTI.  

• Trip to cantonment- if possible take them on a trip to Cantonment, make them talk to soldiers, see pictures, to let them know how they guard the nation in adverse conditions so that we can have freedom.

• Right to Freedom but Duty? - Freedom is not just a right but duty is the other side of the coin. Teach them to respect other person`s freedom as well.  Let them wait for their turn till the first person has completed their speech, waiting for their turn on a swing, keeping our city clean, saving energy are all duties associated with freedom. Not to mention, you have to teach all this by being a role model yourself.

• Watch movie on freedom fighters- Get some freedom fighters movie CDs and watch together. Have a talk after the movie about freedom and it`s value.

So this August don`t feel contended by teaching your kids about colors in "TIRANGA"...teach them the value of freedom. And in process, may be you`ll also recall some....

5 WAYS TO RAISE A WELL ORGANISED KID

5 WAYS TO RAISE A WELL ORGANISED KID

1.     DAILY PLAN: Prepare a daily schedule with mutual consent. Suggest your child to keep the time for study when is mind is fresh, TV time can be negotiated but fixed duration. Include meal and reading time. Saturday can be revision day and Sunday can be a free play day.

2.     ROLE MODEL: if you want the child to be well organized...first check yourself. Kids learn what they see not what they are told to do.

3.     FLEXIBILITY: allow flexibility in case of sudden changes eg. b day party, guest etc. , don`t make it a military camp. Check your goals weekly, allow some daily flexibility.

4.     21 DAYS: follow the magical 21 days trick (it works on all age groups), decide on an award if the child follows schedule for 21 days.. then it`ll be a habit.

5.     REVIEW: Review hits & misses at the end of the month, make changes. 

HAPPY PARENTING ...

7 CHANGES TO RAISE SMARTER KIDZ

7 SIMPLE CHANGES IN DAILY LIFE TO MAKE KIDS SMARTER

1. KEEP LEARNING - Show them that learning something new keeps one ahead ...a new skill, new art, new music, new game, new friendz...anything & everything.

2.FIXED SCHEDULE - Kids feel secure and confident when they know what is the routine. A regular time for Eating, Reading, Sleeping would make life smoother for both of you.

3. KNOW THE NEWS OF THE DAY- read newspaper, online news or on TV... have a discussion on top 5 news of the day.

4. NO BACK BITING- be a role model , show them that gossiping is not a natural process , use your time for better options like, reading, gardening etc.

5. CREATE A POSITIVE ATMOSPHERE- kids learn from us, if they see us struggling with stress...believe me..coping with stress would be a problem to them as they grow. Show them that every problem has a solution, only it may take some time for you, to find one.

6. HAVING FUN- add lots of masti maza in your daily routine, jus jumping on dancing suddenly on a commercial break, making funny faces, innovate ... ...

7. GO ON A DATE - yap go out on a date with your child, just one child and you at a time...you`ll have a better connect and would get to know them better as individual. Kids also get a feeling of importance.

WARNING- trying these steps may lead a sudden rise in your kidz smartness quotient.