What are you doing?

I am always excited to travel even to a known destination and if it is a place that I haven't visited before gives me a double thrill. Getting on a train to get the right seat has always been an enticing experience for me. As soon as the train arrived, like a child, I wait for the coach to stop in front of me. If my allotted coach is far away I always make sure to walk to that distance to get inside rather than boarding any other coach. It was one such eventful journey I boarded the train. I got a right seat to sit down and read the lovely book which I was waiting to read with no disturbance. Train journeys meant for reading good books. I opened the book which I was dying to read for a long time. The initial pages were interesting and I was flowing with the life of the personality in the book. While I was reading the book, I was distracted by a lovely little child who was sitting on the other side of the aisle with her mother. As I was reading, I was also fascinated to watch their life story. As per my observations then and there the child was clinging to her mother and was in a mood to explore like any other child.

From the beginning of the journey,  I saw the mother was hooked to her smartphone than spending time with her child. She was browsing the phone by not giving any rest and relaxation to the phone. Her child was very adorable and she didn't even bother to ask for the phone nor in a position to disturb her. The child was in her own mood to talk something by herself and spent the rest of the time by watching the neighbors. To continue with the smartphone usage the mother continued to order chickpeas, biscuits, snacks, tea, and coffee whenever anyone comes to the compartment to sell their product. All the snacks have been gently passed on to her daughter and the mother conveniently spent her time on the phone. I was surprised to see the little girl having that much amount of patience. 

Few hours passed, the mother became so much tired of watching Whatsapp and she slept. The girl after having all the snacks and playing by herself all alone has got bored. While her mother was sleeping, she was sneaking from her seat and wanted to socialize with everybody in the compartment. She stood in her seat and told me "Don't wake up my mother. I am going to play" and she was walking down in the train coach. After some time  I asked her, "Why are you going outside. Please stay in your seat". Hearing those words her mother woke up and asked her to stay in the same seat with her. Just because I noticed the incident, the mother spent some more time with her and she continued going back to her mobile. 

The whole incident bothered me a lot. The smartphone captured most of us inside the four corners of the screen and made everyone as prisoners. None of us are spared from the evil devil. Only a few conscious human souls know the limitation of using it in the right way and at the right time. Train journeys are worth to remember and it's even worth when you are alone traveling with only your daughter or son. Because you have got the undivided time to spend a lot with your children. At home, mothers are always multitasking the work at most of the times. In a travel, there is nothing to take care except your family, belongings and the memories. Travelling itself is a wonderful phenomenon. There is always a lot to learn every time you travel whatever the mode of the transport. During the course of travel, be kind to your eyes, your family and look everything around you. Make memories and learn something and more importantly spend time with your family. 

How to encourage children

A few months ago, my younger son drew a piece of art and handed over to me. He said to me to send his drawing to the Young world to publish the same. I sometimes forget to do that. So he reminded me every now and then to complete the work. Finally one fine day, I sent the artwork through email and I almost forgot the same. Every week he used to check every edition of the young world. He was disappointed to see his art work not being published in the young world. A few weeks later, gradually he lost interest in doing art work and he completely quit the process. If I ask him to start anything new, he would give me hundred different excuses to escape from the request. 

Weeks passed, months passed and one fine day his school correspondent pinged me in WhatsApp indicating that his artwork has been published in the Young World. My son was excited to the core. He never thought it will be out in the world. It was like a miracle and a dream coming true for him. He asked me to show the newspaper to him. He was holding the newspaper and staring at his artwork for zillion seconds. He did not want to come out of the scene so soon. After few weeks, we could see another art work from him getting published in the Young World. This time he was really happy. No words to describe his ecstasy and the feeling. 

A couple of days later, I can see my son sitting on his study table and started doing artwork on his own. Nobody insisted him to do the work. The huge encouragement he got by seeing his name in the newspaper did all the trick. Every time he would like to see his name and his work in the magazine. It is quite natural for any human being and it is a good addiction. We often have so many dreams and goals for our children. However, if we can direct them to pursue in the right direction everything is achievable.

 Every goal of the parent is possible by channelizing their thoughts in the right manner. I don't mean to say we should force them to achieve something. They don't know what is good and what is not. For example, in my case, I was asking him to spend a little time in the art which was not happening for a long time until his work got published. I won't say I forced him towards the target. But there is a way to make them get there. Similar way we think that our children should be great readers, thinkers, and develop their creative analysis. These are great goals. Making them achievable is all in our hands. We need to figure out only the right way to get there. 

Hold On

"Amma, I stood among the top 3 list of the 100-meter race" the voice swelled with pride when my 11-year-old entered the home. I was surprised and excited. I have no words to say. Despite they were made to sit in the hot sun for long hours, many children proved their mettle right during the recent sports heat conducted by the school. Even though he says me often, that he is considered one of the best runners in the class, I acknowledge it slightly and move on. We don't indulge in that discussion for hours. However, this time when he conveyed the news everything felt different. I didn't expect this to happen in our life at all.

I remember vividly what happened when he was young. I used to take him to the play ground often. I invariably tried in all the ages, may be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years. He would run back home leaving all the friends behind. He didn't show even a single percent interest towards physical activity. I used to contemplate like a worried mother. How do I make his interest towards the ground? What would be the right attempt? Many questions were moving around in my mind, but nothing was fixed in concrete and I dropped the idea finally. 

In the recent past before a year ago, I joined him in a tennis coaching class. Before playing tennis, they are supposed to do a lot of warm ups including running for some time. He was going to the classes consistently by force and at a point, he was a self-starter by himself. The magic happened there and he was falling in love with the workout. It took years of patience and consistent effort. 

The victory made me think that nothing is impossible. A boy whom I thought will never get to the ground and do running or anything in life gradually developed an interest for the same and excelling in the same become unimaginable. If you have started a business and nothing is working out at the present, hold on, you will see the magic within some time. If you are a mother, who is worried about the future of your child, hold on, you will see the magic after some years. If you are working in an IT sector, but not happy about the achievement for this year, hold on, you will see the magic in the coming year. All this can happen, only when you are consistent and work towards the right path. When your mind peeps out to you and says, "Hey, it's enough, I am done with it,", stop that inner voice and say, "Hold on, there is a magic brewing in God's factory".

Magnified Gratitude

It was a warm Sunday afternoon. I felt like taking a cozy nap. But we had to head out for a speakers forum for a contest. So the idea of sleeping was destroyed. After a sumptuous lunch, we got ready and drove to the destination. We reached on time. The venue was well arranged and everybody was all set in place for the contest. The contestant's age group varied from 5th grade to 10th grade.

 They were all in the mood of preparing and delivering the best in the speech contest. As I was also on the team, I got to interact with many members. While I was in a discussion with a parent, I remembered her daughter singing on a big stage and was about to telecast in a TV. 

 I told the parent that her daughter sung well and that song was my favorite number. She said "Thanks" and we parted ways.

 The Contest went well. We finished everything and came back home late night. Around 10'O clock I got a ping in the Whatsapp. I checked the message. It was from the girl who sung well.

It read, "Thanks so much for letting my Mom know that I sang well". It came as a surprise for me. I talked all this to her mother. Like every one of us, she also would have discussed the same at home.

 But how many of us would take some time to tell our gratitude for the person who wished for us? Leave about adult, she was a school child probably from 8th or 9th grade. I was mesmerized.

If a child has the innate nature of gratitude in them, I wonder the maturity of the child when she grows up. Definitely, I believe it is only of the very holistic healthy habit which we all need to instill in our children by the way we practice in our life. Do you all agree?

Jumping fun

Pooja holidays were much fun. I hope many had gone out for vacation. I assume those who stayed at home had fun filled days with your children. It remains the same with me. We had a fabulous time together. 

We talked, laughed and entertained us.  It was one of those days, my little 5 year was jumping from the sofa. Initially I didn’t notice what he was doing. 

When I focused my eyes on him, he got down and then he moved two books in the front and started to jump. I asked him, “What are you doing?” He said, “I am keeping the books as my target and I am planning to jump further ahead of the books”. I was astonished and excited.

After watching him doing jumps continuously I instructed him, not to do the same for a long period of time. He immediately turned to me and said, “I need to do my best jump”. I have no words. I kept quiet for few more minutes.

As he started to play again, I wondered at myself, am I keeping a goal and doing my best for the day or the day just goes on like every day. This question is definitely a take away for me to ponder on the thoughts and work at myself. Anything can be learned from anyone as long as we are willing to learn. Do you all agree?

Feedback

The evening was breezy and cool. I was holding the hand of my 5 year old and walked towards the park. Kids of various ages were skipping, running and playing tennis inside the court. That was the first day of tennis practice for my 5 year old. He was puzzled, curious and hesitant to talk to the coach.

I was there with him till he felt comfortable and used to the environment. The Coach asked the little one to do few rounds around the park and to do few skips. That was the first day he was trying to do skipping. Whenever there was little jerk in the skipping, he always said, “I want to do a good one, so please don’t count this”. I was amazed at his determination.

          After everything was over, he went inside the court to play Tennis. His coach           allowed him to learn how to toss the ball for few minutes. With that his session was done and he was trying to interact with senior members in the team. 

Overall he enjoyed the session and the practice.

          When we came outside the court, a strange lady walked by and asked, ‘Why did you join him this early in the Tennis class? Don’t you think he is too young to take lessons"? I said to her politely, “He loves to play Tennis. So I joined the class”. 

She went away without answering anything.

           The reason for sharing this incident here is, People may come with different perspectives and solutions for you. Free advice will come from anywhere, it may be constructive for your kid or it may  be destructive. So don’t be the victims of any comment from anyone, instead think which would best suit your child, follow that and move on. That will make you climb the right ladder for you and your child.