ParentsWorld July 2021

Larger vegetable meal servings increase children’s veggie intake

Adding more vegetables to children’s meal servings results in increasing their vegetables intake, says a study conducted by Penn State University, USA and published in the journal Appetite (June). According to university researchers, when they doubled vegetable servings from 60 to 120 gms, children ate 68 percent more vegetables, or an additional 21 gms. Seasoning […]

Healthy Snack: Homemade Trail mix

Trail mix is a snack, typically a combination of granola, dried fruits, nuts, and sometimes candy, originally developed as a snack to be packed for long hikes. But nowadays trail mix is recommended for all-day healthy snacking. Storing trail mix snacks at home is a great way to keep children and adults off junk food […]

Handstands: Upside down Benefits

Inversion exercises such as handstands and headstands greatly improve spine health and the lymphatic system by removing body toxins, writes Monojit Ghosh

Many physical fitness workout programmes including pilates, yoga, and gymnastics, incorporate inversion exercises such as headstands, handstands, mountain positions and rolls. The species homo sapiens is constantly on its feet. Inversion exercises help to turn […]

Short Story

True Friendship

Lakshmi Narayan

She was born, not very pretty. She was born, not very smart. She was born, not very tactful. In other words, she was an awkward child, who grew up to be an awkward adult.

Even her parents found her an embarrassment. Her so-called friends bitched behind her back. She felt betrayed and alone.

One Saturday […]

Fun Facts

1 Apples, not caffeine, are more effectual at waking you up in the morning.

2 No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven times.

3 A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.

4 Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep your eyes from watering.

5 Bats always turn left when exiting a […]

DIY: Colourful Pom-Poms

Materials

2 balls of wool (different colours)
Craft glue
A pair of scissors
1 key ring
2 cardboard pieces (3-inch and 2-inch)

Take a ball of wool and wrap it loosely around the 3-inch cardboard piece. Repeat for the second ball of wool with the 2-inch cardboard piece.
Hold the wool firmly and remove from the cardboard piece, being careful to […]

A new hobby for the pandemic: Clouds Watching

Clouds watching is incrementally becoming an enjoyable hobby for children and adults during the current pandemic era. Is it a dog? Is it a rabbit? Is it a king sitting on his throne, or a monkey eating an apple? It offers tired eyes a therapeutic break from reading printed material and/ or staring at digital […]

Out of order with Hyperbaton

Hyperbaton is a figure of speech in which words, phrases, and clauses are rearranged in a sentence, without altering the meaning, writes Roopa Banerjee

“A nice time we had, the ducks playing, watching, the duck pond.” This sentence made you pause, I know. What I meant to say was “We had a nice time at the […]

Nagaland: The Edge of India

Encircled by Assam to the north, Burma and Arunachal Pradesh to the east and Manipur down south, this unspoilt land of green valleys and shrouding mists offers the visitor warm, colourful people and ecologically well-preserved habitats

A fascinating kaleidoscope of legends and lore, tribal wealth and pristine beauty, Nagaland’s multi-hued cultural tapestry offers the visitor warm, […]

Career Focus

Multiplying opportunities for Social Workers

As society becomes sensitive to the needs of the disadvantaged this hitherto abnegating profession is attracting the young and idealistic

In a country in which the majority of the population is poor and underprivileged, social work is a fast-growing profession which entails helping individuals — children, teenagers, adults, families, even whole communities and groups — to […]

My eight-year-old son is very shy.HELP!

My eight-year old son is anxious about meeting people. He used to be very shy at six, but we slowly got him out of his shell. But after the lockdown, he has again become very timid and reserved. Please help!

— Leena Saha, Kolkata

Many children are experiencing difficulty in interacting with peers and friends after almost […]

The power of Reading

With children forced to sacrifice outdoor play and experiences because of continuing pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, it’s become important for parents to inculcate the reading habit in them. Reading broadens children’s worlds and fuels their imagination and natural curiosity. Educators strongly recommend that parents start early by introducing youngest children to the world of books. […]

Child dental health Woes

Dr. Ashmita Sudhakar

Dr. Ashmita Sudhakar is a dental surgeon, Akshaya Dental Care Centre, Bengaluru

My eight-year-old son has a tooth growing above the gums. I don’t know whether it will adjust as he grows up. Should I visit a dentist?

— Ranjana K P, Mumbai

Occasionally, malformed teeth sprout in children. A common cause is a […]

Helping children connect with nature

PW invited parents of Purushottam Bhagchandka Academic School, Kolkata to share their thoughts on how to help children connect with nature

“I am a nature lover and have nurtured my five-year-old son Aayam to love and respect nature. The park near our house is his favourite go-to place especially to run around barefeet and feel the […]

Understanding teenage Eating Disorders

Adolescents are especially susceptible to eating disorders with the starting point usually being growing obsession with physical beauty, body weight and shape, writes Aruna Raghuram

“I am forever engaged in a silent battle in my head over whether or not to lift the fork to my mouth, and when I talk myself into doing so, I […]

Nine months: What to Expect

It’s important for pregnant women to be well-informed about what to expect during progressive nine months of pregnancy, writes Shreya Sanghani

After the initial joy of finding out that they are pregnant, most women are confronted with questions and anxieties about the next nine months experience, and are often overwhelmed with the unexpected bodily changes. Therefore, […]

Character building in Covid-19 Era

ParentsWorld presents expert advice on ways and means parents can build four important character traits of children — respect, integrity, resilience and responsibility — virtues which have corroded in the pandemic era, writes Aurelin Ruth, Cynthia John, Mini P.

Jaspreet Singh, a Bengaluru-based IT consultant and father of a four-year-old, smiles unapologetically, after helping his son […]

Letter from Managing Editor

In a society where marriages are less the union of two individuals and more about an economic alliance between two
families, divorce in instances of irretrievable breakdown of marriage is being grudgingly accepted. Over the past decade, divorce rates countrywide have zoomed from 1 per 1,000 to 13 per 1,000 marriages (2019). Several factors including […]