ParentsWorld March 2022

Short Story: When wishes come true

When wishes come true

-Lakshmi Narayan

Once upon a time there was a girl so greedy, she wanted everything. She asked the Source for more and more and the Source, like an indulgent parent, gave her all she desired and said with a smile, “And when will you be satisfied?” Dimpling, the lass coquettishly replied, “I’ll let […]

Encouraging healthy habits in children

PW invited parents of Delhi Public School Mihan, Nagpur to share healthy post-pandemic habits that they have introduced in their children’s life

“In the initial days of the Covid pandemic-induced schools’ lockdown, my eight-year-old daughter Sarisha would complain endlessly about how bored she was feeling and didn’t know what to do next. To end this condition, […]

Mind the gap with ellipsis

In its oldest sense as a rhetorical device, ellipsis implies the skilful exclusion of words suggested by a previous clause in the sentence

Roopa Banerjee

Many of us know ellipsis merely as a punctuation mark with three periods to indicate that some written matter has been eliminated from a sentence. However, in its oldest sense as a […]

Superfood Moringa

Drumstick leaves aka moringa, which have been used in Indian cuisine for ages, is the new superfood. The moringa oleifera plant is often referred to as the ‘miracle tree’ because of its medicinal benefits. Moringa leaves are rich in iron, calcium, potassium, vitamin A and B vitamins. They help to nourish skin and hair, protect […]

Five healthy hi-energy foods

With primary-secondary schools having reopened countrywide, children’s lives are again packed with full school days, music/dance and sports classes which result in hungry stomachs and frequent energy lows. Most parents dread the 4 p.m slump, when children’s energy levels plummet. The easy option is to reach for ready-made snacks, biscuits, chocolate bars or sugar-coated cereals, […]

Go snorkelling this summer

Anitha Bennett

Fortuitously India has a 7,516 km coastline offering picturesque tropical beaches and exquisite coral and marine life. So if your family is mesmerised by multi-coloured corals and bright coloured fish that live deep under, you needn’t go far. India offers many exotic snorkelling destinations. Among the most popular are Goa, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep and Andaman […]

Step-by-step drawing

Step-by-step drawing

Draw this duck, following the steps, and colour it.

Brainteasers

The 3 x 3 grid has three missing letters. Guess them so that each row and each column has a complete word.
Fill in the missing boxes so that every row and every column adds to 15. You can only use numbers from 1 to 9. And […]

Recycled treasures

Nandini P.

Teaching children to recycle objects and materials is a great way to encourage them to adopt an environment friendly lifestyle.
Here’s a DIY activity recycling old newspapers and magazines to craft a pen stand and/or flower vase.

Materials Needed

Newspaper
Thin wooden stick (skewer stick) or stiff plastic straws
Craft glue
Flat brush
Wood primer (optional)
Acrylic paints (optional)
Varnish (optional)

Methodology

Cut a […]

Start your own business

Cynthia John

Entrepreneurship education is the new subject of Indian K-12 education. Several progressive schools across the country are offering programmes in entrepreneurship development, including the Delhi state government which has recently launched an ‘Entrepreneurship mindset curriculum’ in all its public schools. The objective: to develop children’s entrepreneurship skills including communication, risk-taking, networking, critical and creative […]

Dhuandhar Waterfalls Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Seven off-the-beaten-track destinations

In this issue, we feature seven off-the-beaten-track domestic destinations for rest and recreation.

Jabalpur
Sited near the geographic centre of India, Jabalpur (pop. 1.4 million) is one of the major cities of the Hindi heartland state of Madhya Pradesh (pop. 87.4 million). Its defence related industries apart, Madhya Pradesh is famous for its Marble Rocks, a […]

My daughter has gluten allergy. Help!

Dr. Chandrasekar

My ten-year-old daughter has suddenly developed gluten allergy. She doesn’t have any other allergies. Should I cut out gluten foods completely from her diet or try to reintroduce them after three-four months?

— Sarah Thomas, Bengaluru

Gluten allergy or gluten sensitive enteropathy is also known as celiac disease, the severe form of which is diagnosed […]

Make a birth plan

A growing number of expectant parents are making birth plans – a written plan which communicates parental preferences during childbirth and post-delivery

Mini P.

Childbirth is a physically and emotionally draining experience for all couples, especially women. Many tend to feel out of control and intimidated by several decisions that need to be made during labour […]

Letter from managing editor

Much of the national debate within the educator and parent communities during the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, has centred around dangers of children contracting the virus, pros and cons of reopening schools, efficiency of online learning, and the learning loss suffered by children. Several studies have assessed and documented children’s learning loss […]

Parenting teens advice

Parenting teenage children is especially challenging because the adolescent years are a period of intense physical, psychological and emotional changes. We present a curated list of books to prepare and guide parents to cope with the challenges of parenting teenage children

-Poornima Dilip

HOW TO TALK SO TEENS WILL LISTEN AND LISTEN SO TEENS WILL TALK
By: […]

Boom time for yoga professionals

The demand for yoga professionals by far exceeds supply. And a career as a yoga trainer is fast emerging as a new vocation offering glitz, glamour, and upward mobility

Thanks to the global communication revolution, yoga — the ancient Indian science of mind and body therapy — has become a wonder science for people around the […]

Why children lie

My ten-year old daughter has started to tell lies. We have been trying to get her out of this habit but it doesn’t seem to be working. How do we make her understand that it’s wrong to lie?

— Priyanka Varma, Mumbai

It’s not unusual for young children to lie. There could be many reasons your daughter […]

Worrying about being a perfect mother makes it harder to be a good parent

Even armed with a Ph D in developmental psychology, I remember the frightening first moments after bringing my newborn daughter home from the hospital. I wasn’t sure what to do — and not at all confident that I was capable of being the parent she needed me to be. Every little decision about feeding and […]

Post-pandemic child mental health crisis

Teachers are reporting that children returning to classes after almost 700 days of remote online learning and all too often no learning at all, have suffered great emotional and mental damage. This is manifesting by way of deficient socialisation skills, irritability, anxiety, fear, depression and digital addiction

-Poornima Dilip, Johanna Preeti Shama, Nishiha David, Mini P. […]

Insomnia in childhood impacts sleep in adulthood

Insomnia in childhood impacts sleep in adulthood

Children who don’t get good quality, restful sleep are likely to suffer insomnia in adulthood, says a recent study of the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine. Researchers followed over 500 children from childhood, adolescence through young adulthood. The sample respondents and their parents answered questions about sleeping patterns and […]

Mailbox

Parenting coaches need

Your cover story on the rising popularity of parenting coaches (PW February) was interesting. A few years ago, parents consulting professionals to improve their relationship with children was unheard of. It was believed that parenting is instinctive and no additional training is needed to become a good parent.

But after reading your cover story […]