ParentsWorld May 2019

India’s Top 10 Trekking Trails

With the onset of summer, what better time for hoisting backpacks and disappearing into the wilderness? ParentsWorld presents a list of the country’s Top 10 trekking destinations

For outdoor enthusiasts and free spirits, trekking/hiking along untrodden ways is the best way to explore nature in its most pristine form. Walking through swathes of green forest, traversing […]

Helping children to love science

With science teaching-learning in schools stuck in a time warp, science educators and evangelists advise parents to take the lead in providing children opportunities to discover the wonders of science outside of school. ParentsWorld suggests ways and means to enable parents to provide children access to enjoyable, experiential science education – K.P. Malini, Mini P. & […]

Encouraging creative thinking in children

PW invited parents of the Salwan Public School, Gurgaon, to share insights on how they encourage their children to think imaginatively and creatively

“We believe creativity and ingenuity play a major role in personality development. Therefore no matter how exhausted we are after a day’s work, we always encourage our nine-year-old daughter Kavya (class IV) […]

Neologism is about coining new words

The words cold-blooded, blushing and amazement have something in common. English bard and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) invented them. They didn’t exist before he coined them. Neologism is the formation of a new word or phrase which often becomes part of the English language after common use.

While many neologisms have become part and parcel […]

Cold Noodle Salad Recipe

INGREDIENTS

 500g soba noodles
 1 ½ tsp dark sesame oil
 1/3 cup rice vinegar
 1/3 cup soy sauce
 Juice from one lime
 Zest of one lime
 2 tbsp brown sugar
 2 minced garlic cloves
 2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
 1 cup finely […]

Fruity Ice Pops

INGREDIENTS

 3 cups strawberries (or other fruit like kiwi,
other berries)
 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
 1 tbsp honey

Preparation guide

 Blend the berries, honey, and lemon juice.
Strain mixture through a sieve to remove seeds if any.

Pour into moulds, making sure to leave room at the top. Insert sticks all the way down […]

Cooking with children: Chicken and Grapes

Summer holidays are the perfect time to get children to learn the culinary arts, an essential life skill which will hold them in good stead through their adult lives. Moreover, parent-child cooking sessions promote family bonding and provide a wonderful opportunity to educate children about healthy diets. Here are some easy recipes to start with: Parvathy […]

Avoid health and dietary supplements

Most parents believe that they are failing their children if they don’t do something to ‘fatten’ them. This flawed reasoning is driving numerous parents to feed children dietary supplements such as vitamins and minerals which do more harm than good – Dr. Gita Mathai

It’s quite common to hear middle class parents and grandparents expressing dissatisfaction […]

Make a Friendship Potpourri Jar!

Do it NOW!

Are you looking for a special way to tell your friend you care? Make a potpourri friendship jar that your friend will treasure!

Get a pretty glass or plastic (transparent) jar or take an old one and remove the labels by soaking it in warm water.

Fill the jar with a mixture of goodies as […]

Heart to Heart

Hello Children!

If fun and excitement is what you’re looking for, here’s the place for you! Kidzone presents proposals to rev you up, give you great ideas and help you do some interesting things solo and with other children.

Jump right in and join the action with our cool ideas, activities, engrossing stories, puzzles and more.

Also send […]

Help! My teenager has greying hair

My son is only 16 years old but 75 percent of his hair is grey. We were advised to shave it off but the regrown hair is also grey. He doesn’t have dandruff. Is his greying hair because of vitamin deficiency or a skin disorder? Will medication or protein supplements help? Should he use hair […]

Coping with peer pressure & poor body image

My 13-year-old daughter wears thick spectacles for myopia. She hates wearing them because she is ridiculed by her classmates and is insisting on undergoing corrective laser surgery. But friends tell me that such procedures should be performed only after an individual crosses the 18 years age threshold. What’s your advice? — Balakrishnan Nair, Kochi

An ophthalmologist […]

Vehicular pollution leading cause of childhood asthma

Vehicular pollution caused asthma in 350,000 children in India in 2015, reveals a study published in Lancet Planetary Health (April). The study, which surveyed 194 countries, says that India reported 350,000 pollution-related childhood asthma cases, second highest after China, where 760,000 cases were detected followed by the US (240,000), Indonesia (160,000) and Brazil (140,000). Researchers […]

Boredom benefits

Your April cover story detailing creative summer options for active children was useful and relevant (PW April). I especially enjoyed the DIY section which featured the socially purposive activity of building bird feeders and bird baths, and plogging which combines jogging with picking up litter.

Also thank you for advocating that boredom is good for children […]

Letter from the Managing Editor

As a school student in the 1980s, two subjects which me and many of my peers dreaded were maths and science. Three decades later despite the dawn of the hi-tech Google age, student sentiments towards these subjects haven’t changed much. The overwhelming majority of India’s 250 million school-going children continue to be afraid of science […]