FINDING AND OWNING YOUR INNER VOICE

Just listen to your inner voice” or “Always follow your heart.” How many times have you heard these messages from gurus, coaches, and friends or have given this advice to others. Alas! Yet we have nurtured enough doubt in ourselves and suppressed these signals. 

At times you cannot hear that “inner voice” or have never dared to simply follow ones heart hence that relation has never been built.Yes! It’s a relation with your inner voice. 

You listen to people around you and follow the path that they show you. These are relationships you have, you trust or you look up to for guidance. But the fact is that you cannot run too far on borrowed logics or good or bad experiences of others. You can only do anything differently if you go against the current. Though your inner self might nudge you to do but logic does not permit that. However if you follow your heart results can be fantastic to fabulous. 

Trust me! there is no better way of creating a fulfilling and inspiring life than mastering the art of acknowledging your inner voice. In fact there is No other way. 

It is rightly said, “Intuition is the highest form of intelligence, transcending all individual abilities and skills.” 

Your inner voice can guide you to new levels of creativity and success. As you start acknowledging to your inner voice, your clarity and strength starts growing. However owning to your inner voice is just like learning to play cricket. You cannot really read about cricket and learn to play it. You need to play to experience it and practice to master it. 

Trust your inner voice. Be true to yourself and accept your first impulse and be bold to take any step. Be in surrender and keep asking questions to your inner self. Trusting your gut is recognising the signal that you receive and constantly acting on it. Do not let your doubts, resistance or fears take over. Be proactive and clear while expressing who you truly are.

As it is rightly said by Osho... 

"A truth cannot be read in scripture, a truth has to be lived only in the innermost temple of your being". 

Life is like a canvas. You are the painter of your life and you can create master pieces. Studies suggest that well known musicians, artist, successful businessman always listen to their inner voice, so why not you? It is a win win situation. You can become peaceful and successful and lead a balanced life. 

Mr Manoj Kumar
Principal
St Lawrence Public Sr Sec School
Dilshad Garden

PARENTING

What is Parenting?

Mountaineering the highest peak , getting enrolled in the list of book of world records ,performing high risk adventure task ,ruling over a sovereign country ,mastering the practice of taekwondo or breaking all the existing records of weight lifting.

No, parenting is none of these difficult tasks rather it’s a more challenging task put forth before the parents of current era. Current era!!! Is parenting a new term introduced in all known dictionaries of the world?? No, The term parenting became prominent in 1950’s in language used by psychologists ,sociologists ,Councillors or philosophers dealing or introducing new theories related to child development.

Keeping the little one in her womb for nine months ,carrying her bulky size, keeping a smile on her face when she could feel the turbulence going in her body is not a JACK’S JOKE.

When all this is so difficult, is parenting a more challenging task??

Perhaps the answer is in affirmative. The term parenting includes the sociology of the family, new kinship studies, social policy studies and medical anthropology that together contribute to the cognitive development of the child.

Was the concept not prevalent in earlier days or Easter years when females gave birth to five-six or more children. The children at that time were not fed properly?

They were fed but not spoon fed ;they were taught mannerism but not dictated or illustrated by their parents rather they were left independent to learn in the NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.

With rapid scientific and technological developments the child of this ROBOTIC AGE is much more smart. Born of modern mothers, they breathe less of oxygen and more of Technology . Operating the gadgets is something they learn before their birth. But with all these advancements and modernization today’s child requires much more than his ancestors. Fulfilling their materialistic demands is not sufficient . PARENTING is perhaps THE MOST DIFFICULT ART that deals with child’s physical, mental, emotional, social and psychological development.

Increase in corruption , high competitive atmosphere, blind race for success has made man crazy. He follows all evil practices, uses foul means, forgets the absurdities that hamper the morals, values and perspectives laid by our forefathers. All these affect the new generation adversely.

This tough scenario requires the Need of GOOD PARENTING. When said parenting is a most challenging art where both the parents need to put their mutual efforts to demonstrate the significant, enduring and protective influence of positive parenting practices especially in the foundation years of child's development.

In particular parent monitoring, open parent child communication, supervision and high quality of parent child relationship reduces the chances of high risk behaviour. Several recent intervention studies demonstrate immediate and long term protective effects on adolescent kid’s behaviour. Parental monitoring has a protective effect on adolescent behaviour in both ; middle class populations and poor urban environment.

The gist is modern parents of scientific,robotic advanced generation have to be on their toes all the time to understand the needs, aspirations , desires ,mentality and the turbulence going in the head and heart of their ADORABLE CHILD.

Ms Swati Malik
Exam Head
St Lawrence Public Sr Sec School
Dilshad Garden

Is poor parenting the primary cause of violent or aggressive behavior of children.

Parenting in itself is a great challenge. Parental love is beyond any measures. Every parent wants to see his child grow up into a world class citizen with all good qualities. But certainly some of the parents unknowingly distort their child’s personality. Many children have to endure abuse, neglect, and other types of bad parenting practices each day. This leads to serious emotional and behavioral problems that affect them throughout their life. Aggression is the most common problem in today’s children. 

Psychologist Diana Baumrind during 1960s, based on her research on pre-school age children proposed three parenting styles- authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. 

Some parents don’t allow their kids to get involved in a problem; challenges and experiences rather enforce rules and command obedience. Such parents are emotionally distant from their children. Rather than teaching how to make better choices, they rather teach child to not make mistakes (invested in making their child feel sorry for their mistakes). They take little consideration of children’s feelings/ opinion. They may use punishment instead of discipline. Children who grow with such parents follow obedience most of the time, but with a price. Children who grow up under such household are at a high risk of developing self-esteem problems, have suppressed emotions which can result in repression of memories. They may become hostile and often focus most of their unconscious and conscious thoughts on aggression towards their parents rather than doing things better in future. Such children often become good liars in an effort to escape punishment from parents. 

On contrast, even the parents who are not  involved, offer little to no supervision, leaves the child unattended, often crying and Hungry, have no expectations or demands for their child’s behavior, may intentionally avoid their child, are often too overwhelmed by their own problems. Such parenting may have effects on child, they often have the fear of becoming dependent on others, and the child may have self-esteem issues and can be emotionally withdrawn. And are often found      misbehaving, they often have repressed anger. 

Dr Manoj Malik
 Principal
 St. Lawrence Public School
Dilshad Garden School.
New Delhi

Advertising- boon or bane

Advertising is mainstay of much of modern economy and modes of communication. Modern Economy has taken advertisement as its key ingredient. Advertising is not only an ingredient of the industry but also a massive industry in itself.Advertising can be defined as paid propagation of a product. It aims to make the consumer aware of a product and attempts to create a desire to purchase the product. In its most benign and useful form, advertising is a source of information. Through information it empowers the consumers and helps them to make efficient choices. It also creates a viable business model. Advertisements subsidize the cost of information products such as newspapers, TV programmes and internet pages/products. This way these products stay affordable and accessible to common people on a mass scale. 

On negative side, advertising creates false needs, corrupts the agenda of media and leads to privacy concerns in the internet era. Most of the modern day consumerism can be attributed to the lure of advertising. Sleek advertisements create aspirations which may not be really needed to have a happy life. False desires may cause agony, strife and mutual hatred among the people. 

When advertising forms the base of media empires, and advertising model decisively more prevalent than the subscription model of media business, serious problems arise. This leaves newspapers, TV, Internet platform cripplingly dependent on advertisers. This results in skewering of agenda towards the interest of advertisers than towards the readers. Editorial policies of the media organization start getting subservient to the marketing department. This really corrupts the public sphere and compromises media’s capacity to question dominant forces. Recent Cambridge Analytica- Facebook expose clearly outlines the dangers for privacy when getting advertisement at any cost becomes the driving force. 

While advertising has it severe disadvantages, it will have to be tolerated as necessary evil, till the time some real alternative business model is found. 

Dr Bhavna
Principal
Lovely Public Senior Secondary School
Priyadarshini Vihar
New Delhi

YOGA: Need Of The Day For Kids

Take a look around you, and you will find that whether it is adults or the children, they are busy with their tech devices. Children keep on playing games on their personal computer or mobiles whenever they get time. Adults are busy with other entertainment stuff on their tech devices. In a tech savvy world, children are getting lazier. They are suffering from health problems at a very early age. Seeing the present conditions, should Yoga be made compulsory in schools? 

It is but an obvious fact that children are more loaded with the burden of study in the present day competitive world where parents wants them to come at top slot at any cost. Yoga will provide the children with much needed break from their hectic lifestyle of studies and other activities. It is one of the ways that can make children realize the difference between the active life and the passive life. The present generation is suffering from posture problems as most of the time they work on laptops or are busy with mobiles. Yoga helps them to maintain right posture. In the age where everything is open on the internet, yoga helps the children to gain control over their mind and body in all the aspects. One of the most important things is the cost factor. Schools don’t need to spend huge amount of money to impart yoga education to students.

Yoga is a good exercise and it is always good to practice yogic exercises in the morning. Yoga helps to maintain the equilibrium, increases the attention and concentration power, and keeps body fit and healthy. Yoga helps to rejuvenate the body and gives the freshness to the body tissues. Yogic exercises do have a specific time to get the maximum output from them. Many of us prefer to stay fit and try to do the exercise to our best in the way we know. We always feel the necessity to learn the proper way of performing the exercise in the correct posture. Learning such exercises in schools would be the most appropriate way to inculcate this good habit into the lifestyle.

School is the place where the stepping stones get molded and learn to withstand the harsh realities of the world. This form of teaching the yoga in schools will help the children to develop the good habits of performing the exercise in the morning. This will also help in their physical and mental fitness and proper development of their intellectual power. With so many good effects, making yoga compulsory in schools would be welcome move. 

The present day generation whether it is students, youngsters or the adults are really stressed out. They have time for all the unwanted work. When it comes to constructive things, they complain about shortage of time. Making yoga compulsory is in school is a good idea. It will help the students to relax and get control over their mind and body. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Moreover, it is convenient and flexible for the school authorities to implement in schools.

Dr. Navaratan Bothra

PGT Computer Science

Mody School

Lakshmangarh 

Sikar,Rajasthan

TEACHERS CAN PAINT THE CANVAS OF FUTURE

We are teachers. We are friends, Philosophers, guides. We have been tasked with building lives and making future brighter. The destiny of the country lies in our hands. Let us ask ourselves are we doing our duty? 

Twenty first century classroom is different than ours. Are we future ready? Chalk and talk method is out of date. There should be more emphasis on practices and real life time situations. For that we need to come up with a more expressive way of teaching. Multimedia is a useful tool. Digital technologies in the classroom must go hand in hand with innovative teaching to have a true impact on educational achievements. Innovative practices in teaching ensure better learning outcomes for our students. 

We should act as a change agent. A little change in the way we teach makes us learning experts instead of teachers. As john Haiti rightly said,’ My fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of my teaching on students’ learning and achievement. The success and failure of my students’ learning is about what I do or don’t do. I am a change agent.” 

It is a well known fact that we see ourselves through the eyes of others. The self conception and mental health of a student is formed according to the ways of their teachers and classmates react to them with affection, rejection or with respect. If teachers behave in a respectful and concerned manner with their students, they show respect and concerns for others. These are the basic milestones of sound mental health. 

The classroom environment plays a vital role in awakening natural curiosity and inborn motivation to learn and excel in all the activities. The foremost duty of a teacher is to awaken the love for learning in the students. Teacher is not a person holding a torch and guiding the path towards better future, he should be the torch himself. Students generally keep a watch on teacher’s life. So, a teacher has to maintain a good set of manners and try to be a role model. 

This implies that one should play the role of a teacher with dedication, honesty, affection and patience. He/she should have every technique to take care of not only intelligent students but back benchers too. I firmly believe that teachers with the help of parents can give a better generation to the country. Education should be measured by how many lives it has transformed, how many ideas have been raised and how many new discoveries have been made. It is possible only with commitment from all the stakeholders of the school. They should share decision making, they should have common vision. Collaboration and the establishment of the support structures should be there for teachers.

Chetan Bansal

DirectorVedanta International SchoolChandpur ( UNA-Himachal Pardesh.)HeadmistressShemrock Foundation School Zirakpur Punjab.

Diminishing of Outdoor Play in Early Years - Education

The 16th century proverb “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy” rightly holds good even in 21st century. Goes on to prove ‘play’ had been recognized since then to be the only most powerful, essential and crucial component of growth and development for children. Given an opportunity to us, the child in each one of us prefer outdoor play but we as parents, educators, stakeholders working with children prioritize indoor play to outdoor play due to many factors; such as unsafe neighborhood, unfavorable pathways, extreme climatic conditions and academic pressure.

Engaging children in various forms of play compiled in scripted formats, redesigned toys, digital interactive screen games and adult-directed passive play in a well-structured safe indoors is the new norm. To safeguard from danger and to educate children amidst these digital interactions in early years, we are pushing away gradually the precious outdoor playtime which contributes to develop confident children. 

The lack of outdoor playtime in the early years has given rise to obesity and health-related issues, less face to face social-interactions, anxiety, depression, problems of attention and self-control among young children. The more children are engaged in outdoor play time, they become more receptive towards academic learning after wards. The active outdoor free play develops gross motor skills, the much needed social-emotional skills; the ability to share, to negotiate, to collaborate, to empathize, and achieve sense of joy.

As learning community stakeholders, we are committed to provide opportunities for outdoor playtime because it contributes for learning entertaining and challenging experiences to young children. In addition, as suggested by Dr. Peter Gray supervised, non intervene outdoor play gymnasiums in the preschools, schools and neighborhood will give children their much needed outdoor play time.

Sutha Ramessh

Center Director  Podar Jumbo Kids ,BanaswadiBangalore

E-Learning: Trend in Today’s Era

In today’s society, internet access is becoming increasingly available in many mediums ranging from Smart Phones, Personal Computers, iPads, and Laptops; and as a result, technology adoption rates are increasing rapidly throughout the world. Consequently, many education providers, who we would classify as ‘innovators and early adopters’, are beginning to see a shift in their cultural views towards teaching, coaching and mentoring to a culture in which traditional methods of education are beginning to become outdated. The advancement in the technology has taken education sector to a new level which is E-learning. This is an improved way of education system.

With traditional methods of education, students are often limited to predetermined hours of in-class engagement. However, with the advent of online education systems this is no longer the case. Online education and business simulations are not bound by geography or time, therefore allowing users to have the full flexibility to further their learning in an engaging manner outside of the classroom or lecture hall. This leaves normal contact time between students and instructor for engrossing discussions or learning new theories and concepts.

Some of the most important developments in education have happened since the launch of the internet. These days learners are well versed in the use of smartphones, text messaging and using the internet so participating in and running an online course has become a simple affair. Message boards, social media and various other means of online communication allow learners to keep in touch and discuss course related matters, whilst providing for a sense of community. In the fast-paced world of e-learning the available technologies to make a course new and exciting are always changing, and course content can and should be updated quickly to give students the very latest information. This is especially important if the e-learning training is being given to employees in a sector where keeping up-to-date on industry developments is of the utmost importance. This is one of the reasons why many businesses are now offering training via e-learning - other reasons includes low costs and the ability for employees to study in their own time and place.

Overall, traditional learning is expensive, takes a long time and the results can vary. The importance of E-learning is now a given fact and it can offer an alternative that is much faster, cheaper and potentially better.

E-Learning, in comparison with traditional learning, allows for easier access to online resources, databases, periodicals, journals and other material you wouldn't normally have easy access to from a library. If a student has trouble understanding part of the coursework, finding tips on the matter couldn't be easier than having immediate access to supplementary, unlimited and free material online! Moreover, e-learning is designed to cater to the needs of different types of learners, who wouldn't normally do as well in a traditional learning environment, as well as complement the traditional learning environment with more features to make it an even more appealing option for the skeptics. Overall, technology has presented some challenges to the education system which many tertiary education providers and third parties have attempted to take on. 

Consequently, e-learning has presented many opportunities for students and instructors alike. The only question remains, where will technology lead us to next?

Mr. Hitesh Jain

Founder & DirectorNational Centre of Early Childhood Association (NCECE)

                                                 

Needed a Kids Corner

We live in a different world today and hence our world view and approach to deal with situations has to be different. Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with the needs of the children, more often than not we tend to become a regulatory authority than a guiding force. This has been the root cause of the much talked about generation gap. For instance, we all grew up in a cultural context where even watching television was controlled and regulated by the parents and other elders in the family. Today most of the children make their own choice as far as watching TV is concerned.

Similarly, with the advent of the “World of Mouse”, that is Internet; parents are increasingly finding it difficult to cope with this new menace, in their own perception of course. The conventional wisdom suggests measures to control the children. However, what is urgently needed is understanding; as far as website usability for children is concerned. While I won’t deny the fact that the medium, because of its uncontrolled nature, can have a negative influence on the young minds, we have to understand the fact that the outside world where they go and interact can have even more negative influence on their minds.

Millions of children already use the Internet, and millions more are coming online each year. Many websites specifically target children with educational or entertainment content, and even mainstream websites are adding "kids' corner" sections for children -- either as a public service or to build brand loyalty from an early age.

Despite this growth in users and services, very little is known about how children actually use websites or how to design sites that will be easy for them to use. Most website designs for kids are based on pure folklore about how kids supposedly behave -- or, at best, by insights gleaned when designers observe their own children, who are hardly representative of average kids, typical Internet skills, or common knowledge about the Web.

A lot of people keep asking me as to what is the way out? Is there a need to control the children as far as web surfing is concerned? In my opinion, that will be a regressive step which may have far reaching consequences as far as a child’s psychological needs are concerned. A progressive society will never try to curb the inquisitive minds of its growing population. The question that we need to address is that what children actually want and what they get. Only then we will be able to find the gap between needs and stuff on offer.

Dr Chitra Awasthi
Founder President Rit Foundation
Founder General Secretary ACME
President Shree Education
Honorary member of SHE worldwide

Women in Education

Women are the indispensable part of a society. Their education influence the coming generation .The development of future generation mainly depends upon the education of women section .So the education of women is realized to be the most essential part for the development of the society. It can help every woman to educate their children to be good manager of the family as well as the active member of the society. The children learn their manners and behavior at home and mostly mothers are responsible for cultivating good behavior in their children .Every educated woman can run her house well and make it a paradise on earth .Every educated woman can think well about her future and her aim in life and then choose the appropriate subject which will be useful to her throughout the life. In a democratic system the position of women is equal with that of men .

Now a days women are also conscious about their rights and obligations. Educationists are of the opinion that mother is the first educator of the child. From birth to school age the home environment and association of other members of the family plays a significant role in developing proper attitudes among them. But the influence of mother on the child is much more important .She is responsible for upbringing and development .Most of the time a child lives in contact with the mother and is influenced and affected by her. 

Therefore it is very necessary that a mother is imbued with good qualities and acts as a guide .Thus the education of women is of great importance in our national and social life .It is the duty of the society and the government to provide adequate facilities for the education of women .Because if we educate a girl, we educate the whole family. A truly educated mother can very easily retrieve the minds of her children from fears, prejudices and superstition in which they may be entangled. She can train a child’s mind and keep him away from undesirable company and wrong notions .So the importance of women education is certainly great .Women plays a very significant role in developing human resources, improving household affairs in molding character of children.

 The women not only played important role at home, but they also play a very significant role in the society she lives in. Once we realize the importance of the role played by women in the family and society the urgency of the need for educating her becomes vivid .The role of women outside home is becoming an important aspect of the social and economic life of the country. The Science and Technology has brought a complete revolution in thoughts and attitudes of human being. It is felt need that Indian women have to come forward and to play a great role in the development of scientific thinking and scientific disposition in solving the problems of life .

The women with their scientific knowledge and attitude can teach their children the art of healthy living. There is a Chinese saying, “If you wish to plan for a year, plant wheat, if you wish to plant for 10 years, grow trees, if you wish to plan for 100 years educate your women". 

This indicates the importance of women education. Napoleon said that, “Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized nation. 

By educating the women we can educate the whole nation, because a country can never rise without the contribution of 50% of its population.” Swami Vivekananda once said that, “It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. Without educated women a nation cannot expect a high growth rate and solution of internal problems. Women and men are equally treated in the eyes of the law. However our cultural conditioning is the main source of atrocities against women. 

Culturally, a woman in India is supposed to remain confined at home for internal domestic routine work and men on the other hand is the bread earner. However, due to the spread of education a lot of changes could be observed. 

Ms. Nishu Jain

Management

Hello Kids,  Rainbow

Bangalore

The School Next Door

I was recently invited to a community get together where most of the invitees were young parents. Now that it's admission time in schools the topic of the day was schools. There was a lot of confusion in whichschool to choose. I was just listening to their conversations and mentally made a note of what are the priorities of the parents in selecting a particular school. However some were interesting while few were ridiculous. So they went on like this,

" I would want my  little one to go to the nearest playschool where I can drop my child and my wife can pick him in the afternoon. It should be at a stone's throw away distance" . A father's statement. Well ,fair enough and that's how playschools are mushrooming in every street.

" It really doesn't matter to which nearby school my child goes. All I'm looking for is the nearby cheapest one. Anyways she needs to go to a high school after an year." Hmm, so for this parent preschool education is just  a get away to a regular school .  

One parent said, " I prefer only branded stuff for my family. So I would rather go for a big branded school. "

And one more parent said, " I will take my child to different schools in the neighborhood and let him/her explore all the schools and go for the one which he/ she likes".

Then there was one young mother who said "we are new to the city and my neighbour works for a school and I'm going to join my child only there. There should be some known face there."

And few were like most of the children from their community go to a particular school and they too want to send their child to the same one.

 There were few more parents who were little experienced in this subject. They have gone through all these dilemmas and arguments. Interestingly , they just waited for all these opinions to come out and came to their rescue.  And they listed out few tips to help them out.

There is no harm in selecting the nearest school to avoid transit to the child but we also need to ensure if it is located in a safe environment and surroundings.

One should always look if it is located in a residential area rather than a total commercial place.

It's always wise to see the product first and then see the price. We should always check if these economical preschools  are able to cater to the needs of the child. Whether the teaching staff are qualified enough to take up this profession and remember always that quality never comes for peanuts. At the same time one need not judge the quality of the school merely looking at the fee structure

Its not about the child being comfortable with one familiar person in the school,rather check if the staff is able to make every child feel comfortable with their approach. Check how accommodating they are. It's good to seek advice from friends and neighbours but one should always make sure of the needs of their own children. Have a personal check on the schools in your vicinity and gather information so as to see which is the one you can rely on.

And one important point is its not about the brand being popular but also knowledge of the person running the show. Its very easy to  give a readily available plate but observe that institute which can help you in each serving and has the expertise to give each one the best .

Gather information about the school from various sources and check their credebilities. Look for the organisation which apart from showcasing their infrastructure ,is also good at  creating enough awareness what they do to keep the child safe, secured, healthy, hygienic and also give experiential learning to the young minds. Look for the schools who strive to give their best through innovative methodologies. This shows how passionate they are towards their work.

If  a school talks only about the commercial aspects during the counselling then we need not mention how to take a call on that.

With information and activities flooded on internet one need not look for a school which focuses only on teaching the numbers or alphabet for the gen next children. What they need is holistic development. Take time and search for the school which fosters holistic development, treats every child as unique individuals, the one which has a research based curriculum and also has the complete command over it. Choose the school which involves parents and the community as partners in education. School is always an integral part of the society and cannot be separated . Preschool should always be flexible according to the needs of the child and should also be locally appropriate. Last but not the least, the parents should observe the reviews and ratings, feedback given by the parents and the community about the school.

Truly appreciate the parents who could share this valuable information and providing us with lots of tips in choosing a school.

After all, the most precious age of the child is spent in these preschools where the brain development is happening to  the optimum between 0-6 years.

 Choose the best one not just the next door one!

Radha Duppelli

Principal , Vigna The school for toddlers,

B ed, B com, PPTTC

Trainer & Blogger

Education With Values

Education should impart good values in children. A doctor killing patients for money, engineer constructing building without quality materials, a contractor approves without proper inspection are results of education that has not imparted social and ethical values.A right education should not only teach kids academics, improves creativity and imagination but also moral and ethical values. Necessity of education in developing humans is more important than producing a Doctor, Engineer, Scientist, Politician etc.,Educating kids with Good and Bad touch has become a necessity now. Teaching boys to respect the other gender is as much important as imparting them with other skills.A real freedom comes when a woman can walk without fear in midnight. The education with values will be the right choice to bring out this freedom.