Varsha likes cycling and she likes it even more if i come with her so i also walk with her while she cycles(i also get some exercise), the other day i saw a child six years old struggling to carry a keyboard which was too big for him and his mother on the side urging him to hurry up as he was late for the class and as she saw the look of surprise on my face she said,'oh!he loves music'.The next day i saw the same child going for drawing class and the mother is looking for some other classes to put him for other days. I was really curious to know how much could the child take and for how long so i spoke to his mother and she had a pat answer for me,'it is our duty as a parent to give exposure to the child otherwise how will we know what he is good at' it was not a surprise as i too had fallen for this exposure thingy a few years back when we had just shifted to bangalore and first time in an apartment complex varun had to undergo the torture of going to different classes when he was in second standard but luckily it did not last long.
Have been thinking about this exposure thingy what is it? Sending the child at such a young age to different classes is exposure or exposing the child to different things like going for music concerts or listening to music at home, going to plays, theatres or dance programmes or going to art exhibitions and observing things around him and then develop an interest in learning a particular thing would make the whole process enjoyable and long lasting.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Expression
It is not surprising to note that as adults we have learnt to not be so spontaneous in doing things or even expressing our feelings or thoughts but how the conditioning happens from childhood is really interesting.
The other day during my activity class when we were making cookies even after taking many precautions varsha touched the oven and got burnt in the arm. She did not cry but I could see it was hurting badly so when I washed it with water and was applying ice, I kept telling her that it must be hurting and she looked at all the children around her and kept shaking her head, I just held her close and said,’it is hurting isn’t it?’ She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said,’mummy is it ok if I cry’, I was taken aback and I told her she could cry as much as she wanted and hugged her and she cried till she felt a little better. This left me thinking why would a child of six years hold on to her tears. It reminded me of an incident which happened a week earlier where I got hurt and when the children came running to me, I just brushed it aside and said I was ok when it was hurting badly so did I through my action give her the message that we cannot be spontaneous in our expression of our feeling. It may or may not be so but the schools are also doing it . The schools tell the children that they should not cry or they cannot express what they feel and if they do they are termed as sensitive children.
The same day varun(almost 11yrs) was excited with what the smaller children were doing and wanted to make cookies too and was jumping around with the other children. The smaller children kept looking at him in a funny way so he came up to me and said,’ why can’t I be a child once in a while , it makes me feel young and good’ and he went back to his jumping but it again got me thinking that all of us have a child in us but we are always told how to behave and we are chided if we bring out the child in us and why should a ten year old feel that he is too old to show his enjoyment the way he wants or feels. As adults we need to be more aware and let the child in us come out and also allow our children to be themselves rather than zombies who cannot show any emotions or feelings and think hundred times before they say or do something.
It is sad that on one side there are children who due to unfortunate circumstances are not able to express themselves and on the other side we are suppressing the natural expression of a child.
The other day during my activity class when we were making cookies even after taking many precautions varsha touched the oven and got burnt in the arm. She did not cry but I could see it was hurting badly so when I washed it with water and was applying ice, I kept telling her that it must be hurting and she looked at all the children around her and kept shaking her head, I just held her close and said,’it is hurting isn’t it?’ She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said,’mummy is it ok if I cry’, I was taken aback and I told her she could cry as much as she wanted and hugged her and she cried till she felt a little better. This left me thinking why would a child of six years hold on to her tears. It reminded me of an incident which happened a week earlier where I got hurt and when the children came running to me, I just brushed it aside and said I was ok when it was hurting badly so did I through my action give her the message that we cannot be spontaneous in our expression of our feeling. It may or may not be so but the schools are also doing it . The schools tell the children that they should not cry or they cannot express what they feel and if they do they are termed as sensitive children.
The same day varun(almost 11yrs) was excited with what the smaller children were doing and wanted to make cookies too and was jumping around with the other children. The smaller children kept looking at him in a funny way so he came up to me and said,’ why can’t I be a child once in a while , it makes me feel young and good’ and he went back to his jumping but it again got me thinking that all of us have a child in us but we are always told how to behave and we are chided if we bring out the child in us and why should a ten year old feel that he is too old to show his enjoyment the way he wants or feels. As adults we need to be more aware and let the child in us come out and also allow our children to be themselves rather than zombies who cannot show any emotions or feelings and think hundred times before they say or do something.
It is sad that on one side there are children who due to unfortunate circumstances are not able to express themselves and on the other side we are suppressing the natural expression of a child.
Friday, June 4, 2010
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