Key to your child's success

Your boss dumps you with lot of work. You get frustrated and think 'What's the point? He hardly acknowledges my work'.

The same thinking goes through your child's mind when you fail to appreciate his/her efforts. A mother asks a child (assume he is just introduced about plants at school) to write about plants. The child is enthusiastic and starts writing with the minimal knowledge he/she has about plants. With high hopes, the child shows to his/her mother.

The first few comments from her, 'What is the spelling for 'breathe'?'..'you have not written about photosynthesis'(not even realizing it is too much to expect at this age).

The child's face immediately shrinks and does not even hear the positive comments that she gives at the end. Next time , when the child is asked to write something, it will surely think of a way to escape..

It is unfortunate that human brain observes the negatives first before the positives, which is the reason for lot of relationship problems.. 

Just change your approach and say a few good comments to impress your child before pointing to the mistakes. After all , it is your child and you are not losing anything. Developing interest in a subject is more important than doing it right. This interest will go a long way in their learning.

In my personal experience , while teaching Maths to my 6 years old son, I realized this. Initially I used to give him Maths worksheets daily at home. Since I know his knowledge level, I used to give him the next level questions, thinking that he has to learn more. As it was tough for him, most of the answers used to be wrong and he lost interest in Maths. I realized my mistake and gave him easy ones on one day. He was able to complete all correctly and was so excited to get a 'fantastic' sticker and showed to his dad as soon as he arrived. The next day , I was surprised when he asked me to give him 'Maths' assignments.

I slowly increased the levels and changed the style and included other subjects as well. He does them with more interest than he used to do before.

Motivation is the key to your child's success. Open your child's heart with that key and you will be surprised to see his/her growth !!!

My India trip - an awakening

Scorching sun gave us a warm (rather hot) welcome as we stepped into Chennai airport. We went to India after one year stay in London. Our transit was in Delhi. Delhi airport has been recently renovated to International standards. There were duty free shops of all major foreign brands ranging from chocolates, perfumes to watches. For those who did not have time to buy gifts , this would be really helpful.

There was a lot of excitement when we met our family, After sharing our gifts, we enjoyed the nostalgic, authentic Indian home food. The next day we went out for shopping and got shocked to observe that the price of most of the commodities have been increased drastically upto 1.5 times in the last 1 year. In particular, clothing prices have increased very much. All foreign brands and products are available but the rates are direct conversion to dollars/pounds.
You can get anything and everything you want in Chennai, provided you are ready to shell out extra bucks !

 After a day rest, we started visiting our friends and relatives. It was good to see new Audi showrooms and McDonalds on the way. Not to mention about city traffic, we spent most of our time crammed in traffic. To make matters worse, most of the signal systems did not work. I am not sure if this is a maintenance work ??

After visiting our friends at Anna Nagar, we set out to Adamabakkam (my mom's home). We were damn tired and sleepy by the time we reached Adambakkam. But power failure stole our sleep for almost half of the night. This is in addition to the scheduled power cuts. EB blames it on the increased Air Conditioner usage during summer. I think it is high time the Electricity department thinks about additional power generation or alternate sources of power.

After my husband returned to London, I went to Pune by train to visit my sister with my mom and son. The train journey was awful. With lot of unreserved and waiting list passengers occupying our seats  most of the time, we hardly could sleep or sit comfortably in a 24 hours travel. The number of trains from Chennai to Mumbai remains 3 for the past 20 years, irrespective of the increasing crowd. Ticket inspector seems to be least bothered. There is no improvement in the pantry food quality or toilet cleanliness.It is really pathetic that the railway ministry has taken no measures to either increase the service or other hygienic measures.

When I was in Pune, Anna Hazare's movement against corruption started and there were lot of rallies supporting it. Hopefully Jan Lokpal brings some positive changes to our Country.

No wonder many Indians want to settle in a Western country !..It does not mean that there are no problems in these countries. But it is far less. We do pay tax in London and it is much higher than in India. Still we feel better when we see good roads, free education, free medical facilities, good parks, libraries and benefits to less capable people. When there are no changes, people are reluctant to pay tax and find all possibilities to evade tax.

I did not mean to write in a derogatory sense about our Country but this trip has made me to think and feel a lot..  I am just jotting down the problem areas that come to my mind and needs improvement

1. Electricity problems
2. Increasing traffic and bad roads
3. No parks or playgrounds for children and elders
4. No proper library facilities.
5. Drainage problems
6. Exorbitant school fees
7. lack of good medical facilities at reasonable cost.
8. General cleanliness and hygiene
Last but not least , Corruption, corruption and corruption in all areas !

'Sun never sets on Great Britain' ! But Sun does not even seem to rise on India..:-(


Recently I received a communication from change.org and their services against corruption. You can start a petition against corruption in your community at  www.change.org/start-a-petition.
These are some sparks for a better India !