Gratitude is a happy emotion, a feeling, a compassionate gesture, an empathetic approach and more importantly a happy way of leading life. It means appreciating and being thankful for the people and things that we see and have in our life. In unprecedented times, such as the current pandemic of Covid 19, this gratitude is a saviour virtue that has kept us sailing through. Irrespective of whatever times we are in, practising gratitude should be our regular trait.
Getting engaged creatively in activities liberates imagination. This in turn pop up new ideas that has value and solution to the present problem or situation. This engagement requires Creative Thinking skill. Creative Thinking is the ability to think new and finding solutions from a fresh perspective. This ability helps to develop growth mindset - a mindset to finding solutions, identifying opportunities and developing abilities.
As a parent, are you excited about the future? Or have you been busy in simply catching up with the pace at which present parenting is evolving?
A new decade brings new hopes and ambitions. Along with that, it requires different, rather contemporary ways of parenting for us. Now you may ask what this would imply. Recent studies have shown that Indian children spend a lot of ‘alone-together’ time with their parents, i.e. they spend time with parents who are busy using phones and other gadgets.
Emotions are our natural responses to what happens around us. They are the very foundation of our existence. Our little ones experience various emotions through the day at school, home and play dates. While they are usually honest in expressing their feelings, sometimes, they find it difficult to cope with certain emotions. This is when life skills education plays a vital role. It provides guidance in understanding the emotions, and also the parenting ways that can help children to cope with them.
There are always choices to be made. Our life, at every stage, is designed by the numerous choices we make. This is why decision-making is one of the most important part of our upbringing. Considering its importance, inculcating this set of life skills in child behaviour is one responsible task. But with some simple and applicable ways, we can plant the seeds of decision making skills in our kids.
Life skills, as we know, equip kids to manage the day to day challenges of life optimistically. But we live in a gadget-centric life, where there’s less time, more machines and tons of options to distract kids from learning new things.
Life is not a poem competition, nor an upcoming exam. There's no "how to" manual to live it. And often as parents, our important challenge lies in how to prepare our kids for life and life skills education.
We are sure your 2019 planner is already on a roll and as parents, you may have set some goals to achieve this year. Taking inspiration from Mr Farber, here are some simple parenting tips that will add meaning and value to your parenting.
Kids are little adults that also go through all the upheavals that we experience on a daily basis. Except that they are far more vulnerable and adaptive to them. This makes it imperative for parents to focus on life skills.
It is so good to be around with children and contribute to their growing years. My journey as a paediatrician has been with cute little beings and taking care of their health. Health is a comprehensive term and entails overall health. It's not only the health of the body but also important is the emotional and social health. A child needs the love and care of the family. He also needs an education that will help him grow into a balanced human being. Basic skills of life such as problem-solving and managing emotions need to be imparted from early years. Hence there is a need for Life Skills education.