Parentune - Kids Summer Art & Craft Camp in Bangalore

KIDS SUMMER ART & CRAFT CAMP Age Group: 5 to 12 Event Date: 07-May-2014 to 24-May-2014 Timings: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM Address: BDA Ittamadu Layout BSK 3rd stage, near Annapoorneswari Devasthan, Bangalore About the about: Fun art and craft activities for kids !

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Parentune - 7 Questions to ask when choosing a school

When it comes to choosing the right school for our children, we all want to be super sure of our decision and not make any mistake. After all, schooling is not just about teaching children academics. A good school fosters an overall development for your child, helps a child find his/her expression, and prepares a child for the challenges ahead by instilling the right principles and values.

At parentune, we not only recognize the importance of the right school for your child but also share your concern. And so, we organized a webinar with our Education Expert, Nitin Pandey, on the 15th April, 2014, on Choosing the Right School for your Child. Parents participated actively in this proparent services webinar and got their doubts cleared around a host of issues—from preparing the child for nursery admissions, what education board to choose, changing schools midway through an academic session etc.

We get you a peek into the webinar.

Q- How can I prepare my 1.8 year-old-child for nursery admissions?

A-Assuming that your daughter has started expressing and speaking in words, you could begin with colours, vegetables, things of her liking in the outdoors, picture books, and some initial familiarization with numbers. Make it as playful and interesting as possible. You could also try some clay modeling, pattern games, lego, pictionary, games with numbers, making the learning incidental to the experience.

Q- My daughter Sakshi will be 2 years this June. My concern is which board should I put her into? I am in Mumbai. I am an IT- software professional.

A- Preschool is board independent, but for schools, you would have options between SSC, CBSE as well as ICSE, all three being in good numbers in your area. Let me give you a quick comparison.

SSC- syllabus focused and driven by the same, limited infrastructure, reasonable fees, low on technology and physical infrastructure; CBSE- largest education board in India, focused on syllabus again, off late has got a new assessment called CCE-trying to change, one has to go from school to school to compare; ICSE- Focused on project based learning and understanding right from the beginning, gives more flexibility to learn concepts, not so much biased to syllabus completion, at the same time-competitive enough.

Also, CBSE has a clear structure to foster result based pedagogy, whereas ICSE has a focus on concept understanding. Having said that they are both trying to focus on practical/hands on application of the learning. That makes them a better option compared to a SSC.

Q- I have read that if planning for competitive exams - CBSE (concentrating more on physics, chemistry and maths) and ICSE (concentrating more on art and learning) are better. Is that correct?

A-Actually, ICSE has a good balance between science subjects as well as arts. And compared to SSC, both CBSE and ICSE have evolved and innovated faster.

Q-I know CBSE and ICSE are more into practical knowledge rather than bookish knowledge. But the amount of assignments, projects they ask the child to do and expect it the very next day - makes me re-think, would I be able to give ample time for my kid to deal with this kind of pressure.

A-You are right about the projects becoming a menace off late....but this again has been the case mainly with a few CBSE schools, not all. ICSE board manages this with a good balance. I understand your worry about being able to give enough time....that i hope, you would balance well as Sakshi grows up.

When choosing a school for her, look for a place which gives her a variety of learning in the surrounding rather than just rote learning from the text book. When learning infrastructure is not supported by extra-curricular activities and sports infrastructure, it is a downer....it is good if the school has a balance between the two.

Also do look at schools independent of the board, but on factors like teacher quality, learning and physical infrastructure, feedback mechanism, and most importantly the word from the fellow parents whose children are studying at these schools.

Q- Someone suggested that till primary I put my child in ICSE or CBSE and then from Secondary section onwards, I continue with SSC. That will lay the foundation, enhance the way the child thinks. What is your opinion?

A-I won't recommend that, changing the board to SSC after CBSE/ICSE in primary is a bad idea. That would lead to complete confusion. These two are completely different ecosystems by themselves. In fact, the other way round if so happens at an early grade- say before grade 5, it is still fine to move the child from SSC to CBSE or ICSE.

Q- I am unaware about the admission process after schooling. When you get into Junior colleges, how do they rank the children from different boards and give admissions?

A-For Mumbai- clearly, the pass-outs from CBSE/ICSE schools are doing better in competitive exams, college entrances. But outside of Mumbai too, CBSE/ICSE would be a better entry point at colleges. Now, even exams like IIT, CAT give a percentile weight-age for the school results (XII- results).

Q- What should a preschool be about?

A-I think preschool is a great place for child's physical and mental development, social skills, fostering independence and just to be looked at it to prepare a toddler for a competitive school is not a good thing....one needs to let the child explore his/her surroundings and learn about the world around him/her and not push the child to compete to get into a school.

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Tiffin snacks to try

Parentune - Blogs for Parents
What to give your child in her school tiffin is a question most mothers seem to be dealing with every day. After all, we want it to be healthy, delicious, and even good-looking so that our young one is tempted to try it and ultimately make an attempt to eat all of her tiffin food. Last week, we got many ideas from our fellow mothers—each unique and equally appetizing. Why not try some with your own child? And a big thank you to all the mothers who shared their ideas with us.


1) Egg Rolls: Anurima
Make an egg roll using a thin roti or parantha. You can experiment with fillings. They can be Chinese style with sautéed vegetables, or potato/paneer filling. Roll tightly so that it doesn’t unravel. For younger children, you can cut it further into bite-sizes.
2) Cheese cucumber sandwich: Anurima
A favourite with most children in the hot season, the cool crunchy cucumber and cheese is a never-fail combination. Just assemble it all together and season with salt, pepper or any herb of your child’s liking.
3) Frankies: Divya
Make thin, soft rotis, and place any vegetable in it. You might want to layer the roti with ketchup first. Tightly roll and wrap in aluminium or cling wrap.
4) Fruit salad: Divya
Mix up a few seasonal fruits together, and add a dash of lemon juice (lemon juice keeps the salad fresh also).
5) Fruits: Ankita
Fruits are healthy, filling, and mostly non-messy too. But try and give fruits that will not go bad easily such as grapes, oranges, sweet lime or mausambi (peel and cut into bite-sizes), and bananas (not too ripe). Older children can be given an apple or a pear. Sometime, you can sneak in a cucumber too.
6) Paranthas: Ayushi
Stuffed paranthas are another popular choice because they remain soft and are flavourful. Try with any available vegetable such as grated cabbage, cauliflower, onion, mix vegetable or even paneer. Once in a while make a roll out of plain parantha. Spread pizza or pasta sauce on a parantha. Saute chopped vegetables such as onion, green capsicum, beans, with garlic and a dash of vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and roll in up. You can also break an egg onto the parantha and cook it before putting in the vegetables.
7) Chilas: Natasha
Make out of besan and add season vegetables to it. You can initially spread ketchup for taste and to keep it moist as well. Try making chilas out of sooji or semolina the uttapam style.
8) Cheese Chappati: Hazel
For children who are fond of cheese, grate cheese on their regular roti or parantha and pack it up. They will definitely devour it.
9) Rice: Neetu
Most children seem to love rice. You can try giving them lemon rice (season with curry leaves and mustard seeds. Add lots of lemon juice later). Add soya nuggets for a burst of good health.
10) Treat Them: Divya
Add a surprise goodie like a chocolate or muffin in the tiffin, once a while. They will love it.

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Parentune - Demystifying 8 common Nutritional Fallacies

When we are nutritionally ignorant, we are happily lost in our own little culinary world, far from the brouhaha surrounding the field of nutrition which is perpetually barraged with incessant information on what to eat and what not to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and many more such questions. Many a times, the information is self-contradictory and leaves the reader utterly baffled. In such a scenario of over-information, it is not at all surprising to expect muddled minds seeking ‘the actual’ truth especially when it concerns their little ones’ health and nutrition. So,here I am bursting the bubble around 8 common misconceptions that surround child nutrition.

Myth 1:Carbohydrates make children fat.
Reality:All carbohydrates are not evil guys. In fact, of the three macronutrients in our diet namelycarbohydrates, protein and fats; carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy. It’sespecially essential for a child to have a carbs-rich diet to manage the energy levelswhile studying and exercising. Carbohydrates greatly impact the concentration levels in all of us and subsequently a low-carbs diet would mean lower concentration. Roughly 70% of the daily calories of a childshould come from complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, brown rice, whole grains, multigrain bread/roti, sweet potato, dried & fresh beans and legumes. The ones to give a cold-shoulder to are called simple carbohydratessuch as table sugar, white bread, refined flour, white pasta, white rice, sugary cereals, fruit juices, candy etc.
Fact: Most simple carbs are nutritionally empty.

Myth 2: Fat is bad and should be eliminated from the diet.
Reality:Fat again has two faces- One saintly and the other beastly. You should be able to tell good fat from the bad fat as eliminating fat completely from a child’s diet is not an option. Saturated fats and trans fats are the villains who push us towards heart ailments; while MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acids) and PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acids) are the guardian angels that care for our health. Saturated fats are foods like red meat, processed meat products, dairy products like cream, creamy cheese and butter; coconut, coconut oil, palm oil.Trans fats are foods like burgers, fried chicken, French fries, all fried food, cookies, cakes, chips and all foods that fall under the junk food category.The most effective replacements for these bad fats are PUFA (contained in safflower, soybean, sunflower and sesame oils, fish, flaxseeds and walnuts, etc) and MUFA (contained in sesame seed, soybean and sunflower seed oils, almonds, peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts, pistachios, cashews and Brazil nut). These lower coronary heart disease risk and increase good cholesterol.
Fact: MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acids) and PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acids) are good and essential fats.


Myth 3:Children need constant snacks.
Reality: While some snacking is beneficial, children today typically snack all day long. Snacking wouldn't be worrisome if children were munching on healthy and nutrient-rich foods. Ideal snacks would be multigrain veggie sandwich, multigrain cheese sandwich, veggie upma, red rice poha, fruit, vegetable fingers with a healthy dip, vegetable juice, peanut butter sandwich, peanuts and chanas with shellbut alas! this was not to be. Childhood snacking trends are moving toward almost 3 snacks per day as compared to 1 healthy snack per day around 30 years ago, with fried packaged food, cookies, cakes, candy, desserts and sweetened beverages as the major source of calories. These could contribute to major fat gain. And overweight children and teenagers are at a higher risk of developing serious diseases such as type II diabetes and heart disease.
Fact: Healthy snacks are important in a child’s diet.

Myth 4: Children can have fruit juice all day long.

Reality:Fruit juices are a concentrated source of sugar that does not have the same level of nutrients as one may get from whole fruits. Instead, one ends up consuming a whole lot of calories while the hunger still persists. Fruit juices also lack fiber that keeps us full for a longer period. They spike up the energy levels quickly, but are quicker in dipping the blood sugar, which leads to fall in energy levels. Hence giving a juicy fruit to the little ones to chomp instead of juices every now and then for optimum health benefits. But if fruit juices must be given to the kids, give fresh juices once in a while instead of commercially packed juices. Commercially packed juices hardly have any real fruit in them and contain mostly fruit flavors in the garb of real fruit.
Fact: A whole fruit is always better to have than fruit juice.

Myth5:As long as my child takes a multivitamin every day he or she is covered nutritionally.
Reality:It is a common belief that a daily multivitamin is a good health insurance for children but the important fact around it is that forget that it isonly a supplementthat is meant to complement diet, and not a proxy for the foods that a child may not want to eat. What's more, taking too many supplements and evading natural foods can end up sabotaging your child’s future health.It also means that you are going to miss out on the synergistic health effects that can only come from whole foods. Supplementing your child’s diet with individual nutrients may be done with the guidance of your doctor as multi-vitamins are definitely not a cure-all for a poor diet.
Fact: Multi vitamins should compliment the diet and may be consumed on the doctor’s recommendations.

Myth 6: Children should be taught to clean their plates.

Reality:Young children usually stop eating when they feel full, and it may not be wise for parents to override these natural eating cues. Serving adult-size portions and encouraging children to eat more than they want, may lead to negative eating behaviors in later years.This treatment may condition them in their growing years to polish-off whatever is served in their plate whether they’re feeling full or not. This is also a major source of obesity. So, serving your child half of an adult-sized portion and allowing your child to stop eating when he/she feels satisfied may be more beneficial in a longer run.

Fact: A child will always stop eating when full.

Myth 7: Children have different tastes from adults and need special foods.
Reality:Children have no predetermined tastes, and can learn to eat almost everything that parents eat. At a younger age they are in the process of developing preferences for certain foods,so if your child is offered mostly sweet, salty, bland or fatty foods, then s/he will grow up with a fondness for these foods. Food Industryplace a big role in misleading parents by trying toconvince them through brilliant marketing that children only like to eat certain kinds offoods (these may be highly, processed, sugary, salty).Knowing the food facts can help children into making right food choices. Starting them off in life with positive eating habits by introducing them to different foods, tastes, and textures early will helpthem and ensure that the variety and nutrients in your child's diet is appropriate.

Fact: It is important to keep variety in food choices but not necessary to give child specific foods.

Myth 8:Toget enough iron, my preschooler needs red meat a few times a week.

Reality: There is no denying that iron is a critical nutrient for your child's growth and development, and that red meat is an excellent source of iron, but your child can get adequate iron from many other foods too, likeseafood, poultry, beans, whole-grain or enriched cereal, legumes, dried fruits and green leafy vegetables. Red meat is the main dietary source of high blood cholesterol and if consumed frequently, it could raise the bad cholesterol level (LDL) when the child grows up,which in turn could lead to serious heart ailments.

Fact: There are a lot of foods options that are iron rich besides red meat.
There is no denying the fact that we want to believe statistics that so many people proclaim to be true and over-zealous marketing endorses. Though it’s easier to follow the herd instinct, we could dissect and verify each of these beliefs from more authentic sources,as it is our precious children whose health is at stake.

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Let the Child Decide

 
Becoming a parent early in life and raising a single child can make one obsessive, sometimes. Thinking back, I recall myself fussing over every little detail, every action and reaction of my son, Arjun, particularly in his initial years. Though gradually one does learn to let go, I began to take it a little easy only once my son entered the double-digit years. Now that he is about to become a teen, I get frequent feelers that I need to back off and just let him be.

When a child is younger, everything they do or say is adorable, or cute as we call it. However, by the age of seven or eight, one perhaps begins expecting the child to behave sensibly and become independent in thought and in action. It did happen with me.

As a stay-at-home mother in the first few years, I took pride in the special and unique bond I had formed with my child. As the years passed and I started working, I had less time and little energy to tend to every little detail of his day. His frequent ‘approval seeking behavior’ or ‘awaiting my assistance in doing things’ began to bother me, and sometimes even left me irritated. Interestingly, these were the very things that would make me feel important and needed earlier.

Soon, I began to notice his lack of decision-making or the habit (not the need) to seek my help for the smallest of tasks. Of course, he was only doing what he had been conditioned to do, but I could not help but complain about why he could not decide what to wear or which book to read.

Thanks to his father’s intervention, better sense prevailed and soon I realized that it was time for me to do some introspection. I had to confess to myself that it was me who had set the tone for such behavior—from picking out his clothes every day, to guiding him on trivial matters—I had become in charge of his life, telling him what to do and even how to do it.

As they say, children are like clay and hence, can be molded in any which way. In my experience, remodeling is tough, both for the parent as well as the child. But it is not impossible. It needs time and patience but it works.

Thus, I began to incorporate subtle changes in our day-to-day life, to help my child become decisive, and more importantly, to make him feel that he could take good decisions.

Sharing some things that worked for me:

1. Giving him control: “Decide what you want to do with your time. Chalk out a schedule, and do what you think is best.” Letting go of control was hard, but I realized it was time that I came around to doing it, if I wanted my child to thrive as an independent individual.

2. Seeking his opinion: Arjun is now almost 13 and is gradually developing opinions of his own. We actively seek him out on family decisions. This way, we get to have a new perspective on things and he feels included and important. It’s a win-win.

3. Let him decide, good or bad: Sometimes children learn only by consequences. As long as it is not a matter of safety, I let my child take a decision and learn through the consequences, which may or may not be always be in his favor. This helps me in getting a pertinent point across without much ado – that whatever choices we make, we must be ready to accept the outcome and learn from it.

4. Getting back to doing things I love: For me, this has been one of the easiest ways of giving my child his space. When I divert my attention to activities that give me joy, I have less time to fuss over him, and that in turn, gives him opportunities to make little choices that strengthen his decision-making ability.

Gradually, I have also learnt not to be too harsh on myself thinking of the things I could have done better as a parent. Being a young first-time mother, what I did was perhaps naturally instinctive, or perhaps my way of protecting and guiding my child. At that time, I didn’t know any better, and at this point, l am trying to understand how to raise a teen. Just figuring out, like you are, one day at a time!

I am sure, that as a parent, you too have some insights and realizations to share. Do share your learning being a parent in the comment section below.

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Fostering early years of development for your child

The time for nursery admissions is here again and parents of toddlers are busy with the process of fetching that perfect school of their choice. Most of the parents see school as one of the essential pre-requisite for a bright future of their child. No wonder some of us spend sleepless nights pondering over which schools to consider, how to know which one is better, how to make sure that they get a nursery seat in the chosen school, what if they don’t get a seat in the chosen school... huff-puff-pant ...

In an effort to serve parents to give best to their children in early years, Parentune, organised this workshop on fast tracking development and choosing the right school for your child. It was conducted by Parentune’s Child Development & Education expert – Mr Nitin Pandey and Clinical & Child Psychology expert Dr. Ann Simi John. They addressed key issues like important ingredients to early learning years, play, music, exploration and curiosity and offered handy tips on choosing the right preschool and school.
Experts took off by citing the common areas of concerns shared by parents on the Parentune’s website. Some of them being:
• What kind of activities are appropriate for toddlers in terms of holistic development?
• What to look for in a school, what are the parameters to judge a school ?
• How to check on those parameters?
In the interactive session that followed experts gave several tips to parents to expand on the areas related to wholesome development of children and choosing the right school for them.
Key tips to foster child develoment in early years, primarily from Zero to Six:
1. Brain development facts: It is helpful for parents to be aware of certain fact related to cognitive development
• Brain development happens in the womb and continues extensively till the age of 3. Play is crucial for development till age 6
• Brain continues to develop in spurts till adolescence and cognitive abilities associated with memory, reasoning, problem solving and thinking continue to emerge throughout childhood.
• Children who feel safe, secure and loved by their parents/caregivers show a better brain health and development.
• Experts suggested that parents may consider that their child is able to speak or express his/her needs and emotions at the time of joining a pre-school. For speech related query, Experts suggested that parents may encourage sentence making and understanding instead of promoting gestures and single word communication with the child.

Encourage Exploration: Children learn through experiences their neural pathways are made through connections made by undergoing different experiences in day to day life.
• Parents may provide safe multi-sensory exposure to children to maximise their cognitive development. Parents may plan for a mix of indoor and outdoor activities.
• Assort a mix of activities for the learner, so that she has somethings to do that are challenging, as well she likes and can do easily. Encourage self exploration and enquiry.
• A mix of ‘group play’ and focussed ‘alone – play time’ can go a long way in overall growth of the child.
• Expensive toys and teaching aids are not necessarily needed to promote brain health. Quality of interactions with parents coupled with variety of experiences and activities ranging from challenging to easy makes all the difference
Nurture & encourage them – be their cheerleaders:
• Encouraging their trials and errors, little victories may tremendously help.
• Parents may help by letting them explore and supporting them by being patient, understanding and available to answer their queries
• Foster creativity – attempt to create wonder.
• Parents may role-model as creative thinkers who love to explore, experiment, strive to find solutions for children to inculcate those skills.
• Parents and educators need to be consistent in their behaviour and response to the child’s needs and interests and at the same time stay flexible as the learners need change over time
• Understand your child’s talent and related developmental needs.
• Set appropriate expectations from the child.

Key factors to look while choosing a pre-school and how to check each one:

How to evaluate

1. Distance to the school – It is recommended that the pre-school should not be more than 5 – 10 kms from the house. Can be checked. However if the parents intend to opt for school transport for their child, it may be a better idea to check the bus route for a school.

2.School’s Profile :

·What is the philosophy of the school

·How do the school live its philosophy ( What curriculum does the school follow and what are the commonly followed teaching methodologies.)

·Does the school has a stable leadership (Helps in school’s progress)

·Past performance in academics and extra-curricular activities (It should be good)

·Teacher student ratio (1:20/25 is recommended)

The school profile can be checked through

       ·The school’s website.

       ·Talking to principal and teachers

       ·Talking to students

       ·Talking to school’s parents

       ·Talking to support staff

       ·Searching the Internet on parents forums

The authenticity of the check depends upon the parents’ way of asking questions and noticing general pattern and deviations.

3. Infrastructure :

Is the school equipped with

·Labs or centres of exploration and learning for subjects like maths, robotics, arts, languages and science to name a few.

·Classrooms

·Cafeteria

·Medical facility room

·Auditoriums, open play ground, sports facilities and  cafeteria to list a few

·Furniture in classrooms, staff-rooms and other areas

·Transport infrastucture

·Security and surveillance

The parents may choose to visit the school to check and compare the infrastructure and other facilities as enlisted on the website and with infrastructure of the other schools.

A school which houses dedicated centres of learning have been found better in promoting learning. However, that is not a universal rule.

Parents may enquire and check the transport services provided by the school.

Parents may check about the status of the seriousness of the schools security policy by checking what kind of procedures and checks do they follow to ensure the safety of children while in school, at the time of dispersal and in the school transport

4. Play equipment - Checking the quality of play equipments and toys is very important. Parents may see that the play equipments should be decently new, child friendly, age appropriate and in ample numbers.

5. Cleanliness - Parents may choose to check the level of hygiene maintained in school’s toilets and other areas

6. Parent involvement - It is advisable that a school should take parents feedbacks seriously. Parents may check about the same from various sources. Moreover, parents involvement in various school’s activities is a good indicator of schools openness and transparency around the quality of schools undertakings.

7. Happiness and satisfaction level of parents and teachers

Parents may try to find out by generally interacting with teachers about the schools atmosphere, policies, and workload to gauge the working environment for teachers.

Does the school provide enrichment programmes for the teachers? How well the school treats its teachers most of the times corresponds to better performance of teachers.

Also, interactions with school’s parents can indicate well about the overall workings of the school. You may interact with fellow parents on parentune from the school.

8. Engagement of school in environmental and social  community programmes

Schools that promote sensitivity around the issues concerning environment, good social practices and community causes are better at instilling ethics and values in children.

Each child is different and so are the parental expectations from the school. Experts concluded that parents can find a school that best suits their child’s developmental needs keeping in mind their child’s temperament, needs and own expectations around what are most important aspects to them related to the educational and co-curricular services offered by the school

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Top 6 benefits of collaborating with your childs school

“Dear Parent, Aryan will not be attending the games periods in the coming week due to an incident that happened today. Please ask him for details.” A diary note, signed by the school head.

Returning home from an exhausting day at work to something like this was the final straw. Without giving her time to think, Siya called out to her 12 year old and demanded an explanation, rather a confession of the mess he had made at school…..yet again.


Parentune - Indian Parenting Sites

Aryan, scared that Siya will hold him responsible, stood silent, waiting for the storm to pass even as Siya continued to scold him for being reckless and irresponsible. Frustrated with not being able to keep in touch with the school due to her long working hours, Siya could not help but crib about the school’s inadequacies in dealing with issues on their own.

In all of this, she failed to notice that beneath the signature, the academic head had scribbled her contact number. A few hours later Aryan shared bits from the incident and pestered her to call the school since he did not want to miss his sports coaching. The next morning, as Siya dialed the number, preparing in her mind the things she would say to win the argument, she was in for a pleasant surprise. The lady at the other end was unexpectedly calm and invited her for a quick meeting at the school.

With the guilt of having missed the last two PTMs riding on her back, she agreed to drop in at the school at 12. What followed was a heart-to-heart conversation, which lasted close to an hour. The incident that had caused so much anxiety was a physical altercation between Aryan and a classmate; typical boys' fight stemming out of bruised egos. As a team, the two ladies along with the class teacher devised ways to solve behavioral issues and decided that fortnightly updates will be sent to Siya about her child's progress.

Also, learning that Siya was an experienced voice and accent trainer at a leading bank, the principal invited her to conduct a Communication Training Series for Senior Children, a win-win for all.

Today progressive schools are more open to constructive feedback and suggestions than in the past when our parents used to have limited access to the teachers and a trip to the school would happen only if it was really unavoidable. Many parents are keen to create a positive connection with their child's school and are willing to make the effort to establish a healthy and open relationship with the institution. A positive and open dialogue rather than a tug and pull, which may result in bitter feelings; may compromise the child's learning experience.

Why is it Important to Build a Healthy Collaboration with Your Child’s School?
“Nobody wants to play with me”. When Priya learned that her somewhat shy 7 year old was being left out in the morning sports coaching at her school, she decided to do something concrete about it. She landed at the school and said she would like to volunteer as an assistant to the sports coach. To her delight, the school was more than happy to have an extra helping hand.

Thus, for a good six months, she went to the school every morning at 7 am, participated in the games and encouraged her child to proactively choose partners and participate in group activities.

In a week’s time, the transformation began to show. The little girl was so confident and proud that her mum was there that she pushed herself to perform better at the sport. Slowly other children wanted to partner with her because she was now an asset for the team. Priya’s efforts not only improved the child’s confidence and team spirit, her immunity and stamina also improved.

The rewards of positive engagement with your child’s school are aplenty. Volunteering has emerged as a powerful tool for parents who want to witness their child's learning and development from close quarters.

Some positive outcomes that may motivate you to contribute your time and effort in volunteer roles at the school are:

1. Confidence building - Watching her parents take interest in the school's activities gives a positive boost to the child's confidence.
2. Role model – By involving themselves with the school, parents become active role models of community participation and value building. Parents' enthusiasm is bound to rub off on the child.
3. Social issues - Parents’ participation can help schools in combating issues such as tobacco use, bullying, peer pressure, drug abuse and other problems. You can plan awareness sessions on seemingly taboo issues such as sex education.
4. Support system - By staying involved, parents can create an open environment where children feel free to discuss problems without fear of being judged. Based on your interest / expertise, you may offer to support student counseling initiatives in the school.
5. Bonding - The biggest reward of this is the opportunity to witness beautiful aspects of your child’s personality in varied situations. This has been seen to help parents gather a better understanding of the child's personality.
6. Academic performance - Research shows that children of involved parents perform better in academics as they feel supported in their endeavors.

There are several ways parents can actively participate in their child's education and other experiences at school.

Read my next blog in this series to know some simple and effective ways to collaborate with your child’s school to achieve more for your child.

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