As JSK sits watching TV I wonder if we are bad parents. We did not stop TV altogether when JSK was born. She knows Gopi Uncle from Neeya Naana since parents/in laws watched a lot of it. We did not introduce her to kids TV until 3. One day when I had to WFH when she was sick as a dog, she watched TV for 5 hours or so. I wanted her to feel a little comfortable and better and wanted to get some work done too. Since then she asks for TV and wouldn't miss an opportunity to watch anything. We decided to let her watch a little bit of TV on weekends. At 3 when friends visited she didn't know most of the characters kids her age talked about like Winnie the Pooh.
I don't know which school of thought I belong to, the eternal in between. Do I want to pull my hair over which school she goes to, what she learns, how her teachers interact with her and if she is learning as appropriate for her age blah blah blah, OR just let her be, let her learn to adapt to what her circumstances are, and put her in a school which is convenient for us. Private schools, alternate schools or public schools. Technology or no technology. Homework or no homework. So JSK brought back somebody else's project by mistake. It was a detailed story of the ant and the grasshopper written in painstaking detail .. By the parent. A picture of the ant to accompany the story, of course. I double triple confirmed with JSK if the student was surely certainly in her class and not in Pre K or after school class. Because there is no way I am going sit and do homework for her school. Atleast not in Preschool. May be Kindergarten and beyond. There is a nagging doubt in my head, if I am being overly hand off ish, and may be ruining JSK's life ;--S but we will see. If at all there is homework hope it is easy and not a lot of work like cutting and pasting and writing and drawing. ;--p Or something that she has to do not the parent!
I buy some toys and games for JSK, but realize often times she has more fun just playing with something in the house than her toys. She had her friend come over on Saturday for half a day. First I tried to get them do some puzzles. Lasted 15mins. Then we opened the sand water table from her 3rd birthday. 15mins of play, after an assembly time of 15mins. Then we tried playing Candyland, another 15mins ending in a fight. Eventually I told them to go upstairs to JSK's room and play whatever they wanted. That lasted an hour! Eventually I had to intervene when a fight broke out. But free play seemed to work best.
She watches some stuff that may not be appropriate for her age, like Indonesians killing whales today on Human Planet. Is that going to scar her? I am very honest about some things in life. She knows about death. How do I balance between giving her the right exposure without being too over protective. Will I be accused of making her grow up too quickly? Should she dwell in the princess phase for more years? I already burst the fairytale bubble when in Germany.
Came across this TED talk, ahem, on Twitter.
Pretty much what I have realized in the last decade. And more, since he is much older lol and also has done more research. A friend we met over the weekend told us about the Altschool ( altschool.com) Lot of schools are popping up with a modified education system. One of my classmates in India is also doing something like this with her husband. The dedication and enthusiasm is contagious. I feel these enterpreneurial ventures are very much what the world needs currently. I like how Ken says in his talk we are sort of an education inflation. What a beautiful way to put it. The world needs all kinds of people to keep in going. Current Education is geared towards making college professors out of everyone. Next book on my list is this. The Element. It talk about how to match your passion with your career or education.
Oh Elon Musk is one non fiction biographical book that I am not able to put down ( or stop listening to). I reach home, put the car in park and sit there listening for a few more minutes. Makes me appreciate how much ahead of time Mia is. Literally makes any other car look like an antique piece. I mean seriously. But I will stop singing Mia's praises. I might be taking Mia to a car show this week. I need to clean her up nice. Hope it goes well. But the man that has grand dreams, I am super inspired by him. He dares to dream to set up a colony on Mars. He wants to grow plants in Mars that can produce oxygen and this enable life. I might listen to this book a second time. To think great things are happening right around me this very moment is grass itching. Now he has found his passion.
Watched Mary Kom over the weekend at friends place. She had found her talent and let it grow. Most successful people find their talents and let it flourish.
It is a tough task to identify what talent your child has and develop it, I am still trying to find mine, I guess.
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I am reading Ken Robinson's latest book right now - loving it!
Also reading "quiet" in parallel, so learn about my introverted child and how I can let her be but enable her to flourish.
Elon Musk is on my list too.
About homework - I refuse to do my child's homework. I will sit and read a book next to her to motivate her to sit and finish it, as she grows older, but I refuse to do her work and project s myself. It is a huge problem with Indian parents who do all their kids work and make them look the best, and ruin it for people like me who let their child does it all. But I'm ready to fight that battle. So far, no homework. As we enter kinder next month, we'll see!