Toddlers in Stress!!! Save Them!

This one came up in the Hyderabad Chronicle on 23 Feb. Depresses me to know that 3year olds are depressed! what a joke!

Pre-schools stress toddlers out!

Kapil Sibal, HRD minister, declared that children must join school only after they turn four. But if a recent survey conducted on pre-schoolers is anything to go by, it seems like play schools too should come under the scanner. Alarming statistics show a steep 30 to 40 per cent rise in child psychological stress, leading to depression in three-year-olds.

Parents and psychiatrists say formal education may have been postponed, but play schools in the name of “personal development” are stressing out toddlers as young as 18 months old.

Conducting tests and forcing them to learn languages, these pre-schools are unreasonable in their approach towards kids, say experts.

Toddlers are being pushed into education that forces them to memorise information rather than play.

Uma Vedula, mother of a four-year-old says she was careful when she chose a play school for her child. “While it is inevitable that kids will be sent to play school as both parents are working, it is unfair to make them undergo rigorous training. There is a right age for everything,” she says.

being force fed rhymes and languages, kids are also learning the meaning of pressure too early. Anjali Khosla, a banker and mother of a toddler, believes that both parents and schools are to blame. “While schools are pushing kids towards getting socially trained, parents can simply protest by not sending their kids to such schools. Parents send them out of fear that their children will lag behind.”

Anju Nitin Rajan, parent of two-year-old Tejas, has a different story to tell. “If we keep the kid at home till the age of four he will become restless. Moreover, with nuclear families being the order of the day and both parents working, no one has the time to entertain the child,” she says.

Dr Kalyan Chakravarty, child psychiatrist at Rainbow Hospital says early pressure can damage a child’s long-term growth. “While the concept that kids can easily adapt to changes and information is correct, most Indian schools lack the knowledge of the cognitive developmental ability of kids. They go by statistics,” he says.

He warns that a child’s brain has a limited ability to understand concepts and early pressure can hamper their ability to rationalise.

Citing a recent survey that found a direct link between children’s psychological stress, depression and entry into play schools, he says he has handled several cases where parents have brought kids as young as four with complaints of sudden bed-wetting, irritability, thumb sucking and tantrums after they joined school.

“What these schools should realise is that not all kids can cope with equal amounts of pressure and if forced this can over burden them and scar their natural developmental process,” he says. “The child should be allowed to explore natural surroundings and be left free to develop at his or her own pace.”

Source::Hyderabad Chronicle February 23 2010

“I only want you to enjoy your adulthood my child”

In case you people don’t read the newspaper well enough, I found this really cool piece in the Hindu OPEN page this morning and I was very impressed by the way it was written. After I read it, I couldn’t stop smiling and felt really very thankful to mother for a lot of stuff. Check it out.

"I only want you to enjoy your adulthood, my child” -R. RADHAKRISHNAN

No, my dear son, you should go to school. You are five-years old and see what your friends are up to? They have already been introduced to maths and science. It’s cut-throat competition out there and you have to have a head start from the word go to be on the top.

Why do you want stories now, my son? You have heard so much of them when you were in my foetus. And, you have had so many trips outside when I carried you along during my first trimester. Time is running short, honey.

Why do you aspire to climb a hill and catch a cloud now? You would have experienced all the fun and the adventure in my system itself; is it not? The journey you had from the fallopian tube to the uterus, formation of an embryo, the connection made by the umbilical cord, tell me, what’s more adventurous and exciting than all these? Don’t you remember I took you to a museum with your father during my second trimester? You had some visits to cultural places too. You said you are too tired of studying just for marks without really understanding the concepts. I tell you, my son, how much you score is the criterion and please do not push yourself too hard to understand the intricate concepts; because, if you do that, you will lose on your ability to score high. Can’t you recollect that I have wondered so many times why your father spends much of his time and energy for a deeper understanding of the issues? Always remember, Kanna, that’s why he ended up with moderate ranks in his examinations.

Honey, if at all you want to sing, swim or play cricket, you should aim to become Unnikrishnan, a Michael Phelps or a Sachin Tendulkar. I want you to hit the best always. Decide your option fast. Time is too short, my dear. And don’t worry about the size of your schoolbag. The kids in the neighborhood seem to carry a few kilos more than what you carry. Probably, they learn much more than what you learn. Catch up with them. Can’t you realize that the competition has already commenced?

Be patient, honey. You can learn understand volcanic eruptions, deep sea inhabitations, learn about tadpoles, butterflies and much more in your higher classes. You also said about nature trips, playing with paper boats, puppies, running etc. You can very well experience these on the way to your school, my dear. With the monsoon at its peak, and thanks to the poor civic amenities in our area — Why paper boats? Even the much bigger vehicles passing by would appear to you as if they are floating in the rain. Not only puppies, my dear, even men and women would be jumping and hopping negotiating the inundated waters. And for those swimming fishes you wanted, you can always see them on the brand new fish tank that we bought.

I have pinned all my hopes on you, my loving son. Your father wants to make an engineer of you and, as usual, his choice is mediocre. I have chosen the best for you, a doctor. Don’t you feel excited at being called a doctor? Your monthly take home pay in that case will be more than that of your father’s annual income. Now, have you understood honey? Never afford to waste your time in enjoying or relaxing, my dear. Just have one ambition — that is to become a doctor.

Source::Extract from OPENPAGE The Hindu Sunday Dec 13 2009

Blah Blah Blah!

Finally after 101 failed attempts at writing a blog I start over again. And this time I have an advantage! College is over! Finished! The best years of my life are over. Meaning I have a lot more time to write now. No more lectures to miss. No more tuts to guss. No more tests to make up for. No more make-ups to make-make-up for. No more hanging out at Sac, Anc, Sky, Cnot. No more “pranayama” at the banks of the holy Ganga. No more nutrition tips from the redi. No more nothing!! Where does that leave me??

Here. Now. Writing, with all the time in the world, Freeman! Yes, sure feels good.

Actually it has been exactly a year since all this stopped and they let me be free. But then I haven’t truly felt free until today December 13 2009. What am I doing now? I dunno. What am I gonna do? No idea. What do I want to do? Nope. But all that’s not really important. What is important is that now I am gonna write. Then what do I write about? Hmm… Big question, no bulbs though. So while I figure out what I really want to write about. Check this out. You might find something useful here. At least, that’s the idea. Help people. Reach out. Give back. Blah blah blah. Let’s see if it comes out good! J Have a nice one folks!

PS:: No, This is not another blog about my thoughts, my feelings, my musings, my poetry or my fantabulous life. No No. And No, I do not think I am the centre of the universe. I just want to write.