We are good at social niceties and saying “Thank You” is a part of it. Being grateful though goes beyond it. It’s a feeling of appreciation in the heart which can be expressed outwardly in a multitude of ways. And we have a lot to be thankful for if we would take the time to count the blessings. In one…
Imparting Financial Education to Children
Finances are a big part of our lives and often play an integral role in the decision making. It also becomes a point of discord and we often hear parents saying that this generation doesn’t understand the value of money and that their demands are endless. We may not realize it but financial education of our children starts at a…
How to Make Children Brainy and Balanced
How to make kids smarter and sharper is on almost every parent’s mind. Parents try their level best to support the growth of their children and to unlock their highest potential. We often see advertisements of certain nutrition products saying that maximum brain growth happens in the first five years. But what does that actually mean and how best can…
Solution to Challenging Behaviours and Negative Patterns
Often as a psychiatrist I have parents coming to me with children who have temper tantrums, anger issues and other maladaptive behaviours. The main concern of the parent apart from behaviour remodelling of the child is their own conduct during the meltdowns. Parents either often give in to the demands of the child or resort to using threats to punish…
Sibling Rivalry
Competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field is how Oxford dictionary defines rivalry. So siblings may want the same toys, similar privileges and vie each other for them. But most of all what each one of them wants is love and appreciation from parents. Sibling rivalry can be healthy too. How much ever it might be driving…
Magic Formula for Behaviour Change
We all have wished one time or another that there was a magic wand which we could wave and make all our problems disappear. Wouldn’t it be nice to have one. Wave it over the spouse and see the anger evaporate. Wave it over the children and they become perfect embodiment of calm and respect and endowed with new skills…
Reincarnation is God’s gift
Exploring reincarnation with our little ones in our weekly online Family Joy gathering was not only fun but also very expansive. We did it over two meetings. Family Joy is an offering of Ananda India Online. We used play dough to understand the concept of reincarnation. How the same play dough could be fashioned into many different objects of different shapes…
How God is Everywhere
When we share about our spiritual path with children and talk about God, they can pose some difficult questions and here’s an attempt to answer one such question. ‘Where is God’ is a very frequent question asked and the oft provided answer to this question is God is everywhere. One can answer that question in multiple ways. We could tell…
Dynamics of Motivating Children
The common complaint of today’s parents is “To get one task done we have to tell them a thousand times and this is everyday’s story.” The parent feels exhausted and drained by this continuous shouting and tussle. They often ask and look for solutions to motivate their kids to do the right thing.But what is the right thing and according…
Taming Temper Tantrums
As parents we all have had to face meltdowns or temper tantrums of our children. We do not want to be caught in the midst of it as most often than not it’s very disconcerting. Most of us either try to deal it with a heavy hand, cold shoulder or give in. We know neither of these are healthy responses…