Pink Or Blue

Pink for girls and blue for boys….this is what we know from the time being...( and hence I guess, the names like billoo, pinky etc got invented J). And now a days, the room décor, clothes and everything are chosen as per gender of the child….

I don’t know which research enforced the fact…few say this is as per neuro-science on how male and female brains respond to colors and few that it is more to do with the market and retail strategy to attract more buyers…

Be it either way…I never told my son S about this color favourism and left it onto him to choose his fav…And guess what…he opted for Orange, he used to get excited by Orange color (which he often pronounces as ONAN….)

I generally dress up S in all the shades…but as he started going to school, he somehow got to know about Pink being girly shade. Now whenever I dress him up in pinks, he says, “Mai koi girl hu kya…mujhe pink kyun pehnaya?”, leaving me amused that finally he got to know the “pink pink” thing.

Till this point it was fine. But one day while giving him some vitamin supplement, which turned out to be dark Pink…he said (guess u guessed already ;) )…. “yeh girls ki dawai mujhe kyun…”…though I explained him “dawai me kisi ka color nahi hota…” , still his thought left me flabbergasted….

And now the cream biscuits which be it any flavor used to be his fav….(or any kids fav)…are now being checked to see if any pink color is popping n oozing out the biscuit holes…and hence NO and then followed by the demand of chocolate or orange color…

This color observation is getting extended day by day from clothes to food items to beddings to toys to books to unimaginable artifacts….

Though I manage to convince him each time, still I’m amazed how much and where all kids observe things and take it by heart…

Donno what more to come in store….

I’m all ears from S and from u too….

Share your experiences if any...

Originally posted on Parentous

Nursery Calling...

Time of the year has started when various schools have opened or are already in the process of nursery admissions.

My son S is already in Nursery, so I’ve gone thru this phase last year. He started his Nursery at the age of 3.4 (I know it’s a lil early for few as many parents choose the age for the same as 4+). S is Dec born and started his playway at the age of 2.5, and when he turned 3+, I didn’t intend to send him in playway for one more year and for the same set of learnings like A,B,C 1,2,3 poems etc…and then again the same set of things in Nursery.

I was determined to send S in school at 3+. But when I was waiting for my son’s interview in the wait area, I saw all kinds of kids around. Few confident, tall, smart enough and happy to go with the new teacher to a new room where there was a small test being conducted. And there were few innocent faces (S falls into this category), who turned twice to see their parents when teacher took them away. You could have heard my palpitations that time when S was away and I was wondering what would be going inside. That time I was a lil confused on whether I should have waited for one more year or is it the right age to enter the alma mater. But S got through and here we were, (like his traffic light, ready steady go), set for the schooling.

Definitely sending kids to a learning institute is always a great idea. No matter how much u try, kids learn max in company of other children and they have a sense of obeying their teachers more than their parents.

Well my intent of this post is not to share his selection day experiences or deciding on the age limit for the schools. But to rather to reflect on an important question – What do we expect from a kid going to Nursery?

Are we expecting a disciplined, confident child for class Nursery? - who take care of his belongings, obey his teacher’s instructions, finishes his/her lunch, never pee in the class. 

Or is the complete reverse? 
Or mix of both.

Why was institution of school planned from Nursery – Prep and then from  – 1^st -12^th. I feel because Nursery and Prep were spared more to imbibe mannerisms, good habits, self-discipline in kids besides the basics of the subject education. Isn’t?

Rest of the schooling and teen years are for studies, extra curricular, sports, hobbies etc but don’t you wanna treasure Nursery/Prep moments for lifetime. On how our lil ones pronounced difficult or long words, how their eyes sparkled when we mentioned their teacher’s name or class buddies, and how they sleepily open their eyes and walk when bus teacher shake them back to the conscious world at the bus stop where we are eagerly waiting for them and then their unending talks till we unlock the door. These moments are endless and priceless. As they say, best things in the world are free of cost, free of price-tags.

In my opinion, be it a 3+ or 4+ kid, lets not wait for the innocence to diminish a lil more, for maturity to come a lil more and then declare the kid to be Nursery ready. Be the part of the flow. Let them surf in the tides of the school. Give Time time. Let the things around mould our tiny tots into an individual.

What say? I’m all ears….:)

Originally posted on Parentous