Game of Life

I know it’s a odd question to ask the Parents and not your kids but still I wanted to ask you. “Have you ever played a video game?”

We are bit outdated when it comes to video games whereas our children are experts in this arena. We prefer to sit and watch them playing with our eyes wide open rather than trying to play and get stuck at the same level again and again.

Life is like a brand new video game. As you play, you need to unlock the future so does our life unfolds before us as we live every moment. Life is full of surprises just like a video game. Sometimes its interesting to play and we are eagerly looking forward to unlock the future levels immediately. Every level has got its difficulty level and its own treasures to gather on the go. As you play, you get protected, you get more lives, you build more. So does in life, nature and nurture are so conducive that we enjoy living our lives to the fullest.

Unfortunately, video game has a reload button while Life is a one way game. It has to be lived with much more care and concern or else we get stuck to life in some phase as we never had a HOW TO LIVE manual handed on to us.

As Parents, we would have realised by now, having played our own game of life, the most difficult phase is our child’s phase of school life. I would say, the Troubled teen phase they go through. It is troubled phase for the only reason that they don’t know whether they are kids anymore or adults already. There is a confusion in their behaviour oscillating between maturity and immaturity. There is an identity crisis and this is their transition period from childhood to adulthood.

Though, there is no LIFE MANUAL to guide them, there is still a good news. There is a wonderful solution to get them across this difficult phase. THEY HAVE YOU.

You have gone before them in this life and you know the difficulties of your time as well as theirs. Who else can better accompany them in their game of life?

With the counsel of the Elders (Grandparents, Parents, Teachers, Aunts, Uncles and well wishers), they will be able to unlock the treasures of the future and thus we will be moulding honest and holistic citizens of this world.

I would like to conclude this message with the couplet from Thirukurral, the great manual of life.

உற்றநோய் நீக்கி உறாஅமை முற்காக்கும்
பெற்றியார்ப் பேணிக் கொளல்.

Cherish the all-accomplished men as friends,
Whose skill the present ill removes, from coming ill defends.

P.S: Dear Parents, I would consider you as the ALL ACCOMPLISHED MEN AND WOMEN for your kids.

Freedom of expression

“Of all the things you wear, your expression is most noticeable”

I would like to quote the famous words of the song writer Katy Perry to start my message…

                                    “BE YOURSELF AND YOU CAN BE ANYTHING”

One thing in this whole of universe you can always do better than anyone else is “BEING YOURSELF”.

Being oneself is the freedom to express and it is the basic human right of an individual.

Are we allowing our children to express or just letting them absorb information from every possible social media and make them numb with info?

I just asked a boy in the school to tell the various uses of tooth brush…

His face was brightened and he started shooting his answers:

1.      To brush our teeth

2.      To clean the carpets

3.      To clean the tubs

4.      As Paint brush

5.      To clean the teeth of the dog and he was endless.

The more the child expresses, the more the Divergent thinking develops. Have we equipped our children with Divergent thinking that is the key to problem solving and the back bone of creativity?

How to make children express themselves?

More Free play and Less Screen time.

Play aids the development of physical structure.

Play teaches Kids how to negotiate group dynamics.

Play helps kids cultivate creative thinking skills.

It is so unfortunate our generations of young people are succumbed by Social Media and the T.V., Internet, Whatsapp or Facebook interfere with their divergent thinking process. Statistics are so painful that more than two thirds of kids spend an average of two hours a day using some form of electronic media.

Children become like sponge, may be able to absorb facts and figures but they can’t combine them in novel and useful ways.

Limit your screen time and increase their free play time. Children who do not express themselves would evolve to be people-pleasers. They grow up into unhappy adults who never really reach their unique potential.

Have an ART ATTACK!

Let the child have healthy way to express its emotions like sadness, anger, aggression, happiness, disappointments and excitements.

Have them DRAW

Have them SING

Have them DANCE

Have them SCULPT

Have them MAKE ORIGAMI

Have them COMPOSE

Have them WRITE

Have them express themselves through any art form.

LET THEM CHASE THEIR INTEREST

Listen to kids what their interests are.

Create space for them to express it.

Let them choose their activities like stamp collection, Coin Collection, Advertisement one liners, Names of movies, Names of the books, Names of the authors, Collection of pictures of bikes, etc.

LET THEM CHOOSE

Teachers can encourage kids to participate in shaping their learning by letting them suggest projects and experiments that interest them.

Teaching kids how to express themselves is one of the most important life skills you can give them.

When kids feel comfortable expressing who they are, they can make their dreams come true. 

I repeat and reiterate the words of Kate Perry:

                                                “BE YOURSELF AND YOU CAN BE ANYTHING”