The first step is taken. 6 playschools visited last morning and scores tallied for each.
The last I talked about playschool I had listed a number of things I wanted the school to take them through.
I am beginning to have 2 minds about whether I really want them to have an action packed playschool routine.
Why have I decided to send them? Interaction, Socializing, Developing Emotional Quotient, Learning, Discipline...The reasons are many and for each need there is an answer.
There are playschools who teach social skills and others do theme based activity and yet others have computers to create awareness on technology.
Finally, if I have to get down to the core reason for going to playschool- it is emotive and social development, group dynamics and interatcing with their own kind. Therefore, do I need hi tech, 5 star facilities? There is definitely a feel good factor about going to places like this that have hi fi facilities like play gym, computers, CC cameras and a host of other deliverables.
Ultimately, I want a place that is clean, conducive to the child's needs, bright, airy, spacious, having polite and patient teachers, and a fair sized group of kids.
What are the choices? The teaching method is montessory backed in all places. The costs would be ranging from Rs 1500 per month to Rs 4000 per month depending upon the brand equity of the school and the location and decor of the premises. The set of activities would be colouring/ painting, games, gardening, sand pit, play pool, computer, rhymes, reading/ picture books, educational toys. The other training would be dining skills, toilet learning, organising skills.
There are schools that insist that you keep the child there upto nursery school as they don't want to work on the child and then send them off to other nursery schools where the child may plan to do the primary/ secondary education.
There are schools who follow diaper free environment- they remove the diaper the moment the child is within the premises. They provide a bag and tray where the kid's clothes are kept and in due course the child is able to pick out his own and do a change of clothes. They have installed child sized western toilets and maintain time sheets. Some insist that the child be sent in diapers and claim that in a month's time, the child will want to throw the diaper off and get toilet trained more due to peer pressure than conscious training.
Some schools provide glass crockery, thereby training the child on how to handle fragile objects. Some have individual tables for each child to do his food and activities, some put mats on the floor for all activities.
Some schools have a full fledged garden where the child is allowed to experiment.
There are schools that provide meals/ snacks and some require us to send a snack pack.
Some schools provide pick-up- drop facilities.
Some look messy, some are spotless.
Some follow a non interference and non- force technique and others have a curriculum to follow- like a tree month- parts of tree, what lives on trees, rhymes on trees, mini projects on trees etc, or colour month or shapes month.
Some want the child to stay for only an hour and some are as long as 4 hours.
The teacher student ratio is around 1 :5
What is the decision?
The question is, how much can you pack in a 4 hour duration, meals, games, activities, training, the list of claims is endless and I am getting sceptical about how much do kids actually do. What am I paying for? For something that I can do as well myself- my kids can read, write, do rhymes, puzzles. I have a play pool, they can operate the TV, A/C, Laptop, if guven the chance, they can feed themselves to an extent, I am diaper free at home so why am I sending them to schools at all?
If it is only for group dynamics, interaction, Sun TV free environment, estabilishing a routine then why do I worry about how educative they are going to be? Why am I attracted towards the schools that fall in the Rs4000 cost bracket, promise all activities and also ask me to keep them in diapers?
I sometimes think that if I were a SAHM I would have educated them at home. I would have read up the internet for montessory stuff and visited all schools to see what they are doing and then followed a curriculum. I would have taken them on organised trips, and made them cut paper with safe scissors and taken them regularly to play in the sand. I would stick up alphabet and animal charts all over the place, collect as many abacus toys and puzzles, books and colours and have had an action packed day with them. Provided I didn't have to cook, supervise maids, keep house, do the internet, socialize, shop etc etc. But maybe if I were really a SAHM, I would have torn my hair off by now and sent them off to school, desperate to get a 4 hour break.
As of now, nothing is good enough for my precious babies. No one is good enough to handle them as well as I can. So I am going to visit another place that has a pick up & drop facility, costs Rs 1500 average, promise all activities, provide food, kids are excited to go there and come back happy, content, clean and dry and 2 of my hi-fi neighbours are extremely pleased with the services.
The Scorpios
Showing posts with label analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label analysis. Show all posts
Friday, November 23, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Childproofing -but not beyond a point
I wrote about child proofing.
Lumi mentioned in the comments section that she had taught her Mini Me not to touch stuff rather than total child proofing. Come to think of it, ditto with my baby brother. Except for items on the dressing table and a table placed in front of the TV to prevent him from hitting the screen with his hand in which he used to wear a silver bracelet, we did not do too much of child proofing. He was pretty low maintenance as a child. On the contrary, a few relatives (D& B) who were a good 3- 5 years older than him were terrors- we had to hide my brother’s tricycle, stroller, toys etc to prevent them from breaking stuff. For the record, neither we sisters nor my brother broke toys. Barring a few accidental breakages, whatever toys had been broken or even the favourite doll which has pen marks on her head- was done by others- read the terror relatives D&B. In fact her mother and she were ultra careful about her Barbie that was kept out of reach in her own home.
While Tejas & Ojas are natural destroyers. So were my close cousins A & S. While my cousins’ avenue were toys and may be an occasional electronic item but my kids arena is limitless. It can be doors, toys, phone, DVD to TV wires, knife, vessels, lemon strainer, clothes clip, puja cupboard, remote, A/C, keys, gas, lighter, the list is endless. My soft toys have been well played but look new like because they were played with care and washed and cleaned regularly by Mom. Whereas my kids’ soft toys have a worn out look due to the rough handling and lack of control and care by yours truly.
That sets me thinking. Probably there is a Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in all kids.
Some like Brahma are naturally creative & inquisitive- those whiz kids who can crack puzzles, use Bob the Builder type of Make & know toys and learn the alphabets and colours and birds & animals fast.
Some like Vishnu are preservers- those dream kids who never break their toys or mess around with things that don’t concern them. Mind you, they are not dull or boring or lack in intelligence. They are just careful.
Some like Shiva are destructors. They will not sit still and do their lessons. You will never find them attempting to solve the puzzle rather they will play with the pieces. You build the model aeroplane with the building blocks, they will pull it apart. They will open the parts of the torch, mobile, remote and curiously explore what’s in. They will bang & hurl objects for no rhyme or reason. Even the bed spread, folded clothes & stuff inside cupboard will not be spared. But take heart. It is often said that those who destroy more get to learn the insides of how things work naturally provided they channel it right.
So there are kids and then there are kids. To each his own. One must try to identify the type of kid one has been blessed with and decide the level of child proofing.
For a very long time I did not do the child proofing. All this was done at a much later stage when the MIL & the maids began to have a tough time handling the challenge. The number of times they approached the gas stove was growing in numbers. The vessel drawers were getting emptied on many occasions and the re-washing was harrowing the maids. I feared I would lose all my CD collection & important papers and I was ending up with having no storage space as all the lower levels were getting emptied one by one. My entire living room had barricades against the drawers and show case- barricades like heavy sofa, their stroller stuffed with pillows and toys to prevent access, upturned chairs tied over side tables to prevent them from climbing over and reaching the plug points. And now I do not have any place to charge my mobile except the office or the kitchen plug point. My bangles and clothes were repeatedly being pulled out of the cupboards. In total, life was getting tiring for the care givers.
For my part, I honestly tried exercising discipline, saying this belongs to Mummy or Daddy or making the sound of a strict “ay ee” or giving a smack on the butt or the hands. None worked. In fact they challenge us by doing exactly what we asked them not to do.
Hence the childproofing of the home. To prevent things from getting destroyed. To prevent them from getting hurt. And so that we can relax a little bit.
Lumi mentioned in the comments section that she had taught her Mini Me not to touch stuff rather than total child proofing. Come to think of it, ditto with my baby brother. Except for items on the dressing table and a table placed in front of the TV to prevent him from hitting the screen with his hand in which he used to wear a silver bracelet, we did not do too much of child proofing. He was pretty low maintenance as a child. On the contrary, a few relatives (D& B) who were a good 3- 5 years older than him were terrors- we had to hide my brother’s tricycle, stroller, toys etc to prevent them from breaking stuff. For the record, neither we sisters nor my brother broke toys. Barring a few accidental breakages, whatever toys had been broken or even the favourite doll which has pen marks on her head- was done by others- read the terror relatives D&B. In fact her mother and she were ultra careful about her Barbie that was kept out of reach in her own home.
While Tejas & Ojas are natural destroyers. So were my close cousins A & S. While my cousins’ avenue were toys and may be an occasional electronic item but my kids arena is limitless. It can be doors, toys, phone, DVD to TV wires, knife, vessels, lemon strainer, clothes clip, puja cupboard, remote, A/C, keys, gas, lighter, the list is endless. My soft toys have been well played but look new like because they were played with care and washed and cleaned regularly by Mom. Whereas my kids’ soft toys have a worn out look due to the rough handling and lack of control and care by yours truly.
That sets me thinking. Probably there is a Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in all kids.
Some like Brahma are naturally creative & inquisitive- those whiz kids who can crack puzzles, use Bob the Builder type of Make & know toys and learn the alphabets and colours and birds & animals fast.
Some like Vishnu are preservers- those dream kids who never break their toys or mess around with things that don’t concern them. Mind you, they are not dull or boring or lack in intelligence. They are just careful.
Some like Shiva are destructors. They will not sit still and do their lessons. You will never find them attempting to solve the puzzle rather they will play with the pieces. You build the model aeroplane with the building blocks, they will pull it apart. They will open the parts of the torch, mobile, remote and curiously explore what’s in. They will bang & hurl objects for no rhyme or reason. Even the bed spread, folded clothes & stuff inside cupboard will not be spared. But take heart. It is often said that those who destroy more get to learn the insides of how things work naturally provided they channel it right.
So there are kids and then there are kids. To each his own. One must try to identify the type of kid one has been blessed with and decide the level of child proofing.
For a very long time I did not do the child proofing. All this was done at a much later stage when the MIL & the maids began to have a tough time handling the challenge. The number of times they approached the gas stove was growing in numbers. The vessel drawers were getting emptied on many occasions and the re-washing was harrowing the maids. I feared I would lose all my CD collection & important papers and I was ending up with having no storage space as all the lower levels were getting emptied one by one. My entire living room had barricades against the drawers and show case- barricades like heavy sofa, their stroller stuffed with pillows and toys to prevent access, upturned chairs tied over side tables to prevent them from climbing over and reaching the plug points. And now I do not have any place to charge my mobile except the office or the kitchen plug point. My bangles and clothes were repeatedly being pulled out of the cupboards. In total, life was getting tiring for the care givers.
For my part, I honestly tried exercising discipline, saying this belongs to Mummy or Daddy or making the sound of a strict “ay ee” or giving a smack on the butt or the hands. None worked. In fact they challenge us by doing exactly what we asked them not to do.
Hence the childproofing of the home. To prevent things from getting destroyed. To prevent them from getting hurt. And so that we can relax a little bit.
Monday, April 09, 2007
300 Movie- Review
Statutory Warning- “Spoiler Ahead”. Read on if you don’t mind a few details being let out from the movie
================================================
"Because only Spartan Woman give Birth to Real Men", said Queen Gorgo.
As a Mommy Blogger, this line touches me the most. As a Woman, this line touches me again. The order is intended. Before I became a mother, I never realised the intensity of feeling that a woman or a man experiences for one that has emerged from self. And therefore the phrase "it's my baby" is used for any project or creation that one does and one needs to emphasise the feeling of ownership that one experiences for that particular project. “The sight of the headless body of the Captain's son filled his heart with hatred (towards the Persians)”, made me realise how powerful the love towards an offspring is.
Before I started, this post was intended to be a cursory review of the movie and thereafter an analysis of the strategy and when I began, the course somehow changed to the above track. And I am glad that I watched this movie in a theatre else I would have never been able to concentrate on the nuances and links.
I did a little googling on the ancient Sparta war and their tribe and I am yet to understand the full import of the movie and their story with respect to ancient history. Also, while there are shades of dramatization, and the author has taken liberties with the plot, attire and rendering of the characters to lend emphasis or otherwise to the storyline, bearing the fact that it is a story from the point of view of a Spartan, I give credit to Frank Miller and Zack Snyder. It makes the viewer empathise with Spartans and even admire their militancy. As Frank Miller himself says, that in truth the Spartans was much crueler than depicted. The policy of 'you don't shoot the messenger' is not at all followed here, yet one tends to applaud when King Leonidas throws the Persian messengers into the pit for the slight to his queen when she joined the political discussion. Was it the woman in me applauding or the viewer in me, I do not know.
Spartan culture to me seemed like a blend of (modern) society with animal like touches. The reference to the customary infanticide to maintain healthy stock and the women & men seen as a means to creating a superior gene pool is almost animal like whereas women empowerment, shades of political grays, reference to democracy reflects our society.
If I were to equate the movie to modern corporate world, it could be explained in the following manner from the Spartan point of view-
Strategy- The Military strategy of the Spartans (& Persians)
Core Competence- the main profession of all Spartans were warriors not a potter/ craftsman engaged to do military duty like the Greek ally soldiers
Merger- Greek forces rallying up with Spartans
Back-end Support- Women back home, male progeny, reinforcements
Insider- Ephialtes
Competition – Persians
From strategy point of view bearing in mind the period we are talking about, the phalanx formation employed by the Spartan troop was nearly impenetrable. The Spartan army played by logic and physical strength whereas the Persian army fought with sheer numbers.
With my limited understanding of military strategies I cannot give much input on it but from what I could observe,
The formation emphasized on unified, almost programmed, nearly orchestrated, coordinated movement, speed and action.
The emphasis was on not creating any weak link in the formation.
The shield was the key for self defense and self-preservation. The importance of the shield is highlighted when King Leonidas rejects the application of the hunchback Ephialtes into the military after his failure to use the shield correctly. The dramaticised depiction of the entire army escaping unscathed when the Persian army rained poisoned arrows on them, further reinforces the importance
The drama involving Queen Gorgo that happens back home helps one relax a little in the midst of the war and also delivers the following messages-
a reflection on the society- the active role of women in politics and their empowerment
the moral (and otherwise?) support given by women to their men in their “career”. As King Leonidas rightly put it, in not so many words that a Spartan woman is as capable as a Spartan man to fight the war.
On a baser level, men across ages will be men- they will definitely attempt to eve tease!!
The Spartan warriors and the king slighting the “stupidity” of Persian strategy and throwing various one-liners from the pages of history gave a breather break to the serious war situation.
A few one-liners forced claps and laughs in the otherwise dead theatre including- “we shall fight in the shade” the answer given by the Spartan soldier in response to the Persian who says that the Persian army's arrows will blot out the sun. Infact there was one enthusiastic young guy repeatedly clapping for every good scene and one-liner and if my husband had been encouraging or supportive or if I had gone with a large group of friends, I would have joined him in his enthusiasm.
The blogger in me tried hard to look for anomalies which are spotted in period films quite often, like a watch or a (Reebok) shoe, but gave up after some time for the sake of enjoying the movie.
The makeup artists have evidently worked very hard to make some of the characters look despicable. The sages of the Oracle, the hunchback Ephialtes, the immortals when shown prompted me to shut my eyes lest I get dreadful dreams. Especially watching from the 1st row in Mayajaal, multiplied the eek value of the characters by several times. If the movie had been released when I was carrying, I would not have watched it. It’s truly “Prepare for G(l)ory”
In fact the androgynous (or metro sexual?) depiction of King Xerex has been criticized by some groups. I found him interesting but not repelling.
The narrative by Spartan soldier Dilios made it easier for me to follow, especially with my long-forgotten knowledge of history which is limited to chapters and classes and I do not have a bigger picture understanding to it. With the hazy memory of the dates I really fail to appreciate which kings or warriors were contemporaries and which ones were far removed by centuries -BC/ AD or otherwise.
Therefore, I request fellow bloggers to recommend one complete history book which renders the world history in an easily appreciated story form.
================================================
"Because only Spartan Woman give Birth to Real Men", said Queen Gorgo.
As a Mommy Blogger, this line touches me the most. As a Woman, this line touches me again. The order is intended. Before I became a mother, I never realised the intensity of feeling that a woman or a man experiences for one that has emerged from self. And therefore the phrase "it's my baby" is used for any project or creation that one does and one needs to emphasise the feeling of ownership that one experiences for that particular project. “The sight of the headless body of the Captain's son filled his heart with hatred (towards the Persians)”, made me realise how powerful the love towards an offspring is.
Before I started, this post was intended to be a cursory review of the movie and thereafter an analysis of the strategy and when I began, the course somehow changed to the above track. And I am glad that I watched this movie in a theatre else I would have never been able to concentrate on the nuances and links.
I did a little googling on the ancient Sparta war and their tribe and I am yet to understand the full import of the movie and their story with respect to ancient history. Also, while there are shades of dramatization, and the author has taken liberties with the plot, attire and rendering of the characters to lend emphasis or otherwise to the storyline, bearing the fact that it is a story from the point of view of a Spartan, I give credit to Frank Miller and Zack Snyder. It makes the viewer empathise with Spartans and even admire their militancy. As Frank Miller himself says, that in truth the Spartans was much crueler than depicted. The policy of 'you don't shoot the messenger' is not at all followed here, yet one tends to applaud when King Leonidas throws the Persian messengers into the pit for the slight to his queen when she joined the political discussion. Was it the woman in me applauding or the viewer in me, I do not know.
Spartan culture to me seemed like a blend of (modern) society with animal like touches. The reference to the customary infanticide to maintain healthy stock and the women & men seen as a means to creating a superior gene pool is almost animal like whereas women empowerment, shades of political grays, reference to democracy reflects our society.
If I were to equate the movie to modern corporate world, it could be explained in the following manner from the Spartan point of view-
Strategy- The Military strategy of the Spartans (& Persians)
Core Competence- the main profession of all Spartans were warriors not a potter/ craftsman engaged to do military duty like the Greek ally soldiers
Merger- Greek forces rallying up with Spartans
Back-end Support- Women back home, male progeny, reinforcements
Insider- Ephialtes
Competition – Persians
From strategy point of view bearing in mind the period we are talking about, the phalanx formation employed by the Spartan troop was nearly impenetrable. The Spartan army played by logic and physical strength whereas the Persian army fought with sheer numbers.
With my limited understanding of military strategies I cannot give much input on it but from what I could observe,
The formation emphasized on unified, almost programmed, nearly orchestrated, coordinated movement, speed and action.
The emphasis was on not creating any weak link in the formation.
The shield was the key for self defense and self-preservation. The importance of the shield is highlighted when King Leonidas rejects the application of the hunchback Ephialtes into the military after his failure to use the shield correctly. The dramaticised depiction of the entire army escaping unscathed when the Persian army rained poisoned arrows on them, further reinforces the importance
The drama involving Queen Gorgo that happens back home helps one relax a little in the midst of the war and also delivers the following messages-
a reflection on the society- the active role of women in politics and their empowerment
the moral (and otherwise?) support given by women to their men in their “career”. As King Leonidas rightly put it, in not so many words that a Spartan woman is as capable as a Spartan man to fight the war.
On a baser level, men across ages will be men- they will definitely attempt to eve tease!!
The Spartan warriors and the king slighting the “stupidity” of Persian strategy and throwing various one-liners from the pages of history gave a breather break to the serious war situation.
A few one-liners forced claps and laughs in the otherwise dead theatre including- “we shall fight in the shade” the answer given by the Spartan soldier in response to the Persian who says that the Persian army's arrows will blot out the sun. Infact there was one enthusiastic young guy repeatedly clapping for every good scene and one-liner and if my husband had been encouraging or supportive or if I had gone with a large group of friends, I would have joined him in his enthusiasm.
The blogger in me tried hard to look for anomalies which are spotted in period films quite often, like a watch or a (Reebok) shoe, but gave up after some time for the sake of enjoying the movie.
The makeup artists have evidently worked very hard to make some of the characters look despicable. The sages of the Oracle, the hunchback Ephialtes, the immortals when shown prompted me to shut my eyes lest I get dreadful dreams. Especially watching from the 1st row in Mayajaal, multiplied the eek value of the characters by several times. If the movie had been released when I was carrying, I would not have watched it. It’s truly “Prepare for G(l)ory”
In fact the androgynous (or metro sexual?) depiction of King Xerex has been criticized by some groups. I found him interesting but not repelling.
The narrative by Spartan soldier Dilios made it easier for me to follow, especially with my long-forgotten knowledge of history which is limited to chapters and classes and I do not have a bigger picture understanding to it. With the hazy memory of the dates I really fail to appreciate which kings or warriors were contemporaries and which ones were far removed by centuries -BC/ AD or otherwise.
Therefore, I request fellow bloggers to recommend one complete history book which renders the world history in an easily appreciated story form.
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