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Reading with your child can be a very rewarding thing - stoking the imagination, the fun of discovering new worlds, and most of all, bonding with your child.
Reading with your child can be a very rewarding thing – stoking the imagination, the fun of discovering new worlds, and most of all, bonding with your child.
A lazy weekend and nothing like reading a good book sitting besides the window. At the backdrop is a setting sun painting the horizon in shades of orange, peach and red. Sitting glued to me is my ‘little one’ who was busy fixing a jigsaw ‘Gruffalo’ puzzle.
The moment it occurred to her that I am reading, she brings ‘The World of Peter Rabbit’ that has a compilation of 23 books with amazing characters like Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, Benjamin Bunny, Mr Tod, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton tail, Mr McGregor and so on. These characters don’t only exist in these books but are a part of our family and every day conversations. The moment I mention that roti-sabzi is Peter Rabbit’s favourite food she happily eats her meal.
I was amazed and watched her with love and admiration, my daughter emulating me, made me feel not less than a superstar! The way she was flipping the pages, reading every page commencing with One day…(she is only 3 and cannot read). She was busy rummaging through all those 23 books and then neatly placing them in the box. Then she got some more books and insisted me to read them to her.
I did the reading; she was seated in my lap and holding my hands and we were reading; bonding at every level. Very recently I noticed that she has been relating the characters from her books to real life; the rabbits in the zoo are Peter Rabbit and his family, every duck is Jemima Puddle Duck to her, an adult animal is always a Mummy to her and an infant is the baby. The other day she saw a big fat rodent and told me that it was Samuel Whiskers and we need to lock our fridge and cupboard doors as it may steal our food and tear our clothes; needless to say we did that and she felt secure.
We as parents were always very keen on buying books for her rather than toys and have a small library at home, a mix of newly bought and some second hand books. It is not only English but we work hard to read to her in Marathi and Hindi, our first languages. Every parent dreams of a fantastic world for their children and introducing them to books is one step towards it; best advisers, best friends and best companions.
There are many more advantages of reading. You will enjoy seeing their bright and happy faces when you read and narrate a story.
Together, we have also scripted a few stories; Aaji (grandma) and Fox, Aadhya and Mowgli, Aaji – Aadhya and Jemima Puddle Duck are a few to name. More than her, I enjoy the entire process of weaving a story for her.
Not sure about what she would inherit from us (parents) but we would like to gift her knowledge and wisdom through the beautiful world of books and stories that cannot be stolen, sold nor bought.
Image source: reading with your child by Shutterstock.
I have always loved writing and strongly believe that writing can create social awareness . I love writing blogs and want to write a novel someday. I also feel strongly about woman and her social emancipation read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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