Saturday 31 March 2012

Be the role model and model your kids to be happy.

When a baby is born he is a bundle of joy for the parents. Parents are happy to see their small replicas in their small babies. Baby grows and becomes a crawler and a toddler. Initial 2 to 3 years are spent with the parents. Parents are first school of the kids. They teach the kids all aspects of life. Learning begins at home, including how to behave with strangers and in the outside world. If there are siblings bigger than the kid, he socializes with them, plays and learns a lot from them. Small kids are very tender, soft like tender leaves of a plant. They are like soft clay, get moulded the way parents want. Imparting education knowledge is not a one moment thing it is a coninuous process.

                                            After 2-3 years kids start schooling. What kids are in the outside world, is the mirror reflection of their parents. Parents themselves are the reflection of their parents and teachers and this continues.

                   Initial years are building blocks of life they lay the foundation. This starts at home and should be the period which gives them the confidence for life. Parents give moral values to their kids and it is important for them to dedicate more time in the initial stages of a kid with them.

                         When the kid starts going to school, then all teachers teaching him become his role model. Whatever they teach, he will absorb and imbibe in his personality. Apart from the role of the parents role of teachers in the development of kids is also of utmost importance. He follows the parents and then a time comes when he follows the parents and the teachers.

Kids immate us. At home what parents do, kids also follow the same. If I watch TV, my kid will definitely do that. If I pray in the morning, my kid will obviously do. I would like to give an example - one morning I was cutting onion and tears were rolling down my cheeks. My elder daughter came and saw me and started sobbing. She said don't cry and hugged me. This was a new experience for me that my kids are following me innocently. So try to set a good example and act in a way that will make your kids better person. Try to make them self confident. Model yourself to be a good role model and your kids will make you happy eventually.

Nariyal paani

It is hot summer time and the temperature is shooting upto 42-43 degrees. Everyone is feeling the heat and trying to keep themselves comfortable by resorting to drinking cool soft drinks. The good part of being in Southern parts of India is that Cocount water is available in abundance here.

Coconut water has lot of benefits and is specially far better to the fizzy colas that are having lot of sugar and no nutrition. Coconut water is good for people recovering from any illnesses and give a lot of strength in an easily digestible form. It is better than drinking the Glucose drinks as there is no sugar and can be easily taken by diabetic persons.

                          There can be no adulteration and a natural drink is best as compared to drinks made in factories. The colas are addictive due to lot of sugar, caffeine and some other ingredients which only their manufacturers know. Lets enjoy the drink that is natural is better than even the water available to us as that is also polluted now a days.

How to make your crawler happy?

1. Play peek-a-boo with him. He will also immitate you and try to keep his small little hands on his eyes.

2. Play a CD in your player and dance. He will also try shake and dance. babies love to dance and listen to music.

3. Just giggle and he will copy and make silly sounds.

4. Make him busy with his favourite toys like hand puppets. Make the hand puppets dance. Some electronic toys like small phone replicas also attract them.

5. Take him out for a walk. Put him in a stroller and go for a small stroll. He will see different people and be happy as afterall man is a social animal.

6. Make funny faces and funny sounds.

Solid food for babies

For the 1st four - five months of life, babies feed on milk. Their digestive system is still developing, hence they cannot normal food. Their one sole dependence is on milk. Starting from one ounce and gradually increasing till 4 ounces at one time in four months. Doctors say that the babies should solely be on milk for 1st 6 months. some babies are so hungry that every one to one and half hour they need milk. As the babies grow, their need for food increases. I suppose that if a baby starts acting in a way that he is swallowing something, then it is better to start little bit of solid food like mashed bananas. These are soft, easy to swallow and easy to digest. Start with a small piece of banana and see the result. The poop will be dark and will also have some black strands so don't panic.

               One should start the solid food at the age of six months, as they say. Also rice cereals are best ones easily available in the market. Home food like rice and dal khichdi mashed together can be started. Make a point that veggies are also introduced first. It is observed that if fruits are given first then they dont want to eat the veggies as they prefer fruits to veggies.
                                                              Ready made foods for babies are available in market. That's a blessing in disguise families when they travel. Cerelac cereals can be made even if you are travelling. Add two spoons of water to one spoon of cerelac rice cereal and baby food is ready.

Baby's tummy is satisfied and the baby is happy, obviously you are happy and so is the family.
 

Mint raw mango chutney

1. Wash mint leaves and peel the mangoes.

2. Cut them in small pieces.

3. Put the ingredients in the mixer/grinder with 2 table spoon of gur powder. Add a pinch of salt.

4. Add 2 green chillies.

5. Grind the mixture.

6. Delicious mint - raw mango chutney is ready.

Babies cry. Why?

Small babies cry a lot. This is how they communicate. They are small and so cannot speak, so this is the only way to express their feelings! Generally they say that mothers can understand why their baby is crying. I have experiences a lot of it. Why babies cry and fuss:

1. Check the diaper. Some babies cry when they poop. Some cry after passing urine. If the diaper is wet or soiled change the diaper and make the baby comfortable.

2. If a baby is hungry then he will cry, feed him and make him satisfied so that he stops crying.

3. Even after feeding if he continues to cry then it is burp time. Hold him on your shoulder and pat softly on his back,. He will burp and then be happy.

4. Some babies cry if they want to sleep and cannot sleep on their own. Pat the baby slowly and sing a lullaby. He will hear his mama and papa's voice and he will sleep.

5. Sometimes if his stomach is paining due to gas, rub the stomach softly. Give some gripe water.

One day my son was crying a lot and I checked all the above points but still he was very upset. And if baby is upset the whole family mama, papa all are uncomfortable. Finally after a lot of thinking and checking I remembered that I had put a new dress on him and forgot to remove the tag. That tag was irritating him a lot and was the reason for his being fussy. As soon as I took the tag out he calmed down and was fine again. so it is all experience that makes a mother a perfect mother. Spending time with your baby is the most precious time ever. Once they grow big all this fussiness, innocence, their laughter's, chuckles get over and we miss these days.
                 Enjoy the moments of joy with him. It is a 24x7 job without pay but it has some special moments that will stay in your memory for life. It is very satisfactoy to see your baby grow up to a crawler and then a toddler.

Recipe - Palak Paranthas

1. Knead small cut spinach greens in one cup of besan (Gram flour) and 2 cups of whole wheat flour.
                    This combination leads to soft greeen spinach and two flours.

2. Add a pinch of salt in it too, that will enhance the taste.

3. Make panthas.

4. Server hot with curd or butter.

This is a very healthy food. Kids love to eat palak paranthas. They are soft and easily chewable. Gram flour adds unique taste to it. Server this to your family and help them increase their iron content in body.!!

Healthy food for kids

Today made daal ke paranthe in  the morning. My kids liked it very much. Rolled them with jam and ate. I have learnt from a child's psychology, that kids dont have the patience to eat paranthe, curd, dall separately. rather they are fine with dall paranthe. Knead flour in the boiled left over daal made at night. Kids like food that is easily handled like sandwiches, pizza, which they can easily hold and eat.

My kids are fond of Maggi too. so, I bring the Atta Noodles. They are healthier and no maida, so no harm to the intestines. I add small cut capsicum, onions and potato to it to add the nutrition and flavour.

So these are some of the tricks. We come to know as we experience it. This is motherhood!! How to make your kids healthier food which they like is not a joke, it is a full fledged mission.

Keep yourself cool

How to be "Thanda Thanda Cool Cool" in summer

1. Drink plenty of water: Drink lots of water to compensate the water lost by body via sweat.

2. Lemon Water: Helps fight the bright scorching sun

3. Ginger + Honey: Keeps the virus and bacteria away from body

4. Black pepper + Tulsi Leaves: Boil 1/2 spoon of black pepper and 10 leaves of Tulsi in water. Wait till the quantity of water is halved. Store it in a bottle. Drink a spoon of it daily, to increase the immunity.

5. Watermelon: Eat lots of it and apply it on the face, an effective face pack for summer.

6. Lassi: Yummy and instant heat reliever, stress reliever. Can be made as sweet or salty.

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Friday 2 March 2012

Chillao - aur jor se chillao

Saif had issues with the fellow NRI guests while dining in a five star hotel in Mumbai.Why?Because he and his gang were making a noise,laughing...eating and enjoying food.The other party dining on the adjoining table--NRIs, had foreign  impact on their mindset ,where people go to restaurants, pass smile to other guests sitting on next table,eat quietly and then go. No chilao and shor machao. In US, there are some restaurants which do not allow kids, since kids make lots of noise, throw tantrums and what not. So to ensure the peaceful dinner for others, kids are not allowed.Can you imagine, they do not honk horns. Is it possible here in India?
Here in India its different culture, people dance, party, enjoy, make merry.

Lecturer takes lecture at college. She has to teach a class of 40-50 students. She has to speak at the top of her voice as she should be audible to all. So this is her routine. She talks loudly even at home, even though there are two kids and hubby to listen to her .This becomes her habit of talking loudly. Hubby often says,"Arre bhai yeh aapka lecture hall nahi hai , thoda dheere boliye".

A housewife residing on the fourth floor of a building , will shout loudly (crossing all her decibel levels...) to her husband going to office..walking on the road "Tiffin to ghar hi bhool gaye..."

So yelling shouting, talking loudly is the quality of Indians. So this is the light side of it.
But if we really care for our society, then just before making sudden high loud noises and even before increasing our TV volume beyond its limits, think about kids who burn midnights oil for their exams, think about senior citizens

Come together we can make world a better place to live in. Avoid sound pollution.