Rashmi's Space

"These children have parents yet feel orphaned" screamed a headline in the newspaper and I skipped a beat! When I read on, I found that the info in the article was not so much surprising as it was shocking! The article spoke about young children seeking psychiatric help from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans). In majority of cases they evaluated, it was found that parents used inappropriate styles of parenting when it came to raising their children. And this was attributed to the recent trend across the country where working professionals found it difficult to provide effective parenting to their children.  With an increasing number of career oriented professionals in big cities choosing to work full-time, children are left at home almost all day, either alone or with maids in most cases. The decline in the number of joint-families has not helped the situation either; and thus, more and more children are being treated for psycholog...

This is a sponsored post for Kellogg's Chocos #Khuljaye Bachpan Campaign and was first published on MyCity4Kids.com Last weekend was a long weekend for us and we were inspired to go for a quick trip. So we rounded up a few friends and set out on a weekend outing with three kids in tow! We chose a destination not very far from home; since we were driving down there and we did enough of that on weekdays anyway. So we mapped out the route to and from the destination in advance; and decided to rely on the GPS for local sightseeing. We reached the hotel after a pleasant drive; and promptly set the kids loose. Next, we told the good lady at the reception to give us a list of all the local places worth seeing that the kids would enjoy. And by the time we had put away our bags in the room, she had come through! The kind receptionist had sent up maps for us that listed the names and directions of the said places, along with our welcome drinks and the invites for lunch. Ble...

I was awake when the alarm rang. I had been awake for some time, in fact, since waking up startled and sweating during the early hours of the morning. Had I seen a bad dream? Or was I just too anxious about what was to happen today? Whatever was the reason, I had been awake since, counting the minutes ticking by. I did not venture out of my room though, or put the lights on; for fear that Ma or Baba might see them and wonder why I was up at this odd hour. It was not that I wasn’t nervous, but I didn’t really think it was such a big deal. I mean, this was not the only option I had; or was it? Anyway, now that the alarm had finally rung, I was looking forward to a steaming cup of coffee! I could hear Ma in the kitchen. Always the first one up, she would be getting Baba's coffee ready now, even though it would be a good fifteen minutes before he came for it. Bathed, and with her morning prayers done, she would have his coffee – glass and tumbler, never a cup and saucer f...

If you are a reader, chances are, you are a book hoarder too. At any given point in time, there are bound to be books around your home, and you may even be reading several books at the same time. If you are a neatness freak, they would be properly arranged and have a place of their own, but if you are big on reading and not all that big on cleaning up, then they would be all around the place (like mine).  But , on top of being a reader and a book hoarder, if you are a parent too, then chances are, your children have access to your books all the time !  Now, on the one hand, this is a good thing. If kids see parents reading and generally see books around the house, chances are, they will develop the love of reading too, when they grow up. But there is also a downside to it - your children have access to all your books ! And this is serious.  No, I don't mean embarrassing in the 'oops, my kid got hold of my copy of Fifty Shades of Grey !'  way; (although, there...

"Wow! This is so lovely! How do you draw it so well Amma?" Anshi asked, looking at the  rangoli with huge brown eyes that only a six year old could have. Simran looked at her daughter and smiled. Right now she was the centre of Anshi's world, she knew, and anything she did was amazing and too good in Anshi's eyes. Although she also knew that this would soon change. But right now, she was happy being the 'world's best Amma!'  Simran smiled and asked "You like it?" And then she beckoned her daughter, "Come here, why don't you help me with a bit of colour too? Would you like to do the green colour?" Needing no further invitation, Anshi jumped off the shoe-rack she was sitting on and started filling in the green colour right in the centre of the rangoli Simran had drawn.  Diwali was two days away and the school had shut for a week. Simran was only too happy to spend the festive time with her daughter. They had started...