SPEAK-O-PEN

Everyone would agree that a child below the age of 5 years needs special care and a constant eye on what she/he is doing, eating, learning, watching and other basic activities she/he does. What if a child is having any problem in understanding letters, numbers, symbols etc? What if parents are not able to give much time to their child? What if parents don’t know the way of making their child understand basic concepts? At Bachpan, we have tried to address these aspects.

We have launched a home-based teaching tool, Speak-o-pen, a pen that speaks. It is an innovative and wonderful tool that makes children self-dependent. The child has to switch it on and touch any of our books at Bachpan. These Speak-o-books will sing, speak, recite and teach. Some amazing features of the Speak-o-pen are:

• • Attractive, portable, child-friendly toy
  • Wireless and easy to handle for kids — just six inches in size and is chargeable
  • Helps the child to learn correct pronunciation, phonetic sounds, punctuations, various concepts, facts & tips
  • Helps in revision of the topic frequently until the same is learnt well
  • Enhances the sensory skills of the child including listening, recognizing, imagining etc.
  • Attracts the young minds to explore their books which by default are Speak-o-books
  • Children can use Speak-o-pen and Speak-o-books anywhere, any time.

Above all, I feel so proud to say that Bachpan’s concept and ground philosophy of playing and learning effortlessly are taken care of by Speak-o-pen. Children are special to us and anything that holds their interest and makes their learning joyful, immense and happy — Bachpan would love to do that always.

And I would like to thank you for appreciating and following our blogs regularly.

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Bonding Time Grooming Time

Social graces and public etiquette start at the toddler stage itself. Parents and teachers need to groom, talk and monitor toddlers constantly. Lead by example always. It is easy. Some common tips:

1. Talk softly and politely and teach the same to the kids.
2. Thank you, sorry etc. are magic words. Use them and teach them.
3. Communicate and encourage communication from your kids. This helps in weaning away their shyness.
4. Parks and gardens are lovely places to take your children to. Visit these places with kids for nature walk and talk, playing with peers, environment grooming etc.
5. Club with two or three like-minded families and friends for such outings so that there are a group of kids to play together.
6. Group interactions elicit sharing and caring as well as adjustments
7. In India, we had joint families with doting elders to cater to the grooming and emotional needs. We still have doting grandparents and families now but pre-schools have stepped in to a large extent to provide relief to working moms and nuclear families.
8. Home is a great classroom and mom is a great teacher. So spend more time with kids than with TV or the laptop.
9. Use things at home and in the neigbourhood to teach kids simple concepts of colours, shapes, animals, birds etc.
10. Join hobby classes with your kids in order to enjoy not only their childhood but also yours which you might have forgotten.
11. Read or tell stories which have morals and which also inculcate Indianness.
12. Picture story-books help a lot to inculcate reading at early childhood stage. Kids will see pictures in the book, they may tear pages, may not be able to read easily as they are young; still give them books and not TVs or mobiles to play with.
13. Monitor TV watching quite early. One need not be strict but we can be firm. Ignoring moods and tantrums is good but be alert too.
14. An odd behavior needs to be monitored regularly for its frequency.

Parents know their kids best. So come on you lovely friends, bond more and spend more times with your kids to make them wonderful human beings. Your parents did that for you, more so the moms.

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Healthy & Easy Recipes for Kids

As promised in my last post Toddlers Need a Lot of Care by Way of Nutrition, I am back with some easy recipes and tips for my young friends. Motherhood is not easy but it is joyful and can be organized to be so. Let me share my experience for good nutrition which is simple. Anything created lovingly by mothers is always spectacular. Here we go!

1. Pumpkins, gourds & leafy veggies can be steamed, pureed and added to broths, soups, dals etc., to enhance nutrition and reduce boredom. Add them to dal batter to make yummy cheela or pancake.
2. Veggies can be steamed and mashed along with some potatoes and bread crumbs to make patties, tikkies or cutlets. Shallow fry them or bake them smearing some oil. Add boiled corn to give crunch to them.
3. Mix flour, milk, sugar, mashed and pureed fruit pulp of a banana or mango or mixed dry fruits (coarsely ground) and make pancakes on a non stick pan. The pancakes can be shaped like a star, flower, fan etc. to add attraction. Add beaten eggs if you like, to the batter, to get fluffy pancakes.
4. Dals of your choice can be soaked with some rice, ground into batter. Add salt &spice and make pancakes. Stuff them with crumbled paneer and colourful finely-cut veggies to add the extra vitamins and protein power.
5. Cut up carrots, cucumber, red, green and yellow bell peppers into long sticks. Put some cheesy dip in a bowl and arrange it with the veggies sticks. Let kids snack on them while playing around.
6. Mix diced onion, tomato, cucumber, boiled corn, lime juice some sugar, salt and pepper powder to make yummy chaat.

I have mostly mentioned vegetarian food as it is easy on digestion. Fish, meats and eggs can be supplanted as required. Happy cooking and good nutrition! Invest in a little time in the kitchen for your loved ones and see them bloom in health. You of course will be happy and healthy too. I can vouch for that. CIAO!

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Child Nutrition

Early childhood is a wonderful time for growth and development. For mothers and caregivers, it can be quite pesky and testing.

Nutrition and health are very important aspects of early childhood growth. Young mothers can be at their wits’ end feeding their kids. They also can worry endlessly regarding the adequacy of their children’s nutrition.

Fussy eaters add to the woes. I would like to share a few general and ground rules for developing good nutritional habits among kids.

1. Begin early with good nutrition. Developing taste for good and healthy food must be begun early.
2. Feed the children using colourful and eye-catching plates and cutlery.
3. Make the food look good and interesting.
4. Be innovative and creative.
5. Indulgence is good occasionally but not always.
6. Limit pacifying whims of kids with chips, chocolates etc.
7. Shape them like toys, bunnies, flowers etc. to make them attractive.
8. Sugar must be used in less quantity.
9. Use honey or let the natural sweetness of foods prevail.
10. Use complex carbs and whole grains.
11. Milk and yogurt can be made into interesting shakes or smoothies using seasonal fruit pulp.
12. Start early with fruits and vegetables. The more the colour, the better for health.
13. Invest a little time on your children’s meals. Moms know the best for their kids.

Look out for healthy and easy recipes in my next blog. Until then, CIAO!.

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All my life I enjoyed working in some of the very good schools in Delhi and outside. I needed to think beyond teaching. With a vast teaching experience in various subjects at various levels, and good communication skills, I felt the urge to do creative and different work. Then I chanced to come to Bachpan. Such unassuming and lovely people, I felt. I joined them. I remember that we were doing the primary text books of AHPS. Then I met with our Chief Mentor, Ajay Sir, our Research & Development Head, Rosy Madam and our Technical Head, Tijay Sir, for the first time. I was floored by their humility, warm nature and helpful attitude.

Together, all of us along with renowned scholars, writers, etc. ended up creating our own books. I learnt so much!! As teachers, we come across so many books in each subject. We are quite critical and vocal about books. For the first time in my life I realized at Bachpan, that so much effort, research, hard work, men, money, material and time are invested to create one single Book!!

Life was never the same for me after that realization. Each book was our baby, a creation so lovingly nurtured and nourished. Of course, at every step we take in suggestions and incorporate them for improvement.

The day I joined Bachpan, ever since, then till date, my family here and at Hyderabad tell me, ‘Don’t leave your work at Bachpan because the happiness and the joy you derive, shows.’

I have seen our Corporate office grow, multiply in terms of franchises, add in terms of staff and volume. From 250+ and just a few AHPS when I joined, we are 1000+ Bachpan branches and 100+ AHPS branches now and still adding on.  I always wish that our Bachpan & AHPS families grow like huge banyan trees, providing the cool shade of education to our children in every nook and corner of India.  Our motto is to provide quality and contemporary education to all sections of the society.

Pedagogy at Bachpan has reinvented itself with technical developments like E-learning solutions under Prismart and now the latest –Speak-O-Kit!! The speaking books when touched by a speak-o-pen will talk, recite, sing and teach our little ones at Bachpan… a play school.  It is a whole new world of fun learning. What else I will learn with Ajay Sir and Rosy Ma’am, time will unfold the mystery!

I’m all eager like an 8-year old girl, waiting for her next toy! It’s a pleasure working here with amazing yet simple people as also our schools and teachers whom we meet when they come for Training Programs to Delhi.

My good wishes to all you lovely people who read my thoughts penned here. CIAO!!

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