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.