Tag: child-development

  • Strengthening Roots, Giving Wings: Empowering Communities

    Daily writing prompt
    How would you improve your community?
    View all responses

    ✦I hope to support the community at its most foundational level by empowering parents, teachers, and caregivers with practical ideas and meaningful strategies.

    ✦When the adults in a child’s world feel equipped and confident, children are more likely to flourish—reaching their full potential while growing into individuals who are socially and culturally competent, and  physically, mentally, and academically strong. This vision is deeply personal to me, and it is what has led me here @ Roots n Wings.

    Raising Kids & Shaping Future

    ⚡When I look around, I feel a growing urgency. We constantly read and hear about the challenges children face today—fragile mental health, low frustration tolerance, and an increasing need for instant gratification. Alongside this, digital addiction has emerged as a modern epidemic, often contributing to behavioral and emotional concerns.

    ⚡Adolescents, especially, are navigating a demanding world—balancing parental expectations, peer pressure, bullying, and their own inner questions about identity and belonging. At the same time, many parents and educational systems are still adapting to these rapidly changing needs. The increasing cases of self-harm among students remind us that we need to pause, reflect, and respond with greater sensitivity.

    💫This is where I believe positive psychology can make a real difference.

    It is not just about addressing problems after they arise, but about preventing them—building emotional strength, resilience, and awareness early on. It complements therapy by creating a strong foundation for well-being.

    ✦With my background in teaching, along with my training as a counselor and therapist, I feel prepared to contribute to this space. While I know my journey is still in its early stages, my intention is clear—to reach more people, to share what I’ve learned, and to make a meaningful difference.

    ✦And most importantly, I believe this with conviction—I am ready for this.

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  • When They Grow Wings

    Mother’s Quiet Flutter

    ༗ It often amazes me how a poet manages to take a peek into the recesses of human heart! This is what struck me when I listened to Pt Jasraj’s soulful rendition of a verse by the great poet Surdas. For those who have not dived into Hindi literature, I’d add that Surdas has written devotional poetry vividly descibing Lord Krisna’s childhood.

    ༗ Get the gist of the song first.

    🪈🧞‍♀️Maa Yashoda is resting in her bed musing about her little son, who has gone to graze the cows for the first time. The child is small, yet big enough to go out to do what he ought to do. A cow herd boy must learn his job. He will soon be sharing this responsibility. The mother is anxious that little one has left home and is out on work, how will he manage, what challenges might he face. She is thrilled as her little one emerges from the cocoon. She is beaming with pride at the little steps her son takes. She offers prayers and gratitude to Gods for blessing her with such a wonderful child.

    I wonder once again how well the poet knows what lies deep in the heart of a mother! The verse is about Maa Yashoda and her son Krisna.

    ༗ The poet is relevant when the poetry is universal, not confined to time and place. Instead of Maa Yahoda and her son, it could be any mother/parent, any other child, even changed times, but the emotions and their complexity remain unchanged.

    ༗ Try putting it in the current context. Children going out for grazing cows is uncommon. But it signify the child transitioning into the next stage, which could mean the first day in the play group, an adolescent appearing for a crucial board exam or a young lad setting out for the hostel life. So the myriad of emotions that the poet describes so beautifully and tenderly are still relatable.  

      ▶︎•၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|။• Enjoy The song that inspired these thoughts.

    🎼Enjoy the song as I fall short of describing the beauty of the original verse, but Pandit Jasraj’s magical rendition captures it perfectly. Witness two legends across centuries come together in this song.

    What’s your take? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 💬

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  • Role of Mirror Neurons in Child Development

    I was people watching while waiting for someone at the airport arrivals area. People at the arrivals generally look happy to be joined by their families and friends.They greet and hug their loved ones. They might have waited for this moment for a long time.

    One such union I watched up close. It looked like a homecoming of a young man in late twenties. First the mother, so I assumed, hugged him and gave a peck on the cheek. The young man looked embarrassed being so petted by his mother like this. Then the Indian father who looked equally delighted to see his son but being less expansive in his affection gave a pat on his shoulder. Then came the younger sister who was eagerly waiting for her turn and lifted herself a little to hug her brother whose smiling face was visible to me while the girl’s back was turned towards me. At this moment I, an indifferent observer, found myself struggling to hold back my tears for I didn’t want to be seen crying and I had no reason to. As the girl released her rather longish hug and turned her face, I could see her tears while the brother and the parents smiled a tender smile.

    𖡎 How did that happen? I was observing only because all this was happening where I was standing and without any special interest. Still my eyes moistened when the little sister hugged her brother, though I did not see her tears.

    Were the mirror neurons firing in my brain? 🧠⚡🧠

    𖡎 The teacher in me was intrigued with this behaviour. And the first thought I had was if this knowledge of mirror neurons could help teachers, parents and children. I had read about mirror neurons in Dr John Medina’s book ‘Brain Rules’, but I searched some more. This is what I learnt-

    Mirror neurons are cells whose activity reflect their surroundings. Giacomo Rizzolatti, an Italian neurophysiologist and his team are credited with discovering mirror neurons. Their paper on mirror neurons was published in 1990. While performing an experiment on macaque monkeys they observed that the neurons that fired when monkeys picked raisins, also fired when they saw someone else doing the same and even when monkeys did not actually see someone doing it. Later research suggested that mirror neurons respond not so much the physical movement itself, but the intention. This explains my behaviour that day at the airport arrivals area.  🧠⚡🧠

    Having understood the mirror neuron phenomenon I started wondering how that can be applied to in classrooms and home settings and how mirror neurons can support learning. ⋆｡°·☁︎

    🚨The first thing we have to know that there’s a mirror brain and if there is, we adults can make use of this in the classroom and home to inculcate the desired behaviour. I mean, we can use this brain behaviour to our advantage in shaping children’s behaviour. This corroborates Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory which emphasises imitation and modelling.

    Teachers and guardians can model enthusiasm, curiosity, respect and even thinking processes by solving a problem aloud. and verbalizing thought processes. Self awareness is the key to modelling.

    🚨We can teach children calm, emotional regulation, respond to signals by modelling responses intentionally and consistently. And there’s enough evidence to show that calm, secure and emotionally regulated children not only perform better academically, but are more emotionally intelligent and socially competent also.

    ❝Don’t worry that your children don’t listen to you, worry that they watch you ❞ This famous parenting quote does encapsulate profound wisdom. So next time you yell at children or tell them not to fritter away time online, remember the mirror brain.

    Have more thoughts or tips on this? Share those in the comments below. 💭

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