the F word (previously posted on my blog)

Finance and budgeting -for most of us, these words manage to produce  a few butterflies in the stomach . Give your child a head start in managing money with these simple tips.

• Introduce her to the concept of taking responsibility for money. Give her a piggy bank to 'save up' the money that you give her, and allow her  to buy something with it when it when it fills up.
• Along with responsibility comes freedom. Let her decide how she wants to use the money(as long as it is not something which she cannot afford)
• Introduce her  to the various ways of managing money. for instance you could give her two piggy banks -one for "immediate" or "current" needs and another for long term needs ..that could be like a fixed deposit. She can decide how to allocate the money that you give her between her two "accounts" So the "current account" takes care of those chocolates and small trinkets, while the "fixed deposit" can be used for bigger buys like that expensive doll or dress.
• Have realistic expectations when you hand out the money. For example, you cannot expect the child to buy the daily lunch from the canteen with her pocket money but if she feels like having something "special" then she has to dip into his pocket money.
• If she regularly demands more pocket money don't give into to her demand(unless its reasonable). this will teach her to operate within a 'budget' and make good choices.

           
       

My work here is done

To think, just a short while ago I wondered where we had gone wrong and whether Chubbocks would ever be motivated to read on his own. Right from the beginning, Chubbocks has been exposed to lots of books – as I may have mentioned before we have a home library of over 5000 books, and with A's and my noses always in a book, I figured he'd find out pretty early that books were 'in' in our household. But though he had learnt to read quite some time back, the only things he wanted to make an effort to read were books much below his reading level from his class library. Though he had received some Enid Blytons as gifts, he never seemed to want to read them on his own.
It was pretty disheartening for a while. I felt I had failed as a parent ( yup, my idea of parenting is teaching them to read). And then one day he came home with a Scholastic book list from school. Scholastic often offers books at discounted rates to his school and so far A and I had been selecting the books along with him. This time A and I were busy so before we knew it, Chubbocks had ticked off three books and sent away for them, demanding a cool Rs. 300 or so. And one day they arrived. Chubbocks got down from the school bus clutching his precious new books to his chest, beaming from ear to ear. As soon as he tumbled down from the bus he opened the one he was most excited about and started reading 'Silly Poems' (poyums). He was so distracted he went about his washing up and post school meal in a kind of daze and by six that evening, he'd finished the book – about a 100 pages long.
Now he's reading it a second time, selecting his favourites to read over and again and I can see his reading gene kicking in. Whether he's at the breakfast table or at a friend's place, he's constantly reading – books, magazines, titles from newspapers, labels on food packaging…He's always happy to entertain the Puddi by reading a short story out to her. He's even gotten excited about the Secret Seven which is his bedtime reading along with dad. And when I jokingly told him his birthday gift this year from us would be two books, his face lit up!
Cross-posted on Rainbow Days

Idol and Democracy....

Yesterday, I got back home in time for a long drawn out dinner with the kids, and as we dawdled over dessert, we landed up chatting about politics (Don't ask! The price of having a journalist dad and a consistent discussion of news in the house ). D, my daughter, is pretty serious about Hilary Clinton. My son consistently notes that "Guliani dropped out, right? I like McCain." I suspect the elections are going to be tension-ridden at home! These short chats often lead us to questions on why there are changes in presidents, why are we in Iraq, etc.

From the sublime to the not-so-sublime, since seeing Sanjaya do his thing in American Idol last year, my kids are total American Idol fans. They were fascinated by the sight of seeing a young, brown kid standing up there as part of such a major American media spectacle. It was exhilarating for them and they were hooked. They couldn't believe that he got voted off. Last year, they just asked the question, but didn't quite engage on what the vote meant (well, they were only 3 1/2 years old!) This year, it's fascinating to see them make the connections. They insist they want us to call in as soon as the show is done to vote for their favorites. D has been crest-fallen every time someone she likes gets booted. Yesterday, as the show ended, she moaned, "Amanda Obermeyer -- how could this happen?!! I'm sad." While I wonder about all that TV time, I love that they're so in touch with the singing and dancing. also, I feel we must be doing something right because both kids say, "Jason Castro is there because he looks that way."....precocious/ precious.

The interesting thing was that yesterday, once they got over the shock of Amanda's ouster, they made a bunch of connections.
-> we call
-> other americans call (25 million?)
-> they count the number of calls
-> the bottom 3 sit on the awful 3 stools!
-> you say goodbye to the lowest one!!
AND
-> I guess that's why Rudy Giuliani dropped out....

Such fun to see them make the connections and engage in these conversations!
Roopa
(http://rooparecipes.blogspot.com/)

Imagination

By
Priya
(Also posted on Dreaming in Suburbia)

What happens to our imagination as we grow up ? I mean, yeah, we keep imagining terrible life scenarios - you know the irrational "what if" questions - but creative imagination - what happens to that ?
The other day, my Kid drew a picture. Well, squiggled anyway. She had skies that were purple, and blue trees and yellow water. So I asked her why her colors were wrong. She looked up at me like I was crazy and told me that those were the right colors. That's how she wanted it to look. It just made me think, as we grow up, does our creative imagination slowly morph into whatever is the generally accepted public opinion ? (Sky has to be blue, trees have to be green etc). And does that extend to non-creative imagination as well ? I mean, do we, as adults with responsibilities ever really have thoughts or opinions that go against society's accepted norms ? (I'm talking about opposing society within reason here - NOT going-to-school-with-guns-to-fight-the-bully type things). More importantly, if they do exists in our heads, do we ever act on these ideas ? Aren't we supposed to call such people "crazy" ?
I've begun to believe that our creativity is slowly but surely replaced by cynicism as we grow older. Who has time to worry about whether the sky should be colored purple or blue in a world that confirms to Murphy's Law.
That's another reason why I'm thankful I have the Kid. For giving me a second chance to visit the lost places of my childhood, now buried somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind. Through her pictures. Through her innocence. Through her imagination.

The Anti Jinx

By DotMom of Karma Calling
(cross posted on Karma Calling)

I am feeling a little silly today. Not to mention uninspired to write anything of substance. By which it is implied that what I write usually has some substance in it and there will be many of you, no all of you, who will jump at this opportunity and say A-ha. Gotcha. You don’t. So, well. Scratch that.

We often write about our kids, our homes, our lives. And wise, rational, educated folks that we are, we often say a little prayer to ward off the evil eye before hitting that little publish button. Or if you are like me, you spell a few words backwards or boldly declare the jinxters to go away. So, I thought it would be good fun to be a little creative while doing it. So I created these lil graphics for ya’ll to put on your sites, posts, images to ward off all those evil eyes. Call them cheesy, campy, kitschy, but you can’t deny they are not funny! So enjoy.

P.S. I have added two more icons thanks to Gypsy and CeeKay

Also these are more like thumbnails. The images are hosted on photobucket. Please click to get a larger/better image!

A couple of interesting books.

By Shruthi of Hallucinations.

The theme for January immediately reminded me of a book I had read a while ago - Allison Pearson's "I don't know how she does it."

It is the story of a working mother. It is funny, sad, and incredibly chaotic. Kate Reddy, the protagonist is highly likeable but at the same time insufferable. Kate is torn between love for her job and the desire to be with her kids. Add to this, a feeling of profound guilt, and a long-suffering husband, and there, you have the story.

The book is a very good read. It doesn't preach working motherhood, nor the opposite. It just tells a story, it just gives you the facts. It is up to you to pick what you want from it. It is very interestingly written. Full of laugh-out-loud similes, and spot-on behavioral observations.

I read this book much before I even thought of having a baby, so a second read should probably be of more relevance to my life now!

While we are on the subject of parenting and books, I cannot resist mentioning Bill Cosby's Fatherhood. It is absolutely hilarious. Here are a few quotes from the book - it should give you an idea of what to expect from it.

Happy reading, and a very happy new year to you all!

Of peas and stories

Saw this article at the blog Past, Present & Me.

The essay is by Monica Bhide and was in the Washington Post.

I am giving an excerpt here. Follow the link to read the entire beautiful essay here

"We sat on the floor and started by sorting the pea pods, his fingers working furiously to separate the little baby pods from the mother pods and the daddy pods. Some days we named the piles of pods for his school friends — Zack, Sam, Casey. Then we counted. Jai could count to 20 in Hindi by then, and finished counting in English. On a few occasions, we reached 30 together.

Then came Jai’s favorite part, the time for me to tell him stories — in Hindi. We always started with the story of the witch, the one who would come and make a home in your hair if you went out without drying it on a cold day. The story would somehow segue into what Buzz Lightyear or Spider-Man would do if he found this witch. (An interesting question, since we could not find a bit of hair on either of their heads.) Each story had a different ending, depending on which action figure was stationed next to Jai for the afternoon.

After the witch would come the story of an Indian princess who lived in a golden castle. I wanted it to end with her marrying a handsome prince. My son, however, would add his 4-year-old’s spin and American viewpoints. Sometimes the princess would be a doctor, usually a veterinarian, and would end up marrying Shrek. Other times, the gentle princess would be transformed into a superhero and I was pleasantly challenged to come up with the Hindi names for laser guns and robotic evildoers.

One day, Jai asked me, “Mom, apne kahania kaha see seekhi?”

Where did I learn the stories? Why, from Bahenjee, of course"

She is growin' up!!

[Posted by Cee Kay]

Note: I just posted this on my other blog My Two Cents too - couldn't resist putting it up here!

I am sitting in front of the idiot box with my daughter right now. It is 1 pm on a Sunday - we are kicking back. Watching "The first Wives Club" on USA - one of my favorite movies. After watching the scene where Diane Keaton's husband tells her he wants a divorce and she finds out he is involved with her therapist, my daughter said in a timid voice "I hope that never happens to you and daddy". Awwwww baby! It won't. Never! Anyhoo, this conversation led to the following being recited by her -

"Cee & J, sitting in a tree,
K I S S I N G
First comes love,
Then comes marriage,
Then comes a baby in a baby carriage"

She is growing up - my little girl :D

I replied with this -

"Cee & J were never in a tree
But there was some K I S S I N G
First came love,
then came marriage,
then came baby S in a baby carriage".

Know what she said? "Good. Now you have to get into a groove to say it!"

HUH?????!! She really IS growing up!

What goes around...

Note: I have posted this at my own blog My Two Cents also.

In my younger, leaner days I once made fun of how my mom's belly "laughed with her". I loved the way it jiggled with every laugh. Soon afterwards my mom changed her lifestyle completely by taking up daily exercise and controlling her diet. She lost weight (a LOT of it) and became very fit. I went on to get married, gain 22 pounds in a year, shed it, get pregnant, lose all pregnancy weight but gain it all back and then some, get pregnant again 8 years down the road, gain another 20 ounds during the pregnancy.... you get the picture. The other day my daughter said "Mommy your arms are so jiggly!!!" and kept calling me "jiggly mommy" for the whole week. Life indeed has come a full circle **Sigh**

Well, one thought just struck me - I think life didn't come a full circle. It goes around in the form of a spiral. I made fun of my mom's jiggly belly, my daughter made fun of my jiggly arms and one day her daughter might make fun of some jiggly body part of hers. One can only hope - right? :D