The biggest challenge of every parent in the 21st century is to keep children away from Mobiles and Smartphones, Television, Social Media and other kinds of distractions and addictions which fall in the way of academic achievements. Children are greatly blessed with unique talents but fail to get proper motivation and guidance at the right time to excel and prosper in the field of their choice. Taking advantage of the recent pandemic situation, students have become more addicted towards mobile phones. Wherein they not only attend their online class but have learnt millions of tricks to extend their screen time on the excuse of online extra class, online notes - taking, online test, online submission, online assignments and many more. Though the switch has been from Online School to Offline School recently, it is still hard to change our students' mindset. 'Kill The Time, Use The Mobile' - is the only protocol being followed by the students.
Students are very curiously interested to do different things apart from their academics but due to extra parental care and restrictions on them they are unable to explore much and fall prey to mobile phones. The stereotypical statements like, 'You are a boy, boys should not cook' Or 'You are a girl, girls don't play with marbles' creates a gap in their nurturing ultimately forcing them to be away from many things which they might be interested in. The factor of boredom increases to a greater extent and they surrender themselves to mobile phones as their only mode of entertainment and fun. And then, it's too late that as a parent we realize that it was our fault, that due to our ignorance the child is addicted.
If you are one such parent who wishes to stop this habit of your child, then do read this article till the end and share with many parents who are on the same ground as you. It's never too late for anything.
Walk The Talk
Helps to improve : Communication Skills
As a working parent, we hardly get time from our busy schedule to talk with our kids. Because of which the child feels ignored and isolated, thereby creating a distance between us and them. Every parent should take out a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hours time to trail and talk personally to their children. Guide them about good and bad things, about social and emotional stability, about handling stress and pressure, about balancing personal and academic life etc. Talking will help children to improve their communication skills and make them more confident and bold in facing tough situations.
Cook The Food
Helps to improve: Culinary Skills
Cooking is the one of the last things that any parent would entertain their children to get into. There has always been a stereotype since days old that 'Only girls should enter the kitchen', 'Only girls should cook'. Children are always told and discouraged by saying that 'Your age is to study and not to cook'. But mighty talents reside in these smart budding brains with unique taste buds suitable for the present young generation. Every parent should definitely encourage your child to give you a helping hand either in cleaning vegetables, washing leaves or fruits, rolling chapatis etc.
Create The Model
Helps to improve : Fine Motor Skills & Creativity
Every child is unique in its own best way. And so we should encourage the children to make anything out of their creativity and intelligence. Then let it be making toys or animal faces from the dough or making a shop/home from waste boxes of new clothes or shoes. Parents should encourage their children and give them a challenge to try creating something unique. And to our wonder we will be surprisingly blessed to see the wonderful art works done by these budding brains.
Clean The Home
Helps to improve : Personal Hygiene Skills
Cleaning is one of the important features required to inculcate the discipline of personal hygiene and keeping our surroundings clean. As a parent we generally think involving kids in household work is not good and might disturb their academic performance. But believe me, these small children are very eager to do all the work as they observe their father and mother daily, so much so that provided a task they will be happily involved, thou it won't be as perfect as we do but at least they will learn that skill slowly and understand the value of keeping home and other surrounding clean. Cleaning doesn't only refer to household work which every mother does but it can also be cleaning the mess created by the kid while playing, Keeping the toys and personal stuff at the proper place etc.
Grow The Plants
Helps to improve : Environmental Values
Love for nature should be instilled in the child from early childhood, as nature teaches us a good experience. As Rousseau, the Western Philosopher and Educationist specified much on 'Back to nature' and learning in the natural environment as it promotes experiential learning in a child. Experience is the best teacher. Let the child learn from their own experiences. As a parent, we should promote tree plantation in every child and spread positivity in the surroundings. We should teach the technique of sowing the seeds, watering the plants and caring for the plants as they grow. This action will indirectly promote self care and knowledge of protecting self from others.
Read The News
Helps to improve : Reading Skills & Vocabularies
As a parent our busy schedule doesn't allow us to subscribe for physical newspaper vendors to drop newspapers everyday to our home, as it might sound to be a futile investment as nobody will be at home to read it physically. With the changing trends many parents have opted for E - Newspaper. One should subscribe to some monthly educational or activity magazine, and make it a point that you teach your child to read at least a single paragraph daily for grown up children or sight the different words or letters in a paragraph for pre-primers. Make them understand the meaning of the new words/vocabularies and its utilization in our daily life conversation. Doing this will ensure an increase in cognitive knowledge of a child.
Set The Wardrobe
Helps to improve : Cleanliness & Organization Skills
Children should be made to do their own work very early in life. They should learn the importance of keeping things at the right place after their play, keeping the bookshelf clean and systematic, arranging the clothes in proper order and alignment inside the wardrobe. It inculcates the value of cleanliness and organization in an individual. It makes a child have a more reserved and systematic approach and skills.
I am sure that some of these activity tips are surely going to help your child in minimizing the screen timing for Mobile Phone Or T.V. Just give it a try.
All the Best!!
Happy Learning!!!
By Shobha Joy Gaddam
(Academician & Educator)
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