I let the Child lead

I often face this statement / judgement that I have fed too much into my child’s head.. I push them to learn loads.. but in reality I let them learn what they wanted and in their own ways..

My younger one would say that she wants to paint the whole day.. I don’t stop her but when she picks up a book and asks me to teach I don’t stop her whatever it be..

With my older one too that’s how I started.. I did not go by the level 1 ,2,3.. of books.. I just kept an array of books at reachable level from when he was able to walk.. I just used to sit and read for few minutes in front of him.. never insisted him to sit down.. He started sitting in a corner with a random book, go through the pictures and place it back.. then slowly he started being picky about books.. the encyclopaedias where his first choice.. mostly animal based book.. then slowly he started asking me to read out what was written.. We started with encyclopaedias and not alphabets or small word books.. I always kept a variety of books.. for a long time he was picky but now he reads any printed matter.. from small stories to fiction to history.. his favourite teacher at school is the librerian 😂.. and yes the teachers appreciate his vast knowledge and reading habit.. He has been an independent reader from 5 years of age..

It’s working the same way with the younger one.. she started learning to cook from 2years of age.. she would always sit next to me and make rotis, cut veggies as she loved doing it..her choice of books are different though but she leads and is already a good reader at 6 years..

Letting the child lead in what they want to learn is crucial.. I call this “Child led learning ” .. these take time but once the child is ready they proceed very comfortably and fast…

So what they have learnt till now is based on their interests and according to their pace.. nothing was force fed..

Today it’s a Thief ant..

Younger one stealthily goes into the room where older one is attending online class.. hurriedly whispers something into his ears before I get hold of her.. that’s the end of his attention in class.. 🤦🤷

They both spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in ant 🐜 research! Thankfully they (ants) all went to sleep at night.. she had seen a huge ant colony in action and decided to get more information through big brother ( she know which switch to press to get the right kind of work done🤷) ! He found that more interesting as this was a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to see an ant moving it’s colony along with the queens and larvae.. I spent reminding him to attend the rest of the classes, finish class work, home work and other stuff..

Today it was because of the ants, yesterday it was because of the earthworms, one day because of ladybug and so on.. when they get into something it’s always on the extreme end.. the rest of the world is forgotten.. and pending work just adds on.. but I don’t give up too.. let’s see if I manage to keep them on track..

Learning from the unknown faces!

#lifewithgifted #learning #pandemic #lifeinlockdown #giftedkids #education #vituallearning #virtualclasses #tasksforgifted

The pandemic lockdown has been a blessing of sorts.. this is the first year that we have stayed back home for the summer.. usually we stay at grandparents place or go on vacation to explore places according to kids line of interests and our garden doesn’t get enough care but this year we are around.. and we learnt a lot from unknown faces across the globe with out travelling..

I gave my 10 year old 4 tasks based on his interests- learn something related to zoology, something related to gardening, something to improve his spiritual health and some hand work.. I gave him a budget and told him to look for online classes for the first 3.. he came up with few choices and we opted for what suits us the best among them.. he felt more in control of his life which he had been fighting for but he was still under our guidance.. he went on do a course with a zoo, then a gardening course, a Bhagawat Gita class and started on his new quilt( with me).. as he had a little more left in his budget he took up a coding class too..

This venture has been pretty successful as he finished 4 of the 5 tasks that he took up and our garden is lush green.. we have had a decent harvest and it radiates a lot of positive vibrations.. he feels a lot happier and is able to manage his time better.. he has gone ahead to become a member in a virtual gardening group, getting help and rendering help too. They don’t know that they are talking to a kid but look up to him for advice. He is loving the process as to answer them he is learning more.. I have met several road blocks in many classes as they found his age to be a barrier.. though he is mentally far ahead he was not included due to age.. but that barrier has been broken in the virtual community.. he finds the virtual community for learning to be comfortable as he can walk in and out when he pleases.. he has his moods.. yes there have been days of tantrums where he would ask for exotic seeds but then the spiritual discourses have helped him calm down and think if he really needs them.. to fulfill the course with the zoo he went ahead to make comic strips, posters and stories for the assignments as they did not restrict him with regular testing at the end of the course.. as for the hand sewing.. he is still learning slowly to work patiently.. and coding class was completed too..

Overall we have had beautiful time learning to learn in a new way.. and house is more calm, smelling good with the harvests..

Part 2- Big B -the very reason to start the blog

(photos and artwork on my blog are my own)

#life #gifted #lifewithgifted #multitasking #genius #innovator #creator #pain #lifelessons #understanding #emotions

A post by him on social media years back just popped up on my page.. drew me into good and bad memories..

Big B was the big brother from another womb.. my neighbour in childhood.. he always amazed me with his abilities.. I would see him jaw dropped through the day.. he could fix phones to cars even as a kid in 1990s when computers were just making an entry into India.. he built an audio editing system from scratch at home as a teenager.. but his teachers did not find him interesting.. he was called a looser, mad kid and treated badly by teachers at school.. he had let all the emotions simmer inside without telling his parents’ too.. he was kicked out of a prestigious school and it impacted his mental health.. the pressure was building without anyone’s knowledge..he was home schooled but he was still a difficult kid to handle for many.. I never understood why but now I know why.. with many struggles and limited friends he completed his 12 the grade.. but he was already an inventor by then.. he was an extremely caring neighbour and brother to me and my brother who were mostly alone when my parents went out to work.. he introduced me to books.. he would help me with my projects that involved computers.. he would always keep a watch on us.. he was leading the graphics team of a famous media company and did graphics for TV and films.. his abilities were recognised and he went on to study in the USA.. great names came calling but his health had taken a beating.. He came back home when he knew that he was suffering from an auto immunity disorder with no cure and had just 5 more years to live though he was just in his 20s.. even with health issues he went on to innovate with his trade mark smile and wit.. he bet his odds both mentally and physically to live for 7 more years.. I was not aware of the magnitude of his illness and we were continuing our friendship on social media.. when I had my second child he wanted to meet me.. but good things come to an end and his life ended prematurely.. I feel guilty to this day for not meeting him before he died..

His life had a lesson for everyone involved in it.. the world understands those with average and below average IQ better than those with high IQs.. do we give the intellectually superior the needed understanding? How many times we have branded them as egoistic and proud? Are we as a society accomodating them ? Or are we expecting them to accomodate themselves to us from the beginning? Are we understanding them emotionally?

I think I can pay back to him only if I bring up my kids, understanding the critical aspects than the popular aspects.. whenever my older one shows me little inventions of his, I am reminded of only one face.. when ever I see him struggle emotionally because the society doesn’t understand I get the very same memories.. I will share the lessons from his life with everyone.. because people like these can make the world a better place if only we accept and understand them..

Part 1- Big B -the very reason to start the blog

#gifted #genius #life #lifewithgifted #highIQ #inventor #creator #multitasking

He ran multiple businesses including short film making, collaborating with dancers to create A/V storytelling, vendor for audio and visual equipments ( wholesaler for LG audio video products), sole vendor / servicer for battery cars (client TCS), Chennai cultural academy secretary, Founder of gurudhawani ( organization to teach performing arts over internet, started planning activities for constructing a world class auditorium cum shopping complex that will sustain itself and nurture artist with the proceeds from activities of the complex itself.. to name a few.. He came with innovative ideas to solve problems that faced him until his death bed.. for his shoot when he needed a railed platform, instead of spending lakhs of rupees to get the platform from market created one himself with garden hose, skater wheels and wooden plank. When a huge corporation (tcs) spent crores of rupees to construct a stadium in their premise they found out that acoustically the arena was very bad and could not hold events.. professional architects and sound engineers proposed repairs for another crore + money.. he instead suspended the speakers on kevlar threads from the truss above to the right spot to get rid of the echoes.. cost was few thousands..

He founded a company in NY with his brother… created lifestyle products which are revolutionary even in todays standards.. many of them yet to come to market even by the like of Apple (on his digital distribution of digitised products), mattel to y maker (for his innovation of bringing video game like activity to the physical world for kids), water fountain installations that will give 3d reproduction of anybody’s face when they look at the camera using water fountain.. the list goes on and all before he was even 35.. his friends used to call him Einstein..

But what happened to such an innovator, creator and an exemplary embodiment of genius ? Read in the next part..

Rights and responsibilities- sex education

With fun rights comes responsibility (pictures are my own)

After reading a news paper article by a female journalist stating that men have failed women over a recent controversy, my 10 year old was very angry.. He said ” can’t she see there are good men.. how can she say that with the example of few bad ones?” I know that he knows more about mating through the animal encyclopaedias that he reads.. I have had several curious questions about it often.. I realised if I don’t give the clear guidance in this stage he may get misguided by someone else.. I thought over how to make him understand in his own terms.. and nature provided a beautiful opportunity.. He was watching a series on some animal channel about a bear’s life.. the muma bear was struggling to raise the cubs all by herself.. she could not go out to find food often and she was still nursing the cubs.. her weight was going down drastically.. when she and her cubs started venturing out of the cave the male bears would often try to mate and she chased off most of them.. but one day a male was too powerful and threatened to kill her cubs.. so to save her cubs she had to succumb.. he did not like it one bit.. he started saying ” amma this is not fair.. the male is not going to help her but wants to mate and let her take the responsibility of taking forward his genes.. ” I just grabbed the opportunity.. I asked him “which mating is better this or the male bird getting the nest ready and taking care of the mother and chicks?” He instantly said the birds way.. then I went on, ” in humans too both kind of mating happen.. when something like the bear’s kind happens then automatically the females feel someone could have helped.. when others don’t help then they feel angry.. no male bear takes responsibility or stops what happens.. it’s like isolation and forced and is disrespectful ..but like in the birds if both parents are ready to take responsibility then that is guilt free and better and there is mutual respect.. the babies grow happily and the parents are also happy.” I could see he got the point.. my mom had not encountered such situations so I have to find my own ways.. and curiosity is excess it better be guided in the right path..