Category: Parenting (Page 2 of 4)

Xennial Mom – kind of stuck in the middle

April 27, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 6 Comments

In my circle of mommy friends, I am perhaps one of the oldest. Sometimes I feel like an old fogey and cannot make any sense of what the mommies are talking about. Other times I feel like the enlightened one who has had the privilege of seeing a few more (or decades) of summer than the gang. For the longest time I felt trapped and did not know if I was part of this cool gang. Nor did I feel comfortable with the older lot of mommies whose children were finishing school and exiting their teens. I thought something was wrong with me. Then I discovered I was not the only one.

1979. This was the problem. It was not me or you. It was the damn year that I was born in. Continue reading

Veganism is a choice which many people are making today. In fact people are consciously wanting to raise vegan children. #veganism #veganbychoice #veganbaby vegan children, vegan toddler, vegan baby, vegan family, raise a vegan, vegan meals for kids, raising a vegan baby, I want to be vegan, go vegan

Vegan by choice – how to raise vegan children

April 25, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 5 Comments

Vegan! It seems to be in fashion right now. In every corner of the globe, veganism is in. People are asking “Is it vegan?” And that’s not all, parents are choosing to alter their lifestyles in order to raise vegan children. Has the world gone mad or is this a call which will truly save mankind and this planet?

What is veganism?

Veganism is beyond vegetarianism. While being a vegetarian means you can include dairy products in your diet, veganism shuns everything that comes from an animal. So that includes dairy, eggs, seafood and obviously animal meat, but also things like honey.

Being vegan also means saying no to using any product that may contain animal products. This includes footwear, bags, cosmetics, belts and even using animals for hunting or transport. Continue reading

Travelling babies – when Wanderlust bites the young

April 23, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 6 Comments

Years ago my husband and I were lazing on a fairly secluded beach in South Goa. There we witnessed a sight, which we quickly made up our minds for, was to be our parenting mantra for the future. We saw a little boy who belonged to parents from Europe. It was actually a group of some 3 families who were travelling with babies. He was dressed in nothing but plain white underwear and was frolicking freely on the beach, playing, falling, running on the sand. His parents sipped their drinks under the shade of the beach resort’s cafe. The child was living his life. He must not have been more than a year and half. He could barely walk. But he was out there, living the touristy life. And we wanted it too. We wanted to give our future child that carefree life.

Online support groups offer a lot of guidance, information and solace to parents. This is where parents today are finding answers and seeking support from people who have undergone similar experiences as them. There is no judgement, only support. #onlinesupportgroups #socialmediagroups #supportforparents #specialneedssupport

Support groups – finding strength in social media

April 21, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 3 Comments

Most parenting is about receiving conflicting opinions from people around you. Your own parents and grandparents give you information from a time where most things were natural, homegrown and uncompromised. While you want to believe and follow much of their wisdom we find that most of it is not practical or available today. Speaking of friends, colleagues and peers, you may not have babies around the same time or maybe geographically scattered. Parenting philosophies also may not match. How then do you gain information, that has been tested by application and proven to give results? How do you find support in situations which you know your friends and family may not understand or have experience in? Continue reading

All children go through a phase where they ask nothing but questions. Answering these requires a lot of creativity, innovation and imagination. Questioning plays a very important role in children's brain development. #questionschildrensask #askmeanything #questions children's questions, questions kids ask, questioning toddler, are we there yet.

Questions welcome – ask me anything

April 19, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 3 Comments

Why is the sky blue? Why doesn’t the doggy wear a diaper? Why do we do potty? Where does the water in the washbasin go? And the most famous one – Are we there yet? Thankfully babyT is still a little too young to ask that last question. But hey, did you even attempt to mentally answer these questions? Did you seek the right answers full of logic? Then you are wrong my dear friend! Parenting is all about finding innovative answers to the many questions your children will ask you, because the same questions will be asked to you a million times over. Sadly most parents lose their nerve when their children ask them questions. Half hearted attempts to answer turn to frustration and soon enough the child learns to not ask, not learn and not be curious. You see asking questions is a very healthy habit and you, the parent must encourage it. It’s not just learning the facts and information, it is a lot more than that.

positive parenting, gentle parenting, gentle discipline, get down to their level, be a kid again. dont say no to children, spent time together, positive parenting guidelines, how to be a positive parent

Positive parenting – nurturing parent-child relationships

April 18, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 1 Comment

At a time, not so long ago, parenting was about being the leader, absolute authority and disciplinarian. Today we see a very different version of this. Look around you, parents are asking their children for their choices and preferences. They are handling difficult situations much like they would mediate adult conflicts. They are setting goals and providing opportunities to their children much like how it happens in the corporate world. Have parents today gone nuts and living in some crazy bubble? Or are these techniques showing positive results on the development of the child? Positive parenting is seeming to raise happy, healthy kids and showing similar results on the parents too. Continue reading

game theory of parenting, parenting, negotiating with children, zero sum game, minimax principle, inequity aversion, better negotiations with children

Negotiating with kids – the economics of Game theory

April 16, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 5 Comments

This weekend was a very hectic one. It also seemed to be the hottest day in Mumbai. We spent a day out with our son, despite the hot sun, because well it had been a long time since we had done something outdoors as a family. So anyway when we got back home in the evening, we were dead tired and just wanted to crash. But before that – dinner time. BabyT was in a happy, over joyous mood and the last thing he wanted to do was eat his dinner. My husband attempted to tempt him, “I’ll give you a deal, finish your dinner and we will have the ripe, sweet mangoes after that.” My son paused, scampered up to me and proudly proclaimed, “I’ll make you a deal… I won’t go to school tomorrow.” I laughed a rather nervous laughter. I couldn’t handle a toddler off school when I had tons of work to finish. But somewhere I was amazed that a 2 year old had the skills to attempt to negotiate with his parents. Continue reading

Gender neutral parenting – Not just about pink and blue

April 7, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 18 Comments

You know what’s the one thing that gets on my nerves. Kinderjoy eggs! A big kick in the rear to Gender Neutral Parenting. Firstly, the chocolate is abominable. Secondly, these eggs hold useless toys, which only add to clutter in the house. But wait, I’m not done yet. I mostly hate that they have eggs for boys and eggs for girls. Major eye roll. In a world which is getting increasingly complex and where it’s citizens should be making attempts to blend, a kid’s toy is making children believe in a two-toned world.

I am free…

January 23, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 12 Comments

Come January and with Republic Day approaching, the tricolour is spotted in every corner of the country and even on the telly, in stores and malls. Tricolour food is being dished up by moms, food bloggers and restaurants. Schools begin practice for march past and letters are sent home asking parents to send their children dressed as freedom fighters. Yes, that’s the place I am in right now and babyT has only been in school for one week now. –Sigh– They do say schooling your kids is the beginning of a second education for parents.

I know Republic Day is all the birth of the Indian Constitution and not really the Independence Day celebration. However, it’s also a valid point that if it were not for the Independence struggle and our subsequent victory we would never have this lovely Friday off this month giving us a long weekend to make merry. 🙂 Continue reading

My mom was right

January 15, 2018 / mommyingbabyt / 14 Comments

Once we become mothers ourselves something inside us suddenly lights up, almost like a bulb. And we realise how much our own (mother) parents must have done for us – bearing us, carrying us for 9 months and then for a lifetime. A deep respect for all the sleepless nights and days full of worry and anxiety arrives and with it a realization that ‘Mom was always right.’

For as long as I can remember, my mom has been constantly telling me ‘you will realise this only after you become a mother yourself.’ And I also remember laughing at this statement of hers and responding with ‘I’m never going to be that kind of mom.’ Oh, but how wrong I was, because turns out I am absolutely that kind of a mom.

Out of the many gems that my mom passed on to me, my most cherished ones are the ones she told me about self-care. Since my theme for 2018 is all about SELFHOOD this seems like the perfect topic to share all those instances where my mom was right.

Category: Parenting (Page 2 of 4)

Xennial Mom – kind of stuck in the middle

Vegan by choice – how to raise vegan children

What is veganism?

Travelling babies – when Wanderlust bites the young

Support groups – finding strength in social media

Questions welcome – ask me anything

Positive parenting – nurturing parent-child relationships

Negotiating with kids – the economics of Game theory

Gender neutral parenting – Not just about pink and blue

I am free…

My mom was right

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