As We Step Out- Parenting, Unschooling, and more

Aarohified - Yet Again When we started upon this journey of unschooling, we took the leap of  faith and decided to trust our instincts. Unschooling being a less trodden path, we had to find answers to our questions ourselves. Questions like 'What about future', 'How will they learn', 'Do we follow a structure or a curriculum' and more. One of the resources which has been a part of our unschooling journey is - Aarohi ( Aarohi Life Education ), through their multiple avenues like Jagriti, Saturday Open Learning AMA (Ask me Anything) calls, social media updates, opportunity to visit the campus etc.  Last month, I had this surge of emotions- feeling lost, feeling 'I have to string everything together', we are drifting off our path, kids are listening, kids are not interested in learning, how to I balance my work and their learning journey- you get the drift! I am sure school or no school, these emotions hit many parents on and off.   How do I resolve my inte...

Babywearing Naps-  Yay or Nay? As I travelled in my car for a family trip, like in all road journeys, soon enough I was dozing off. I had not had enough sleep and this nap felt like bliss. But just about an hour into it and I was rudely jerked awake as the car went over an uneven bump. I felt disoriented and dizzy...I felt more exhausted than before. So if this kind of ‘on the go’ nap does not help us feel refreshed and rejuvenated, how different is it with babies ? Let me help you understand. Babies in their intrauterine life are on the go, moving around with their mommy. This is the primary reason, babies find calm in motion. Babies settle down easily when they are moving , it reminds them of their time spent in the womb , and as they grow that just becomes a preference until they are developmentally ready and attuned well to the overwhelming outside world. Doesn't that explain all the need for rocking, patting, swaying..? As a pediatric sleep coach, many paren...

Introduction This is a story of a typical woman who is expecting a child- abundant sleep (yes as per the concept of relativity), eating whatever and whenever she desires, lots and lots of shopping, catching up with friends, movies, maternity shoots, super supportive family members…… and then the day arrives when the much awaited baby(ies) pops out!! A moment of joy- absolutely! But what happens to the mother? Lack of rest, lack of sleep, constant pressure of ‘feeding right – feeding enough’, recovering physically, too many things to sort out which none of the pre natal classes taught her! And this is the phase when babywearing could become her best friend! So mums/ primary caregivers lets learn more how to make this happen- What is babywearing? Babywearing (BW) is keeping the baby close you, with the help of the modern BW carriers or a sadi or sturdy cotton dupatta. Here you will come across two terms- ergonomic carriers/ non ergonomic carriers. Ergonomic carriers are those,...

Why do we all work (work apart from the household requirements)? Multiple reasons: 1. Earning money to buy resources 2. Being a resource for someone as you feel you can value add 3. To do justice to what you have studied so far 4. To kill time 5. To feel good, meet people, interact socially I used to enjoy working in the corporate and continued to work until the previous day of my delivery. But after Snugbub happened I understand, what I was doing was ticking off point no. 1, 3, 4, 5. I was happy but I definitely was not passionate. I was just 'doing what was required/ told' and I was deriving happiness from social interactions more than my work. Like most of the women, I was in two minds when I delivered my babies, preterm, low birth weight, needing more care and attention. Being in a niche team asking for flexibility didn't work. I decided to just take a break, enjoy motherhood and go with the flow. I always had a liking towards babies and now was my time to li...

“Oh you will fall down” was my reflux exclamation as he started experimenting with his new in line skates, I watched and watched and there he was- skating and gliding and shouting with joy “I did it”. I reflected, oh I shouldn’t have expressed my fear instantaneously and smiled- Self Learning! We need to believe kids self learn, when given opportunities, when exposed to the right kind of environment. It is only small small incidents like these, right from infancy that made us think- “Do we really want to ‘mould’ them in a factory setting without giving them an opportunity to explore and self learn?” And we both nodded no! And that's how our discoveries  about learnings, getting the best out of a child, the importance of play began. Let me share some of the things which we strongly believe make our learning experience enriching! I say ‘ours’ because while we grown ups try to mould the kids and help them in their learning journey, we as parents learn and grow as individual...

My poem about motherhood and how easily people are ready to judge, comment on what and how you do things in life.. Sigh. I just wish people bring in more compassion in their attitude and try to appreciate what the other person is doing. You are a CA, you don't work? Oh such a shame, why did you learn? You are a SAHM, you don't earn, Oh that's sad, Musnt't you yearn? You are a mother So many things to bother, Well that's life Your identity doesn't matter! You have BG twins! That's a win-win.. But why don't you add up Yet another kin? Your kids go-to school You have plenty of time You don't need a house help Don't you whine! You are a rebel, New ways you sight Why can't you just Obey without a fight? Identity, individuality Why all the hype? What, when, how- Follow the stereotype! All these voices Echoing around My path, my ways Darling I have found.. Praises, prizes, money, fame Nothing I need Ackn...

Hello fellas! Summers can be a mixed bag for parents - on one hand you look forward to taking a break from the usual school routine, going on a vacation, getting together with family, etc. On the other, the very thought of kids being at home all day for so long can get stressful! Plus, in my case, the hubby being away for work for a good 3 weeks during this exact time was not going to help things at all. As a family we travel a lot and we love it! So travel, by default, was going to be on the cards in summer. Also, it's easy to go overboard with watching TV when at home and I was clear on not letting that happen. As a result, we went completely TV free in our house this summer which I really appreciated (well, kids did have their share occasionally at their friends place but I guess that's okay :) ) I always believe that the better you channelise the kids' energies, the happier ALL are. After a lot of planning, research and what not, here is how we spent our summer! ...