Never buckle your kids car seat their winter jacket on , check this post to know why !

Happy Holidays everyone!. With awesome weather in Austin a light jacket like this for $10 U.S. Polo Assn. Boys' Cut and Sewn Fleece Hooded Jacket would be good for kids now.

Car safety is a very serious thing, especially in  the United States, where the speed limits are high and accidents are very common. With the growing crowd in Austin and the traffic on freeway/highway, we see at least one to two accidents per day.

During winter we always make our kids wear their jackets before we get them on the car. Buckle their car seats thinking it is tight and safe. I have done that many times myself. After watching the below video, I am really surprised as to how wrong it is.

Even if the car crash happens at 30 mph speed, it would cause enough damage to the kid. Also I see that my kids are very uncomfortable to sit in the car seat with their jackets on. May be it is a good idea to remove their jackets and buckle them up. In Austin it might not be that difficult to do it compared to places with below 0 degree temperature.

Whatever might be the reason , keep this in mind when you take your kids, as shown on the video we can cover the jacket on the kid or even use a blanket.

Have a safe and happy holidays !. Please share your thoughts on this.

Five interesting places in Austin to host a birthday party for kids!!

Trail of lights 2015 in Austin Zilker park is a spectacular show of lights. Make sure you take cash when you go, ferry's wheel ride is $6 per person and the horse ride for kids is $4 per rider.We took a Zip pass which is $15 /person and free for kids below 5 years. Check this out for information on tickets Special tickets. We parked near Stratford since it was not closed that day, it is better to get the $15 parking online so that you can park near the park and walk.In general for any information on Trail of lights check this website Trail of Lights FAQ.

Being parents of 2 young kids, we attend birthday parties almost every weekend. We hosted our kids 1st birthday party in a community hall. As they turn 2 or 3 it is better to host it in a more fun place. If it is summer, we can host it in a  park, but during these cold months we are forced to have in indoors. Usually the most famous ones are Chuck E cheese, check this post I wrote sometime back Chuck E Cheese , Pump it up , Little Gym. Check out this deal with Austin Aquarium , we have been thinking to take our kids here for a while now Austin Aquarium, they also have a special deal for hosting birthday parties there. I would like to write about 5 places that we went last year :

1) Hoppin House : This is in South Austin. We had our kids birthday party this year at Hoppin House. Their service was extremely  good and they made sure everything went on smoothly. The best part I liked was that they gave us a fridge magnet with the picture of the kids who attended the party. It is a nice thing to look back when all the kids are grown ups. Check here for more information Hoppin house.

2) Thinkery: I think most of you know about this place if you are in Austin. My kids love going to this place, just that we dont have time to take them more often. Best thing about attending birthday party here is that the rest of the day after the party is free. Check one of my post about this place  about it Thinkery also for more information about this place check here .

3) Foodie-Kids: This place is in Far West Blvd. My son was invited to a birthday party here and he enjoyed making pizza and cup cake . It is like a 1 hr cooking class for kids and it is a lot of fun. To know more about this place check here Foodie Kids

4) Book People: This is a good place to host younger age birthday party.They read a book to all kids and let them color personalized sheets and also do a craft with the kids. My kids had fun here. To know more about this place check here Book People.

5)Champions West Lake : This is a GYM kind of place, kids had a blast along with an instructor. I liked that they also let kids to learn balance and showed them some new tricks. Check out here to know more Champions.

As I went through the Evite list, I realized that we have been to many parties and enjoyed everyone of them.  Thanks to all our friends for having us. I know the amount of time and money we spend on making sure everyone has fun. Also if there are other locations that are not well known to everyone leave them as a comment here. I am planning list them under the Cities  tab in my homepage so it will benefit others. Have a nice rest of the week.

Some tips to keep kids engaged at home during summer!

Hope all of you are enjoying your summer break. We went on a long road trip and are finally home.Slowly getting back to routine :).

There is a great deal for new customers on Gyft.com. They are giving you $5 off when you purchase gift cards worth $15 or more for over 200 retailers that are associated with Gyft. Some of the popular retailers  are Whole foods, Kohls, Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Home Depot, Itunes, Best Buy, Ebay, Express, GAP, BabiesRUs , ToysRUS, Old Navy, The Childrens Place, JC Penny etc.  I recently got a Whole foods $15 gift card for $10 through this. Check it out ! . Summer Special! Sign up today & get a free $5 Gyft card at Gyft.com! *New customers only. See site for details.

After reading this post  How do you engage your kids at home? many of you asked me to share what other activities I do with my kids at home. I try my best to present different activities to them so they are engaged and also have fun. Some of them are :

1) Flash cards: Flash cards are an excellent way to teach kids alphabets or numbers and it will also keep them occupied for a while. I ask them to arrange the cards in  alphabetical order or just lay them down and call out an alphabet and they will pick it up. For my 2 year old I will call out the pictures on the card and she will pick and give it to me. You can use your imagination and  play differently. You can buy something like this Flash cards.

Kids at work 

                                       

Arranged for the pick up game

2)Beads and threads: This is a favorite activity of my kids. They make their own necklace and bracelet out of it.You can buy some beads  1000 beads sale and bead string and you will be amazed on how kids love to work with them.

My daughter busy with her beads

3) Colored Popsicle sticks: These are a great resource for activities. You can do color sorting with them or shapes or alphabets. This is also a good time consuming activity.You can buy some colored sticks like these Colored sticks.

Popsicle stick alphabets

4) Milk can lid game: This is the cheapest activity. Just collect all milk can lids and stack them and use something as a striker to hit it. This is also a good time consuming activity.

My son at work with the milk can lids

We do a lot more activities. To manage the mess I place all the raw materials in a good container and make my kids clean them after they are done.

Sometimes they will not have the mood to do anything. I try to go at their pace and will just throw ideas. Also I keep removing some activities that they are bored playing with and introduce new ones. My aim is to minimize their TV time and also spend more time with them.

Stay tuned to know more activities and also share other things that you do with your kids. If you found this post useful do like my FB page IndoUSMoms and also follow me on twitter @IndoUSMoms. 

How do you engage your kids at home??

Hope all your long weekend is going good. In Austin the rain poured yersterday night,there was a power cut, feel like I am in India. Only thing missing is playing outside with friends and enjoying the power cut!

Usually kids have a lot of energy. During long weekends with heavy rain , I really dont know how to expend their energy, as we can't take them out. We usually take them to indoor play areas. Few weeks back,I attended a class called  "Montessori at home". This class taught me on how to set up the house so it is kid friendly like leaving the cups, bowls, spoons , water , a snack, in a height where kids can get it by themselves. I try to follow some of these at home now.

One important  truth that I learned from this class is we need to teach our kids as young as 2 years to do some household chores , since these kids are now so eager to do what their parents do. When they grow older, they will only want to do what their peers do.

work station set up at my home 

If we dont expose our kids to easy chores  they will never contribute to anything in the house as they grow. I have started to get some help from my kids on small things that they can do. I must admit some days they do 70% of what I ask them to do. Some days it is just 10% or even 0%..Still I am happy.

These days  my kids have been helping me with scrubbing their lunch boxes,  packing their own fruits for school, sweeping the floors, help with leaving the trash cans outside of course with a lot of assistance from me. I am happy that they are engaged as well as I get the work done !!.

I have bought some of these things to make all the above process easier. Little helper broom set so that they can help me with cleaning. A scrubber Palm scrubber for them to help me with scrubbing dishes. An apple cutter  so my son (41/2 yrs) can cut his own apple. Kids are fast learners, once you show them how it works they will surprise you by doing it right the next time.

I found thsi online and think it migh be a helpful reference

Also I have been setting up small work stations for them to work on some activities , I get this ready Friday night so they have something to do Saturday morning. The biggest challenge is finding new things for them to do. I usually get a lot of ideas from here Montessori activities.

If you have found this useful, please do like my FB page . Thank you for  all the support. Do share your thoughts and also how you engage your kids at home.

P.K. at home??

Hello All, Hope your week is sailing through  well. I think you all know about the second AR Rahman show being held in Austin on June 5th. Check out this page AR Rahman concert to know more updates.

I have heard from one of our friends that this Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914900 is a very good buy. As years pass by, after buying a house ,carpets get really dirty and this SteamVac does a great job in cleaning it like new. There is a 23% off on it and check it out.

Last time when we went to India, we got some CD's on stories of Lord Ganesha and Lord Krishna. Also we got a "Hanuman" book to read to our kids. These days we show them those CD's and also read the  book to our kids. Poor kids, they are very confused and always have trouble  in identifying the Gods. My daughter will just say elephant god for Ganesha and monkey god for Hanuman. My son is little older and he keeps asking so many questions. He doesn't like it when Lord Ganesha fights with Lord Shiva. He is very confused as to why suddenly there is a snake in Lord Krishna's story.

When we read about Ramayana to him , he is very very upset as to why all Gods fight so much with each other. He always asks  "Who is peace God amma?".

If you have read this post "I love the traffic these days, want to know why??" I have mentioned that we teach slogams to our kids during the morning drive to school. After chanting slokas I will usually put some devotional songs, today I showed a song on Goddess Durga. He saw a picture where Goddess Durga was sitting on a lion. He got really scared and asked me , "Will that god run away when the lion roars". I could not control my laughter. I tried to explain to him that the lion will not roar and the goddess is more powerful. He did not seem convinced.

As I listened to all his questions, I am confused about my beliefs now. I am not an atheist, but I am confused as to  why we have so many gods in our mythology and why there is always a fight to show the good is more powerful than evil. Also I wonder how I took all that what my parents said. Kids these days are more curious about everything.

I think most of you might have watched the P.K. movie. I really liked the concept and the way it was filmed.  These days I feel like I am watching that movie all over again everyday , only change is that my son is Aamir Khan and his name is Pranav Krishnamurthy (P.K.).I feel the same way I felt for Aamir Khan in that movie when I see my son. Please share your thoughts. Have a nice rest of the week. See you on Sunday with another interesting post..Stay tuned :)

What to look for in a day care ??

What an amazing day !! Very relaxed and a different Friday. Took off from work and picked up kids early,  first few hours enjoyed with them and slowly they started to drain me :).This Thanks Giving I found very good deals with TARGET. So I thought it is good to apply for TARGET Red card (debit or credit). If you do that these are the additional benefits.
*5% off everyday
*Free shipping at Target.com
*Extended returns --30 extra days
*Up to 1% purchases go to school you designate
*The online application to apply for this debit or credit card is Target Red Card. No additional fees or charge. I am pretty sure it is worth it.

Usually kids love to roll their baggage when they travel. My son helped us a lot during our recent travel. There is a good sale on one such bag ,back pack and a grooming kit for kids.3-piece Kids Luggage Sets Blue for Boys - Carry-on Suitcase for Boys with Wheels (16"), Backpack for Boys (12"), and Blue Travel Bag for Boys(8"). You get this for $40, which usually is $90. For all those travelling during Christmas this is a good deal. Dont miss it. !!!

Many of you have small babies and thinking of what to look for in a day care. I know the priorities vary from person to person but the general things that I looked in a day care is

*Good reference: Make sure you get feedback from someone who sends their kids there.Again some things that works for others might not work for you but get the details both good and bad.

*Active License: Check in the department of public safety website to make sure they have a good record and also an active license.

*Timing, distance and calendar: This is very very important. How long they are open, distance from your house or work place and vacation days. It is pretty hard to get a good combination of all these. See what works for you best.

*Immunization record policy: Make sure that the day care gets the record of immunization from all kids.

*Healthy food: If the day care provides food make sure it is healthy and not much of processed sugar items.

*Take a  tour: Always try to take a tour of the facility when kids are around there.Just see how you feel about the place when you enter  , how friendly , honest and trained the staff and teachers are, is the place clean, do they answer all your questions patiently, how safe you feel your kids will be there etc...

*Teacher to student ratio: Make sure they follow the State rule for the teacher to kids ratio. If kids are younger there should be more staff to handle them.

*Curriculum and how they engage the kids: After my experience with 2 kids I keep this as low priority for kids under 2 years ,since at that age they just need good care. After 2 years you need a better environment for them to think and be challenged more mentally and physically.

If there are other things that you really worry about or look into please add as comments as it will benefit someone who is in the process of actively searching for a day care. Good night and have a nice weekend !!!

How do you discipline your kids??

Hi All..Had a nice weekend, now looking forward to the week. I am all excited to wake up these mornings to brush with my new electric brush Philips Sonicare. I was against the idea of electric brushes for a while. After my last dental cleaning my doctor advised me to get one. I didn't want to put a lot of money into it, so  got this one for  $48.99 after reading the amazing reviews on it.

How do you all discipline your kids??  We use 1-2-3 method check this post to know more 1-2-3 Simple method to discipline kids. I think most of you must have read about how the foot ball player Adrian Peterson disciplined his son.  He hit his 4-yr old son with a stick from a tree and the kid  has bruises on his thighs, butt and also a wound near his eye.

On reading further about this news looks like Adrian Peterson is accused of injuring another son of his. Also one of his son was beaten to death by the boyfriend of  the kid's mother. I wonder whether all football players have a pathetic personal life. I read another article where it explained about how players have a pathetic life after retirement from the game.

 I have  a 4 year old son. I know how the kids of that age behave. Some times they do push us to our limits. Spanking the kid with the stick will never solve the issue. This helps us understand how important the upbringing is. It is not only important to be successful in your career. I think the biggest challenge is to be a good parent to your kid as we are sowing in the seed for the next generation through them.

I am really happy that I was not born to such parents.  Adrian has been dismissed from the Vikings.  I seriously think he should use this time off to work on his personal behavior and put all his act together.

Please share with me the method you use to discipline your kids and also your comments on this incident.

Guess what my daughter found in her lunch box

Hello everyone..Had a terrific weekend with family visiting us, it was a lot of fun as well as tiring. Finally we got to do Kayaking in the Lady bird lake which we have been trying to do for a long time and could not go with the kids. We left the kids with our aunt and uncle and went this time.
I think that is the advantage of joint families. You will have people around to watch the kids and parents can take a break.
Only thing that we found  hard was cooking and cleaning for eight of us and two kids. We started using disposable plates and cups and it got a little better.There is a very good deal on Dixie disposable plates . This is cheaper compared to Costco where the same one 170 count is 16.99 whereas you get 240 count for $18.81. Dont miss this deal as you can use it for parties also.

Life is very busy for all of us.Especially morning time is when we rush to get done with things and drop the kids in school on time. Usually I will try to keep mornings simple.Sometimes I will pack lunch for all of us the previous night. I have specific lunch boxes for my son and daughter. Last Thursday night I packed our lunches and left it in the fridge.

Friday morning as usual I dropped my kids and went to work. Evening when I went to pick up my daughter, my day care provider told me that my daughter did not eat all the balls I kept for lunch. Since I packed chapatti (veggie bread) I wasn't sure what she was telling me. She told me my daughter had one ball and returned the box to her saying "I dont want it". When I opened the lunch box I was laughing hard. What I did was I kept the remaining chapatti dough balls in a box, similar to my daughters lunch box and packed that box instead of the cooked chapattis.
The highlight was that, my daughter  ate one of that and her day care provider was wondering about the new dish I had made. I really felt sorry for my daughter and nowadays  I open the lunch box and check if I packed the right thing before I send it. Have any of you messed the lunch packing for you or your kids please share your story. I bet they are funny. Have a wonderful week and stay tuned.

Benefits of probiotics for kids

Happy Wednesday to all. Very happy to march towards a long weekend. I am pretty sure most of you must have plans for the long weekend or some of you might have been just back from vacations and use this weekend to rejuvenate.

Before my kids were born I had no idea about antibiotics and probiotics. I have hardly taken any medicines in India other than Crocin for fever and our  family doctor always gave us  white tablets in a small brown cover and no one dared to ask what it contained. We just blindly followed what he said. More than the medicine, if I visit the doctor itself I would feel better.

Later with my son whenever he had ear infection or any other bacterial infection the doctor always prescribed antibiotics. During a stage of his life he was on antibiotics for more than 3 months. His stomach used to be affected a lot and our doctor asked us to give him more yogurt. This is when my curiosity on this topic increased.

As I started reading more about the bacteria in our system I came to know about good and bad bacteria and what happens when there is an imbalance between them in our digestive system . Then I understood that  antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria that causes infection, it also kills the good bacteria in our system. So it is required to take probiotics as it strengthens the immune system.So it is very much required to give a probiotics to kids on a daily basis.

 Florastor Probiotic for kids  is what we use  and have seen excellent results. These are the scenarios I would immediately give my kids this probiotic
*Whenever their stools are loose could be even due to teething.
*When they are sick and are on antibiotics.
*When they have severe diarrhea
*When they have allergies
*We carry this to India . Last time when we went to India, I gave 2 packs one in the morning and one in the evening along with yogurt to my son and he never got sick even if he ate out.
In fact it is really a good idea to take a probiotic for adults too whenever you are travelling. We also carry this Culturelle probiotic for adults when we go to India. We will pop a tablet and eat even on road side shops and our tummy never gets affected. We also take it on a regular basis even when not travelling.

As always check with your doctor on the dosage. My doctor told me it is really good to give kids a lot of yogurt everyday to maintain the good bacteria's in the digestive system. On occasions where you feel just yogurt is not enough then you can always give probiotics 2 pack a day. Please share your thoughts on this.

Should we really ban circus???

Hello All, Hope all of you had a very nice weekend. My weekend was very  busy . On Saturday we went to the circus at Frank Erwin Center and then to a birthday party. Sunday we had other things to get done and by Monday morning I was very very tired.

If you are looking to buy a juice for your kids with less sugar I highly recommend this  Honest kids juice. We buy this and  add it to a part of my son's snack at school. Please comment below some of the snack items that you send as snack for  your kids. I am currently running out of ideas and have to switch my sons snacks as he is getting a little bored with the routine ones except this juice :)

On Saturday we went to the Circus. This is my first experience watching circus as an adult. As a kid I have been to circus multiple times in India and enjoyed it so much. So when we heard that circus is going to be to Austin my husband immediately booked the tickets and we were all excited to go and watch the show. My son was a very good boy the whole of last week in order to enjoy the circus show on Saturday. We told him about the animals and then showed some videos so he doesn't get scared.

On Saturday we went to the venue and as we were walking toward the theater we saw some people holding signs "Ban circus as they ill-treat animals ". It was something new to me. I have never seen circus from that point of view.
Then we got into the auditorium. The show started and my kids enjoyed every part where an animal was involved. We saw elephants, tigers , horses and dogs.But when I saw those animals I could see a fear in them,  for every beat of the music they had to perform correctly. In-fact I got tears in my eyes after I saw the tigers act. I was wondering if these tigers even knew they were tigers for real.
I came out with a heavy heart. The elephants also didn't look that well fed. Then one of our friend told us that they drug most of the ferocious animals for safety reasons. This whole circus experience was very new to me. I really pity the animals and I doubt if I would take my kids again to a circus show. Please share your thoughts on this.

What is the last name of Okra??

What an amazing weekend. Was out most of the weekend to attend baby shower, birthday parties and visited and had some guests over.Was very busy and I didn't realize when the weekend started and ended.One more reason for weekends to get busier is the classes. We just started our son for his swimming classes and I already see some part of my weekend taken away. August has been the busiest month with respect to birthday parties. We have one more next weekend to attend :).

There is an amazing deal going on for the Royal India restaurant in Groupon. We have been there once and we like it. Click me to see the groupon advertisement.Also if you have read this post General energy and money saving tips, I have mentioned that during winters it is a good idea to have personalized space heater. I found this with $20 off on amazon and has good reviews Lasko ceramic heater tower with remote control. If all of you including kids sleep in the same room just like us if you have this space heater you can maintain your home little colder. That way you dont heat the whole house.

Happy Krishna Jayanthi to everyone and today's topic is something about what my little Krishna told me today. My son really loves okra. We grow okra plants  in our veggie garden and he helps my husband water it and pluck the good ones.Usually as soon as I get 5-6 Okras I make sambar and my son will be very very happy to eat it with dosa. Now I am collecting more so I can make a curry out of it.

                                                Our yield so far from the okra plants

My son asked me today why I haven't made the "okra sambar" for a while. I told him I am collecting more so I can make "okra curry". He got very upset and asked me not to call okra with that last name. I didn't understand what he was saying. He told me "Amma listen, Okra's last name is sambar and broccoli, potato and cabbage's last name is "curry". I was wonder struck. I didn't know he interprets first and last name for the dishes we make.  This is how little minds work???. To read more about topics related to kids click here.Have a nice week ahead and stay tuned :)

How to have a communication channel open with your kids??

Hello Everyone!! Hope all of you are having a wonderful week . Mine was a usual one and a little hectic.

One of our friend is looking to rent his house in South West Austin. This is the link House for rent. Check it out and if someone is interested contact them.

I recently read an article that was shared on FB on  "Why it is important to teach kids "How  to say "NO"".It talked about how teaching kids to say no will help them when someone forces them to have a drink or try smoking or even drugs.The author talked about the scenarios and what answers she discussed with her  teenage son for various situations. Read the article here. Thanks to my friend for sharing this article.
After reading this, I realized that  my problem is not about teaching this, my problem is /will be on how to make my son talk to me about the important things happening in his life. I have seen pathetic situations where parents will be the last people to know about things that their kids are involved in.
 I have talked to some of my friends and do the following
*Tell my son about my day and ask him about his. Sometimes works , sometimes he would just say "I dont know what I did".I know he is only 31/2 years old and cant expect too much from him but I am still trying
*I would ask him to share a secret with me that is only between me, his dad and him. Sometimes this works and sometimes he would just say "I dont have anything to say".
*I would ask him about sad as well as exciting things that happened at school and he would sometimes tell me that .
*I would like to talk to his friends parents to know if their kids talked about what my son does at school and so on.
I know as he grows it will be more challenging, and I  just have to enjoy the cute age he is in and not worry about it.Since me and my husband work full time and we devote only a fixed amount of time for the kids everyday ,  we always try to make it more quality time and interact with them to know more about what they did and what they like and dislike.
On a side note media and cell phone will be another big challenge once they get their own phone it might get even more complicated.
This is why I feel parenting is so hard. Every phase has its own challenge and no one is perfect. We all try to do our best.If any of you feel that there are some things that we can do to start early and make our kids talk to us more about what they do at school please do suggest it here. 

How to make kids speak our native language??

Hello All....Hope all of you are enjoying the week and looking forward to the weekend.
Summer has started in Austin and we will reach 100 degrees soon. We try to take the kids for swimming at least once a week to the pool in our community. When my son was around 9 months we got him a pool toy like the one below, which he used to enjoy a lot. It had two holes for the kids to stick their legs and swim. If you have young kids buy one of these and see they will really enjoy in the pool while you can swim in peace just holding the string with one hand.

Coming to today's topic, one of the biggest challenge that I face now , is to make my son speak in our language (ie my mother tongue). I think everyone one of you who have immigrated to a different country from yours will face this issue. I am trying everything I can to make my son respond in my mother tongue "Tamil" , these are the things I do:

*Always talk to him at home in Tamil and will respond to him in Tamil.

*Give him special incentives when he talks in Tamil to us and to his sister

*I try to tell him that grandparents dont know English and you have to talk in Tamil 

*Though when I Skype with my parents they will ask "How are you doing?" in English to him ,so I keep telling them to talk in Tamil to my kids

*I got some Tamil alphabet books that I read to him now and then

*Our friend suggested to play some Tamil Rhymes on YouTube. So I play this series "Chellame Chellam" every now and then.

In spite of all this I feel like I am slowly loosing the battle. Please let me know if any of you have been able to successfully make your kids talk in your native language and what all you did to achieve it. 

It is so funny when I was young I would be punished if I conversed in "Tamil" in my school. I had to converse in English. Now I am facing exactly the opposite situation with my kids.Your feed back and comments are always welcome :)

Montessori way of teaching ..what is that?

Hello everyone , hope all of you had a wonderful day. We are always looking for ways to keep our son engaged. He really loves to connect dots to form pictures. I am thinking of ordering  A-B-C dot to dot and 1-25 dots to dots for him as they have very good reviews. If  he is occupied for sometime it is a big relief. Also if you are travelling with kids to India, I think it is a good idea to take some books that keep them occupied.

Coming to today's topic, I have always had this question in my mind, why did I have to study so many subjects and so many topics under them  in my childhood?. Was it because some  people in academic board think that kids dont have anything else to do? . I do agree the fact that we have to expose kids to all subjects but to what level is always a question unanswered. I remember studying so much and in fact wasted most of my childhood thinking that is what is going to save me from all life situations.

Only after I came to US, to do my Masters, I really understood that all education that you receive is a small part of your life. You have to understand so many other things in order to lead your life. Just theoretical knowledge on any subject is waste. You need to think practically and implement things in some cases. Also learn people skills that are more important than anything. When I started work I just though I can come in and do my job and leave. Things dont work that way. You have a team and you need to be a team player. You should know how to get your work done even if it involves others in the whole equation. All that is what defines you as a successful employee at work. Most things we learn with age.

 I think it is a good practice to start teaching kids these skills early starting with how to handle conflicts of interest among peers, how to express what they think correctly, how to do their job by themselves, how to hold responsibility, practical life etc.  Teaching all this is the Montessori way of teaching. Montessori way of teaching is  hands on and applies to current generation  though it is a very old method and I think kids need to be exposed to this in the formative years. My son's school does a god job on developing these skills in him, I really love the way they introduce new concepts in a fun way. Read more about Montessori education here . I would say 2 years might be the right age to make the switch and it is worth it. To read other posts on related topic click here 

Chuck E Cheese Rocks!!

Hello everyone. A quiet Saturday afternoon at home for me. The weather is awesome outside and kids and hubby are asleep. Perfect time to write my post.
Last week we had been to a birthday party at the Chuck E Cheese.  Believe it or not that was our first time to Chuck E Cheese. The birthday party was from 10-12 in the morning. As soon as we entered I figured out that it was not just a eat out place. We met our friends and the cute birthday girl , wished her and then we were running behind our kids who were all excited to ride on the various fun rides that was there.

I saw so many parents with their kids and it was a Saturday morning. I was impressed so much seeing the crowd. I thought to myself  "Wow, so many people come here on a Saturday morning". My kids enjoyed all the rides there. It is a perfect place for kids from 2-7 years I would say. 

Then our friend came and told us there is going to be cake cutting and some show with the Chuck E Cheese mascot. We gathered around a table and to my surprise there were 8 tables and 8 birthday parties going on in parallel at the same time. Then I understood that all people who were there, were a part of another birthday party. I felt like being in an Indian marriage for the first time. So many people , so much of commotion and the singers were bringing the hall down singing "Chuck E Cheese Rocks". All kids watched the special treatment given to the birthday kid. Finally after the party was over, as  we were heading out, I saw the people getting ready for the next set of birthday parties.

We got into our car and my son started singing "Chuck E Cheese Rocks" . Then he asked "Are we going to celebrate my birthday party in Chuck E Cheese?" "I like this place appa (Dad) and I want to go there again".

I just thought to myself "What an excellent  business model this is ?" , Not only they managed to celebrate so many birthday parties at the same time, they were able to put the brand in the kids mind and also make them wonder if they were going to have a cool birthday like that. I really admire how they have designed the whole thing and how nicely they executed it. 

What is the right age difference between kids?

Hope all the mothers had a nice mothers day weekend. I had a wonderful weekend  we met a lot of our friends and  all ready for the week.

Coming to today's topic,I have a sibling to know more read this post Sweet sibling. The question that I get asked often is " What do you think is the right age difference between kids?". When I was going to have my daughter, I read a lot of forums and blogs on"what is the right age gap between kids?". I never got a good answer. Whatever I read said that it depends on you and your family. To some extent that is true. My kids are 2 years apart and after experiencing this age gap I kind of figured out the pros and cons of having them close.

Pros:

*Since I had delivered my daughter 2 years after delivering my son , it was easier with respect to the whole delivery process.

*Baby related things was  fresh in my memory , in fact within 2 years we forgot some of the things but most of it came back.

*The closer age gap between the kids they play with each other better.

*They are like friends rather than a big bro/ little sister.

*Able to do the same activities with each of them. Though my son is 3 1/2 and my daughter 1 1/2 my son is still young and he enjoys the baby games I play with my daughter.

*As they grow you can enroll them in the same school and pick up and drop will be easier.

*Deal with the same age related  issues pretty much around the same time.

* I have heard that as they grow they will be close with each other as well.

Cons:

*Initial few years are very tough for you as parents.
*You need help for a longer period of time and your older one is still a baby.
*As a mom I went through so much emotionally thinking of how my son and how he will cope up with my daughters arrival.
*Paying for two kids day care at the same time is surely a financial stress, sometimes makes me think if it is worth working at all.
*Everyone told me it is tough , including my mom and she asked me if I was insane to have two kids with such smaller age gap.
*Changing diapers for 2 people at the same time was tough.

*Monetarily it will be tough if you don't plan ahead.

*Both of them will go to college around the same time 

Whatever age difference your kids are I really feel you need very good planning. Planning is the only thing that will help you. Also dont worry too much about your first kid. I was very much worried about my son the real fact is, every kid knows how to grab his/her parents attention, and as parents we all will always do our best to keep each of them comfortable. Share your thoughts on this and good night.

If you have a baby, you need a Nose Frieda

Happy weekend people.  As I have always mentioned I am getting ready for my weekend routine. This weekend also we are very very busy.  But all fun events planned looking forward to it.

Coming to today's topic in general all  kids  have a running nose especially if they go to a day care. If they go to a day care and if one kid gets it all other kids get it too. It could be cold,flu or even allergies.It took at least 3 years for my son to blow his nose  on his own, until then whenever he had a congested nose we will use the "bulb syringe" that we got from the hospital to clear the mucus, but we never knew if there was any mucus collected in it or not. In general kids dont like us to mess around with their nose and he used to cry a lot and it was a pain to handle it. Doctor's generally ask you to clear kids nose if congested at least twice a day so it will be easier for them to breathe.



So I asked around to see if people knew something better that we can use to clear my kids nose. I found out about this product from one of my friend.It is called "Nose Frieda" Basically it has a plastic head that you place near the babies nose and then there is a tube through which you blow using your mouth and the mucus is collected in the plastic head. It worked like magic and we were able to clear his nose easily. Only downside is as kids grow older like 18 -24 months when they have the strength to push it away from their nose ,you need two people to do it. It is absolutely better than the "bulb syringe" that we used to use before. Try this on your kid and let me know if it worked.

If only they told me it was Science

Good morning everyone.  Yesterday evening we had been to my son's school to attend "Science Fair", I enjoyed every bit of it and got refreshed with most of the basic concepts about science which I had forgotten for a while. It was very late by the time we got home. I did draft this post yesterday night but before I could post it, heard my daughter cry, so just had to leave it for today.

There are around 8 classes in his school and each class had a topic and they displayed science projects  based on that topic. General topics were Plants, Science Experiments, Life Cycles, Botany, Earth Science, and Animal Kingdom. My daughter was excited to see rabbit, chickens, turtle, parrot and kudos to all who were involved , it was an amazing display.
My son's class had the topic Botany. He has been telling us the word "Botany" for around three weeks and when I asked him what they are doing in Botany , he said "I will not tell you, will show it to you when you come". He was all excited yesterday evening and when we went there, he took us to his favorite spot. It was "Grinding the Herbs". He told me about the general herb plants. He didn't know everything but knew mint well as we use it at home. But all his focus was on grinding it. Till now I never knew he liked grinding so much.

                                                     Pranav grinding the herbs

This took me back to my childhood. I have helped my mom in grinding small things. I remember grinding cardamon powder. Also separating  mint leaves from  its stem. But I never related it to science. I used to just do it as a chore and will be waiting to get done with it. But now after I saw this I am all excited, (read this post on Little Helper's  to know how to get help from your kids) as I have an exact hand grind at home and I can give it to my son and ask him to grind "cardamon,cumin, coriander seeds ",get my work done at the same time explain to him about the spices and different things and call it "Science". 

Potty training tips

Hope everyone is enjoying your weekend. We are just following our weekend schedule. Was a chilly day in Austin and did not get to do much.
Coming to today's topic ,this a long due to one of my friend who has been asking me to write about it for a while. Usually you can start to potty train your kid around 2 years but there are some signs you can look for to see if your kid is ready even earlier. I have heard that girls train faster and earlier than boys. I have to see what my daughter does she is not yet potty trained but my son is. Since my daughter was born when my son was around 2 years old and we could not change diapers for both of them, we wanted to get our son potty trained. Most of the credit in potty training my son goes to my husband as I was busy with the little one then. Signs that your kid is ready
*He/she is able to tell you when they want to go
* Able to hold for a longer amount of time i.e you see more dry diapers or pull ups.
* Doesn't feel comfortable with a heavy poppy/pee diaper
* He/she has a predictable bowel movement time in a day
* Shows some interest in using the potty
* Can pull down or up the pant or pull ups
Things you might need
* Smaller potty seat
* one of our friend presented my son a potty watch (basically something that reminds periodically that he has to go potty, you can just use a timer instead
*some liquids like juice/water for the kid to drink
* Something clothes to clean the accident areas

For our son we first stated the training around 18 months but he was not ready, so we again tried when he was 2 years and 4 months as I earlier mentioned that it was too  much of work to change diapers for 2 kids. We actually put a pull up on him initially and gave lot of juice and water to drink and set up the potty watch to remind him every 20 mins to try use potty.Usually the best time to start the training is in summer but we had to do it during winter time as he showed some signs around that time. He was very hesitant initially and kept on going in the pull up or made accidents and did not go in the potty( involves lot of cleaning).So we let him free believe me that is the best way. Give him/her enough fluids, let them free (no pull ups or underwear ) around the house and every 20 minutes take them to potty and ask them to try if they want to go. Whenever my son did pee pee in the potty all three of us (me ,my husband and my son) will do a potty dance (similar to ring of ring of roses) and say "Pranav did potty,Pranav did potty". After a lot of effort and praise he finally got the hang of it the third weekend. We trained only during weekends and during weekdays we asked his day care provider to try. After he got the hang of it we put underwear on him. After that for a month he wore pull ups only during night , but we saw his pull ups dry most of the times when we checked in the morning. So we let him sleep without pull up and will wake him up once at night and take him to potty and put him back to sleep. Now he is full potty trained even at night but not completely out of accidents  yet. He will have one or two here and there. Try this with your kid and let me know if it worked.

1-2-3 Magic - Simple method to discipline kids

Hello Everyone!!Happy Friday!!. We had a wonderful dinner get together at our neighbor's house. Our neighbor is a wonderful couple who like to entertain people and  they have a lovely house with amazing interiors. I am really happy about the neighborhood we live in.
Coming to today's topic it is very difficult to discipline kids. I am pretty sure most of our parents would  have yelled  or sometimes spanked us, but I never liked it. It just created a fear in my mind more than disciplining me.
When we visited our husband's brother's house they told us about this trick to discipline our son. It is called 1-2-3 magic. I should thank my sister-in-law for it. How this method works is
  *When your kid does something that is not acceptable you count 1
  * If he/she continues to do it count 2
  *When he/she does it again count 3 and give him/her a quite time.

Quite time is, you make them sit in some corner of your house, we usually use the  steps in our house and make our son sit there.The amount of time you make them sit there is based on age. You can start using this method to discipline your kid when he/she is around 2 years. But if you feel your kid can understand things by 18 months you can  start early. Initially when our son was  around 18 months we  gave a 1 1/2 minute quite time and when he was  2 years old we gave  a 2 minute quiet time.
This method has worked like a magic in our house. My son never used to listen to us. But after following this method by the time I count 2 he will stop doing it.The tough part is to make the kids  sit in one place. If they dont follow it, tell them you will increase the time or move them to some other room where they have to stay quiet. I feel this method is far better than screaming or spanking your kids. Most important thing is both the parents must be on the same page and the parent who gives the quiet time should explain to the kid about what the kid did and what are the consequences of the action and why he/she should not do it again after the quiet time and give hugs and kisses and release the kid and forget about the issue and move on.  One main thing to remember is both parents must give this quiet time and be firm and don't talk or show emotions when your child throws a tantrum. Please share your thoughts and also some other methods that you use to discipline your kids. I would love to hear them.There is also a book you can read on it to understand more about it. Good night and have a nice weekend.