Tag: school

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To Sir with love… Or ma’am, if you please!

I’ve admitted often enough I’m a last minute person and so of course despite reminders from good friends it was last evening when we got down to working on our Teachers Day craft. It had to be something quick and easy – that’s all we had time for, anyway.

At the stationer’s shop as I was picking up some glitter paints I found another hapless mum, a little girl tagging along, asking the shopkeeper for ‘inexpensive gifts’. Apparently the little one wanted gifts for not one or two but ten of her teachers. Couldn’t help smiling at the mum’s predicament as she see-sawed between a host of pens and keychains. As she saw me picking up the 3-D paints she seemed pretty inspired. She managed to convince her daughter to make cards instead and walked away with a bunch of glitter paints! I made a craft convert :-). Yay!

I picked up some sheets of foam, some glittery ribbons and paints and we went to work on our fridge magnet photo frames… Two each for Hrit and Naisha. Thank the good Lord I didn’t have to work on 20.

Hrit always likes to work to his own ideas. Even if he likes mine he will undo it completely because it has to be ‘his’ idea. Naisha on the other hand is often ready to accept my suggestions and will simply add to them… How different are the two of them!

Here’s what we made.

These are Hrit’s, done completely on his own..

And these are Naisha’s with some help from me…

A simple contraption at the back to hold the picture.

And here’s one more idea.. Contributed by the SIL. My niece asked for, hold your breath, 15 handmade roses. Check them out… Paper flowers with toothpick stems and a leaf that says ‘Happy Teacher’s Day’. Isn’t it just perfect to make her smile?

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Who’s the crafty one?

Hrit and Naisha had a collage making competition at school. The topic was ‘My Family’. It seemed pretty easy since they had to simply assemble it in school.

Naisha being the artistic one, had a hundred ideas and finally settled on a heart shaped collage… how predictable is that! Hrit, meanwhile, doesn’t have a single crafty bone in his body. He didn’t want to make it at all. After much cajoling he agreed.

And he won! The first prize.



This is what he did

Naisha, changed her mind on the final day and decided the heart shape was too much trouble, didn’t put the tags either which we’d brainstormed and written out so diligently. She also ‘saved’ the heart and smiley stickers ‘to play at home’. She’s incorrigible, this daughter of mine.

When oh when will the kids stop surprising me?

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A budding reader and a know-it-all

Open house day at school is always an eye opener. Sitting across the table with the teachers each time we wonder, “Are we talking about the same child?” This year was no different.

Naisha got a relatively clean chit. She just needs some help with reading and spellings. That is pretty much down my alley. We went out and bought some new books (even though there’s a host of them at home) because we have a rule here, “koi bhi shubh kaam ke pehele paise kharch karne chahiye, kaam achchha hota hai“. And so Naisha’s reading me a Dora story bit by very small bit every day. I don’t want to push her and put her off reading completely so we’re going at her pace.

How else can I help her? Any suggestions?

Next stop.. Hrit. On a positive note his mirror image writing is almost gone… just a bit of b and d remain to be sorted. Thank the Lord.

Now for the not so good. Apparently Hrit suffers from the ‘I-know-everything’ syndrome. For instance, even if the teacher tells him a spelling he likes to go with his own version, based strictly on phonetics. The dear boy has no clue about the vagaries of the English language. He refuses to listen to the teacher following his own pace, preferring to be ahead of the class. If everyone’s supposed to do two pages, he likes to do four… even if they haven’t been taught, even if he’s not clear how they’re supposed to be done. He’s a man in a hurry. And if his neighbour is ahead of him.. he pretty much freaks out.. right or wrong.. he needs to finish before everyone else in class. Man in a hurry, for sure.

I have been talking to him about the advantages of listening, of being right rather than being first. However, I suspect I’m not doing a very good job because he came home today, yet again, with his homework all done.. done pretty shabbily but done nonetheless.

This is something I’m not sure I know how to handle. Suggestions?

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That could be me

The other day we got talking about newspapers and I told the kids I used to work with one long long ago. I reminisced about the night shifts and coming home in the early hours of the morning. Naisha nodded very sagely and said, “Yes mama you must have had to wake up very early to deliver papers to so many houses.”

Nothing like kids to keep you grounded.
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A dilemma

It’s another fancy dress at the kids’ school and I’m in a bit of a fix. The theme this time is Nursery Rhymes. “Star, I want to be a star,” said Naisha as soon as she came home. “Twinkle twinkle little star. I already know the rhyme,” she chirped.  “We’ll see,” said I while thinking “Won’t do, too simplistic.” They have been singing that one since they could barely talk. I was hoping I could convince her for something ‘better’, according to me, of course.

After some thought, I arrived at the Queen of Hearts. It would be nice, thought I. It’s different, and it would be something Naisha liked — a red dress with shiny, glittery hearts, a crown, maybe and a plate of tarts.. perfect.

Not so, thought Naisha. The deterrent, of course, is, that she’d have to learn a new rhyme. She can do it easily enough, I know, she’s smart.. but the thing is she doesn’t want to.

So here’s my dilemma

If I push the Queen of hearts…
It’ll be an uphill task as she’ll need plenty of convincing.
Of course, she’ll have to learn a new rhyme.
She might worry about her lines (I know she’s a worrier, specially on stage) and her apprehensions might ruin the pleasure of the performance.
BUT
It is a nice concept.
It’s ‘different’.
She’ll certainly enjoy dressing up.

OR

Should I go with the Star
It’s her idea.
She is comfortable with it.
She’ll be more confident on stage.
BUT
The idea really is too simplistic.
She’s capable of much more than this.

Am I being a Chinese Mum in trying to push her? Or am I being a laid back mum in letting her be? How will she know what she’s capable of if no one pushes her? She certainly isn’t the self-motivating kind. If she does well this time maybe next time she’ll be more confident in taking up a challenge instead of opting for the easy route and sticking to the safe and simple.

What do you think? Star or Queen?

Edited to add: She woke up this morning saying a ‘yes’ to the Queen. And now I’m wondering if she’s doing it just to make me happy.. sigh!
.. and I’ve had another brainwave.. what if we skip the rhyme. The brief says they have to talk for a minute.. not necessarily recite the rhyme. She could just say it, in her own words. Worth a shot. Yay.

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Culmination day…

… at the kids’ school today and I made sure I grabbed the front row seats after I almost cried in frustration last session . Turned out this time there were just a handful of parents since each division was putting up a separate show.
Hrit’s class came on first followed by a verbatum action replay by Naisha’s. The kids surprised me with their confidence, specially Hrit, who wouldn’t even look his teacher in the eye till last year. He delivered his lines perfectly, to everyone’s applause. As for Naisha – a more cheery nurse there never was. Talking is her forte so no surprises there except she seemed to have overcome her stage fright completely this time. I came back a pretty happy mum.

That’s Hrit the carpenter sitting with his tools…
… and Naisha the nurse
In a collage of baby pictures I spotted Hrit (with some difficulty). He’s the smiley
one in the left bottom corner. All kids really do look the same.
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