Remember Stephanie Tanner from the hit SitCom “Full House”? Remember her several issues with “always being in between!” Well, that is a glimpse (a very tiny glimpse) of middle child syndrome for you. Without a doubt, in reality the syndrome can get much worse. So, how does a parent know that their little angel is suffering from a syndrome simply …

The phone rang at 5 am on Sunday morning. Sleepily I picked it up thinking it would be an emergency call from the hospital. To my surprise it was my friend Seema from Singapore. “Geeta, I am pregnant! Can you believe it?” She exclaimed loudly. After 10 long years! Naturally she was overjoyed, as it was a precious pregnancy. “But …

For teachers, therapists, and concerned friends, it builds self-esteem in children when you so you care enough to remember not only their names, but the names of their pets, family members, places they told you about, other significant details about them. Familiarity with concrete names shows you were really listening and you really understood. For parents, it is important to …

Make visiting special places a part of your relationship with children. Take them to a place out side the regular or prescribed structure. Take them to a place you say is special to you so that the memory of it will be of a special place shared. When I tutored students, I would sometimes take a child to the nearby …

Introduce novelty in activity, in tools, in words, in tasks, in colors, and shapes. Anything that looks new and fun filled is apt to be attractive to children and motivate their interests. Whenever children feel their own inner attraction to something, they are motivated to know it, explore it, spend time with it, and value it. While self-motivation provides a …

My friend Roma was very disappointed. She could not breastfeed her baby due to low levels of lactation. If your problem is related to your inability to feed due to sore or cracked nipples, try massaging edible oil or ghee on it. This will soften the nipples and will make you get used to your baby’s suckling. Also try to …

Trust is important in building self-esteem. When my stepdaughter Rita, aged eight, stayed with us during our first summer, it was a difficult time for her because her mother was moving their family (Rita and her older brother and sister) to another city, and Rita would be leaving many of her friends behind. She seemed generally grouchy and out of …

About five percent of children are left-handed. You can notice it even at a few months of age, when the baby uses one hand more than the other to pick up his toys or while playing or trying to put something in his mouth. By the age of one year, the left-handedness becomes quite definite. Left-handedness seems to run in …

The overnight bag is by the door. The labour and childbirth book you are reading is open to “Labour.” Your contractions are five minutes apart, and as you climb into the car, you know exactly what awaits you… and pigs can fly. No matter how many books you’ve read or how many hours you’ve spent on pregnancy websites, labour is …

If as parent or teacher you are always the listener, children do not get a chance to show acceptance of you. One sided sharing fosters inequality in relationship. Both sides in a relationship need to be listeners and listened-to. For example, my daughters come home from school tell me all their gripes. It might be that sometimes children feel all …