Think about it.....!!!

Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something decisive to
> meet the increasing complexity of their society. They held a meeting and
> finally decided to organize a school.
>
> The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, swimming and flying. Since
> these were the basic behaviors of most animals, they decided that all the
> students should take all the subjects.
>
> The duck proved to be excellent at swimming, better in fact, than his
> teacher. He also did well in flying. But he proved to be very poor in
> running. Since he was poor in this subject, he was made to stay after school
> to practice it and even had to drop swimming in order to get more time in
> which to practice running. He was kept at this poorest subject until his
> webbed feet were so badly damaged that he became only average at swimming.
> But average was acceptable in the school, so nobody worried about that –
> except the duck.
>
> The rabbit started at the top of her class in running, but finally had a
> nervous breakdown because of so much make-up time in swimming – a subject
> she hated.
>
> The squirrel was excellent at climbing until he developed a psychological
> block in flying class, when the teacher insisted he start from the ground
> instead of from the tops of trees. He was kept at attempting to fly until he
> became muscle-bound – and received a C in climbing and a D in running.
>
> The eagle was the school’s worst discipline problem; in climbing class, she
> beat all of the others to the top of the tree used for examination purposes
> in this subject, but she insisted on using her own method of getting there.
>
> The gophers, of course, stayed out of school and fought the tax levied for
> education because digging was not included in the curriculum. They
> apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and
> eventually started a private school offering alternative education.
>
>
>

Stay Hungry, Stay foolish !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

Last chance in 2009 !!!!

Last chance to join the workshop in 2009 at Hyderabad.

Kukatpally: 7-Nov-2009 @8:45am.
Srinagar Colony: 8-Nov-2009 @8:45am.

Contact 9849076190

Remember: each day lost for your baby is a year lost. Act now !!!!!!!

Bueaty in Being a Mom !!!

after becoming a mom ..It’s not that I hated how I looked, really. It’s just that after a while, it was hard to be judged, and not start co-signing the judgments. Maybe my skin was getting a little dark...lot of hormonal changes.. My affinity for books and dolls little too nerdy.
some folks -- mostly adults -- stood at the ready to remind me of this..I shouldn’t play in the sun because my skin may spoil even more ... friends often clucked that am “getting fat.” I alternated between being barely able to cope with the daily responsibilities of motherhood and mind-numbing confusion.i must say...sometimes My days felt like a marathon disaster movie, starring me racing around after my child to prevent him from hurling himself from high places and/or gleefully electrocuting himself. My nights were a study in sleep deprivation, with kids waking up every two hours ...my passion to many things has to be substituted....but still..... Being a mom is both a pleasant and challenging life-time event...you have the power to recreate and bring new life to this world. You get the chance to witness a baby grown, from inside of you, and grow into a responsible, happy and successful adult. There is no other feeling similar to that of the maternal impulse. my day goes with books, crayons, or blocks..looking around for caterpillers turning to butterflies with kids and so on... ,everyday i prepare myselves for the adventure and experience of a lifetime! It is crazy how some believe that bearing a child is the end of their lives but actually, what they fail to see is that, it is a new beginning.. Your baby is an extention of yourself .. Motherhood is your time to discover new and fresh ways to raise a healthy, sound-minded soul…thats the beauty in me..in being a mom!!!.....its nice that am learning to embrace every moment and comment ...its great...thanks...
srujana..

Teach your child how NOT to Lie

But just like the prequel, this article's title is also misleading. Most of you who read the first article understood that it was not about 'teaching your child to lie', but about the realization that it is WE (parents) who invariably do things in such a way that the child learns how to tell lies - he or she was not born like this.
In the same way, we cannot teach the child NOT to tell lie. Lie he or she will. Just like when a child learns how to ride a bike, the child is bound to fall. Falling off the bike is intrinsic to learning how to ride. In much the same way, telling lies is intrinsic to learning how to be and stay honest.We don't teach children how NOT to fall from the bike! But alas, in my observation, too many parents are more keen on teaching the child how NOT to lie - rather then teaching them how to tell truth.
So let's start with a premise, a presumption - that it is fallacious to teach children not to lie. Let's teach them to tell truth, be honest. And let's accept that much as they will try to do this, they may still slip, tell lies, and that this is part of the process of living. Not something to be guilty about - but something to use as awareness, of how we can ride the honesty bull.
I call it as a BULL as truth is not easy to tell. Truth is as savage as a lie: it requires courage to live with, to tell and hold on to. I consider telling truth as much of a challenge as telling a lie. Given this background, children would need training, support and most of all encouragement to tell truth. When they tell a lie, they don't need people around to brand them as liars. They don't need lecturers whom make their entire thinking look petty. They don't need analytical character assassins or moral police.When a child falls of the bike, the child needs a compassionate support. Sensitive adults who can help them discover paths which will make more sense to them - in the long run.
So how do we facilitate this journey; how do we become the coach rather than the referee. How do we make the honest in a child more aware, and the liar more discriminative.We present five guidelines, using the acronym T-R-U-T-H
TRUSTEven if the child tells the most blatant lie - simply accept it. No discussion or debates, no counter arguments, no revelations, no pinning down. Such an implicit faith - messages to the child that finally he or she is more important that even the statements he or she makes. That neither the ends nor the means are important, rather how "he is" - is most important. This kind of unconditional trust - leaves the child with an ability to discriminate - himself - of what is right and wrong. It leaves the child with all the roles - of the accused, of the defending and accusing lawyer and of the judge. Can't think of a better way to train a more balanced conscience. But most importantly it makes the child feel valued, special and "human". My child told me "Aunty said its okay if you do not do any homework today, since you have to go for your friend's b'day party". I said in a simple plain tone, "Its okay to not to do home work some days. You can tell aunty that I was tired after the party. There was no discussion about her lie about her Aunty.
RIGHTEOUSA cartoon I had seen shows a person in the court taking the oath, "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth - from my perspective".A child is really trying his best. He or she is looking at the situation in one way - and in that way of looking, what the child says - "feels" like the truth. Just like when we look from earth (point of view) and exclaim that sun rises in the east - while in reality, we all know, sun does not rise anywhere - it stays in its place - it is we (earth) who go round the sun. So approach with an assumption that the child is telling the truth, he is righteous (from his perspective).And if you happen to have another perspective - help the child discover the other perspective (do not push it down the child's throat). Start with something like "I understand what you are saying. Can we also look at this situation in another way"? (realise we say 'another way' and not the 'right' way).
UNDERSTANDGiven the above two, there must be some intention that the child is fulfilling by saying and doing whatever is he is saying and doing. The larger goal is to understand that intention.My son came and said, "Put a band aid - I'm hurt on my hand". My wife responded, "Oh you like band aids". He said, "Yes", with a smile now. Once the child realises that the intention is understood, he feels that he is understood - then where is the need of truth or lies. Isn't that our biggest need in life - to be understood - rather to tell lies or tell truths?The other advantage of going for understanding is then you can open up doors of exploring "other ways" of the child expressing or fulfilling his intentions, leaving the "cooked up way" aside to wither away on its own.
TRYINGIf your child came to you and said that he tried to ride the bike but couldn't - what would your response be? Most probably we'll all encourage with a - "try again tomorrow". Can we not give the child another chance? Again assuming that the child tried his best to tell the truth - but could not - so lets try again the next time. A child came to me and said, "Uncle, my mummy said that I can go home whenever I want - my driver is waiting - so I am going". I said "Okay and what will you tell me tomorrow? He hesitated. I said, "Tomorrow you can tell me the same thing or tell me anything else". He thought for a minute and said, "Actually uncle, I Just want to....." It does take guts to tell the truth. Many truths are unpleasant while the lies are comforting. In view of such a biased conflict, a child's attempt to not tell the truth is just a matter of courage, not of habit. To give courage - please en-courage.
HYPOTHETICALLet truth be a hypothesis. In our experience - many a times, children are not able to project the consequences of telling the truth. Often they imagine the worst (read the first article to understand how we as parents instill this line of thinking). In most cases their own image of self, of how they should be - interferes with a larger view of the consequences that await them if they follow the path of truth. (E.g. "I do not want to look like a fool, so let me say a lie and get away from here")So a good strategy is to help them create a hypothetical path of truth. A child went to her mother and said, "I am not feeling well, I do not feel like going to the school." The Mother responded, "Okay, what if you were to go to school, what will happen? She mumbled something to do with her not able to study. Mother continued, "What if you were able to study?" The child said something about her not enjoying her day? Mother continued, "What if you were able to enjoy" She became angry and stamping her feet said, "I cannot enjoy because I haven't done my homework."So through hypothetical thinking or even role plays - we can help children clarify their own thinking and become more honest in thinking and expression.
Let us end this - with a different note - learning from a story of Mulla Nassirudin:Mulla once had a friend come over, requesting to lend him some money, which Mulla promptly did. However, after a month, when Mulla accosted his friend for the money, he blatantly refused, stating, "I never took any money from you, you are dreaming". Mulla obviously furious at this back accusation, dragged his friend to the Vazir's court. In the court too the friend maintained that Mulla was lying and challenged Mulla for a proof, which obviously Mulla had none. Finally Mulla looked at the Vazir and said, "Sire, I guess he is saying the truth. If he isn't, assuming that this is the truth has more peace for me than me thinking that I have been wronged." Saying this Mulla left the court with a smile!

Teach your child how to Lie(a nice article)

No, no there is no typo mistake in the title above - I do mean to talk about teaching a child TO TELL LIEs.
Obviously, before we get on with the "how" to train a child to tell lies, lets first check out why one would like to teach them lying.The benefits of lying are many, as I have learned from my rich experience. Even if I were to discard my experiences as only mine, since I see so many people around me telling lies, I am quite sure lying must have many benefits. Below are some benefits that are come to my mind, I am sure you can add more to the list based on your experience.
First is Convenience. This alone is big enough for us to encourage to take up this training with earnest. As convenience seems to be so important to us. Lying saves time, saves money, saves unnecessary altercations, saves emotions, and most of all , saves face. Lying makes our task of day to day living easier. How else can I avoid an undesirable neighbour, how else can I make the child quickly eat, how else canI get an extra discount and so on. Convenience is no more a want - its a need!
Second is Ambition. Since 'almost' everybody tells me that this world is competitive and one needs to be ambitious to make it to the top - lying is a definite weapon in the arsenal. Whether it is boss, teacher, Client, etc., I can manipulate all of them using all kinds of false statements and make the powers look at me in a favourable way. History is full of millions of examples of how flattery delivered personal growth. As I get more ambitious, as people around me want me to be achieving more and more, and the bar is being raised everyday (2008 recession is a great example), lying is a power weapon.
Third is Desired Outcome. A bunch of lies will definitely help me make outcomes more successful for me. If I know how to lie, I can manipulate, I can change things quickly and I can get what I want. After all,in the end , lying can and often does justify the means.
Fourth and perhaps the least thought or talked about is Conscience Management. See I have a conscience, which keeps telling me to not do certain things. But I need to lie to my own conscience or pretend that it does not know better - so that I can end up doing what I was tempted about, rather then listening to the conscience. So you realise that lying is not just about others - in most cases we have learnt the important art of fooling ourselves.
Now that we know why we should train our child in this very important life skill, lets figure out how we train our child to tell lies. This is important not only from strategies point of view, rather also to understand lying itself.
Strategy 1 - Tell them "I trust you" and then don't trust them. How many of us have secretly peeped into the child's room, notebook, computer screen, et al. If you are doing any of these - you are definitely teaching the child that one does not have to mean what one says. Saying is to get access, and once I have access I can exploit. If you continuously do the above, the child will soon understand how to manipulate communication and relationships.
Strategy 2 - Nag him or herIts easy, it gives you a superior feeling - when you constantly find wrong in them - how you stand, how you talk, how you eat, how you write and so on. The more I nag, the more the child will get fed up and soon start lying to get out of "spots". After all, who wants to be nagged?
Strategy 3 - Demonstrate itQuite obviously this is the most common strategy used by parents to teach children lying. As parents, lets us tell lies (in front of the child) to neighbours, to friends, to domestic help, to office colleagues, to the child's friends - the more I demonstrate, the more the child will learn.
Strategy 4 - Put Down in PublicSince nobody likes to be put down,the more you put down, more chances, more opportunities for him to learn lying. The child, to escape (or save face) will soon learn to lie.
Strategy 5 - Image is importantLets Communicate in many different ways to the child - that what he/she really is - is not important - but what is expected of her - an ideal image - is more important. For this constantly compare the child to others. Also keep telling the child what you want him to be (which he is not). The child learns how to be phony, learns to run after that image and soon picks up lying to self and to others to be able to project that image.
Strategy 6 - Punish the child, show who is the BOSS, in control.Since the child by his nature does not enjoy punishment or control, the child will soon try to avoid these punishments and would easily discover that lying can be so helpful. (Remember he also uses his creativity in such situations - thus adding to overall development :-)
Strategy 7 - When the child lies - react strongly.Whenever the child tells a lie, let the child know that he is lying and highlight and reinforce this talent by scolding, punishing or calling the child dishonest or a liar.Even if the child tries to defend himself - tell the child that you're an expert in detecting lies (lie catcher) and hence the child cannot escape your sharp eyes. This often challenges the child to try to lie better next time - so that he is not caught and hence he wins over you. This is a good way to hone lying skills.
Strategy 8 - Emotional gamesWhenever the child tells a lie, become strongly emotional. Tell the child she has broken your heart, faith, trust etc. The child, like in previous strategy, would then try to ensure that next time her lie is so good that you are not able to feel bad. See this way she also cares for you and for herself.
Strategy 9 - In case of conscience conflict - mummy /papa winsWhenever the child has a conscience conflict - guess it and always give a big lecture on what is right and wrong and how you know better. This way the child realises that conscience is not something to listen to, rather say and do what one thinks to be right. This process of taking away child's right to judge his internal conflicts will make him more intellectual rather than instinctive. This would be beneficial in this world where intellect is prized more than ground wisdom.
Strategy 10 - Continue being a HypocriteMost of us are hypocrites - I am. We say to the child - share, yet we do not share our own riches. We say to the child be gentle and kind, yet we are harsh to our spouses. We say don't be greedy and yet we want (albeit secretly) our children to be always first, to become most successful. We want the child not to lie and we continue lying. This kind of hypocritical behaviour creates the right kind of environment for the child to master lying. The other day I shouted to my son, "Don't shout" ;-)
I hope the above list will give you many opportunities to teach and train your child how to lie. Pl add your own strategies as comments below.
And just in case you do not want your child to lie, remember children do not lie. They are just trying their best at any point of time. It is we who are making them tell lies. Remove this ME (parent or teacher) and there is no lying. This is because if there is nobody to lie to - where will be the need to lie? If there is no adult in front, if there is no image in front - there is no need to lie. Try it.

Green Hour

well green hour is nothing but an hour of being with nature....we have been on for a nature walk and my 3yr old son was going around watching caterpillers eating the leaves and wondering how they turn to butterflies,enjoyed birds chirping, he pickedup some leaves and b4 he plucked the leaf he informed the plant and said thanks with a touch ...he was giggling saying that when he tickles the leaves ,baby leaves are laughing....he tickled all the plants and had fun...later he drew outlines of differents leaves....learnt the parts of plant.whenever i find his energy needs a direction..the best thing i find to settle them is taking them close to nature....they observe and obsorb the silence.... not just that ,he learnt basic concepts of science, maths ... the concepts big/little, tall/short, long/short, high/low, wide/narrow, thick/thin, deep/shallow, on, next to, in, outside, inside, down, and up. colours ..shades of it...he started asking should i color light green,dark or other...count,sort,patterns,size...Know whole objects are made up of parts (fractions)....it was just fun...and for now aftr his aftrnoon nap....we would go on to make a map of our layout to start with parks...and in the late evening ...we would touch upon measurements ,science experiments,reading and lots of hands on activities...it adds with the childs quest to know ....am just waiting!...feel free to add on sm ideas...thanku,
srujana...

Ankur Rishikul Vidyalaya

Good news !!!!!!
Ankur Rishikul Vidyalaya starts third center in Hyderabad at Srinagar Colony. Please visit ankurrishikul.com for more details.

Inspiring words

yesterday we played reading cards differently.....i would show colours like brown and ask him to find the color around him...shapes when i say cone he would say ice-cream...then professionals...when i show doctor he would say his doctors name,driver and teacher n police he said police station...he is jst associating information he already has....its fun...and then cards with action like turn around,jump up,etc...dhruv is just loving it and so do we!!!!

------

we role play alot....enact like mom dad teacher,doctor.....dhruv jst knows why he has to visit doctor and knows the medicines he has to take incase..he would ask for it and remind me with the names and the reason he is taking...

------

we were enacting sm expressions (navarasas) my elder son was upset n said anger is bad it mks him bad in front of all when he expressing it...coz some bad words come out like stupid etc....answer was in his question...i jst reminded him that feeling happy,sad,angry are natural but the way u express is wht matters lik we dont laugh loud when a baby is sleeping..so anger also can be expressed healthy way..nd to learn to handle urself...ways to calm down...count numbers..go for a walk...say out whts mking u angry...finally meditate is the best...!!!! i left the room as he was deeply thinking........

its imp for parents and teachers to understand and handle with ease when children express anger...we never ask why are u laughing ?when sm1 laughs...but we ask why are u angry?why are u crying?stop it......instead of questioning thr expression...be thr...listen...go to the root cause and solve it.....they just need our presence...

-- SrujanaMa, Bangalore

Imaginative play

Play and related activities are the sole properties of young children and they are mandatory part of the childhood as well. Play and related activities help our children by giving a wonderful opportunity to play with the surrounding world. While the external world is an important tool in developing our children's personality parameters, the emotional world inside him or her can play a critical role in creating an emotionally stable personality.

With imaginative play, we can help our children develop a number of important positive characters like manipulative skills, social skills, emotional skills, sharing skills, self-confidence and feeling of security and language and communication skills. Imaginative or pretend play can stimulate basic sensory perception, create wonderful opportunities for thoughtful exploration and detailed creative thinking. It also assists our children enhance special skills for maximum intellectual and emotional development. Optimum brain development is possible when we allow our children to play on their own and with their own objects and tools.

Playtime is fun time! It is thrilling as well! Children create their own world by playing with their friends. Imaginative play is an excellent form of activity that can place our child on a very high pedestal of physical and mental development. I wish all a great long weekend ahead.

ISP Experiences

Hi, this is srujana. my child is 3yrs and we started reading cards from 4month onwards....now he almost knows 2000 n may be more words and reads 200 etc books himself...he is now learning chemical elements ...reading is jst fun for him coz i hvnt layd any rules jst enjoyed....when ur in tune with ur child u know how much is req and when to stop just like food...we found out sm fun ways also like hide n seek with cards, put the cards in different rooms like kitchen words ...bathroom ,,,even under his pillow...pillow card...bt still he luvs to sit with books more thn 45 mins...its grt exp...looking for more....hv fun Hi, this is srujana..may be this cld be of some help....my child is 3yrs and we started reading cards from 4month onwards.
-- Srujana, Bangalore

Hi, This is pranita. I am writing my experience about the reading cards . I did this course 3 years back but never showed any reading cards to my child till now partly because of my laziness and partly because of the disbelieve that it would work.

But now when my child started going to school at the age of 3 yrs, suddenly I felt like shoing flashing cards. It really worked like a razor. In 3 days ,he is able to identify 10 words and reading a book which i made using these words. now this has become his favorite game. and he is loving to read. In just 2 months, he covered reading 70- 80 words.

Thanks to isp and special thanks to raviji who guided on how to make flashing cards.

-- Pranita

Matching IQ with Classroom Performance

A number of young children who possess IQ values on the higher side may experience extreme difficulties in their formal classrooms. Most children with high IQs (read gifted children) display a number of internal differences that show a sign of increased pronouncement, when they enter their classrooms. These children's apparent deviation from the normal may make them different-lot in their classroom, when compared to other average to intelligent children. These children also exhibit a number of unique learning behaviors that seem to be entirely different from others.

Children with extraordinary intelligence and talent always need a progressive, conducive and encouraging environment in their classroom. In absence of these parameters, they may show signs of declining learning attitude eventually leading to frustration and disappointments. Although, these children are extremely empowered with rare talents and abilities, their classroom performance may still remain sub-standard and average. If high IQ, giftedness and brilliance do not match our children's day-to-day classroom performance, what would we do?

Teaching and training extremely endowed children is very challenging and complex. Teachers in the classrooms have a lot of responsibility in integrating such children in their classrooms. Strong observational skills apart from fine-tuned teaching methods can help a teacher and parent to tutor children with very high IQ. A strong will to help these children can assist them to gel and work with peers and score better marks.

Now the time for a bad news: "all the children" have extra-odrinary intelligence, often in many different ways. That makes a teacher's job extremely difficult. We need to explore and find out this most prominent ones and then take an approach to nurture it. It takes time and one needs to be patient and observant.

Many parents are bugged with one child at home. But, they expect the teachers to take of their child along with other children in much better ways than them. Next time before complaining about a teacher, please think about this aspect and then provide your comment. If possible, provide support for them to do better and better. Don't forget to acknowledge the fact that they are taking care of children besides their own children.

It is possible to match high IQ with classroom performance provided parents and teachers work in this direction, Together. Parents must enhance their skills by learning newer ways to be with children creatively.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Overview of Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence (1977, 1985, 1995) subsumes both Spearman’s g and underlying information processing components. His triarchic theory includes three facets or subtheories:

• Analytical (componential)
• Creative (experiential)
• Practical (contextual)

Sternberg's theory builds on his earlier componential approach to reasoning. His theory is mostly based on observing Yale graduate students. Sternberg believes that if intelligence is properly defined & measured it will translate to real-life success.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory is an important effort to synthesize the various theories of intelligence.

Analytical (componential) Facet (or Subtheory)

Analytical Intelligence similar to the standard psychometric definition of intelligence e.g. as measured by Academic problem solving: analogies and puzzles, and corresponds to his earlier componential intelligence. Sternberg considers this reflects how an individual relates to his internal world.

Sternberg believes that Analytical Intelligence (Academic problem-solving skills) is based on the joint operations of metacomponents and performance components and knowledge acquisition components of intelligence

Metacomponents: control, monitor and evaluate cognitive processing. These are the executive functions to order and organise performance and knowledge acquisition components. They are the higher-order processes that order and organise the performance components. Used to analyze problems and pick a strategy for solving them. They decide what to do and the performance components actually do it.

Performance Components: execute strategies assembled by the metacomponents. They are the basic operations involved in any cognitive act. They are the cognitive processes that enable us to encode stimuli, hold information in short-term memory, make calculations, perform mental calculations, mentally compare different stimuli, retrieve information from long-term memory.

Knowledge acquisition components: are the processes used in gaining and storing new knowledge - i.e. capacity for learning. The strategies you use to help memorize things exemplify the processes that fall into this category.

Sternberg feels that IDs in intelligence are related to IDs in the use of these cognitive processes. He feels that people with better reasoning ability generally spend more time understanding the problem but reach their solution faster than those who are less skilled at the task.

Creative (experiential) Facet (or Subtheory)

Creative Intelligence: this involves insights, synthesis and the ability to react to novel situations and stimuli. This he considers the Experiential aspect of intelligence and reflects how an individual connects the internal world to external reality.

Sternberg considers the Creative facet to consist of the ability which allows people to think creatively and that which allows people to adjust creatively and effectively to new situations.

Sternberg believes that more intelligent individuals will also move from consciously learning in a novel situation to automating the new learning so that they can attend to other tasks.

Two-Facet Subtheory (Novelty & Automatization)

Basic assumption: That there are two broad classes of abilities associated with intelligence: novelty skills and automatization skills. A task measures intelligence if it requires the ability to deal with novel demands or the ability to automatize information processing (two ends of a continuum).

Novel tasks or situations are good measures of intellectual ability because they assess an individual's ability to apply existing knowledge to new problems.

Practical (contextual) Facet (or Subtheory)

Practical Intelligence: this involves the ability to grasp, understand and deal with everyday tasks. This is the Contextual aspect of intelligence and reflects how the individual relates to the external world about him or her.

Sternberg states that Intelligence is: "Purposive adaptation to, shaping of, and selection of real-world environments relevant to one's life" (Sternberg, 1984, p.271)

Purposive means that intelligence is directed towards goals, however vague or subconscious they may be. This means that intelligence is indicated by one's attempts to adapt to one's environment.

Practical Intelligence can be said to be intelligence that operates in the real world. People with this type of intelligence can adapt to, or shape their environment. It might also be called “Street-smarts”. In measuring this facet, not only mental skills but attitudes and emotional factors that can influence intelligence are measured.

So this practical intelligence is a combination of:

(a) adaptation to the environment in order to have goals met

(b) changing the environment in order to have goals met

(c) or, if (a) and (b) don't work moving to a new environment in which goals can be met

Sternberg believes that individuals considered intelligent in one culture may be looked on as unintelligent in another.

An important asset of this theory is to avoid defining intelligence in terms of intelligence tests rather than performance in the everyday world (which is, after all, what intelligence tests try to predict!).

Measuring practical intelligence:

• Sternberg Multidimensional Abilities Test measures all 3 intelligences, on separate scales
• Sternberg and Wagner’s test of Practical Managerial Intelligence measures:
• ability to write effective memos
• ability to motivate people
• knowledge of when to delegate
• ability to “read” people

When measuring practical intelligence Sternberg looks at things such as how people decode nonverbal messages e.g. can you tell who are the real couples?

Why? - how to handle your kid's endless "why"s

“Mommy, why do stars twinkle? Daddy, why do fingers look funny in a bathtub? Mommy, why do we need to go to bed? Daddy, why?…Why?..” Do you have a “why-attack” in your home? I love those questions. I think it exposes kids curiosity. I think it shows is their thirst for knowledge. I think it is fun to learn about things, I haven’t even thought of myself! And I think that by answering them, we show our kids how much we respect them, their desire to learn, how much we encourage getting to know about this world.

Nevertheless, whenever any kid asks another “why?” - I try not to answer. It’s easier to answer, but I strongly try to resist this (besides, my answer will just result in thousand more whys, without my kid even concentrating on answers). Why not? Why to withhold the answer? What do YOU think? Right, because I want him to try to come up with his own answer. Sometimes he already knows the answer. Sometimes he is really clueless, but guesses it correctly. Sometimes he doesn’t want to guess and just asks “why” to keep the conversation going.

So, I usually pay lots of attention to those “whys” and jump back with “What do you think?” He either gives his own logical explanation (which doesn’t always sound all that logical to me), or says that he doesn’t know. Now it’s my turn to insist on his “why”: “I would love to answer your question, and I definitely will, AFTER you give me your best hypothesis! It’s a good question - I’d love to know what you think!” Eventually I’ll hear some theory. Most often - surprisingly, quite close to the truth! At least I’ll try to find some truth and encourage it: “You are right, the stars do shine from far-far-away… and they do look like lights of the cars… ”

And I still don’t give out the answer. WHY NOT? I would love to encourage kid’s autonomy. I would love to teach my kid self-reliance, foster his independence. I would love them to know, that they CAN (and should) do their research, they should learn to ENJOY it. I am here to help them, if they need it. I am here to join in this fun quest (I am curious too!). So I use this as an opportunity to dig in the encyclopedia (child’s version or real one), to open wikipedia.org online or search for some images and explanations on google.com. It turns out educational for both of us, and lots of fun.

If we have a knowledgeable friend - that’s a great resource! People usually feel very honored. It feels good to know more and to enlighten someone with your wisdom. So, I think that a good question wouldn’t “bother” other people, it would actually make them feel good about themselves.

Once we were calling our friend’s father, a policemen, to find out what happens with the guns that police takes away from criminals (I’ve never wondered about this in my entire life, and my husband wisely kept silent). It turned out to be exciting (though very surprising to our friend’s father).

Money Management to Children

For a number of parents, talking about money and finance itself is a big anathema! Most parents never talk to their children about the money and its management. Children ask for money and parents just oblige with them! As per recent surveys, many children who are growing into adults get themselves into a situation of debt by the time they reach the age of 20! Apart from parents educating their children about food, school and hygiene, it is critically important that they also teach their children about the importance of money and financial literacy. Understanding and learning about cash and credit is very important for all children so that they can learn to be responsible with their finance.

Is it possible to teach financial literacy to our children? Can we teach our children how they can conserve and save the money? When we educate our children about the importance of money, we will be empowering them to keep more of the money they get and do a lot more with the money they spend for things. Parents need not be financial experts to teach about money and its management. However, parents must understand the fundamental goals and lessons that they are trying to teach. Caring about the money and understanding its amazing characters are two of the most critical things that children should remember.

A child armed with the basic knowledge of money management will succeed in his or her future life when compared to those children who spend money in a reckless manner. Educating and empowering our children in their young age will help them grow as responsible and financially secure adults.

"Rich Dad Poor Dad" is one book that I found amazing. It brings out some fundamental ways to teach about money to our children. Parents must read this book to teach their children.

ISP: The Art of Parenting

Children are God-given gifts and we are sure that they are spreading joy and cheer all around. It is towards this end that we have developed a systematic approach called the " Infant SSY Program" (ISP). It is now acknowledged that the true potential of child can be fully realized if the child develops Physically, Mentally, Socially, Emotionally and Spiritually.

Do you know?

Your 3-4 years child can ...
- Read like yourself
- Understand 10 or more languages.
- Do binary functions in Maths.
- Operate computers
- Play the piano, violin, harmonium or any other instrument.

The ISP guides parents on how to bring up children right from the stage of conception to 8 years. It specially deals with improving all the 8 types of intelligence of children. It also deals with the overall development of the child covering the Physical, Mental, Social, Emotional and Spiritual areas.

ISP uses various brain stimulant methods like Flash Cards, Dot Cards, Encyclopedia Cards, stimulation of five senses etc. We have practically implemented that the aforesaid techniques on the children in the age of 6 months (with Mothers) to 6 Years at our School MET's Rishikul Vidyalaya - at Bandra(West) Mumbai.

Just give a thought how many times we say "NO or Don't do" to our child, which can affect right brain development. This program guides parents on creating a positive environment for the child, and making parenting a joyful journey.

The Infant SSY Program (ISP) is a byproduct of the Siddha Samadhi Yoga (SSY) Program. Guru Rishi Prabhakar is the founder of the SSY and the Infant SSY Program. The Program has been developed & enhanced by Shri Raviji and Manoj Lekhiji.

Learning Styles

Learning styles form an excellent method to assist upgrade our children's quality of learning. By knowing our children's personal learning styles, we can make them adapt to the intricate process of learning lessons and syllabi. Each child has his or her own way of learning their class lessons and other useful things of life. Most children possess a delicate mixture of learning styles and techniques. Some of them may possess a dominant style of learning with lesser use for other styles. On the other hand, most of the children use a judicious mix of different learning styles. In fact, we can never have a right or perfect kind of mix. In many cases, learning styles keep changing during the course of brain development in children.

Most of the schools always use two types of dominant learning styles - linguistic and logistic methods. They also use a few numbers of other learning styles and methods. It is a very common fact that people tend to label those children who always use these traditional styles and methods as gifted and endowed with scholastic abilities. People also tend to label those children who use far less liked or used learning styles as ordinary. However, scholastic abilities alone do not count while assessing the overall personality of a child. By recognizing and understanding our children's learning styles, we can easily enhance their learning potentials. When we use optimized learning methods, we can make your children's speed and quality of learning better and result oriented.

Children's learning styles can have far more serious effects than you can imagine. The most preferred learning style can lead the way in which our children learn and understand. Available research displays us that each of the learning styles used by children uses different sectors of the brain. When our children use and involve all areas of the brain, they can easily remember what they learn and understand. Enhancing the learning styles in our children is a sure way to make them scholastically brilliant and mentally smart and intelligent.

Reading skills in Children

Our children are created naturally to speak words. However, they are not created to read or write. Reading and writing are two of the most important life skills that come by learning, practice and repetition. With intense teaching and consistent practice, our children can easily learn how to read and understand printed words. Almost all children learn to read and write at the age of about six. However, teaching our pre-school children about the value of reading is very critical. When our children know the basics of reading at an early age, they can become better readers when they reach their primary school age.

Poor reading skills and abilities can affect our children's future in a number of ways, while excellent reading skills can ensure unqualified success in whatever the field of activity our children prefer to choose. Reading skills are the important keys for learning. Anything that exposes our children to the basics of language in a meaningful and understanding manner will contribute immensely to their learning of the art of how to read.

Reading words and text in printed form is a latent ability that almost every child possesses. However, to develop and master the art of reading, the role of parents is very critical, as they are first mentors and teachers, who can initiate the actual process of developing the reading habit. Parents may wish to ensure that their children can read, write, spell and pronounce words in a manner that can propel them to the path of definite success. Have a nice day!

Thought for today:

"To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done." - Anonymous

Curiosity in Children

Children are always very curious! They want to know about everything that happens around them. They want to touch different objects, feel them and learn about their shapes and characteristics. Other children may badly want to know how a car engine works or what makes the car to move on its wheels. There are hundreds of different questions, some of which are very simple, while the others are very difficult. One thing is sure - that all children ask too many questions about things and events that happen around them, every day and throughout the year. A sense of curiosity makes your children ask all these questions.

So, what is curiosity? It is a psychological ability that comes almost automatically to your children. It helps your children solidify ideas, clarify questions, seek answers to all queries and probe them in all possible angles. It also encourages your children differentiate how things and scenarios could be different. Curiosity is a state of mind that helps your children actively explore immediate environment, ask the right type of questions, probe all possibilities and express a sense of deep wonder at those things that are amazing and surprising.

With curiosity, your children can easily find solutions to problems that almost center on such expressions as "why" and "how". Questioning will lead your children to deeper-most levels of knowledge that eventually helps them to create a meaningful equation between different aspects of life. A sense of heightened curiosity will also help your children become better citizens and responsible individuals.

Is it possible to develop a sense of curiosity in your children? Although, curiosity is natural gift that comes automatically to your children, you may still need to nudge or slow-push them to find answers to the most curious questions of life. As a parent, you may also wish to answer their questions with a sense of deep purpose, which is to make them empowered with the ability to find out solutions to critical problems of life.

Curiosity can quench the thirst for acquiring useful and practical knowledge. It is also the pathway to heightened mental and brain development. When your children are curious, they can be the most productive people on the planet. Have a nice day!

Thought for today:
"Winners are losers who got up and gave it one more try." - Dennis DeYoung

Stimulating Brain Power in Children: Simple Things Parents Can Do

Before you want to stimulate your child's brain functions, you will need to know and understand a number of basic activities of brain. Brain is a mysterious organ that can play an important role in your child's success. Structure ad functioning of brain in an optimal manner is a necessity to lead a life of contentment and satisfaction. Your child's brain works based on some core principles that are too important for normal brain development. Some of these are:

1. Your child's brain is in fact an efficient parallel processor of various nerve cells and neurons. It means that your child's brain can perform several functions at the same time.

2. Learning is a life-long process for any human! In fact, learning involves the entire body not just mind alone!

3. Plain information is actually useless while meaning of these bits of information is actually very important.

4. Learning in your child always happens because of challenge and a willingness to learn. Learning may never happen if your child is under severe stress.

5. Brain can store primary information in different forms in different places within the brain. Your child's brain can easily retrieve these stored information bits by using the complex network of nerve cells.

6. Emotions in your child's life can play an important role in streamlining a number of basic functions like attention span, memory and memory recall.

The above-mentioned parameters are necessary, if you want to make your child smart and intelligent. Stimulating your child's brain is a complex process of training and streamlining combining these parameters and inducing them in your child with utmost care. No parameters are exclusive, but they are inclusive and complimentary. You will need to combine all these parameters to develop your child's brain functions.

Shower Love and Affection: Ensure that you shower utmost love and affection on your child. Appreciate them from time to time to spruce up their emotional platform. Ensure that you are setting up a caring, concerned and loving environment within your home. Make sure that you are inducing an encouraging environment in your home.

Result and Outcome:

• Better and quick memory and recall

• Efficient thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills

• Better and proper behavior patterns

• Better learning ability

Regular Breakfast and Nutritious Food: Breakfast is obviously the most important source of nutrients. Skipping breakfast is dangerous to your child's health; in fact, it can lead impaired memory and inferior academic performance. Among other effects of bad nutrition are decreased attention span and learning ability, lapsed concentration levels, reduced body energy levels, less enthusiasm and overall poor brain development. Better nutrition can easily provide a number of benefits; oatmeal is perhaps the best breakfast cereal with its amazing nutritional properties.

Result and Outcome:

• Increased or enhanced ability to learn and understand

• Better comprehension and understanding of issues

• Superior cognitive abilities

• Superior and sharp spatial memory

• Enhanced logical abilities

Enough Sleep: Your children need adequate sleep to get the required amount of rest. Adequate sleep ensures memory enhancement, better performance in subjects like math and arts. Sleepless nights may result in tiredness and lethargy.

Result and Outcome:

• Well controlled emotional management

• Scholarly academic performance

• Superior learning skills

• Absence of behavioral problems

Creative Play: Creative playtime assists your children in learning and mastering a number of core academic skills and abilities that are so important for reading, comprehending writing, phonetics and problem solving. You can allow your children to engage themselves in a number of creative games and activities.

Result and Outcome:

• Quick development of spatial and logical thinking

• Acquisition of important hand to eye coordination

• Better creativity and inquisitiveness

Culture and Arts: Music teaching, extra-curricular activities and painting are three of the most desirable activities that can develop your child's brain. Study of a foreign language is another activity that provides an opportunity to develop cultural relationship.

Result and Outcome:

• Appreciable academic achievement

• Enhanced spatial thinking and reasoning skills

• Enhanced problem solving skills

Brain building in children is a specialized activity that needs lot of preparation and hard work from your side. As a responsible parent, you should allot enough time to educate your children in all aspects of brain development. Available research studies suggest us that we can easily influence our children's brain power, though the care and support we give, the games we play and activities we do with them, the nutrition we provide them and the sum of positive choices we make for them. Never ever, forget the importance of feeding the right type of brain foods like Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds and a range of other foods that help in the increased production of phospholipids, fatty acid molecules that lead to the development of brain's messaging network.

Stimulating Brain Power in Children

Most of our children are smart and intelligent by birth! It is just that, they are not using their natural talents and skills. Most probably, they did not get an opportunity to develop their brain functions in a normal manner. Of late, brain development in small children is gaining immense prominence among educators and parents.

Your children are undergoing a number of mental and physical changes every day. Brain develops at a very rapid rate in short cycles of bursts. These changes are very critical and play an important role in the overall development of brain.

Developing very critical brain functions in your children seem to be far more important than any other activities. As you touch, sing lullabies, hold, hug, rock and sing to your children, you can expect their brain functions to improve in a remarkable manner. These simple actions will help your children develop highly critical network of brain cells, neurons and nerve fibers. How quickly and efficiently these network connections occur can significantly influence the rate of efficiency with which the brain acts and functions.

You should be aware of early brain development in your children. However, it is also important that you should not worry too much about it. What you need to do is to follow very simple methods and guidelines to make your children's brain smarter and efficient. Just remember that your children are actually born smart and intelligent. It is just that they are yet to go through that elusive "brain-nurturing" process. Your children are yet to learn a number of skills, techniques and process in their childhood. As a parent, you can give a boost to those processes. Brain boosting is an intricate process of transforming an already equipped brain into a full-pledged and efficiently working system.

An ability to provide varied experiences and invaluable brain building activities to children is the hallmark of an influential parent. You may wish to work hard to provide these experiences to your child to make them brain smart. All the best!

Thought for today:
"If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Last chance !!!

Last chance to join the following batches:

Hyderabad: 8-Mar-2009. Contact 9849076190
Classes over the web: 7-Mar-2009. Contact mahaacharya@gmail.com

Remember: each day lost for your baby is a year lost. Act now !!!!!!!

ISP: Some Experiences

These are few people who attended ISP and implemented the concepts on their children. They saw benefits and immediately shared.

• "On 4th day of her birth we helped her to crawl. Thatday she crawled almost 3 to 4 feets....We are regularly showing the cards to the baby and regularly making her crawl. ...Thanks to all ISP family." Harish Gotur, Hyderabad
• "Sometimes it makes me wonder...Being parents, is Gods way of giving us a chance to become better individuals..catch up on all those that we didn’t learn in our childhood..:)" Lavanya R, Hyderabad
• "The best thing that we've got ISP is a changed mindset and a new way of grooming the child" -- Vaibhav, Hyderabad
• “My newborn baby supports me while shopping!……when her dad was to come and see her first time, she was informed about it. When he came, she opened her eyes, smiled and went back to sleep. ISP concepts has made my parenting experience effortless.” –- Yogita, Hyderabad
• "Yesterday when my cousin came to my place,I didn't do somethin that I usually do...ask Siddharth to sing Slokas coz now I know how it feels when we appear for an exam...instead we played a game on the slokas which Siddharth found interesting n he sang all the slokas so happily n made everyone so proud of him......I could see that spark in his eyes which made my eyes wet..." – Aprpitha, Hyderabad
• After attending the ISP course and implementing all the techniques, we felt very happy the way baby is responding and developing. I am sure my baby is developing beyond my imagination and vision. – Hari, Hyderabad