Manthan

We laughed, we talked, we ate, we played and we also discussed- Yes! that was Manthan this time. Here are some notes. and some photographs of the event

Growing together, the living together is bringing dynamic of ‘peer pressure’. Very nicely brought by Vidhya to look at it positively, we call it good news. Every bad news gives us (parents / teachers) an opportunity to guide the child to realise the potential, the resources the child has within; To connect with the child not as a provider but as a catalyst for his or her growth, which is what we think is the really role of a parent. Every bad news is an opportunity to empower.

So good news our kids are pushing us to buy things which they see other kids buying! Here are some thoughts on good news

http://aarohilife.org/resources/every-bad-news-good-news

Hygiene of bathing and care of food. Good news! Lets help them in understanding their need of food and hygiene by not helping the. Here are some thoughst http://aarohilife.org/resources/help-not-helping

When kids come home, parents are excited to know what all happened at Aarohi. Sometimes kids are not wanting to share, sometimes they do. Here are some suggestions to start conversation with your child on documentation, work done during the week and stay at campus

http://aarohilife.org/resources/25-keys-dveloping-success-skills-and-values-children

Thank you Shilpa for beautifully bringing the thought on developing potential of each child. While we work with best of the resources for our kids, make space for our kids to get time to develop the potential, we also help child understand the what potential do they have. Empower them to understand themselves. Here one such article on developing true potential http://aarohilife.org/resources/how-help-discover-childs-true-potential

AND http://aarohilife.org/resources/excellence-habit

Gifts (bookmarks) we all got during Manthan were made by kids with Sunitha are based on a concept called AFFIRMATION. They affirmation book mark you got are from the book ‘you can heal your life’ by Louise Hay. Here is an articles on to explore about it

http://aarohilife.org/resources/affirmation

Funding needs brought by Ratnesh, here are links

http://aarohilife.org/content/solar-lighting-venus-5k

http://aarohilife.org/content/dome-workroom-14l

http://aarohilife.org/content/projects-already-fully-funded-yipee

Each parent is valuable resource. You take part in Aarohi beyond your child. Here are few things from unlimited list a parent can do at Aarohi….Engage with the children in activities of mutual interest. The activity might involve, for example, making something, cooking, hearing, learning and discussing a place or a culture, story reading or a performing music or just be with each other. Duration could range from few hours to a day to even a week. Here are more possibilities read here http://aarohilife.org/content/parentin-volvement

We pondered how to know how kids are growing? As one child shared “when we do it next time, we do it better’. Lets explore some important aspects of helping a child grow into a happy and successful individual, here are some thoughts http://aarohilife.org/resources/independent-learner

We talked about making home as learning space. Kids do not go from Aarohi and come back on Mondays, they are part of a concept called Aarohi and that is with them all days (24 x 7). Here are some thoughts on DOING

http://aarohilife.org/resources/raising-wealthy-children

We shared concern over time spent during weekend and holidays going mainly on entertainment, food and social gathering. Require to spend quality time by doing / making / reading or any other skill together. Weekend based parenting either gets loaded with guilt ridden materialistic bribes (I will take you out for pizza) or many a times gets affected by guests, functions, house chores… It’s daily meaningful doses of sunshine that children will blossom in. Some thoughts

http://aarohilife.org/resources/myths-quality-time

We dicussed baout CAT for life. CAT for Life – Cat as a slang means “expert” and in aarohi we want to be CATs of our own life. To do that we would need are

1. Competency are the basic skills we need to live our life. We all made a map in our teams. Remember most of these competencies once learned or mastered do not need further work (just like you do not need to learn cycling or swimming again).

2. Abilities are the inherent intelligences or abilities that either we’re born with or we develop. We did a definitely / Important / optional categorisation of all the 35 abilities to see what each one of us wants to work on.

3. Talent & Interest – is what either in us or what they call GANAS in spanish – kind of passion, desire or whatever direction my compass points to. Talents is what ticks inside us and Interests are what outside gives us kicks

Here are notes on the same…we would be working on details on these with kids in coming months. Here is one for your reference. At Home spend time with the child to explore and understand your child’s learning preferences and plan for next few months.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11uSEvDDrT0LOV8q32hZSB5Mrm0–BALbdGIehwOI_ag/pubhtml

Do realise often #3 and some of #2 could decide what profession(s) we choose in life – hence recognising and working on them makes sense. Next Manthan will be dedicated to take this forward and understand as a community.