Hello friends, today’s post is my son’s favourite. He’d been sitting with me the whole time while I was working on it. I am sure you can easily guess why he was so interested in this particular blog post. Yes, because it’s all about fun shows for kids. And, which kid would say no to some free entertainment. So, today I am sharing 5 fun and educational shows for kids.

There are so many shows & movies available online for children that sometimes it gets so confusing to decide which one would be appropriate for our child. It was not that difficult when my son was a toddler, it was pretty easy to choose the channel for him since he preferred and enjoyed watching rhymes mostly.

But now it’s different, he has diverse interests and he gets bored easily. Moreover, he rarely likes the shows that we choose for him. So, what we do is we give the control in his hands and let him decide what he wants to watch. But he gets to watch that only after it gets our final approval.

And, now he pretty much knows what kind of shows get our approval. So, you see involving kids in decision-making teaches them responsibility as well. It was a win-win for us.

You will be surprised to know that the fun and educational shows for kids which I am going to share in this post today are discovered by our son and are his ultimate picks.

Well, these are my favourites too because they are not just fun and entertaining but educational as well. Here’s a list of our top 5 fun and educational shows for kids.

Top 5 Fun and Educational Shows for Kids

1 – Alphablocks

The Alphablocks are 26 living letters who discover that whenever they hold hands and make a word, something magical happens. With adventures, songs and silliness, it’s tons of fun with words – all built on a firm foundation of key phonics skills.

If your kids have just started learning letters and their sounds the phonic way, or they are at the next level, learning how to spell or make words, or even at a higher level, learning how to read or make sentences, then I would strongly recommend you to introduce Alphablocks to them.

The videos proved quite helpful in our case.

2 – Numberblocks

Just like Alphablocks teach the kids all about alphabets, sounds, and words, Numberblocks help them learn how to count, add, subtract, multiply, and much more in a fun and educational way.

If your kids are afraid of Maths, do show them Numberblocks, trust me, they will soon become best friends with these numbers.

3 – It’s AumSum Time

This is not the name of the channel but this is what my son calls it because all the videos start with the same tagline – It’s AumSum Time. The channel name is Smart Learning for All and it’s all about science.

If your kids are full of curiosity and love to question everything around then this channel is for them. All the videos have a question starting with ‘How’, ‘Why’ and ‘What if’ and then goes on answering them in a fun and creative manner.

4 – The Dr. Binocs Show

Another favourite of my son is The Dr. Binocs Shows. Their videos are based on the same theme as AumSum Time. The channel name is Peekaboo Kidz and it covers topics ranging from science, geography, evolution, history, and inventions.

Dr. Binocs zooms in and out of the complicated concepts and makes them easy to understand for kids. The videos are quite informative as well as entertaining.

5 – Blippi

While all the above shows are animated, Blippi is a real character. He’s fun and energetic and knows how to grab the attention of kids with his quirky persona. His videos are interactive, educational, and entertaining, not just for kids but adults too.

The best part of Blippi’s videos is that he takes you to many fun places like museums, zoos, water parks, and even indoor and outdoor playgrounds where he teaches something new in an easy and interactive manner. The kids don’t even realize that Blippi is teaching them and they get to learn so many good things in a fun way.

Note – All these shows are available on YouTube Kids as well.

So, parents what do you think about these online shows? Do share your thoughts in the comments below. See you next time!

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Hello everyone, today I am sharing some fun and interesting brain-boosting games for young children that can be played indoors. You know what, even the adults can join the kids and enjoy these activities.  And, the best part about these games is that they are not just fun but they also help in cognitive enhancement. Just like our bodies need exercise for proper functioning, our brain also needs exercise to improve memory, focus, and concentration.

I have already talked about the importance of cognitive milestones in early childhood and how the stimulation activities and environment play an important role in the brain development of babies and toddlers.

Outdoor Activity

The corona cases have reduced drastically in number and we have allowed our kids to go outside to play and meet with their friends. The outdoor activities and playtime are back. I feel this is the best thing that has happened to kids after seeing such a bad time this year.

But, with schools still closed, kids are spending most of their time at home in front of the screens be it for online learning, online gaming, or online entertainment.

You may also read – How to make Young Kids pay Attention during Online Classes?

Online Learning

And, that’s why it is one of the biggest challenges for many parents to keep their little ones happily engaged and away from screens. So, I thought why not share a few games for young kids that will not just keep them away from the screens but will also enhance their cognition. These 5 games/activities are my son’s favourite hence sharing them in this post. I am sure your kids will also enjoy playing these.

You may also read – 6 Fun Activities with Family at Home

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5 Brain-Boosting Games & Activities

1 – Jenga

So, the game on the top of our list is Jenga. Why?

Because it’s fun to play, it can be played in many ways and it also tickles your brain. It not only uses your physical skills but also needs a lot of mental skills.

Jenga is all about the blocks. First, you need to build the tower using wooden blocks. Then you take turns pulling just the right block. The tower might wobble, but you are still in the game if the tower doesn’t fall. As the blocks head for the sky, the suspense grows. Keep the blocks balanced, and you win!

Playing Jenga

Though this game is meant for ages 6 years and above as mentioned on its box, I believe introducing Jenga to your 4-year-old is a much better idea. They may not play it as it’s meant to be played but it can serve as a great stacking and balancing block game for them.

Not just that, playing Jenga can help improve hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills & cognitive performance. And above all, it’s a great game that can be played by the whole family together.

2- Word Search Puzzle

Next on the list of brain-boosting games is the word search puzzle game. It’s a wonderful game for children to help them improve their vocabulary & spelling.

Word Search Puzzle

Word puzzles not just help boost working memory but helps in quick thinking too. Such games help to improve a child’s processing speed & also encourages a healthy sense of competition.

You can introduce this activity to kids once they are done with letter sounds and are ready to make words. Start with 2-letter words and gradually move on to bigger words & grids.

Later, you can give them other word games like Crossword & Unscramble.

3- Dumb Charades as Brain-boosting Game

The 3rd game on our list of brain-boosting games is Dumb charades. We all have played this game especially the song & movie version and we know how much fun & exciting it can be. So, why not introduce our little ones to this game at an early age.

We just have to make it age-appropriate by choosing the right categories to enact. When we play this game with our son, we choose the things we see around us to act out so that it would be relatable & easy for him to guess.

We have so much fun whenever we play dumb charades with Nemit, time just flies away. Your kids can also play this game virtually with their friends.

4- Building Vocabulary

Next comes a fun yet challenging vocabulary game, this is our version of the game Word After Word. To play this game, first, you need to choose a category like fruits or animals, or vehicles. Then the players have to go word after word after word from the chosen category until there are no more words left. The last person to say the word is the winner.

You don’t need anything to play this game & it can be played anywhere. We love to play this game while travelling too especially during long road trips. It keeps our son occupied for a long time.

5 – Snakes & Ladders

And the last game on our list is the favorite of all, snakes & ladders. It’s a great game that can help a lot in developing early math skills in young children. They can learn so much about numbers like counting, sequencing & addition. Moreover, it’s a classic and never gets old, so why not introduce this fun game to our kids.

Check out this video to see how we play these brain-boosting games with our son.

So, that’s all for this blog. I hope you enjoy playing these games with your kids. See you next time.

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This year we gifted our son a room of his own where he could play, read and do his online classes. We had this room which we called a ‘study’ but we hardly used it. So, we thought of giving it a makeover. In this post, I will share how we managed to do our Kid’s Room Makeover on a Budget. And, along with that, I will also share a few DIY Decor Ideas with you all.

Hello friends! How are you all doing? The new month is here and with that, we enter the last quarter of this year. I am quite excited as this is my husband’s birthday month too and looking forward to a month full of festivities and cheer. Just hoping that the Corona stays away now and lets us enjoy without any fear.

I hope you are enjoying reading our posts. Thanks for all your love!

The Joy of Decorating the House

We live in a rented apartment and that takes away the fun of decorating the house the way we want to. There are so many restrictions that I lose interest to do anything exciting with the home decor. Also, we never know when we may have to move to another place so really can’t invest a lot in it. But I love doing makeovers and it’s not easy to keep away from the joy I get when I decorate my house. It’s the personal touch we add to the house that makes it more like a home, isn’t it?

So, I look for ideas where I can give a new and refreshing look to the dull area by just making a few changes and without investing a lot of money.

A couple of years back I wrote about how we gave our boring balcony a makeover and turned it into an interesting balcony garden. You may watch the video below. And, for reading the post, click here!

Kid’s Room Makeover on a Budget

Last year when the Kindergarten online classes began in April, we tried to make the process of homeschooling easy for our son, Nemit. We wanted him to do his class in the study room but he was not comfortable there and kept running out of the room. So, we shifted Nemit’s study table in the living room, he instantly adjusted to the new setting. Hence, we converted a part of our living area into a homeschool classroom.

You may also read – How to make Young Kids pay Attention during Online Classes?

This year, Nemit got promoted to Grade 1 and we wanted to do something special for him. So, we decided to give our study room a makeover and convert it into a study + playroom solely for our little one. The room was anyhow turning into a storeroom and was too dull and cluttered and badly needed a makeover.

This is how the room looked before the makeover. It was cluttered and untidy and looked dull and dark due to all the mess around.

BEFORE

Challenges for Kid’s Room Makeover

1. Make space
2. Declutter
3. Reuse & Repurpose

A kid’s room without any space makes no sense to me. But, clearly, decluttering was a challenge. Another challenge was the budget, we had to keep it low so we had to repurpose and reuse the things we already had with us.

Things to do

We made a to-do list before starting the makeover. It gave us an idea of what all needs to be done and how much time we will need.

1. Declutter the Room
2. Repurpose and Reuse the Baby Cot
3. Make space for play area
4. Re-arrange the Art & Craft Supply
5. Find a Rack for Toy Storage
6. Make a Reading Nook/Corner
7. Place the Study Table & Whiteboard
8. Place a Rug (the only thing we bought)

You may check out this post where I shared how we Repurposed the Baby Cot and made it into a Reading Nook for our son. I have also shared how we made a DIY Bookshelf out of old Cardboard boxes.

DIY Bookshelf and Reading Nook for Kids | Repurpose Baby Cot | DIY Tent

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We also repurposed our old shoe rack and used it for toy storage. We already had colourful storage boxes, just needed a place to keep them safe and easily accessible.

I tried another DIY idea for the photo frames that were already there in the room. I wanted to change a few pictures to make it look more suitable for a kid’s room.

So, I downloaded some free printables from Pinterest, took the printout on the A4 sheet, and put those in the photo frames. I also tried creating one myself using Canva, it looked really good.

We just bought a new rug for the room from Amazon. I’ll put links for the rug, photo frames, and wall shelves at the end of the post.

Here, I am attaching the video of the room makeover below. You will also find all the details of the DIYs we did for the room in the video. Check it out-

If we look carefully we can find so many ways to reuse and repurpose things instead of just throwing them away. I hope you liked the kid’s room makeover and DIY decor ideas. That’s all for today!

See you next time. Take care.

Links-

• Rug
• Photo frames
• Wall shelves

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Hello friends. Today, I will share 3 Do-It-Yourself ideas for your kid’s room. If your kids love reading books or if you want your kids to love reading then you should definitely add a bookshelf and create a reading nook in their room. And, I will tell you how you can do it almost free of cost. So, the question is how to make a DIY Bookshelf and Reading Nook for Kids?

We will use old cardboard boxes to make a bookshelf and we will repurpose an old baby cot and turn it into a reading nook. But, if you don’t have a baby cot, I’ll share one more easy way of making a cozy reading corner.

Let’s start with the DIY Bookshelf.

DIY Bookshelf using Old Cardboard Boxes

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We did this DIY project for Nemit’s school activity where he had to make something out of the waste. I got this idea of making a bookshelf from a fellow blogger and friend who has made a similar bookshelf for her son. Since we didn’t have the same things she used, we made a few changes with the technique as per our available resources.

I am telling you this because you don’t have to follow the steps as it is, you too can make the changes and upgrades as per the availability of materials and your convenience.

Check out the video to see how Nemit made this Bookshelf

DIY Reading Nook using Old Baby Cot

We have this baby cot which was not in use for quite some time now. We tried giving it away but couldn’t since it’s my son’s first-ever bed and too close to my heart. I want to keep it with me for as long as I can and for that we had to think of some way to bring it back to use. Earlier also, I have tried using it in other ways but nothing worked for my son.

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This time we thought of using it as a sofa in Nemit’s room, where he could sit or lie down. So we tried removing one side of the cot and instantly it looked so good as a low-seating sofa. Later, I saw there’s some space left on the side of the mattress and thought of putting some books there. Wow, we got a perfect reading corner for our son. He loved it!

Check out the video to see how we converted a cot into a reading nook

DIY Tent as a Reading Corner for Kids

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post here’s one more idea of making a cozy reading nook in the room. You can make a cool DIY Teepee Tent for your kids, they will love it. And, trust me it will become their favourite place in the house.

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It can be your child’s little play area or the reading corner, just place the bookshelf near the tent and it’s done.

Check out the video below to see how we made this DIY Tent

I hope you liked the idea of making a DIY Bookshelf and Reading Nook for Kids. That’s all for now, see you guys on Friday with another post. Take care! Bye Bye.

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Hello friends, as you must have already guessed, today’s post is a recipe. And, I’ll tell you how you can make Veg Momos with Multigrain Atta and give this recipe a healthy twist. I am pretty sure, this is going to be an ultimate hit with kids as well as adults.

Do you love momos?

I can imagine heads nodding. Well, I haven’t met a single person who said they don’t love momos. But I’m sure there are some who have no idea what’s a momo. So, for the uninitiated ones, momo is a type of steamed dumplings stuffed with some filling. Nowadays, there are many varieties of momos. You can have pan-fried momos or deep-fried momos or even grilled momos. You can even have momo soup.

But, for this post, we are going to stick to steamed veg momos with multigrain atta.

Steamed Veg Momos

Before moving on with the post, I want to clearly state that I am not a great cook and every day in the kitchen is a learning for me. I started cooking only when the pandemic hit and we were left with no choice but to cook for ourselves. I feel that I still can’t survive alone in the kitchen hence my husband takes care of half of the things like kneading dough, peeling, cutting and chopping vegetables, doing the dishes, and most importantly taking care of the breakfast.

Now what do you do if you are not a great cook but you are a foodie and also have kids?

You experiment! 

I am a mom and I am not a perfect cook. And, that’s okay!

I would like to mention here that I got this idea of making atta (whole wheat flour) momos from a friend on Instagram but because I am not too good at following recipes to the T, I screwed it up the first time.

And, I didn’t try making it again for almost a year. Then one day, my son saw momos in a cartoon show and he requested me to make some for him. Well, I couldn’t say no because even I was craving for momos. So, let’s straight jump to the recipe now.

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How to Make Veg Momos with Multigrain Atta?

If you don’t want to read the recipe, you may jump directly to the end of this blog where I have attached the recipe video.

I am dividing this recipe into 3 steps.

1. Preparing the dough
2. Preparing the stuffing
3. Filling & Steaming the momos

What you will need to make veg momos with multigrain atta?

1. Multigrain Atta (I have used Aashirwad Atta)

2. Vegetables of your choice

3. Soya chunks (I have used Nutrela soya chunks)

4. Crushed black pepper, Red chili powder, Salt

Step 1 – Preparing the dough

This is the easiest part, no rocket science in this. You have to prepare the dough in the same way you prepare for making roti (chapati). Just don’t keep it too soft.

Also, add a little oil or ghee while kneading the dough.

No need to add baking soda or yeast.

I have used multigrain atta (flour) to make it more nutritious for my son. You may use whole wheat flour as well.

Once the dough is prepared, keep it aside for resting.

 2 – Preparing the stuffing

Now, this step may take around 30-45 mins since this requires cutting and chopping vegetables and cooking them as well.

You will need 3-4 vegetables of your choice. I have taken carrots, red/green/yellow capsicums, onions. (You may also take french beans, cabbage, spring onions, and mushrooms).

I have also used soya chunks for filling to make it protein-rich. (You may also add paneer or tofu).

Now, finely chop all the veggies. If you want to use soya chunks then first soak them in hot water and after 10 mins squeeze the water out and finely chop them too.

The next step is to stir fry all the chopped veggies.

Take some oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add all the chopped veggies, stir fry for 5-10 mins on medium-high flame. Just before turning off the flame, add salt, black pepper, and red chili powder and mix well.

Now, keep it aside to cool down a bit, and alongside start your steamer.

3 – Filling & Steaming the momos

This step is the trickiest of all. Please do check the video for this step.

You have to take a small ball of dough and roll it into a thin sheet. Now, add the filling and fold it to give the shape of a momo.

Be very careful while doing this step. Keep the dough balls small so that your sheet is also small and thin. This way your momos will cook fast.

After filling the momos, it’s time to put them in the steamer. It took me around 30 mins to steam one batch of momos.

Your yummy and healthy veg momos with multigrain atta are ready to be served. My son loved these momos!

I have shared few tips and two of my favourite kitchen essentials in the video along with the full recipe. Check it out below.

Here is the complete video –

That’s all for this blog. See you on Monday. Take care!

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It was August, my birthday month and just like the last year, we decided not to travel anywhere for the sake of our safety. But it was too hard to not think about the mountains and the beaches, the travel craving was at its peak. Surprisingly, this time even Nemit was missing the travel too much, he kept asking us when we will go on a vacation. And, we kept ignoring our inner voice until we could no longer control it. And, finally, we decided to keep all our fears aside and planned this family road trip from Delhi to Lansdowne.

However, this time the planning was next level and we had only 3 days to finalise everything.

Hello friends, welcome back to my blog. If you have been following us for quite some time now then you know that our travels are mostly to the less explored, quiet, and peaceful destinations. We try to avoid crowded tourist destinations as much as possible since that is not our style of travelling.

And, this time again we chose the destination which is not too famous among the tourists.

Planning for The Trip

The moment we decided to travel, we had to choose the destination. The beaches or the hills?

Since we felt we were not yet ready to resume air travel, we chose the hills. Next question was, Himachal or Uttarakhand?

Check out – Weekend Getaway from Delhi? Where to go, Himachal or Uttarakhand?

And, because we had only the weekend with us, we wanted to visit a nearby hill station.

By the evening, we zeroed upon two places where we could go, Rishikesh or Lansdowne?

I don’t have much experience of driving in the mountains but both Rishikesh and Lansdowne are known to me. We visited Rishikesh in 2019 and I drove to Lansdowne with my parents in 2013. So, now the final decision had to be made based on the place we like for our stay.

Check out our Rishikesh Road Trip Vlog from 2019, here-

Where to Stay?

We wanted to be very careful while booking the place to stay. Even though the coronavirus cases have drastically reduced in numbers, we still can’t take the risk. So, our best bet was to look for Airbnb properties like cottages with a bedroom, hall, and kitchen.

Check out – Why You Should Book an Airbnb when Traveling with Kids?

We didn’t like the Airbnb properties in Rishikesh, the ones we liked were out of our budget. So we called the resort where we stayed the last time. There the manager told us that weekend is not the right time to visit as it gets a bit crowded. Even that resort was fully booked for the weekend. We took the cue and dropped Rishikesh from our list.

It was Wednesday morning, I was sitting with Nemit for his online class. While he was busy doing his work, I was busy scrolling through the Airbnb app. And, just then I found this beautiful property by the name Blue Pine Orchards, 30 mins from Lansdowne. It looked really good. They had private 2 bedroom studio villas with a front yard. And, from the pictures, it looked perfect, just what we were looking for.

We booked it!

Source – Blue Pine Orchards

One tip – You may avoid booking through the 3rd party websites if you are looking for some discount. You can call the property first, and talk to the senior personnel, there are high chances they will offer you a good discount for booking directly.

Travel Guidelines to Visit Uttarakhand

Most asked question – Is the RT-PCR report mandatory for travel? Yes!

Before traveling to any place, do check the travel guidelines of that state. When we checked it was mandatory to carry a travel e-pass, vaccination certificate, or the RT-PCR negative report along with the hotel booking receipt.

All these documents were checked at the border and our details were registered. It took around 15-20 mins for the whole procedure at the check post.

Source – euttaranchal

The day we booked the hotel, we went for our RT-PCR test, the test was not mandatory for the kid. After that, we were just hoping that we get our negative report by the next day so that we could start our packing.

All our stars were in favour of this trip, we got the report within 12 hrs and we spent our Thursday packing our bags and daydreaming about the mountains & the pine trees.

Preparing for the Road Trip – Delhi to Lansdowne

No matter where you are travelling to, when you have kid/s with you, plan everything very carefully. I want to talk about packing for kids here.

• Always pack warm clothes even if the temperature shows not too cold. Go prepared.
• Always carry an umbrella and raincoat. The weather in the mountains is quite unpredictable.
• Carry a lot of dry snacks for munching on the go.
• During the road trips, we usually pack sandwiches and masala idlis, favourite of our son.
• Don’t forget to pack your child’s favourite toy.
• The car seat is a must for the safety of your child.

Check out – 5 Simple Packing Hacks for Traveling with Kids.

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Delhi to Lansdowne – The Trip Begins

It was Friday morning, surprisingly that day we woke up even before the alarm. Our bags were ready, all our documents in place, the food was packed and we were all set to go on a road trip from Delhi to Lansdowne. We started at 6.30 am from Noida and reached our destination at 2.30 pm. We took 2 long breaks only after crossing Kotdwar. Since it was raining the whole night and some of the road patches were not in good shape, we wanted to cover most of the distance without stopping. Thankfully, our son, Nemit didn’t make any fuss this time, he was totally enjoying the road trip.

This is the route we followed-

Noida – Meerut – Bijnor – Najibabad – Kotdwar – Lansdowne – Chundai (Blue Pine Orchards)

Source – Google Maps

When it comes to hill stations, not many tourists prefer visiting Lansdowne probably because it’s not that commercialised and there are not many things to do here.

But if you prefer quiet, serene, and peaceful surroundings with not many tourists around then Lansdowne is a perfect place for you. It offers an unspoiled beauty to its visitors.

And, if you want to show your children how it feels to be closer to nature, then nothing can beat this place.

Check out our Day 1 Lansdowne Vlog here –

One Request– Avoid going to any hill station during monsoons especially when you are travelling with kids.

Lansdowne is still the safest of all hill stations during the rainy season.

We travelled in the last week of August. Usually, the rains stop by this time. But this year we can clearly see the impact of climate change since we are getting more than normal rainfall in the Northern regions. And the day of our travel we got to know that it will be raining heavily for the next 3 days.

Though there were small landslides at few places around Lansdowne the roads were still accessible. Mainly because this area is maintained by the army.

Luckily, we didn’t face any problem during our trip and there were only light showers which in fact enhanced the beauty of the place and made it more scenic.

Check out – 26 Best Tips for Traveling with Kids.

That’s all for this travel blog – Delhi to Lansdowne Road Trip. See you next time!

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I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa.

My theme for #MyFriendAlexa is All under one roof called Parenting. And, this is my second post under the category Travel #TravelingWithKids.

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Has anyone ever told you that you are not beautiful?

Guess what?

I was told these words on my face by my own kid, my then 4-year-old boy.

This incident happened last year and it made me wonder how vulnerable our kids are to what they see and hear and how they process that information. Also, how important our role as parents is in molding their thinking to help them grow into kind and accepting human beings.

So, today I want to share this episode with you all I wrote that time but didn’t share it because I wanted to see if my approach worked or not.

The day my son told me, Mumma, you are not beautiful, I knew it was time to talk about Beauty, self-love, and love for others. 

We had just entered Lockdown 2.0 that week. I remember it was a Saturday, my free day and I was preparing for a long relaxing bath. Just before entering the bathroom, I peeped at myself into the mirror, I looked different.

Yes, I had overgrown eyebrows and a mustache, my face looked tanned and dull but I didn’t mind it. The salons were closed and I was happy that I could enjoy pain-free days. I made some funny faces in the mirror & laughed at myself. Just when I turned around I saw my son Nemit standing there, with a confused look ready to pop a question at me.

And, he asked me, ‘Mumma, why do you have hair on your face like papa? You also have hair on your hands and legs.’ Just before I could say something, he blurted out, ‘Mumma, now you are not beautiful.’

I was taken aback by his comment. Clearly, I wasn’t expecting that.

It felt weird & I couldn’t say a word to him so I just gave him a silly smile & went into the bathroom. The only thought I had lingering on my mind that day was when & how did my 4-year-old son learn to make such judgments. I never taught him any specific definition of beauty.

Or, did I? Maybe unknowingly and unintentionally. I don’t know.

It made me ponder, was there anything that we were doing that was sending a wrong message to our kid?

I always knew a day will come when I will talk to my son about self-love because that is the most important thing for a child’s confidence. But, how did I forget that there’s another important thing we need to teach our kids. That is, loving others, accepting them without judging their choices, and looking beyond their outer appearance.

So many thoughts were clouding my mind that day. And on top of that, I started questioning my parenting (if you are a parent, you know what I mean). I had to come out of it. Now, the challenge was how to talk about it with a 4-year-old.

PIN IT!

I had an important conversation on ‘Being Beautiful’ with my son that day.

That evening I sat with him and touched the topic again. And, I started with the basics. The first thing I told him was that every girl and boy gets facial and body hair when they reach a certain age. And, it is not a bad thing. I had to explain it a bit to make him understand the point.

Everyone is beautiful irrespective of their skin colour, body size & even body hair.  We all get body hair and it’s a choice if someone wants to keep it that way or remove it. Similarly, with makeup or no makeup, we can’t judge anyone based on their choices. Some people feel good after putting on makeup, some people don’t. If they are happy the way they are, they are beautiful.

He seemed confused at first so I encouraged him to ask questions. I never thought he could ask so many questions on this topic. I answered them all, giving him examples from real life so that he could understand better. And, then moved on to explain other qualities that we should look at in other people beyond their looks.

That day, I realized how important it is to have such conversations with our kids. They are vulnerable because their minds are still developing, they are taking in a lot of unfiltered information from ‘n’ number of sources. We really can’t filter or block everything they see or hear but we can help them in processing that information in the right manner just by having such heart-to-heart conversations.

It’s been more than a year now since that incident but I can tell that our talk that day made a lasting impact on his mind and changed the way he looks at people now. I see him giving compliments to his teachers and he never shies away on appreciating the good qualities of his friends. For a parent, these are proud moments to cherish.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever had such a conversation with your child? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please share them in the comments below. If you don’t feel like leaving a public comment here, please feel free to reach out to me on my social media.

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Alexa Rank

• 10th Sep – 529,697 (Global) & 108,856 (India)
• 16th Sep – 528,653 (Global) & 59,941 (India)
• 17th Sep – 512,144 (Global) & 56,364 (India)

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa.

My theme for #MyFriendAlexa is All under one roof called Parenting. And, this is my first post under the category parenting #RaisingABoy.

If you liked this post, please do share it with your friends and family. Thank you!

The post You are not beautiful, Mumma! Talking about ‘Beauty’ with my son. appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hey guys, as I told you in my previous post that My Friend Alexa is here to help me out in taking my blog to the next level. And, the game is on! The month-long writing and reading challenge has begun yesterday i.e. 15th September. But, what’s my Theme for #MyFriendAlexa?

Most of the participants prefer to follow a theme for writing during such challenges. It makes the task of choosing the topics a bit easier, gives a smooth flow to the posts, and also defines a clear purpose of writing. Even I wanted to have a theme but then I also want to link my vlogs to my blogs so I had to rethink my options.

I thought a lot about it and finally decided to do something different this time. Last year, I did a Blog Series in Memory of our Fur Baby, our dog Caesar. You may read all the posts under the tag #My_Son_Caesar. This year I am choosing the theme –

The Theme for #MyFriendAlexa is All under one roof called Parenting!

I am not sure if I can call it a theme but I really liked the idea of writing one topic from all the different categories that are connected to parenting.

4 Reasons for choosing this theme

• I will get a variety of content in one month – badly need that since the blog was dormant for a long time.
• My audience will also get to enjoy a variety of content – readers can choose what they want to read.
• I can use the videos from my YouTube – since videos help to retain the audience for a longer time.
• I may get traffic from YouTube as well – linking the posts in videos can direct the traffic to the blog.

Here are the categories/topics that I have chosen for #MyFriendAlexa

1. Parenting – #RaisingABoy
2. Travel – #TravelingWithKids
3. Food – #HealthySnacks
4. DIY – #BestOutofWaste
5. Decor – #KidsRoomMakeover
6. Fun & Learning – #BrainBoostingGames
7. Entertainment – #EduTainment
8. Books – #WhereToStart

I am sharing the hashtags to give an idea of what I will be focussing on in my posts. Also, because I don’t want to give away the details just now. You will have to wait for it!

And, now the posting calendar. I have chosen Mondays and Fridays for my posts. So, the 1st post will go live on 17th Sep 2021, which is tomorrow.

Alexa Rank

• 10th Sep – 529,697 (Global) & 108,856 (India)
• 16th Sep – 528,653 (Global) & 59,941 (India)

I am super excited to get back to writing and looking forward to reading some amazing content from my fellow bloggers. A big shoutout to Blogchatter for hosting this wonderful campaign!

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa.

The post Can I Call it a Theme for #MyFriendAlexa? appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello lovely people, hope you all are doing good. I know you missed our blogs, I missed writing them too. But I want to thank each one of you who supported our YouTube channel during the last 3 months. It’s only because of you that we could touch 1k subscribers, this means a lot to us. The next challenge is to revive the blog and get back to writing. Thankfully, My Friend Alexa is here to help me out!

Who What is My Friend Alexa?

My Friend Alexa is not a person.

Confused?

If you are not a blogger there’s a high possibility that you are not aware of Alexa. It’s okay though. I will help you understand that.

#MyFriendAlexa is a month-long writing and reading challenge that helps boost the blog’s traffic and improves the #AlexaRank.

This challenge is hosted every year by my favourite blogging community, Blogchatter. All the participants are required to write 8 posts and read all the posts from the other participants in one month.

It sounds quite simple but if you are on a break from blogging or going through writer’s block or you are bad at managing time, it can test your limits. I like the adrenaline rush I experience during the challenge, it’s so satisfying. And, the results after a month are enough to keep you motivated for a long time.

Guys, if you have started a new blog or you are thinking of starting one soon, then joining such blogging challenges can give an instant boost to your blog as well as your confidence.

Now, if you are wondering what is Alexa Rank, please read further.

What is Alexa Rank?

Alexa is a traffic analysis tool that estimates and provides web traffic data, traffic source information as well as traffic statistics in one place. And, Alexa Rank is a measure of website popularity. It is a single metric that provides a quick summary of a site’s performance. The lesser the rank, the more popular is the website.

My experience with My Friend Alexa

I came to know about Blogchatter’s Alexa campaign in 2018. At that time, I didn’t have much technical knowledge about blogging, I was still learning about SEO and other things and had no idea about Alexa Rank. But I wanted to learn and experiment so I took the plunge and joined my first #MyFriendAlexa campaign. That one month taught me so much about the importance of writing, reading, and also engaging with fellow bloggers.

I wanted to write more and test my limits so next year in 2019, I joined the A2Z challenge with Blogchatter and wrote 26 posts in one month. Sadly, I had to skip Alexa that year.

Then came the pandemic year, the year 2o2o, the year that changed our lives in a blink of an eye. That year I learned that writing can help you deal with emotional turmoil. I was looking for an emotional outlet and I found one in #MyFriendAlexa.

This year, I have a clear purpose to join this campaign, that is, to revive my dormant blog and get back to reading & writing.

Currently, my blog’s Global Alexa rank is too high and I need to work hard to bring it down to a satisfactory level. And, I am sure I’ll achieve that with the help of My Friend Alexa.

I’ll soon share what I am planning to write, do I have a theme in mind? Stay tuned to know more!

Last day to register. Hurry up!!!

Sign up for Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa campaign here.

The post My Friend Alexa is my True Friend! appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello friends, today’s post is about my babies, Caesar & Nemit, and their special bond. We visited my mom’s house when Nemit was a month old, and that’s when Caesar met him for the first time. But their meeting was more of a disaster. The moment Caesar saw the baby in my hands, he got aggressive and started barking. This was not a good sign.

Though we were already doubtful, we had no idea Caesar would react this way. That meeting failed because we didn’t think it through. We should have known that Caesar would be confused and unhappy to see a baby with his parents, who were meeting him after 2 months. It seemed that seeing his mother holding & protecting a little human was too much for him.

Honestly, I got really scared that day, thinking what if Caesar would never accept Nemit as a part of his pack. I couldn’t let that happen because both my babies were precious to me.

Now it was my responsibility to let Caesar know that I still loved him, and he was still my baby.

You may read the other parts of this Blog Series –

1. In memory of our fur baby, Caesar!
2. How we met our fur baby, Caesar?
3. Caesar’s First Month & Health Issues!
4. Caesar’s First from the First Year!
5. How to Prepare for a Road Trip with your Dog?
6. Traveling with Caesar | Weekend Getaway!
7. My Husband Became a Pet Parent!

When Caesar Met Nemit for the Second Time

We used the next two months to bond with Caesar without bringing the baby into the scene. It helped in calming him down a bit. And now it was time to bring him back home & introduce him to Nemit for the second time.

This was Caesar’s second homecoming in April 2016, and this month he completed 1 year with us.

Caesar’s second homecoming

We let Caesar settle in and take in the new smells. And most of the time, we kept Nemit out of his sight. He could smell and hear him, and that made him curious to know the baby better. Luckily, the waiting time worked wonders for both of them.

Now, Caesar was adjusting to the sound of the baby’s cries & Nemit was also getting used to hearing the barks. These sounds were not startling them anymore, which was a good sign. And the best part, caesar now had his parents by his side all the time, just like the earlier days. That helped in reducing his anxiety.

My Family!

Initially, we had created boundaries at home. The master bedroom where the baby spent most of his time was off-limit to Caesar. He was also kept away from the baby’s cot & rocker. Caesar didn’t mind that as he had the rest of the house, his parents gave him the attention he missed.

Gradually, we lifted some boundaries, now Caesar could enter the room & he was allowed to sniff the baby; licking was a strict no. But we still kept a close watch on his behavior when he was around the baby. Surprisingly, now he was calmer and seemed happy too. It was the happiest moment for us!

PIN IT!

The Special Bond of Love

We had to create the boundaries once again when Nemit started crawling. These boundaries were for both of them; we wanted them to respect each other’s personal space. Nemit had his playroom with a floor bed and barricades at the door. It didn’t take Caesar much time to understand that he should not enter the room.

They both would watch each other from a distance, Nemit would sometimes smile at him, and I am sure Caesar liked that.

After a month or so, we removed the barricade, but now Caesar understood not to cross the invisible boundary. I could sense that he had developed feelings for Nemit by now. He would never leave his side even when Nemit was sleeping.

Always together!

Soon, Nemit was ready to come out of the room and explore the house. I had tears in my eyes when I saw Nemit playing with Caesar sitting near him and Caesar allowing him to touch his face and legs. Where did all the aggression go?

It just took 6 months after Caesar met Nemit for the first time to build a beautiful bond of love. Caesar had accepted Nemit as part of his pack.

I was the happiest to see both my babies bonding together. Those were the best days of my life.

Sharing some of the beautiful moments below

Evening walks are the best!

Meal Time – Sharing is Caring!

Play Time – We are buddies!

Cake is everyone’s favorite!

I miss those days!

Had a perfect Mom life

I am doing a blog series this month in memory of our fur baby, #My_Son_Caesar.

You may read the other parts of the series here, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7.

Since this is the month of #MyFriendAlexa by Blogchatter, I will be linking all my posts to their website. Do check out the new reloaded Blogchatter website to discover some amazing blogs, bloggers, and campaigns.

The post Fur Baby Meeting Human Baby | Caesar Met Nemit – Blog Series (Part – 8) appeared first on Growing With Nemit.