Teaching With Sensitivity

Dear Readers,

The best teachers are sensitive to the needs of a child, as they know that one cruel remark can have a profound effect on a child.

The personal relationship a student has with a teacher plays a major role in making or marring a child. A positive remark, a callous one, a vindictive one - all have an impact on a child. There have been children that have risen to great heights because of positive encouragement from a teacher, and there have been those that have gone into acute depression because of victimization.

Pressure to perform 

When we surrender our children to a school, we are taking a risk with their psyche. Parents are often blamed for pushing their kids to the edge. Such blame is justified at times, but not always. A parent once said to me, "I would never force my child to achieve more than he could if his teacher did not humiliate him in the class every time he scored low grades or did not complete his homework." There are some teachers that want perfection from students, and this in itself puts pressure on the child and on the parents. The fear of failure looms large in a school situation. If you are concerned that your child is being put under undue academic stress, speak to his teacher about it, and let her know your own expectations from your children, so you can work together towards your child's all-around development.

Favouring students 

Some teachers also tend to favour certain students. This is why a few students are classified either as "teacher's pets', teacher's victims" or "just a roll number". 

A school is meant to be a place where learning has to be holistic. Where fairness, justice and values are to be emphasized in action not in projects and syllabus teaching. History textbooks are filled with struggles against injustice and discrimination. So if a teacher is known to discriminate unfairly between students, the school management should intervene.

Victimising students 

However, positive discrimination is not always a bad thing, as the child who is being 'favoured' may actually benefit greatly from this, while other students will not be harmed. In addition, there may be genuine reason for this extra attention. Perhaps the child has a keen interest in the subject, or perhaps he is very poor in his studies and the teacher wants to encourage him. What needs to be checked immediately is negative discrimination. We have heard of instances where a student has been constantly victimized by a teacher. Such victimization can cause great psychological harm. This should not be tolerated. If a parent gets to know that his child is being victimized by a teacher, he should take up the matter at once with school authorities. If the authorities do not do anything, the parent should seriously consider removing the child from the school. If a parent ignores a child's pleas that he is being victimized, then the parent is as much to blame for any consequences that may arise from such victimization.

Parental involvement 

Parents should make it a point to be more involved in their child's schoolwork. They should take interest in the school activities,and should interact with the child's teachers often. Where a teacher knows a child's parent, she will automatically tend to be more sensitive to the child.

Edu-Club

CRPF Public School, Rohini

Parenting

Dear Readers,

“ Parenting is a sanctified journey of bearing , rearing  and cultivating a soul  bestowed by the almighty to his guardians “ . A soul which has to be nurtured with unconditional love , faith, abundance , patience , harmony, good education and acceptance.  Often parents are inundated with a very common question about the best parenting methods but I always say, parenting is not based on methodologies moreover it is an art, the way you paint your canvas  the more alluring it turn out to be . But mother and father have a distinct role to play in upbringing of a child .

                   “ Mother ” should  always play a role of  a “guru” who always enlightens others by showing a ray of hope. As an infant grows in the bosom of his mother’s warmth, he  passes various stages of development  which yields his cognitive, social, emotional , physical and spiritual growth. The  formative years  crop multiple questions in the impressionable mind of the young  child and it is the duty of the mother to clear his false line of thinking which in turn purifies his mind . By doing this she imperceptibly  reorganize  the  pattern of thinking for the child  and act as a catalyst .

“Father” brings unique contributions to the job of  parenting  a child that no one else  can replicate. Father  can  cultivate qualities like tolerance , obligation , bravery , friendship , humanity , independence , truthfulness, which lays the foundation of homogeneous adulthood.

To sum up a golden rule for all the parents :

लालयेत् पञ्च वर्षाणि दश वर्षाणि ताडयेत् / प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्षे पुत्रं मित्रवदाचरेत् //

Treat  a  child like  a king upto  five years of age because  he  is not self dependent  and lacking in his judgement skills. These exploratory years must be filled with unconditional love and availability of the parent  round the clock  for his child.  The next  ten years  should  be the educational  years of your child where you instilled moral values , appropriate social behavior, and basic life skills  rather than focusing on his academic skills  only because this  is the period when you are turning a child into a  being with his unique identity and  personality by giving him the values of life as an  incalculable gift . And by the fifteenth  year , make him  your best  friend by blooming trust , understanding , effective communication and strong interpersonal relationship  to win the challenges of parenting. This is the crucial stage of growing up  when a child is turning into a teenager  dealing  with all  the changes in his internal and external world . This phase requires  a  uniform monitoring and parents must act as a shell to protect their teenagers from  the negative emotions and toxic thoughts.

Parenting is loving your children unconditionally and helping in their self actualization.

Happy Parenting.

Shilpa Chawla

Counselor  

“DEALING WITH REJECTION IN CHILDREN”

Dear Readers,

Rejection simply means “non acceptance". Children during their journey of self actualization and self growth encounters inevitable negative feelings like disappointment, being rejected, ignored, cheated and defeated. Being rejected by the significant others and from the influential life events, may damage the" psyche" of the child. Sometimes, rejection can be consciously or unconsciously thrown upon the child by his peer group, teachers, parents and significant others during his life span. At the subtle level its impact on the child’s growth is not highly magnitude but yes at its core it sometimes hinders the growth of the child by dragging him into the cage of negative self image and poor self concept. When rejection is not much elevated, it can be tackled by the child through introspection where he learns from his mistakes and by knowing the factors responsible behind his failure but in few cases its being  observed that it lowers the coping strategies of the child to get fit into the demands and challenges of his immediate environment. It may disturb the equilibrium of the child’s inner world where his projection about himself always lies as a” superhero “. Rejection directly attacks the self esteem of the child, making him venerable to improve upon himself because he is already occupied with negative and irrational thoughts pertaining to his personality and image. So the consensus is “we should use our words wisely” .Rejection should be presented in a closed envelope for the benefit of the child. A child should always get respect for his identity, integrity and sovereignty. But in today’s transitory era of growth where a child always has to perform must equipped himself with the art of dealing with rejection in an effective and wise manner. Parents, teachers and other care takers can use these below listed tips to deal effectively with the child who is being rejected and feeling miserable.

·        Social rejection should be flaccid by raising the self esteem of the child where the care taker has to form a therapeutic alliance with the child and understand his weaknesses and strengths. He must help beef up his self esteem.

·        Ponder upon his accomplishments which in turn gave him self confidence and acceptance.

·        Help them to encounter their experience – this will help the child to integrate their feelings and think in a better logical approach.

·         If they have fallen down, help them to rise up. Failure is an excellent learning experience .Validate their experience. This will help them to resolve their inner conflicts and acknowledge their strength.

·        Positive self talk should be taught to the children, so in a way they feel positive.

·        Teach them the simple mantra “if you fail try again, if you try you will succeed”. Teach them resiliency despite failure.

·        Help to promote self efficacy within them so that they can know their feelings and intervene them with the self evolved techniques and lead from the front.

·         Help them to take charge of their life, make them proactive.

Shilpa Chawla

Counselor  

INFORMATION REGARDING VARIOUS MATHS OLYMPIADS

Last date for registration is 18 October 2016.