Beyond Books

It is not all play at a Playschool. Progressive education, Montessori system, multiple intelligence, Playway method, holistic learning - the terminology is bound to boggle the mind, especially when you consider that all this jargon is used in the context of preschool education.

Dinosaurs, fanged robots, icky slime, movies about vampires and zombies, morbid blood-oozing stories or the gross toilet humour - why can't children fancy the more simple, pleasant stuff around us?

The countdown is on and there's less than a fortnight to go before the London 2012 Olympics. It is important then to encourage kids to get excited about the Olympics.

The best lessons are learnt in retrospect, especially when the consequences are painful! Maintaining a perfect posture is one of those lessons driven home soundly, albeit a little late, by the neck and shoulder spasms we suffer in adulthood.

College kids to distribute food and clothes to underprivileged kids in the city as part of their annual festival.

As far as children go, round is in and healthy - even in their teens! This is one dangerous myth that needs to be busted urgently - fat accumulation is a potential health hazard.

Bangalore schools may have recently issued a diktat to parents against dressing in night clothes while dropping off their kids, but mamas and papas in Delhi continue to have a pyjama party at the gates every morning.

There would be few among us who have not been victims of the public pool, at the receiving end of pool atrocities by overstimulated kids and frazzled parents. Unfortunately, manners often go right out the window in public spaces like the pool.

This is not the kind of 'date' we knew about when we were growing up, but it is something we find ourselves indulging in a lot now! We're talking about a playdate - when parents of children as young as 2 to 6 years, schedule a time with other parents, to get their children together for a few hours to play.

Several celebrity ex-students of Hindu College attended the Annual Hostel Meet held by the college recently.

Do we need to fear our food?  After reading about hormonal additives in milk, antibiotics in meats, irradiated food and other similar reports on food contamination - unfortunately the answer to that question is yes.

Enthusiastic and encouraging parents that we are, we enrol our children in hobbyclasses the instant they show an aptitude in a field. Or sometimes we enrol them hoping they'll show some aptitude.

Preschool - sounds like a big scary word, especially when you havejust about mastered the challenges of infancy and got used to the quirks of toddlers!

A new US survey of more than 1,000 teenagers (13-17) and 1,000 parents of teenagers by online security company Mcafee has highlighted the discrepancies between what parents think about their teenagers' use of the internet, what is really going on, and what each group is doing to outsmart the other.