​It was one morning in preschool where the 4 and 5 year olds were reflecting on their previous day’s nature walk. It was Sara’s turn to present to present her reflections. 
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She started, “We went into a golden deep forest and saw a shiny red bird..."

"...with shiny eyes, shiny nose, shiny hair and shiny dress. I played with it. Then it took me on its back and flew around. We went through the mountains and over the sea. All my friends played with it too”
​
Each child takes away from an experience different things based on their own curiosity and imagination. Who could have thought that a park could be deep golden forest in a child’s imagination?

When children express their imagination in different ways and are respected for what they say, they start to develop their unique voice and speak up with confidence.  To kindle their imagination the environment as a third teacher plays a pivotal and valuable role in their lives as they explore their imagination through interaction, creation, movement etc.

Contributed by Grace Veronica, Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool

The 3 year olds class is having snacks, it's around 10.30am. The children have a place where they usually keep their water bottles to pick up during the day in the class. Ab is drinking water from his water bottle at the table and keeps it on the table itself. Av takes Ab's water bottle from the table, very graciously returns it to the window. Ab, confused by his bottle being moved tries to take it back, perhaps he was not done yet. Av just continues to move it further on the window where everyone's bottle was kept as if telling Ab, "this is where it should go". Unable to understand Av's intentions and thoroughly frustrated by now, Ab gets upset and starts crying. Maybe, Ab didn't like the intrusion into how and where he kept his water bottle and Av was more concerned about returning things to their rightful place.

F: Why don't you talk to Ab about what he is doing and that you are not liking it?

This didn't work. Ab did not stop crying and no amount of conversation seemed to be helping. Av struggled to see the impact of his behavior on Ab and Ab struggled to see the positive intention behind Av's action.

An who was sitting and watching all of this, seemed to have sensed and understood Ab's discomfort. She takes the water bottle from the window and gives it to Ab letting him have it back on the table.

She is not done yet; she runs to get a tissue and hands one over to Ab to console him too!

In this scenario, what An did was extraordinary where she showed an incredible amount of empathy to understand both the emotion and the intention. An took the initiative to solve the problem too and go over and above to show care. Ab was not communicating much yet, hence, An's efforts and thinking on the feet seemed even more exceptional.

Many a times, children seem to mimic a caring behavior from home. But thinking on your feet to solve a classmate's problem needs empathy in good measure.

When we as facilitators and responsible adults who work with children learn to observe these nuances, cultivate and nurture them is when we create an empathetic generation.


Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

Quest for a personality development programs for my child

 A year ago, I was the distraught parent of a shy and timid child groping for answers to my questions. My five year old was not the exuberant, confident and outgoing child that I wanted her to be.  My quest for a sound personality development programme in the neighborhood was unfruitful. The prospect of sending my child to an activity center where children are herded in droves did not appeal to me.  About eight months ago I saw an ad for Sparkling Minds and it changed everything. Here was a fresh and innovative approach to a child’s development using an activity based approach centred around NLP and MI. It was very evident from their website and brochures that a lot of sound research had gone into the design of these programmes. Working in groups of ten meant individual attention to each child. Finally, the impressive credentials of the founders reassured me that my child would be in safe hands.

First exposure to 21st Century Skills - becoming greedier!

The first interaction with the coordinator opened a world of possibilities beyond personality development. They were offering to groom my child to become a 21st century citizen with attributes like interpersonal skills, independent thinking, sound decisions making, leadership etc. This was more comprehensive than any generic personality development program. The holistic feedback system would ensure that I would know the best way to work with my daughter. From being confused and worried, I became optimistic and maybe even a little greedy about this whole new world of possibilities.

New Learning Experiences & Lovin’ It!

It has been four months since I started this relationship with SM and I have loved every minute of it! My daughter loved going to Sparkling Mindz right from the word go. The facilitators, the activities and the carefully designed rooms made her very happy. In the first few days itself, I saw a never before eagerness in her to be a part of everything.  Even at home and at school, her social interactions and confidence improved.  She became enthusiastic to participate and perform without any inhibitions.

There is way more, if you look carefully…

While these changes were noticeable in the initial couple of months, imbibing attributes like self-confidence, not buckling to peer pressure, learning smartly, listening and observation, structured thinking etc. happened later.  About three or four months into the program, my daughter started displaying the above attributes in her own small ways. 

• She started becoming curious about learning the process behind any activity or product
  
• She subconsciously breaks down any given task into steps for better execution
  
• She figured out on her own that if 5+5=10, diving 10 by 2 would be 5 without any prior exposure to the principles of division
  
• She started using rhyming words to remember spellings better
  

This morning she stumped me again. We were watching a show called Mr.Maker on Discovery Kids, which was previously aired on CeeBeeBees. The final credits alluded to ceebeebees.com. Pat came the question as to why should ceebeebees be a part of the credits if the programme has already transitioned to Discovery Kids, why are they still referring to CeeBeeBees. That was a home run for listening and observation!

My child will stand out from the crowd – thanks to Sparkling Mindz!

My daughter has embarked on a journey of self-discovery and loves it. She is acquiring critical life skills which are essential to survive and succeed in today’s dynamic environment.  The children of today are all smart and intelligent. But the Sparkling Mindz programme will help to differentiate her from the rest.

The right program at the right age

I too have attended sessions on team play, structured thinking and interpersonal skills at work. However I have observed that these initiatives do not always generate the desired results because adult personalities are pretty much set and transformation is difficult and time consuming. By starting early, my daughter will have these traits and would not have to be tutored as an adult.  I am glad that she is developing an edge without even realizing it! 

Contributed by Roopa Balakrishna (Dhriti's mother), she is an equity analyst by profession and currently a full time doting mother,

There are lots and lots of exams and tests that children take all throughout schools. But we are not talking about that here. We are talking about what we as parents do with our children.  A test need not always be in the written form or in a formal set-up. So then what is a test? Is it a way to find out what a child doesn't know or what he knows? 

We often test our children when we ask, "Do you know the names of all the continents in the world?"  instead of saying " Let us talk about continents!".
 
Would a child be happy and eager to be tested if the tests only exposed their ignorance or shortcomings? Would the child see the test as a fun activity or a stressful one? In fact, they begin to associate the 'whole' act of asking questions with the 'act' of testing rather than a 'fun' way to learn and explore. Which is the sad part :(.
 
While a certain amount of testing is definitely needed to evaluate, motivate and challenge the child, if we want them to learn more - there other ways to do so:

• Provide opportunities for the child to showcase what he/she already knows
• Engage him/her with new challenges in a positive environment to make learning fun
• Be encouraging and supportive in both cases

Do share with us other ways to make learning enjoyable for children.

Contributed by Anubha Jain, currently a learning facilitator with Sparkling Mindz. She is an MBA graduate from a premier institute and an Engineer prior to that. She also has several years of corporate experience under her belt. She has chosen to shift her career to work with children.

As the Junior Masterchef's end drew closer and competition intensified, lots of clarity in 'thinking' and 'strategies' began to emerge.

Jack, every time he faced a challenge, put on a 'creative hat', decided to do a twist on a recipe like 'snail porridge' that had taken the original chef himself over 10 years to perfect and came out in flying colors! It was because of his creative thinking capability that he was able to score 3 times 11/10 in the final challenge, a feat that not even someone in Masterchef has achieved, so far!

Isabella, on the other hand, every time she was faced with a challenge used her 'critical thinking' abilities. She fell back on the time-tested recipe's of her grandmother. Something that she knew she could execute to perfection, something that she knew that only she knew, something that would stand her out. It stood her too in good stead. However, for the final challenge, she was able to win it only when she combined her 'critical thinking' ability with a more open-ended 'creative thinking' process to achieve a perfect '10' from 5 of the judges and become the first ever 'Junior Masterchef' in history!

If you ask me, even Jack had to use his 'critical thinking' abilities to approach his 'creative problem' and execute it to perfection but his lead system was always 'creative' and Isabella's was always 'critical'! It stood them apart in style and brought their individuality out, so well! 

It was not just this, in the final moment when the results were announced, Jack showed such a unique interpersonal skill that not even adults show! He told Isabella, "You deserve it, Izzy. Friends going in, friends going out!" What better sportsmanship can a child, all of 13 years, aspire to show? 

Shows like this help create good role models for our children in India and don't miss the next show as it rolls in the next season!

We have been watching Junior Masterchef with a lot of glee. First, it validates the age group we work with 8-13 years. Next, aren't the kids doing an exemplary job? It is all about trust and preparation and children never cease to amaze us. We know it and we have seen it, the show exemplifies it to such a degree that I could not prevent myself from posting here!

Not sure, how many of you are fans of the show yourself. But, I've watched Masterchef previously and when I started watching Junior Masterchef, I noticed how differently they were handling the children and it once again, proved our approach with them. This is exactly how we approach the children in our sessions, trusting them, guiding them where required, letting them be creative with resources, appreciating their unique talents and moving them forward positively. Parents ask us, what will you do when a child gets stuck, what do you do when a child does not perform. We don't have such issues, in our sessions - the child comes up with an idea, the child presents and they know how much effort to put in to make it happen too!

Anyway, coming back to the point, the major differences I noticed with the way Junior Masterchef was handled is a lesson for all adults and parents who deal with children, so here goes:

1. Every single child's dish was appreciated for something good they had in it, not even in the expression did the chefs given out what they really felt about the dishes! If they didn't like it, the praise was on the low side, that's all, but it was praised and their expressions were amazing. For children, your expressions and body language hurts more than your words itself, so you know where to create the change first! All those who have attended our communication parent workshop know this for a fact now and are implementing it. Now, you know it too.

2. When they did a MasterClass with the children, they didn't just gather them around and show them how it is done. They got them to do it along. Exactly how children learn new things well. By Doing It! It is simple: Don't Preach. Don't Teach. Guide, just show them how. Let Them Do. 

3. When it came to selecting a team, in MasterChef generally, the team leaders choose the team. Knowing very well that the children may not be ready for it, they created a random team selection game for them. No fighting, no complaining, no politics. Simple, effective way of dividing the children into groups! Wow!

4. Next, the taste test. They brought in a HUGE, GIANT 8.5m pizza for the children to dig in and taste at the same time. Children love to do work, when it is done in a fun way. They love to apply thought and learn, when the fun is not taken out of it. Loved this test!

Overall, at every point, they took so much care of the children's feelings and how to not hurt them or show them that they were inferior in anyway. Every single elimination, children got mementos and takeaways. Kudos to a show well done! Do observe and let us know if you found any other nuances of how they dealt differently with children than adults and how we can apply it in our day to day lives!