Four Clover Life- By Namrata Shailendra Singh

If only my father let me sing rather than ‘your job is to study.' I love music. I hum songs. My soul dances along with the melody. I sing from my heart, my happiness, and my sadness. I couldn’t have become Elvis Presley or Lata Mangeshkar, but given an opportunity, I  would have become the best of what I was capable of. Only, if my father… Academics have always been at the center of our family life. Even more so of a middle-class family like mine. We know we better study or we become beggars. So, what do we do? We do what our parents say- We study. We do what our school curriculum lays out for us. We study. And some who don’t, I wonder how they are surviving as beggars. (pun intended). Later, I stepped out of home at 17 to study more so that I don’t become a beggar. The journey which started then, continues. But every time I get to witness a sunset, I sing. School and academics do not teach LIFE. They prepare you to get a degree to get some bread home. That is the l

HELPING HIM LEARN THE ART OF PERSISTENCE Every failure can be turned around with hard work and persistence. This is my favorite. For being a writer, I know how important it is to learn perseverance. What does it mean to persevere? In layman’s term, it ‘NOT GIVING UP DESPITE ODDS”. It’s easy to give up and difficult to hang on. How do we do that? Wait before you praise and reward the child- We have a tendency to shoot a GOOD JOB the moment the baby took his first step, the toddler scribbled for the first time, the preschooler did a jig, or the kindergartner built a Lego structure. Don’t you think the child can become immune to it? He will expect it for every little thing he does and then looks up and wonder- where is my  'good job?' There is no harm in saying a good job, but what is the point in blurting it out at every twist and turn?   Click to read- Go beyond just 'GOOD JOB.' Do not praise your child for being smart. Try to look for what went in

A refreshing read of the Harvard Business Review recent article dilated my pupil. What? Are the stores going to disappear? Will the landscape of shopping change forever? Will there be no more shopping centers? Why? I haven't been more intrigued, fascinated, and skeptical (yeah! all at the same time) about technology than right now. Possibilities are endless; advantages are primarily twofold- saving time and saving effort, making you more effective, efficient, and adding convenience to life. Cliche, but technology has transformed our lives in ways we had never imagined. Interestingly, we are cashing it all. Also, being without it is neither feasible nor desirable. It's embedded in the world we inhabit. Our sensory experiences are vacating life to make room for virtual reality. And shopping is just one of them. The landscape of shopping has changed. The article reveals new advents and how our lives are going to be further revolutionized. From Amazon to Ikea to Sep

So, there is a new concept doing rounds- "WE ALL WIN." Day- 13th July 2017 Time 5:00 pm Place- Playground, Irvine, California A group of boys( 5-8-year-old) caught up in a brawl over who won; I hear an 8-year-old boy chip in and say- "It's okay, we all win. Let's do it that way." I read on Whatsapp that schools are doing away with competitive races, birthday parties have done away with games which require a winner or loser, and passing the parcel has become a game of - 'all win'  and 'all get gifts.' Why? When did this wave come, from where, and why? When  and  where , I am unsure of; however,  I understand the why:  To ensure that children don't get caught up in the winning losing equation and feel emotionally scraped, etc. Parenting comes with this ferocious emotion of protection and security. However,  what's so grossly wrong about losing? In real life - NOT EVERYONE WINS. Some come 1st in their class, some get 60

Either way, it's a big deal today. You browse through parenting articles and Google throws you ******************websites/blogs. Phew. That's a lot.  Our parents were not into such craziness, yet we all grew up to be fine, doing well, earning well, and living well. I read somewhere that we have moved from 'fairly interested parents that our parents use to be to wholly invested parents.' Yes! And there is a reason behind this. TIMES CHANGED; HENCE THE NATURE OF PARENTING CHANGED. I shall touch upon few aspects, knowing very well that there are subtle, not so subtle, big and small aspects that contributed towards the current insanity. Are we sure it's insanity, or are we just responding to how the world is changing around us? Do you know- An iPhone 7 has more processing power than the entire NASA organization had in 1969. That's around the time our parents were around adulthood, starting to work and forming families. And I can quote many such f