Dad Musings

It’s so lovely to praise our kids when they do something. But how often have we stopped to think that overpraise may be doing more harm than good! Sometimes we feel that the problem is we don’t praise our kids enough. But it might surprise you to know that the bigger problem really isn’t lack of praise but overpraising!  Is there a right way to praise?  Hop on to my musings to get you thinking about – when praising my kids, is there a line to draw? A better way to do it?

We often talk to our friends or family about our kids - praising them or discuss their shortcomings. It’s great to get advise or perspective and all these trusted people are a great board to bounce our thoughts on. But how aware are we of how much is being heard by our kids? And more importantly, what the repercussions are on their personality? Simple, innocuous statements like - she’s just like her father, always forgetting things OR I can always count on him to eat his food the fastest - has a bearing on their behaviour. In fact, they could even start behaving in the manner that you’ve described them - only after hearing you! Are we aware of this? Hop on to my musings to get you thinking about - we should be careful about what we say for our kids are all ears!

We all prep and push our kids on the right path to success but how often do we prep our kids for failure. How cognisant are we that to get to success we must firmly tread on the road of failure? A very common mistake made by us parents is to shield our kids from failure or blame other factors for their failure. Change your mindset and approach towards failure - make it the green light instead of the perceived red light - to ensure that our kids are ready for all the challenges of tomorrowHop on to my musings to get you thinking about - is befriending failure the right path to success?!

Talking with my 11 year helped me getter better perspective on how I’m stressing him out and how I can change for the better! Of course, as always, it’s great to be privy to his thought process, logic and approach to failure and success! While I maintain that failure is not bad at all, I also maintain that it’s important to have approached the task with a 100% sincerity and giving your all. Only then can you learn from what went wrong and can you take the next step towards your eventual goal and successHop on to my musings to get you thinking about - is failing with sincerity a great thing?!

What started as getting perspective from my 16 year old, in the midst of her 10th grade board exams, turned into a very interesting and insightful session for the both of us - on her fears of failure and her approach to things in lifeDo we prep our kids for failure? Or are we always hovering and managing their lives as parents worried about their future?? Here’s my thought - failure breeds success - but only if our kids have the right attitude when they fail. And how do they get that - only if they are allowed to fail! Hop on to my musings to get you thinking about - is failure the right path to success?!

Restricting or putting checks on our kids screen time may win us a battle or 2 but ultimately, I assure you, you will not win the war!! It’s in their DNA to figure out workarounds and to get what they want from a screen, even after you’ve put all the locks in place . . .So do we embrace this monster? Is it even a monster or a god sent? A beautiful nemesis for us parents!? Hop on to my musings on with my 16 yr. old and her thoughts about it along with finding out what finally got my wife speechless!! 

We can see my 11 yr old on the screen and the way it has piqued his curiosity and the number of new things he’s developed an interest in . . . yet . . . with too much time on the screen he becomes cranky, personality changes and he robotically starts ignoring everything else!So is the screen good? Or is it bad? How can we master the balancing act?!! Hop on to my musings on with my 11 yr. old and his thoughts about it

Holidays, dinners or just sitting in a room with your kids - does just the act of doing this qualify as ‘family time’?Very often you might notice a family out for dinner, faces immersed in their cell phones. Yes, family time but is it really? Would you give more importance to quality or quantity? And how can we increase both the quotients? Hop on to my musings to get some insights into what I do and more importantly, what my kids opinion are about it!

Music sounds like the most interesting and fascinating thing to learn  . . . And it is! But with the wrong guide and teacher things can go south, fast!! So what should one look out for?  Hop on to my musings on Music Education and get perspective on what to look out for in when you looking for a music teacher 

Music as an extra curricular activity - how important is it? Would you choose football over music? Or swimming? It may sound like a logical choice - much needed physical activity for your child instead of sitting and playing an instrument - but take a little pause for thought as music has far reaching effects on the mental well being of your child.  Hop on to my musings on how Music Education can influence your Childs future and get insights into my kids love-hate relationship with music! 

“You are the worst parent” or “I hate you!!” How often do we hear our kids accuse us of this! No parent likes hearing these words but hey, if you are, take heart for you may be on the right path and doing something right! Do we want our kids approval all the time? Do we want them to get discipline and structure so as to arm them with values that will really help them later on in their life? What’s the balance? Friend vs. Parent . . .  Hop on to my musings on what might strike the right balance in this delicate mix

\"Don't throw like a girl!\" or \"he's bad at math because I hated it!\" - how often have we casually made such simple innocuous statements. More importantly, how often are we even aware that these words have dropped from our lips?!Do you know that if you call your daughter - \"a brooding teenager\" - even if she wasn't, chances are that she will start behaving like one?Hop on to my musings on what stereotypes we tend to use and get some perspective on the effect it has on kids - in this case my 16 yr. old and her thoughts about it

How many of us see boredom as an opportunity to open the mind to creative or lateral thinking? To get in touch with and centre ourselves? Or to simply really hear ourselves?? Here's an interesting quote to perhaps give us perspective - \"Children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough that they can hear themselves\" – Dr Vanessa LapointeThis podcast is all about looking at boredom and digging deeper with my 11 yr. old on what his thoughts are about it