Happy Women's Day 2024

Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing women and the brilliant, supportive men out there!

As individuals, it's crucial to recognize, appreciate, and actively promote the inclusion of women and girls, in line with the campaign theme for International Women's Day 2024 which is ‘Inspire Inclusion’. Sharing this understanding, support, and encouragement with others is equally vital.

Collectively, organizations and groups can champion inclusion through various actions, such as:

• Ensuring access to quality education and training for women & girls

• Empowering women economically and financially

• Facilitating women & girls' involvement in leadership, decision-making, business, and STEM fields

• Providing informed health choices for women & girls

• Recruiting, nurturing, and advancing diverse talent

• Engaging women & girls in sustainability initiatives, including agriculture and food security initiatives

• Designing infrastructure that meets the specific needs of women & girls

• Enhancing women & girls' participation and success in sports

• Promoting the creative and artistic endeavors of women & girls

By taking concerted action in these areas and addressing any additional areas vital for the progress of women & girls, organizations and groups can actively foster a more inclusive and equitable society for women and girls.

Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress!

#InternationalWomensDay #WomensDay2024 #women #girls #inclusion #progress #health #society #equality #empowerher #empoweringwomen #empowerment #SupportHer #understanding #encouragement #veritadyne

Hyena Ballerina - A lively story of hope for kids of all ages!

An optimistic story of a Hyena, dropped from auditions due to her looks, but who perseveres and becomes the star of another show; a show which appreciates the diversity that she brings. Lessons for corporates presented in a fun way with lively illustrations!

Like it, Share it, and Subscribe to Little Dragon Reader's channel here: https://cutt.ly/vyBdAEW

Nabiya - A moving story that encourages kids to read!

Little Dragon Reader is back with this inspiring story about a little girl's initiation into the wonderful world of books & reading by an understanding and dedicated teacher. The beautiful illustrations evoke excellent imagination of her world, especially with her good friend and how she journeys into the world of reading.

Nabiya - A Moving Story that Encourages Kids to Read! - YouTube

#kids #reading #story #KidsBooks #kidsreading #books #illustrations #book #friendship #bookstore #teacher #education #learning #motivation

Like it, Share it, and Subscribe to Little Dragon Reader's channel https://cutt.ly/vyBdAEW

https://youtu.be/-uRJXqEKejY

Happy Daughters' Day 2021

Happy Daughters’ Day to all the daughters of this world. You make this world beautiful and this life so precious!

May the daughters of the next generation
• Be fully empowered
• Never know the existence of gender pay gap
• Have access to equal opportunity as a basic right
• Never know sexism!

Tall dreams indeed, but what will we not do for our daughters?!!
To the treasured two darlings who made me a mother – Thank you 
I strive every day to be more worthy of you and your infinite love.

When I need to derive strength, all I have to do is remember whose daughter I am. I hope that will be true for you too one day 

#DaughtersDay2021 #daughter #love #empowerment #equality #genderequality #motherhood #beautiful #preciouslife #kids #girls #women

Little Donkey and the Baby-Sitter - a fun-filled story for kids

Babies and baby-sitters; don't we know the struggles on both sides

Join Little Dragon Reader to know more about Little Donkey, his baby-sitter, his plans and how his evening finally ends! A fun story that has adults enjoying it as much as kids and with exciting sound effects during the read as well!

Enjoy!

#Read #KidsBooks #kidsreading #books #toddler #tantrums #babysitting #childrensbooks #childrensreading #YouTube

World Oceans Day

#WorldOceansDay 2021 - June 8th

The theme for this year - 'The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods' says a lot about the idea of marking this international day.

Covering over 70% of the Earth, our oceans are a life source for all organisms. It is a main source of #biodiversity, #Food and even #employment. But as with all things #nature, we are depleting resources at an alarming rate, more than can be replenished and hence the need to start preserving and protecting our oceans. The world population needs to unite on this call for #sustainable management of the #oceans, strengthen international cooperation, and develop #research and #Technologies to attain this goal.

I leave you with a #poem written last year by my then eight year old daughter, capturing the essence and beauty of the lives in the ocean.

Under the Sea

Hello, come with me

Take a dive under the sea.

Before we go, Gather your gear

What’s your favourite fish? Mine is the seer!

Look, a jiggly jelly fish!

Heads up! That mackerel made a big swish.

Oysters can…... open and shut,

And that pile of seaweed looks just like a hut!

Dive in and make a big splash,

But be extra careful not to crash!

Dive in and make a big splash,

But be extra careful not to crash!

Now we’re down in the heart of the sea

Look! That eel is covered lots in Algae.

But that’s not just any old eel,

It’s an electric eel, if you dare to feel!

That leopard shark is a pro at swimming.

And that brown sea lion, is back flipping!

Bye Bye sea, Bye Bye sea creatures,

We absolutely loved your fun features.

Dive in and make a big splash,

But be extra careful not to crash!

Dive in and make a big splash,

But be extra careful not to crash!

Naming talents

My daughter seems to have this uncanny ability to give the most perfect names to our pets. This includes animals that we have just rescued or she has just met. She would not know much about their personality by then but she still does it every time!

She names one of our husky rescues 'Diva', the very first day she came home. Even if I had sat with a book and made notes I could not have come up with a better name. She truly was and is a diva and her forever family made no changes to her name after they adopted her. She could never be anything but  a diva!!!

Few weeks ago we rescued a family - mum and four pups from the streets of Doha and my daughter named one pup 'Cheeky'. Again a truly fitting name for the cheekiest monkey I have ever met! :)

My LG seems to have a natural talent for naming pets and what perfect names :D 

Technology and Parenting styles

I saw this headline today in NPR news and froze - "A must for millions, Zoom has a dark side and an FBI warning".

At home these days, I have my husband and elder daughter using zoom for meetings. My husband can take care of himself but I worry about my little one and her friends!
I have already been secretly monitoring her Zoom morning meetings daily this week for several reasons. One, I needed to hear from her teacher as well on everyday summary of lessons and feedback, so I know how things are going and if my daughter is coping. Second, this is still new for my daughter and I wanted to be around if she needed any help.
I realized today that I need not worry about my second reason, as she was handling the technical aspect like a pro. I chided myself for becoming one of those parents and the term 'helicopter parenting' came to mind. I told myself that I should probably not be as involved from tomorrow and let her have more privacy and then I see this in the news :(

Well, back to square one. Her safety is more important than her privacy. Zoom has promised to work more on security measures and I will continue to work on such measures from my end too!

These thoughts led me to do more research on parenting styles. Apparently the old Baumrind styles are of four types and I think I fall under the authoritative style. Do read up more; I do believe knowing our style helps us to understand the pros and cons and improve on areas where we could. Parenting is daunting at the best of times and the dilemmas parents have to face daily may not be understood by 'non-parent' adult friends! Do we protect our darlings from all the ugly things in the world or do we let them learn the hard way sometimes, so they become smarter?

One source I really liked to learn about the styles of parenting:
https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/parenting-style-four-types-of-parenting 

Another good site if you think you might be a bit more involved than necessary sometimes:
https://afineparent.com/be-positive/helicopter-parent.html

More to learn and reflect everyday :)

My LG's first Diwali and first word!

My LG's first Diwali was this one on November 13th. The ever adoring grandma had sent her a pattu pavadai material. It arrived through my visiting cousin on Saturday November 10th! I took it and took the LG and ran (actually drove) to a tailor suggested by the said cousin's elder sis. The tailor looked at his subject and was instantly in a great mood. Apparently she was the youngest subject ever! He was so happy and delighted that he forgot to criticize me for dropping in with a material to be ready for Diwali in two days time! Benefits of having a cute little girl in hand :)

I leave a pic of the pavadai worn by the little subject for your viewing.

Btw LG also said her first word. She has said ammas during her cries, but never by itself just calling me. Once she said something that suspiciously sounded like appa and taken by her appa to have been just that.

But this word was clear. Loud and clear. It was "Bobby"!!! That is a wonder since we know no one called bobby! Oh well. It was her first word and we celebrate it thus. I am sure we will meet a bobby one day :)