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  • ratnesh : 7 Jan 2012 - 01:07 : Is the world competitive or is it cooperative?

    Geniekids center has two neighbours. Few months back the traffic deptt banned parking on our side of the road - so we started parking our car either in front of the opposite building or in front of the side building.

    The opposite building guy came roaring at us, cursed us, and vowed that he will park his red car only and only bang in front of our gate. He said we deserved all the inconvenience (even if that makes him inconvenienced).
    That to me is competition.

    The side building lady - one day when i had to park my car far away, called me and said, "You have lot of things in your car to carry - i will remove my car - so that you can park in front of my house and carry your stuff comfortably into your center. She thinks we deserve convenience (even if that makes her inconvenienced).
    That to me is cooperation.

    Me ... learning ... :-)

  • ratnesh : 12 Sep 2011 - 20:13 : Faults as mirrors

    Whenever i look at a 'fault' in others
    it gives me an opportunity to reflect upon the same fault in myself.
    Let me not miss this opportunity. I often do that.

    Now, let me take this as a reminder. 
    Let me listen to the echo. Let me use this opportunity to become aware.
    Let me use this for my own reflection.

    Let me understand the 'faults' role in my life. I need not change it. Others need not change it.
    But I can become aware of it. I can make others aware of it.
    And we can use this awareness to explore options, choices we are making, results we are getting; to understand.

    My understanding becomes my way. 



    So finding fault can be good - specially when I use it as a mirror :-)))

    Ratnesh

  • aditi : 24 Feb 2011 - 21:43 : Control temptations

    Today we had Manthan on “temptation, following others while they do wrong things"

    We started with the game “what are you doing” - you answer what you are not doing :-)
    One Pitsy Puppet came in the session to tell tell about how he reached in time to see a movie and jumped many signals. He took care that the police man was not watching him.
    Children gave their suggestion

    1. You need to follow rules
    2. Red is for stop
    3. You may get dashed
    4. You need to start in time
    5. You need to see that you are getting caught in camera at the signal
    6. Do not talk in the theatre, other swill get disturbed

    Pitsy said “all were doing so I also did, Many people were jumping signal, I was not the only one”. Some more gyan for Pitsy

    1. Follow rules for  yourself
    2. Respect others
    3. donot follow wrong things, do what is right

    Then, we took one sheet and wrote  - What I do when “I see, hear, touch, taste, smell” inappropriate things/ actions. This generated a lot of discussion

    1. I do not see
    2. Sometimes I follow wrong things
    3. I join others who are bullying others
    4. When I get bully, I feel bad

    At the end they all wrote “what  gain, What I loose” by following others

     After effect :
    Just after the Manthan we had cubs in Dana Pani for lunch, Lions and Gurs were still in th session. . One didi lifted tank lid to see the water level. This created curiosity among few - they lifted the lid, some threw paper in that, some looked how deep it is, some joined for fun, some lifted little some reminded do not do..............

    We called for a discussion - All honest expression. One was constantly saying "I did not do", while others were saying you lifted. Th child said "you talk about you" - but other did not stop, at the end he committed "I lifted only little". Aunty was eating lunch and listening.

    We together sent mails to our parents

    Dear Parents,

    Today in school we opened water tank cover and threw paper napkins inside. SOme of us lift the cover but did not threw paper. Some chidlren were doing - I also did it. This is very dangerous. We can fall. Many times when I am with my friends I do wrong things, I follow them,

    I am learning to be safe. In class my aunty takes care that we are safe. When I go for lunch/ snacks/ free time - I sometimes follow wrong things. I need to be with one adult till I learn to be safe.

    Tomorrow for Khel Mela - We need to be WITH my parents only ALL THE TIME (9 to 1pm).

    1. Till my mind settles down then I we do not need aunty/parents fully. I think it will settle down on Saturday/ Sunday. I will do a lot of work.
    2. I say let me also do it, I am learning by taking care that I focus on my work and eat my food. Will take silence badge till my mind settles down.
    3. Take care my danger. I can improve. At house I will take silence badge - I can take help.
    4. I was about to fall, I was opening water cover,
    5. I work on my behaviour on every sat/sun. My parents are helping me. I am learning.

    Thank you mummy papa for reading this mail and helping us to reflect at home. We will do reflection at home on safety.

    FACULTY NOTE

    Most I enjoyed "honest expressions without any fear". And loads of suggestion for self "How will I improve my behaviour".

    VIDEO
    See the video of live Manthan with Cubs (Big file takes time to upload)
    http://geniekids.com/workshops/circle-time-empowering

  • girija : 23 Feb 2011 - 18:18 : Monsters

    During library time we had to share what in the book made us curious. Each one was sharing what things or which pictures made them curious. One child pointing to  a picture of a lady said she became a monster, immediately another one said all aunties in this earth are monsters.

    Now my curious eyes and ears wanted to know why is that so?? To which we had only giggles

    >

  • girija : 22 Feb 2011 - 18:21 : Confession Box

    During sunshine we had a confession box- as introduction aunty asked what is confession and lo the list of meaning means injection, confusion, means pinching the box, concession.Enjoyed listening to the different meanings

  • aditi : 19 Feb 2011 - 00:09 : It is bad word

    During project time - One 7yr old child to a 6 yr old said bloody fuck, 6ys old came and said “aunty he is telling me bloody fuck”, another joined and said this is bad word.........what do you think ?

    With Faculty

    Child was guided to find the meaning of the word in the dictionary.
    Problem child did not know the spelling
    Wrote the spelling in the book, child trying to search for the word after 45 mins told child to find out with the help of mother.Two days went by and child was not able to find. Again he spend time with dictionary.Came back with the meaning of both the words. Bloody means useless, and Fuck is very bad word. Child found out at home and shared with all in sunshine.

    During reflection with mother at school

    We were discussing over all his concerns, mother's concern and the school's concern - so this also came up.

    I was doing my work and another child was disturbing me again and again. My friends use this word. So we took it forward

    Bloody  - is also used when you say something angrily - so you can REPLACE with

    • "Do not disturb me now"
    • "I do not want to talk now"

    Fuck - hurting other by body. Also used when you are angry. (he said yes this is how my friend use)

    So use replaced words

    1. I am angry
    2. I am upset
    3. I do not want to play with you

    Also some say its bad word, some use it just like that. We did role play how people use 'bloody fuck" with intensity.

    Suggestion to the parent for reflection at home

    1
    Ask
    What all do you know about the words - like you the meaning of cat, dog, focus, learning, maths, addition, numbers, jogging etc
    So what is the meaning of words "bloody and fuck".

    2
    Read the meaning of the words in dictionary. (below from wikipedia)

    FUCK - For sexuall intercourse - you can "as you become big you will know - it is like hurting someone. Discuss how it is used as slang.  Word is not bad, the action is not acceptable. 

    3
    Talk about REPLACED words -

    1. Bloody - "you want to emphasize something, show your anger, firmness - so discuss replaced words, action."
    2. Fuck - speak just like that, "shit or stupid" to show your anger. What yo can replace  ?

    Did my own research on the words - now I am more educated :)

    Bloody is the adjectival form of blood but may also be used as an expletive attributive (intensifier) in Australia, Britain, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, South Africa (in the form of bladdy or blerrie), New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Anglophone Caribbean and Sri Lanka. Nowadays it is considered (by most of the population of these countries) to be a very mild expletive, and unlikely to cause offence in most circles,[1] with the exception of the most severe critics.

    Fuck is an English word that is generally considered profane which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. However, by extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed.

    "Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb, adjective, command, interjection, noun, and can logically be used as virtually any word in a sentence (e.g., "Fuck the fucking fuckers"). Moreover, it is one of the few words in the English language which could be applied as an infix (e.g., "Am I sexy? Absofuckinglutely!"; "Bullfuckingshit!"). It has various metaphorical meanings. The verb "to be fucked" can mean "to be cheated" (e.g., "I got fucked by a scam artist"), or alternatively, to be sexually penetrated. As a noun "a fuck" or "a fucker" may describe a contemptible person. "A fuck" may mean an act of copulation. The word can be used as an interjection, and its participle is sometimes used as a strong emphatic. The verb to fuck may be used transitively or intransitively, and it appears in compounds, including fuck off, fuck up, "fuck you", and fuck with. In less explicit usages (but still regarded as vulgar), fuck or fuck with can mean to mess around, or to deal with unfairly or harshly. In a phrase such as "don't give a fuck", the word is the equivalent of "damn", in the sense of something having little value. In "what the fuck!", it serves merely as an intensive. If something is very abnormal or annoying "this is fucked up!" may be said.

     

     

  • girija : 17 Feb 2011 - 21:52 : Anthing can happen

    We were working on the Habit of mind-Caring. In the process of activity children had to tie their legs and hands and one partner has to close the ways and other one leads.

    As we were walking on the road two van uncles were looking at us. One uncle asked the other what is happening and jhatak phatak answer- here anything can happen. I just smiled at this and moved ahead

    Girija

  • aditi : 17 Feb 2011 - 15:25 : Excellence

    A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage.
     
    "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work.
     "Where are you going to install the idol?"

    The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.
     "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.
    The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said,
     "I will know it."

    The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency...

     

  • girija : 28 Jan 2011 - 13:06 : they can take care of themselves

    One little Khoj child was walking up and down, in the process she tripped down. Looked here and there saw nobody is looking at her made an announcement I am a strong girl smiled and moved ahead.

    g

  • aditi : 25 Jan 2011 - 22:07 : About Marriage
    Today, after dance class my daughter was upset with my son “he was telling girls I want to marry you, now no one will talk to you”.
    My son said “I only said to one girl, she did not listen to me, so I said to another girl, that’s all, I did not say to all the girls”.

    Well, this lead to a lot of discussion on marriage.

    I asked “what is marriage?”
    He said “when a girl and boy marry and they stay together, how you and papa are staying”

    I said “so when you become big you will get marry. How big is your cousin brother who recently got married ?”

    He said “only when you are big, go to school, then college then you work - you will need money also na”.

    I asked “when do you want to marry,
    He replied - “Mummy see I do not want to marry now, I was just reminding them when I am big, they should not forget na”.
    I said “before marriage me and papa became good friends, and all friends do not get marry”. Some like each other, some do not. You may like a girl but girl will not like you."
    He looked worried “but noon likes me”
    Now it was sister’s turn “girls do not like when you dance funny or speak in funny way - you do that only onto the stage not in real”.
    He looked little relieved “yes, only in acting you do funny”.

    He asked “why can’t a boy marry a boy?”
    I said “they can, they are called gay and if girls marry girls they are called lesbians”
    He said “but I do not want to marry a boy”
    He asked “why can’t I marry my sister ?
    I said “you can have only one relationship. You already have sister brother relationship - like Pizza cannot be pizza and burger both”. He started laughing.

    At the end I said “I enjoyed talking to you about marriage, you can share any time you have anything about marriage”.

    He hugged me and went to sleep




    I truly enjoyed. Sharing with you all as a parent.

    Aditi

  • girija : 25 Jan 2011 - 11:47 : How faculty is selected in AArohi

    In our publicity campaign project, one question was how do you select faculty in Aarohi? Phatak answer simple do inky pinkie ponki and we select them.

    How easy!!!!

    Girija Aunty

  • girija : 25 Jan 2011 - 11:46 : Stop eating cashew if......

    The other day during fruit time one child was relishing and eating cashew. His team mate say him and started conversation with regarding cashew. She was talking about the merits and  demerits of eating cashew. Our man was very involved in cashew and was not listening to her, suddenly this girl changed her style and said " eat cashew no problem, for your marriage you wont look nice you will look gappu than do not tell me.

     

  • aditi : 17 Jan 2011 - 22:58 : Why sing this way ?

    Pati, (Anu P’s grand mother) comes every Wednesday during sunshine to sing with us - we sing sa re ga....

    One child asked "how come we sing this way only"

    Pati paused for a moment and asked "do you eat pizza ?, do you eat this? do you eat that?

    All said yes

    Pati asked "how come?"

    After a pause she continued - like we have a recipe for the food, we have basic recipe for singing. Now how come you make pizza that way only ?

    We smiled at the analogy and continued singing.

  • aditi : 11 Jan 2011 - 00:50 : College not required

    We went to see training centre of arm forces. We went around and saw that they give training in everything  - like shooting, gun, parachute landing etc.

    At the end of the trip one child said  "so we do not need to learn anything in the college, they will anyway give training".

    This child was told that to become pilot he needs to become engineer and he needs to go to engineering college and to go to engg college he will have to work on subjects like maths and science.

    now what ?

     

     

     

     

  • girija : 4 Jan 2011 - 19:12 : Need to read

    While making mind maps of English module, children were so clear with their thoughts and needs as to why they are learning. Needs like to be able to read full story book, to be move from cubs to lions.

    The need within to learn has left me wondering and pondering

  • aditi : 30 Dec 2010 - 14:09 : Passion at work

    An article in Deccan herald - Passion at work is path to happiness in life - a nice article on the way we look at "work".

    http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124365/passion-work-path-happiness-life.html

    Just to share  - I have seen Ratnesh working endlessly at home and at work and never found him tired or cribbing about the work. He works almost all the Saturdays and on every Saturday evening he is the most enthusiastic to do anything - from movie to drive to Kanakpura for a music program or for shopping or to just rest............ on Sundays he is all set for anything from birding in the early morning to social get together to trekking for full day or sports with kids or take Asawari to dance class to R T nagar .......................and yet he is ready for the work on EVERY Monday (no Monday morning blues). And yet he takes time out to read books and do research on many things and play sports with his friend early morning before going for work.

    He works during all the holidays (Summer, Winter and Dussera) and yet he is ready for the fresh sessions after holidays when the team joins back. And yet he makes all the holiday program for kids and family and ensure we get our due as family during the holidays. He mentor each trainee with patience during holiday practicals.

    Anyone sick in the family he sits through the night and finds no reason to not to attend the work next day.

    I guess it is not about the work but rather how we look at the work makes a difference.

    To take it to parenting and working parents. It is common to hear

    "I have so much to do, I am doing so much for my family, chidlren and the organisation, I am completely stuck between work and family, I have hectic work schedule, and so on - the list is long..........."

    So where does the happiness lies ?

    1. In Passion or in Cribbing ?
    2. In doing or in getting due (appreciation) for this doing (my kids should think I am good parent)

    The article says " However, despite providing increased remuneration and benefits, employers continue to be unhappy with productivity. Ironically, even economic development hasn’t led to happiness in professional and personal life for employees. On the contrary, conflicts at work place and high stress levels have led to a decline in quality of living, proving the futility of materialistic comforts"

    And many of us look for special mediation course to find the peace in our life "Ratnesh says - meditate in the middle the traffic jam, what's the big deal about meditating in a meditation class".

    Well, It is not about working for anyone - child or spouse or family or organisation -it is about PASSION for the work. And working for yourself.

    You do not work for your child - you care because you like caring

    You do not work for an organisation - you work because you LOVE working.

    Change the belief to get the happiness in life.

    My two cents

    regards

    aditi

  • ratnesh : 24 Dec 2010 - 14:55 : pencil, eraser, mistakes, failure etc

    My friend Bhuvana shared this via email with me:
    Hi, I liked this and wanted to share with you all
     
    Pencil: I'm sorry....

    Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

    Pencil: I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

    Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)

    I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on). Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

    This is for all parents out there.....

    Here is my reply to Bhuvana:

    Bhuvana - i am going to very harsh on this email - just to make sure my point is heard above all the sugary sentimentality the story creates. I am also marking this to the emails from where you got it.

    The reason i want to react so is because i think this kind of sentimentality or beliefs is what is constraining our generation's lower-than-potential-performance. We have done decent - we can DO MUCH BETTER.
     
    According to me:
    As parents WE are NOT Erasers - we are NOT here to erase our children mistakes. The child has both the ability to write as well as the ability to erase (read "correct") and also rewrite and so on. The child has the ability to be resilient, to be persistent, to be not afraid of pencil getting shorter or eraser getting shorter.
    The child (or anybody else for that matter) does not become less neither by writing (as a pencil does) nor by erasing (as a eraser does).
    We as human beings are designed to write and erase and we should not be afraid to do so.
     
    To me more importantly the parents role is not to shield, erase or protect the child from doing mistakes - we should in fact encourage children to doing mistakes.
    Current view of majority parents, - and you know I interact with thousands of middle and upper middle class parents every year -
    is that of protection (from mistakes and failures),
    is of being scared (of performance),
    is of having little belief in their children (and hence all the time seeking external ways to make it easy for the child).
     
    to me parents role is to empower children to write more and to keep on writing - though at many times what we do is not "right".
     
    In fact i will even go back one step and claim that in reality we do not have nor we need erasers. There is no real need to "erase" what we did wrong. We can just leave what we did wrong and start fresh. In fact if we leave the mistake in-perspective, we can be reminded of the learning from them - else we may forget it.
    I had an (Australian) English teacher (in my fifth standard) who said - "When you write, if you make an error - say a spelling - don't erase - simply cut it and write ahead of it or above it or below it etc. 
    She said this showed to you what is wrong and what is right.
    What she didn't say was that it also showed that mistakes are just to be corrected, that its alright to do mistakes, that mistakes are the sources of learning and that if someone is doing more mistakes and then correcting them - it is a sign of growth and learning.
     
    Rather than focus on mistakes parents need to develop the ability - in children - to sit back and look at their work and see what they need to learn from it and how to do it better - not erase it just because it seems not to be right.
     
    The story below ends with ......(parents) will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.
     
    Why should parents "hate" seeing their wards worrying or sad? Worrying or sadness are merely two emotions - that we all come across in our life. Are we here to protect or shoo away (so called) negative feelings from our child's life? Is it even possible to do so? Emotions are not positive or negative - they are just emotions - what we need to learn is to be aware of them, to listen to our emotions and learn how to effectively respond to them.
    Instead of empowering our children to deal with emotions (all kinds) we seem to be under an illusion that we can (and should) proptect them from experiencing them.
    Our job is not to wipe their tears; our job - as parents and educators - is to show them that they have the ability to manage their tears!
    I will yell at the top of my voice - lets empower children, lets make them resourceful from inside.
    Lets not wish for a lighter load for them, lets prepare their back to be stronger.
  • aditi : 24 Dec 2010 - 09:20 : Continue excitement

    Spring room is required for Khoj new group.

    Lions with Lakshmi aunty shifted

    1. Resource room to nectar
    2. Module to dana pani

    And also decorated Dana Pa.ni with loads of excitement - curtains etc.

    I said - you can decorate Dana Pani for your module so when you come on 3rd jan - you will be all excited.

    One child said "but the excitement will be for few days only"

    Another said "we can keep it exciting by decorating for every festival".

    So they began decorating for x-mas.

  • aditi : 21 Dec 2010 - 20:32 : Embrace Opposite

    Often people ask us - you said something and then another statement contradcited what you said - so how does this work.

    We say batteries work becasue of opposite polarities.

    An important differentiation, according to me of education and religion is that while most religions, at least the way they are preached in today's world, tend to define the world as black and white, right and wrong - as two extremes where one is only good (the other evil).

    In education, and i guess that is the real challenge and real beauty of being a facilitator ~ we embrace the opposites, the two extremes together, we live in paradoxes.

    We neither label anything as wrong, nor as right (or in/ out).....
    For the sake of its importance - i say again - we embrace the opposites, the extremes.

    Almost like its not two extremes, but its a circle - the 'circle of life'

    In fact to me a magical facilitator actually fuels paradoxes into the design as well as the interactions in the class.

    Lets look at one such paradox: As a facilitator, i know, it can be intense to be quiet, as well as interesting to be discussing. So i do both - enjoying both - experimenting with both - even regretting at times why i spoke and regretting at times why i did not!

    Surprisingly this happens in our relationships too. So many times i say to myself (when talking to say, spouse) "why did i have to open my mouth" and so many times i say - "why didn't i say this at that time" ..... i guess you all can relate to my experiences?

    Amazingly - for children - it is so easy to embrace opposites - one moment "You are my bestest friend" and another "You NO my friend".

    Gotta learn religion from (as aditi says) "little souls"

    ratnesh

  • girija : 9 Dec 2010 - 11:42 : Life School

    Today one genie was walking doing different things, at the end of it she stood with a sigh. So i said so much work you are doing. here is what she said"  yes, this is how life school works with all work-like this work and reading work also.