Cheers To Womanhood

 Today being International Women’s Day, social media is all flooded with wishes and messages about women empowerment.  I keep wondering what are we trying to reveal on this day, gender equality? Or that, we women are strong and powerful? I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer. Won’t that be appreciable if we are treated as a human rather than a women?

Women with or without a women’s day is the most dedicated, loving, scrupulous, strong willed, meticulous flag-bearer for the endurance of  humankind. While being so is her responsibility, why celebrate that? Just by dedicating a day to us is not going to help solve any of the challenges faced by the womanhood. On one hand women take care of the house, raise children, run the family, run a business, design the future, run a corporate, rule a country, if this is what we celebrate; there’s the other side where a whole bunch of ladies undergoing domestic violence, verbal or physical abuse, depressed or stressed out and undergoing countless problems, which they doesn’t know how to vent or come out of  it, which is totally ignored.

These women need a lot of support in terms of health, education, safety, knowing their rights, economically stable or any other way which can safeguard their lives. Most of the times a victim doesn't open up on her problems to her family or friends, just because she will be blamed, judged and advised. Its very important to give them a positive environment where she is not judged, her emotions are valued and accepted as such. If an affected women can get emotional strength and support, then she herself will defend her and set things straight. If these can be addressed, then womanhood can be cherished and celebrated.

A big cheers to those who have learnt to get up stronger each time they fall down; Many Cheers to those lovely women who are not judgemental towards fellow ladies, we never know what the other might be going through; And a huge respect to those who add more colors to others life.

For all the beautiful women, get time for yourself to relax and revere,value yourself, ignore those comments which puts you on low, spend time on something which is passionate for you and then life will be more pleasant.

Let’s rise up with a promise to empower ourselves from within. Let’s pledge to join hands and support our fellow ladies and motivate each other in all possible ways. Let’s be kind to ourselves and all others.

 “I alone cannot change the world. But can caste a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa.

Keep rippling, keep appreciating, keep motivating, keep inspiring, keep smiling! Enjoy womanhood throughout the year!!

Decode Your Stress At Workplace

 Pressure at the workplace is something unavoidable due to the high demands of modern life-style. There is a very thin line between work pressure and stress. Pressure at work helps an individual stay focused and energetic enough to meet new challenges which is necessary for him/her and the company. But, when the it becomes unmanageable or excessive, there comes Stress. Stress is merely an individual’s response to numerous factors like long working hours, heavy workload, overwhelming productivity demands from employers, stringent regulations at the workplace and above all always being connected to work due to mobile phones. Excessive stress not only leaves severe impairments on emotional and physical health, but also can ruin relationships and even hinder with the productivity and performance of an individual at work. It's so obvious that the causes of stress may be out of our hands, but our response to it can be.

To get more insight and find practical ways of how people handle it, I conducted a survey among 300+ professionals of various fields. More than 60% have mentioned that they had to work extended hours or weekends and they don’t have an option of denying. Here are more details based on the study, refer below 2 graphs.

                        

                         

According to the study conducted, more than 80% of the respondents reside in India. Does living in India contribute to the levels of stress? Of course, here in India, there’s more to it than work load. Right from long commutes, the snarling traffic, the worst condition of the roads, working weekends and along with all these no work-life balance; every single factor gets added up and becomes too much to cope with.

Here are few Health Warning Signs to find out if the stress levels are out of control; (refer below image)

                           

When already stress had started mounting at work, taking a quick break and recharging self can help things stay intact. Here are some quick Relaxing Techniques shared by the respondents during the survey, which they mentioned they follow at their workplace.

Scheduling quick breaks now and then helps maintaining steady focus throughout the day. Switching Off from work and physically moving away from that place was suggested by many and is an effective practice to keep the energy meter high. Going for a coffee break, talking to people around, a Rubik’s cube, playing indoor games like table tennis and carom also helps ease anxiety. Couple of respondents have even mentioned fidget spinner helped with their stress levels to a great extent. Soft techniques such as meditation, taking a few long inhales (deep breathes), listening to music etc provide a state of calmness and helps stress melt away rejuvenating both mind and body.

Learning to deal with anxiety and neutralizing it can be easier than trying to change the environment itself.  Certain simple day-to-day practices, positive habits and regulations can play a vital role keeping stress levels in control. Every individual is different, and so are the ways. With practice you’ll be able to find out which works good for you. Here are few more simple and effective Tips To Overcome Stress.

1. Sharing your stress with someone can be very effective. Have a face to face conversation with someone whom you trust and who can understand you. Talking it out can be a highly effective way for blowing off the steam and remain sane.
2. Build good friendship with people who are appreciative, who value you and who make you feel better with their companionship. At times, it is important to put life on hold for a short while to nurture the relationships that keep you happy and healthy.
3. Make time for regular exercise. While exercising, body releases hormones that control stress. Exercises like walking, jogging, biking, dancing, aerobics, swimming or badminton will be highly effective as it increases the energy level and relaxes both mind and body. Yoga and breathing are also equally good to help stay focused and relaxed.
4. Having a regular habit of calling your family and talking to them for a while will help divert mind from work related tension and strengthen the bond. Even a small conversation can lift the mood and energize, reaping immediate benefits.
5. Do not over-commit. Scheduling back-to-back tasks or trying to fit too much on a single day will make the stress levels take a toll. Instead try prioritizing works or delegating responsibilities, to regain a sense of control over the job.
6. Eat and Sleep Right. Healthy and nutritious food along with adequate sleep can cut down the stress levels, boost self-esteem and help you do your best at work.

Learning to ignore the aspects which are out of control and focusing on what you can control like effort, attitude, relationships, food habits, sleep and health. By taking care of these, stress levels can be kept in a healthy range, and you can do real wonders at your workplace.

Have a great trick to reduce stress in the workplace? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Momspresso.com (formerly mycity4kids). Any omissions or errors are the author's and Momspresso does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

How I Started Preferring Homeopathic Treatment For My Kid

 Kids are prone to cold, flu and all kind of infections; so was our little one too. We would be scared to take him to places, because each time we travel he ends up getting sick and would end up with sleepless nights and medicines for at least 10 days. Right from his birth visiting his Paed once in a month has become a routine for us. And like any other parent I was also religiously following the prescriptions given, until he was diagnosed with tonsillitis.

This guy was already sensitive for Amoxicillin (antibiotic) and had to be treated with alternate antibiotics, which did not help much. He has been taking antibiotics for more than 4 months and we couldn't see any cure, so he was suggested for Tonsillectomy (procedure for removing tonsillitis).

As we had been already consulting with a well experienced Pediatrician, VJ was kind of OK for the procedure, but I didn't want him to undergo a surgery. Even during the course of treatment, I had many times tried convincing VJ for consulting a Homeopathic physician, but he was strongly denying as he was not willing to go for any alternate medicine for a kid. Now that we were left with only one option of removing tonsillitis, I certainly wanted to give a try with Homeopathy and he gave in half-heartedly.

Homeopathic treatment was not new for me, as I am extremely sensitive towards allopathic medicines that even a paracetamol will create troubles for me. I have been used to these sweet pills right from my school days. So during a vacation I took Praj to our Homeopath in our native place. We had a detailed discussion on the symptoms; because as far as I have heard at Homeopathy we will get a remedy based on an individual’s symptoms rather than the disease itself.

After a discussion of around 30 mins, he gave some pills and asked to cut down on cream biscuits, chocolates and ice-creams completely for a while. He also prescribed salt water gargling along with the pills. Gradually he got better and better and slowly we waved goodbye for our frequent visits to the hospital. From then on, we started preferring this way of healing for any health discomfort.

Now we can vouch for Homeopathy and its results and most of the times when I hear a comment from a fellow parent saying her kid falls sick frequently, I started suggesting "You should try homeopathy for your child". Because common ailments like cold, cough, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, tonsillitis etc occur frequently in children and it is better to treat them without inducing any side effects in a very gentle way.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, this blog post was created only for sharing my experience here.

Screen time is not bad, when you choose the right content!

 I was totally shaken to read that a seven-year-old girl died after setting herself on fire while trying to enact a scene from a TV show.  Her mother had revealed that the kid was hooked to the show and would watch it regularly. According to her, the little girl had taken some waste papers and set it on fire and tried to dance in the middle of it, just imitating a scene from the TV show. Her clothes got fire and she was set ablaze. It is extremely unfortunate that this beautiful little girl lost her life in such a terrible manner.

Now, should we say stop all the serials or those mad reality shows first? Or never allow kids to watch TV or use a gadget? It’s a major lesson for the adults here. Let it be a TV or a gadget; a Kid on its own will never learn to hook on to a show or a game. In the first place, it must have been the parents or guardians who would have introduced it to them. I know most of the times it’s much easier for the parents to give them some screentime so that we can peacefully do some households or get some relaxing time. What kind of shows can they watch and for how long, are the ones to be noted.  Give them some good and age-appropriate content. Be aware of what your children are watching. Kids really don’t have to look at those horrible serials or action movies or those romantic songs and imitate them.  Stop them right away and tell them it’s a bad move and not everything that comes up in a movie or TV can be mocked.

We can give them a guilt-free screentime if we have some ground rules of WHEN, HOW MUCH & WHAT CONTENT. Most of the times we would have heard “No screen time (TV, tablet, phone, computer) until 2 years”. I have personally experienced the adverse effects of that. Being at a foreign land, taking care of our little one all alone was not that easy, I was in need of some breathing time and I started allowing him to watch rhymes and non-violent animated series even before he turned 1. Not too much though, we did have our own share of troubles in terms of his food habits, sleeping patterns and speech delays. And it took months and years for us to get things right. Now I totally believe its better to keep them away from the TV and those gadgets atleast until 18 months, as the first couple of years are very crucial for the child’s brain development. Preschoolers can have not more than 1 hour of screen time throughout the day, is what the recommendation says. And for kids and teens, it's better to restrict it to be 2 hours per day and not more than 30-45 mins at a single stretch.

Take a stand on What they can watch? Any non-violent, non-abusive content in moderation should be okay. We can teach them which is a good show and which is not, just like we teach them on good and bad touch or good and bad manners. We can explain why it is not meant for them, talking to your child always works well.

Let them stay away from those commercials. Kids under 7 really can’t distinguish much between make-believe and reality which makes them vulnerable to advertising. At all times, keep insisting that, let it be an advertisement or a cartoon show or a movie, whatever they see doesn’t have to be replicated in a real time. Never keep the TV On as a background (at least when the child is around), when you are busy in the kitchen or doing laundry because that will only draw the child’s attention. Once their screen time is over, it's better to turn off the TV and the put the remote away. Set TV/screen time rules for weekdays and weekends and stick to them. That will prevent them spending too much time on it.

Be a guide and role model for your children. By setting healthy limits on screen time and knowing what your child is watching and playing, you can help make the most of your child's media use.

Stop Littering; Start Segregating

 Recently, the photo of a load of plastics in the gut of a shark that washed ashore galvanized volunteers for a coastal cleanup drive. Information says, so far they have removed two tonnes of plastics and 5000 bottles. Only 2% of the waste collected was of fish waste and 55% is plastic. Seems scary and disturbing right? Though a Coastal cleanup can make a difference, it alone can’t solve the problem. It’s high time for all of us to examine our lifestyle.

It's only relatively in the recent years we have moved towards the use and throw culture. For many, years, it was perfectly acceptable to eat food and throw it out of the window, because it would decompose naturally as people were only eating naturally grown products with no fancy wrappings or bottled juices. Now everything is compactly packed. Only the contents can be consumed, the skeleton has to go to the garbage. And moreover, it is very easy to throw the trash roadside or out of the car window rather than looking for a dustbin to trash it.

Can providing more bins or collecting them regularly help sort it out? Garbage from the bins ends up with landfills as there is no proper place or method for disposal. Rather than dumping and complaining the authorities, the easiest way is to segregate wastes at the household level. Do we know that 90% of the household wastes can be recycled? Only if the rest 10% gets into the garbage bin, think how much landfill can be avoided. Major chunks of paper, carton boxes, plastics, aluminum tins etc can be sold to Kabadiwalas and recycled. I have seen my mom and sis doing that for years and I have been trailing them. All that we need is a little extra effort and someplace in our house for a container to collect the recyclable wastes. Now, even my little chap knows which one has to go to the bin and which one should go to the recycle box, even a broken sharpener will find its way to the recycle box.

During my school days, I remember using those old calendar sheets for covering books, the plastic covers we get while buying new clothes will again turn into a safe wrapper on top of books, old greeting cards reused for some craft activity or creating another greeting card for a friend, newspapers to cover the shelves, carton boxes as storage boxes, glass bottles reused in the kitchen and much more. But this is a new era, we just want everything to look new and hence throw them after a single use.

Let’s follow the three R's “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”. Reduce means generate less garbage or fully use the thing and then treat it as a garbage. Reuse means try to use it again and again in a healthy manner instead of throwing it away after the very first use itself. For example, if you buy a pickle in a glass bottle, after consuming use that bottle for kitchen storage. Similarly Recycle means, instead of disposing of everything, sort them from the things which can be made reusable after slight treatment, like papers, bottles, cans, tins etc.

After all, it's our Planet and we have many generations to come, their world doesn't have to be so bleak. We need as many hands as possible for protecting our mother nature. Please join in with your family and friends!

Helping Kids Cope, When Things Don’t Go Their Way!

 Kids get disappointed easily. A mixed emotion of sadness, hurt, anger and frustration is never easy for them to handle. As parents, our heart aches for their pain and intuitively, we want to comfort them. So we hover around and try to protect them at all costs. But, that may not be correct.

No matter how old your child, he or she might have to deal with day-to-day mini disappointments. Whether it’s winning a race, their play time being ruined by rain, not invited for a play, not being the best friend of someone they like, getting low grades and so on. These are part of growing up; let kids have their fair share of disappointments at an early age. Our job is to teach them how to bounce back so that they can cope better for future letdowns.  

Here are some tips to help them handle disappointments:

Listen, Just Listen;

When a child is disappointed, hurt or upset and is opening up to talk, they won’t be ready to listen for any advises/suggestions. The minute a child says “He did that to me”, “She said that to me”, we tend to react and start telling them what is right and wrong. But, the best thing would be to “listen” without interrupting. Half the problem will be solved, the moment they realize we are listening to them.

Teach your child to calm himself

There is a strategy song in Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood series (PBSKids). When you feel so mad, that you want to roar, take a deep breath. And count to four 1, 2,3,4... This would work for my 6 year old. Find a self-calming technique that works for your child. They can be something like taking deep breaths, drinking the magic calming juice(water), writing down their feelings, reading a book, physical movements like running, jumping, dancing etc., Kids should be able to figure out calming down on their own by the time they turn 10 or even before that.

Learn from the incident!

Once they have calmed down and when they’re in a good mood, talk to them. Show your care and love. Ask questions like “What do you think of this situation” or “Why do you think he behaved like that” or “Do you think we can find a way out of it?” Asking questions makes them feel important and also helps them understand the situation better. Remind them how good it felt when they bounced back from a past letdown.

It is important to let the child know that they are always loved for who they are. Help them develop healthy self-esteem and a lifelong ability to cope with setbacks, which is a valuable gift you can give your children.

Hope you found this interesting! If you have any other ideas to help children handle disappointment, please share them in the comments section below. Sure it will be useful to other parents as well!

Until next time, Happy Parenting!  

#MeToo; A dreamer for harassment free world!

 A decade back, an activist Tarana Burke created a campaign called MeToo, to help the survivors of sexual harassment. The floodgates were reopened on Sunday night when American Actress Alyssa Milano kicked off the movement by posting on behalf of her friend that any woman who has suffered sexual nuisance could tweet #MeToo, so that people would get a serious idea about the sheer magnitude of the problem. 

May it be a verbal abuse or stalking or inappropriate touching. Within hours, tweets with the words “me too” began appearing in masses, women across the globe started joining in with their own tales. For some, the pervert was a stranger and for few, it was their own family member or a colleague or a boss.

For a lot of people, #metoo is empowering, giving them an opportunity to break their silence in an atmosphere of acceptance. While many people are praising the guts of the women who are posting it, there are others who just say nothing is going to change because of this.

True, nothing is going to stop because of this. But at least it can be the beginning of a fight. It can be a moment of realization for women that “You are the only person who can defend yourself; no one will come to rescue, so be brave and confident.”

Most of the times, those devils who tease or try to harass will step back if you raise your voice. They cannot take it up when you react, yell, protest or fight back. You don't need to know Martial arts to protect you. Anything and everything you have, may it be an object or just words can help defend. Rather than being a victim, it's high time we learn how to respond to a crucial situation.  

Let the dream of harassment-free environment come true with the way we bring up our kids. Gender-biased rules or discipline should be eliminated. Each and every individual has to be self-disciplined, mannered and empathetic.

Let harassment become history!

P.S Thanks for going through my article. I'm sure you would have more strategies that worked for you. Please share them in the comments section below. Would love to hear from you!