Igniting Young Minds

Babita Singh

Description

The stories written in this book are a unique attempt to ignite the readers to understand where our moral values stand today. They have been staged in the present circumstances with an honest effort towards making both the parents and children realize the directions their actions can take them to. They are not only thought provoking and powerful but also a very interesting read leaving the reader to decide what the end of the story should be. The protagonists in the sagas are the children themselves who need to be the flag bearers in bringing a change in the society. A must read for children, teachers, and parents!

Sujets

• Short story

Informations

• Publié par: Diamond Books
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789352785261
• Langue: English

Extrait

Igniting Young Minds
 

 
eISBN: 978-93-5278-526-1
© Author
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II New Delhi-110020
Phone: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Website: www.diamondbook.in
Edition: 2017
Igniting Young Minds
By - Babita Singh
 
 
 
I dedicate this book to, My husband Arunesh Kumar Singh , daughter Arunisa Singh , and son Arjun Singh .
Preface
Building a thirty storey high rise apartment is a daunting task but trying to build a character of a thirteen year old can be a more challenging job. As parents we want the best for our children, as a society we expect each child to excel, and as a nation we want a complete package of a well-nurtured adult who can contribute exceedingly to himself/herself, to his/her family, and to the society as a whole.
The race starts even before the child is born, the expectations are formed well in advance and, when it’s time to deliver, a lot of times, reality hurts. What went wrong where? The question is like a pendulum that swings on all sides and really does not come up with a concrete answer.
Character, compassion, contentment, concern, creativity, compliance, capabilities, confidence, clash with competitiveness, consumerism, commercialization, cheating, crime, and complacency.
This book is an attempt towards presenting short stories in a unique way asking for guidance from the inner moral compass of our children. It is an effort towards imbibing moral values from within the children. It is not like delivering a moral science lecture but stirring the child’s heart for the dormant moral values they inherit as human beings.
Education is important but empathy cannot take a back seat either. Passion and compassion need to go hand in hand for a better future. We do not need just education but we want to prepare our children as complete human beings refurbished with values and as responsible citizens.
Weaving the character of a child is a combined team effort of the parents, teachers, friends, and most important the child himself/herself. The respect for each other and the surroundings is like a well- balanced fulcrum, and any tilt on either side, has an immediate effect.
Understanding human nature can be a very complex task, each one has its own perspective and each opinion can be very valuable and leads one to the underlying cause of certain behaviour at one time and a different behaviour at another time.
Here, in an effort towards knowing what the child feels, putting a question mark at the end of each situation to drive his/ her inner self, and in the end our objective is to stir a nest that comprises of a beautiful innocent world within each child that sometimes loses its way.
The formative years of the children define their adult behaviour. Our individual experiences tell us that a story told to a child can have an everlasting impact for a lifetime. The moral stories narrated by grandmothers/grandfathers ending with a happy note of the victory of good over evil still carry their charms. We plan to take the children one step forward where they themselves would be responsible for the end they think is appropriate for them or for that particular situation.
We get disturbed when we see belligerent adults around us who get instigated at the drop of a hat. They create unpleasantness in the society that sometimes leads to very unfortunate circumstances. When we try and analyze the core of their aggressive behaviour we find that we have been nurturing our child wrongly all these years and then we expect the adult to be matured and well balanced.
The tight rope walk between the very young minds to a grown up adult is what defines the behaviour of the man or woman. In my stories I have tried to make the child and the adult think as to how we grownups are somewhere responsible for forming the attitude of our children. It is an endeavour towards bringing compassion into our children and making them think what is right or wrong. I have also tried to portray the distinction we unknowingly make towards the genders, castes, the colour of our skin, the rich and the poor, the consumerism addiction we are moving towards, and the footprints we create for them to follow.
These stories are scenes created keeping in mind our contemporary society and the challenges we face while teaching our children. It is not an easy job to shape the character of an adult; it requires immense patience, deep understanding of the attitude of the child, forgiveness, and a lot of hard work especially for the parents. When, as parents, we decide to bring a new life into this world we also need to help them become responsible citizens of a nation. We have to help them identify the difference between lust and love, the thin dividing line between unpleasantness and hatred, and the ability to choose between the right and the wrong.
The character of a child is the root that will help him or her fight all kinds of situation he or she will face in future. It is the quintessential need of the hour to shape the minds of our children. Here we are seeking to develop a mind that can meditate, that is intensely clear, where the consciousness is bright and alert, a mind that is stable, can focus on the right direction, and is not judgmental about others. These attributes in the coming generation can change the face of the society if practiced with the right attitude.
Let us not judge our children before peeping into our own characters. Let us try and make this journey with our children holding hands that need our support and letting them become the guiding lights of our future.
Each story written in this book has been deeply contemplated and has been analyzed with far reaching convictions as to how our circumstances form the back bone of our characters.
As parents, teachers, individuals we look forward to the guidance our children will provide to us.
Happy Reading!
— Babita Singh [e-mail]
Contents The Lonely Child The Princess’ Tiffin Box Birthday Gifts Nukul’s First Speech The Prized Possession How I Wish I was Fair The Gift My Room Too Young to Drive Knuckles Hurt The Meeting of the East with the West The Arrival of Rama’s Brother Candy’s New Classmate Kavita Aiming for the Sky My First Puff The Fading Dreams Dinner at Grandma’s Place Life is Precious Who is in My Prayers? Aaliya and Ananya Castesism in Villages Shattered Dreams Beautiful Naina The Growling Stomach The Teacher in Her Fire Crackers! What Fun! The Piano Concert Sheila’s Lies? Love is in the Air The Gun How Brave Am I? Captain Arun The Expensive Watch Little Piyush Football Hero Sow and Reap Bulbul’s Birthday The Gold Medal Mouth-Watering Chocolates and Ice Creams My Smart Phone
1
The Lonely Child
It was a Sunday and like everybody else Ria loved this day. It was even more special for her because she would be meeting her father, as she did on every Sunday, for a few hours as per the decision of the court. Her heart fluttered with joy, and the planning for what had to be done on a Sunday, along with her father, excited her.
Ria’s parents were recently divorced and her mother had been given the custody of Ria who was nine years old. It was a year since the proceedings for the divorce of her parents had been going on. Ria did not understand what was happening; all she knew was that her parents always had a fight so they decided to stay separately. A lot of time had been spent in the court and in the end both had agreed to live in different houses. For Ria, things had changed dramatically. She knew that from now onwards they will not be holidaying together, will not come to the parent teacher meeting together, and her friends will always show sympathy towards her for being a divorced parent’s child. She did not like all this but really had no choice except to keep quiet and accept it.
“Hey Ria, do you want to live with your mother or father? Why do they fight? Do they even hit each other? What do you do when they argue? Will you be put in a hostel soon...”and the unending questions from Ria’s friend flowed like a non-stop band.
“I want to live with both, but looks like they do not like each other at all. I wonder why my parents are like that. I do not want to go to a hostel,” replied Ria wondering why she was being punished for no fault of her at all.
Her father was a businessman who spent long hours working in his office. He was very fond of drinking with his friends after a hard day’s work and this attitude of his had annoyed her mother. Ria was just a mute spectator to what had happened between her parents.
The arguments between them hovered in her mind… “I am not your slave to wait for you for so long and open the door for a drunkard man who can barely walk on his own. We are your family and you cannot spend all your time having fun,” screamed her mother.
“I am not having fun, do you understand that! They are my clients and if I have to do business with them, I need to sit with them in the night. All business deals do not happen over a cup of coffee in the office but they actually get finalized over a glass of whisky,” said her father.
“In that case you will have to choose between family and business,” her mother spoke with a thundering voice.
The arguments between her parents usually ended with throwing of things at each other and making frantic phone calls to the lawyer for separation.
Even now the thought of those bitter nights would send shivers down Ria’s spine.
Sunday had become her recourse for a beautiful evening with her father. He would bring her toys and all that she had demanded from him the previous Sunday. It was not the things that excited her but the fulfilment of her wishes and the time her father would have spent on buying these things thinking about her likes and dislikes. It made her feel good and the void she felt throughout the week saw some filling.
Ria’s mother was also trying her best to fulfil her duties as deftly as