I guess India IS a mystic land. The only things kids need here is access.
You see.. it's very easy to get ooohs and aaahs the first time you show them something different. The trick lies in trusting the kid with it.
This one time when I went to native Odisha, I had carried along my laptop. During an afternoon siesta, I was watching a movie when my cousin came in to sleep alongside. He knew I was busy watching, so he didn't poke me and just stared into the screen. He snugged in a little, and I gave him one of the earphones. The movie ended, I closed the player, shut the laptop down and went to sleep. In the evening, I was reading a book when he brought the laptop and asked if he can see it.
"Sure. Just don't click anything you're doubtful about."
I dictated him the password, and just sat beside finishing the book. For the next one hour, the only talk we had was how to close, how to open, how to delete,etc.. just simple know-hows. It just rained clicks. He scooted in and out of every folder he could lay his hands on. Whenever a new sub-menu or options opened, he would take time to recollect all the English he had ever learnt and read and try to understand every word on the screen. He feared disturbing me, so I was thankfully spared all those doubts and questions. At the hour's end, he did a small fistpump which he thought I won't notice, but I did. He had actually played the movie we watched in the afternoon. He turned towards me and said in Odia,
"I hadn't watched from the start." :p
I was mindblown! He was just 7! I even remember revising the English alphabet with him the year before.. And this smart kid I'm so proud of studies in an Odia-medium school in the rurals. In the next few days, he could paint, play games, practise making sentences on the Notepad, etc. Often in my presence, he is told to follow in his brother's footsteps and become 'big' like me. Sometimes, that sounds funny. Because if he would've got the same shoes that I wore, he would be running ahead of me by miles..
Studies is important, we know. But tutions are definitely not. Give that time to the kid to spend it on what he loves doing. Once he tries, learns and conquers that, he'll derive an unspoken satisfaction and happiness from it. And it'll not be long before the kid feels thirsty again and this time turns towards his books..
And for this, we need to lift that 'restricted access' you run into every time your parents take your reins into their hands.
PS: Don't turn violent on your parents, you Komolikaas! Remember point 1? Conquer it. Do that good enough and your parents will start seeing it too.
You see.. it's very easy to get ooohs and aaahs the first time you show them something different. The trick lies in trusting the kid with it.
This one time when I went to native Odisha, I had carried along my laptop. During an afternoon siesta, I was watching a movie when my cousin came in to sleep alongside. He knew I was busy watching, so he didn't poke me and just stared into the screen. He snugged in a little, and I gave him one of the earphones. The movie ended, I closed the player, shut the laptop down and went to sleep. In the evening, I was reading a book when he brought the laptop and asked if he can see it.
"Sure. Just don't click anything you're doubtful about."
I dictated him the password, and just sat beside finishing the book. For the next one hour, the only talk we had was how to close, how to open, how to delete,etc.. just simple know-hows. It just rained clicks. He scooted in and out of every folder he could lay his hands on. Whenever a new sub-menu or options opened, he would take time to recollect all the English he had ever learnt and read and try to understand every word on the screen. He feared disturbing me, so I was thankfully spared all those doubts and questions. At the hour's end, he did a small fistpump which he thought I won't notice, but I did. He had actually played the movie we watched in the afternoon. He turned towards me and said in Odia,
"I hadn't watched from the start." :p
I was mindblown! He was just 7! I even remember revising the English alphabet with him the year before.. And this smart kid I'm so proud of studies in an Odia-medium school in the rurals. In the next few days, he could paint, play games, practise making sentences on the Notepad, etc. Often in my presence, he is told to follow in his brother's footsteps and become 'big' like me. Sometimes, that sounds funny. Because if he would've got the same shoes that I wore, he would be running ahead of me by miles..
Studies is important, we know. But tutions are definitely not. Give that time to the kid to spend it on what he loves doing. Once he tries, learns and conquers that, he'll derive an unspoken satisfaction and happiness from it. And it'll not be long before the kid feels thirsty again and this time turns towards his books..
And for this, we need to lift that 'restricted access' you run into every time your parents take your reins into their hands.
PS: Don't turn violent on your parents, you Komolikaas! Remember point 1? Conquer it. Do that good enough and your parents will start seeing it too.
