Miss Never Pleased: A unique book for kids aged 7-13

So recently I came across an amazingly unique kind of book for kids i.e Miss Never Pleased by Ayesha Marafani but in a very good way. Now the reason why I am saying it unique is that the story depicts emotional transformation of a child (as she grows) and her realization of the basic human feelings like empathy, care and humility that makes it even more interesting to read for kids!

As I was reading the book with my 10 year old, some incidents of the book made us smile, some made us feel pity with the protagonist i.e Habiba and some made us angry too (because she was too proud at times!). The storybook is about a super proud girl who is always hurting others with her irony inundated remarks but if you study the character deeply, she is a little silly girl who is living in her own bubble that has been created by her elders and also by herself. There is a message within it too that we, the elders sometimes in order to make our children perfect make them so idealistic that they consider every situation from their own point of view.

The beauty about this book is that it narrates how silliness transforms into arrogance and snooty behaviour.She stays the same unless she learns a lesson!

This book also tells us that bullying and belittling doesn't go a long way!

And yes another point this book has beautifully depicted is the urge for parents to always make their kids an emblem of perfection and in doing so, they deprive the children of exploring the world on their own and tasting the fruit of both success and failure and that's why when kids grow up, they blame their parents for not letting them come out off their bubble and this is what Habiba does too in the book!

World Kindness Day: Let's appreciate kindness!

13th November is celebrated as World Kindness Day all over the world! We all talk about how and in what ways we can be kind to one another but rarely we talk about how to appreciate kindness. Appreciating acts of kindness is as important as doing it. Have you noticed even birds chirp when you feed them food? It's their way of being happy and appreciate goodness.

Do you remember the top 5 moments when you were amazed by others' acts of kindness? Or acts of kindness that helped you in a  certain  situation? I started thinking and I must admit, it took me quite a while because in our always talking about being kind to others , we forget that we should also appreciate those who were  kind to us! Kindness is contagious but in a good way like if somebody was being  kind to you, it certainly would have pushed you towards  being kind and helpful to others!

I thought and compiled a list of 5 incidents where strangers' acts of  kindness helped me:

1.Lost my wallet
I remember that day we were coming back from hospital and my ultrasound report was not right as there were strong signs of miscarriage so obviously as I was very worried, while getting out of the car I dropped my wallet on the road. We ate at the restaurant and while getting out of the restaurant, we realized that my wallet is not with me.So my husband asked the guard if he had seen any wallet and thankfully, he had the wallet with him all secure. He told us that he  had decided that if nobody comes to ask for the wallet, he would go tomorrow to deliver the wallet himself as my identity card was in the wallet . We were super impressed by the guard's kindness.

2.Giving me her place
It was my daughter's parent teacher meeting and the lady ahead of me in the queue gave me her place as a lot of parents wanted to meet the concerned teacher so she asked me that as you are holding a baby so you can go before me! Her saying this made such a  nice impression on my mind that whenever I see her (while dropping off and picking my daughter from school ), the incident comes into my mind!

3. Moving us up the queue
We were travelling to Thailand and it was the first time we were going on a vacation with our 2 year old baby. We were standing in a long queue at Bangkok airport and suddenly an airport official came and asked us to follow him! Of course,  we got scared as what's the matter.The people around us also started staring at us. What the security official did was that he took us to the very start of the queue because we had a baby with us! We were indeed very pleased.

Thai people generally are very kind towards kids as this is what we found throughout our ten day vacation. There were always people around to help us whether we needed somebody to pull down the stroller from an elevation or in case our baby cried, people used to offer  candies.

4. My daughter's school card thrown out of the car's window!
It's my daughter school's policy that they don't allow to a child to go home if parent or whoever comes to pick her up hasn't got the school card. Few days back, my toddler son threw the card out of car's window and I got so tensed as I would have to get a new card made from the school office.The very next day as I asked the school guard about the card, he told me that yesterday a child saw the card on the road and returned it at the school office.  I was so relieved to having spared myself from the hassle!:)

5. Got my wedding ring back
You must be wondering now that why kindness is all about the lost and found things(lol). But these are the incidents that came into my mind instantly. I am sure there are many more! :)

We were on our flight to Malaysia when I forgot my wedding diamond ring in the washroom. And the good part is that I realized it soon that something is missing on my finger. When I told the air hostess, she told me that somebody had just given her that ring saying that it was found on the sink.

So kindness is all about being honest , nice , caring and considerate . I am so happy that it is being taught to kids now in school. My daughter's school is having kindness week and they have to write an act of kindness daily. I think that's a great idea to inculcate kindness in our future generations ! So be kind and let's appreciate kindness all around!

5 things Amelia Bedelia stories teach your kids!!

I love reading Amelia Bedelia stories because they are devoid of the actual problems of the world! They are simple, funny and so easy to read !

That's why I gifted a volume comprising of these stories to my daughter on her eighth birthday and Yes! she loved it. It feels so good to introduce literature to kids.

While I was browsing on the net, I read somewhere that you should not let your children read Amelia Bedelia's stories, it would make them dumb but I don't agree. Being simple and funny is not dumb and that too in a kids' book . What is more satisfying than kids understanding the simple stories and bursting into fits of laughter by simply reading about a simple and honest literal- minded housekeeper.

These are the five things that Amelia Bedelia
stories teach your kids:

1. Housekeeper can be a protagonist too!Yes!!Not only princes, princesses and superheroes can be a main character of a play or story but every character belonging to real life can be a protagonist.
2. Always remember to see the good side of others; sometimes only one quality of a person stands against all the weaknesses in his personality like Amelia Bedilia was too good at making pies and cupcakes and that quality stood against her habit of being too literal.
3. Loyalty is one thing that always wins hearts like Amelia Bedilia was so loyal to her employers that she did as they said; the only flaw in her was that she took things too literally. Amelia Bedilia always keeps her promises.  She is afterall one honest employee.
4. Amelia Bedelia is so hardworking! She is always trying to make her employers happy by trying to accomplish her tasks in time. 
5. Amelia Bedilia teaches us to be happy no matter what happens and never loses hope!

Do Thoughts and Habits play any part in shaping destiny??

You might think it as a weird question but keeping aside everything, it is a fact that habits do play a pivotal part in shaping character.

I remember when I was small , my father told me not to shake my legs while sitting as it is a bad habit and it really puts a bad impact of your personality on others. Then he told me a story about his childhood when his friend's mom once asked him to stop shaking legs while sitting and her words impacted my father so much that he left his habit. Of course we all know that what bad impact of nervousness this habit leaves on others.

This is one of my most favourite quotes and it is so true! Of course the quote has to be good because it is by one of the most influential figures of 19th century. This is exactly what we need to teach our kids that the very essence of a character starts from a thought and a habit.


Steven Covey's book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is my favourite inspirational book to date. The quotes he has mentioned about habits and character traits of humans are amazing. He has mentioned Horace Mann's quote:
Habits are like a cable.We weave a strand of it everyday and soon it cannot be broken

During our childhood, our parents emphasize again and again about good habits, bad habits and also about friends having good habits and friends having bad habits. And now after some years, we are trying to make our kids understand this because habits do have a greater impact on success of a person like if a person is habitual of losing hope after one failure, he will never succeed because hard work is associated with hope!

Another brilliant quote by Aristotle on habits:

We are what we repeatedly do.Excellence then is not an act, but a habit

If we draw an inference on this quote, then probably it means that (for example in sports)when big players win again and again, it's because they have developed a habit of winning! But obviously this habit requires a blend of many things like hard work, determination and will power.

As Allama Iqbal, the greatest philosopher  poet of subcontinent  rightly said:

The miracle of life stem from ingenuity of thought and action,
Ingenuity of thought and action covert rough stone into precious red diamond 

The best story book for your little girl!

Are you searching for a book for your daughter that is replete with inspirational and heroic true stories instead of typical fairy tales where the only purpose of a princess is to look beautiful and marry a prince! 

Then you must give your daughters a gift that they would surely treasure : Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (100 tales of extraordinary women). There are two books in this series. This is part 1 and it is literally mesmerizing. You get to know about so many young girls and women who had the ability to think out of the box!

It is no doubt one of the best books I have ever bought for my 10 year old since her birth and even the best book I bought for myself! The inspirational book features 100 heroic women from Elizabeth 1 to Jane Austen, from Malala Yousafzai to William sisters and from Michelle Obama to Yusra Martini.The book talks about amazingly talented women hailing from different fields of life.The illustrations are super amazing too! I myself was amazed to read about brilliant women architects; athletes, painters, doctors, activists, rock stars, scientists, politicians, chefs, formula one racer, writers, mountaineers and what Not!!But these all women have one thing in common: the ability to defy the odds!!

A must read for every girl and woman!

It is the best gift you can give to your daughter as the very first page says, 

To the rebel girls of the world: 

Dream bigger

Aim higher

Fight harder

And,when in doubt, remember

You are right 

Teaching Toddlers through Transportation Theme!

Transportation theme is very much emphasized in pre schools and there are plenty of valid reasons for it!

• Every kid gets happy while going out on a car or a bus! That's why many preschools nowadays take kids for a ride on the bus during transportation theme just as to actively involve them in the learning process 
• Kids have a natural inclination towards different sounds of transport !The sounds of car, bus and planes make them excited!
• Boys especially love playing with toy cars, trains and aeroplanes so it becomes easy to engage them in transportation theme!

What transport related activities we parents should do at home?

• Read short story books to them related to transportation especially usborne books having sounds. They are perfect for 2-3 year olds as it makes learning fun too.
• Whenever you go out with kids, point towards different modes of transport and tell the child about it. 
• Adorn the kid's room wall with stickers related to the theme you are teaching your kid e.g. if you are focussing on transportation theme you can have picture of car, bus, plane or even a spaceship on the wall! Recently I bought a beautiful wall sticker from Habitt and my son absolutely loves it!

• Help them relate to what is in the book with real life like picking up a car toy and telling the child about what it is and what it sounds like! Having toys related to transportation theme also help a lot in grasping the whole concept! My favourite transportation toys are those of Early learning centre uk.
• Colouring and even painting activities like making tracks with paints fascinate kids but only those who are interested in art related activities at this stage! Some children are just not interested in painting at this stage. You can leave them and let them enjoy with cars alone!:) They will develop interest eventually!

Magical 10th birthday !..All about Unicorns!

Now whoever has a daughter aged 7-12 can totally relate that sometimes it feels that that the world is all about Unicorns!

A year back I didn't know what is this all craze about Unicorns but my daughter's so much talking about unicorn urged me to write on almost every reliable kids items' selling page that do they have any and yes I meant any unicorn items ( be it a dress, pencil case, slime, lipbalm but the word unicorn has to be there!) Because I was searching for her birthday gift and I couldn't find any suitable unicorn themed present.

My daughter just turned 10 and I knew that her birthday cake, goody bags all have to be unicorn themed otherwise then you would have to hear all year that my so and so friend is having a unicorn themed birthday and that her mom was so sweet to arrange it for her!

So for making her birthday Magical, I ordered unicorn themed goody bags from Bits n Bobs. They were reasonable and good too. I ordered unicorn themed cake from Cake Monster which was amazing. It was all a surprise for her as like every little girl, my daughter also loves surprises.

So when your kids are happy so are you. Unicorns are magical; may be that's why little girls dream of them. Whatever the theme Is, it does help in creating lovely memories which your children cherish all their lives. It doesn't matter whether your budget is big or small; happiness and magic lies even in the smallest things you do for your kids!

Back to School ...School Bags,Comparisons and Learning!!

Schools have just begun after Long Long Vacations!! During the vacations , thankfully Ramadan and two Eids came to keep the kids excited and busy. As soon as the vacations
 start, the only thing parents have on their mind is how to keep the kids entertained and busy during the holidays while using this time as an opportunity to inculcate good values plus a great learning experience  in them.

School Bags, Brands and Real Happiness:
With the start of a new school year, one thing which your kid and subsequently you worry the most is from where to buy the desired school bag and the school accessories. Of course as a parent you want your child to be happy but on the other hand you also have to make sure that your child doesn't get too much into high end brands. Eventually they have to learn the value of hard earned money!

As soon as the first day of school arrives, kids get overjoyed by the thought that they would show their new school bags and accessories to their peers but the hard part comes where comparing starts! Now at this point real test of parents start! You have to simply tell them that you have to own your things. Happiness comes from inside irrelevant of how expensive a brand you are carrying. You have to take pride in your own choice and in your own things!

This year my daughter so wanted to buy a bag from Justice or Smiggles. So finally she decided to get a Smiggles bag and I also love it as it has ample space to carry the books of a 10 year old plus it's so pretty to look at! We also ordered lunch bag and pencil case from Smiggles! They have got such pretty collection that you can't resist yourself from buying the items. But one thing that made me happy was when my daughter told me that I would use the same lunch box I had last year because it is in good shape! Sometimes it's not only about money; I mean how much would a mere lunch box cost? But it's about when your kids realize the difference between needs and wants plus between being frugal and extravagant. Hoarding is a pretty bad habit and by donating last year school items you don't need you also do a charitable act!

Starting new school year with a new homeroom teacher is also another exciting aspect for kids and teachers both and obviously for parents too!  But it's all a part of unique learning experience every kids goes through.

Happy New school year to all the kids and mommies!

Also read:
http://beamingkids.blogspot.com/2015/09/back-to-school-new-grade-new-stuff-and.html?m=1

Weddings and Spring Festivals

This winter season in Pakistan was very happening this year;infact every wedding season is.Perhaps I enjoyed it more because two of my siblings got married and I happened to  attend two more weddings. Musical mehendis, scrumptious food, colourful glittering lenhengas and shararas are the highlights of a typical Pakistani wedding. Pakistani weddings are surely the most entertaining weddings of the world .

Weddings here especially in metropolitan cities have become a huge business and it surely depends on how heavy your pocket is. Wedding planners, wedding photographers, make up artists , jewellery designers and dress designers have taken weddings to a new level. Now the talk of every wedding is that how much the bridal dress cost? how much the make up cost and how pricey is the jewellery set of bride?

A typical wedding nowadays in a Pakistani metropolitan city starts with a nikkah, then there are dholkis to prepare for mehendi function, then there is mehendi followed by wedding reception and then walima. This surely requires a lot of money , hard work and a lot of planning.

October to March are probably the most happening months in Pakistan . Wedding season starts in the third quarter of the year followed by spring festivals, food festivals and   launch of big lawn brands all in the first four months of the year.

Spring carnivals are also so much fun here with so much food variety , music and games.Carnivals are full of colour with greenery and beautiful flowers spread everywhere.

Lawn this year is also exorbitantly priced with big ad campaigns most of which just go over the head. My personal favourites are Saphirre, Khaadi, Elan , Cross Stitch and Crimson. I loved the advertisements of Gul Ahmed featuring three generations. But at the end of the day, we want to buy clothes which everyone of us can carry well in the scorching summers.

As we are welcoming advent of summers so are the textile owners and lawn designers with their eid collections. It seems like there is a deluge of lawn everywhere but good thing about eid collection is that pre Ramadan sales have started and so people can shop considering their budget as almost all the brands have dwindled their prices.
Happy Summers ! 😊

Feeding the terrible twos

As soon as a baby turns two, you know why they say this stage as terrible two! Your child is no more an infant who only knew how to giggle and cry. The whole world is in front of him and he is a tiny explorer.

Children at two are full of energy  and they know how to throw tantrums even at this stage. The exuberance is at peak and that's why they are learning to yell too. This is also a stage where they are able to grasp so many things.My two year old has just learnt few steps of dance from tv and whenever he does that, he proudly calls me saying, " Mama! "
Neverthless this stage is cute too but kids this age require lot of nutrients to cope up with their growing requirements. And especially if your kid is a picky eater, then you have lots of stuff to think like what do I make him to eat so that he gets wll the vitamins and iron from the diet.Today's kids usually have low vitamin d and haemoglobin levels and that's why child specialists give suppplements to babies and kids.But a mom's duty doesn't end here: she has to make sure that her kids eat the right food.

My two year old also loves chocolates and juices like other kids and I do give him these things occasionally.But here are some foods that I have started giving to him after doing research on internet as my child is a picky eater and I want to make sure that whatever little he is eating he gets enough nutrients from it.

• Dates ( even 2 dates are enough)
• Apple (4-5 slices)
• Egg( one) with a toast or a small wheat paratha 
• Fish on alternate days( it has iron plus vitamin d)
• 2 cookies
• Rice with mutton (small bowl on alternate days)
• Spinach ( once a week ) because my son doesn't like it but it is full of iron
• Bananas (2-3) as they are full of potassium
• Home made potato chips or boiled potato 
• Plain cake (one slice twice a week) as it has egg and milk in it which are super beneficial 
• Milk only once or twice a day as kids this age need more solid food
• Mutton or chicken gravy with half chappati /bread
• Cheese slices( as my son love to eat cheddar cheese and they are good too as they contain calcium and vitamin d)
• One bite chicken sandwiches ( as they are easy for kids of this age to eat)

Teaching Vigilance to Kids ..An utmost need of the hour!

Late tuesday night, I came across a horrifying news while I was scrolling down my newsfeed on facebook. The news was of an innocent seven year old girl named Zainab who was raped, brutally murdered and then thrown in heaps of garbage. I was obviously shocked and terrified !

Being a parent makes you extra sensitive to everything around you. The pain of other children also hurts you  to the core. Every Pakistani was at loss of words. Deep sorrow still prevails as what kind of world we are giving to our kids. Imagine a seven year old innocent child who has just started enjoying the brightness of the world and she is at once thrown into the dark dungeon of cruelty and barabarism. We need to pray and also to be extra vigilant around us that this should never even happen again.

People often talk about the fears of the society to kids starting with good touch and bad touch.
Here are few things we as a parent can teach our kids so that they can be cautious about the people around them.

• Don't listen to strangers even if they say that your parents or your siblings are calling you
• Don't take anything from a stranger be it a candy or any other present unless your parents are with you
• Always make friend of your age as older people can harm you as well
• Never keep secrets of anybody as your only secret holder is your mom!
• Never hide anything from your parents
• Don't go anywhere without telling your parents. Parents should also be cautious of where their kids are going. 
• Good touch and bad touch should be taught to kids. Never allow anybody to touch you inappropriately.
• Parents should always listen to kids and should take them seriously.
• Tell your kids not to be silent if God forbid, they face any kind of bullying or harrassment. Always speak up for yourselves.

We can just hope that the world becomes a safe place to live for children all over the globe and no child has to go through this attrocity again. May the culprits of  little Zainab brought to justice 

# justice for zainab

Sending off An Angry Child to school!!

For every mother, waking a child up for school and preparing lunch for her while helping her in getting ready are routine tasks. I as a mother do feel blessed because I get to start my day everyday with a new gossip and sometimes a tantrum of our 9 year old daughter while on the other hand our 2 year old naughty son is sometimes busy dancing and sometimes being glued to me because he doesn't want me to do home chores!:)

8-12 years is a tricky age and sometimes you dont know how to handle a tantrum. In return if you shout on yout kid and your kid goes to school while crying; it becomes too difficult for a parent to leave that thought while riding on the daily tasks wagon.

So many times I have pondered on it and yes, this is my new year's resolution to not shout on my kid even if she is shouting and yes, I am going to find alternatives to it that are constructive rather than destructive.I know there is a deluge of articles and blogs on parenting but I am going to find my way because every child is different. For some kids, long discussions do the work while some kids just dont want to listen to you and they just want their space instead of helicopter parents.

Sending off an happy child to school is very important because even kids have to go through a lot in school like peer pressure , bullying and overall strict school environment. Kids can only grasp true concepts at school if they are happy at heart and know that their parents are there to support them not to scold them at every teeny weeny matter.

The magic of New Year!

Today is 9th January and it took me 9 days to post this titled " Happy New Year" . As you step into 30s, you realize that it's more into new year than only making a list of new year resolutions! I thought many times to make a list but somehow I figured that I would be doing it as a norm as everyone else is doing it. You are more enthusistic about new year resolutions in your teens and twenties when you have a countless to -do -things and the reality is that half of list remains unaccomplished every year.

New year is a new start to things but it doesnt mean that new year itself will whirl around you like a magic wand and transform everything just with its aura.No, it's not like that. It's a new start to things and probably your thinking if you allow yourself to do so. If you have the same stagnant thinking, things would probably never change; not this year, not next year and probably never. Your mind is the game changer and also the destiny changer.If you have positive thinking , things would work for you: not always but yes! most of the times.

And yes, this year I intend to focus on my mind rather than pondering on innumerable to do things .Thinking positive and taking risks is very important if you want to succeed. There are some tasks we intend to do every year like lets suppose I promise myself every year that I will read 4 books a month but I fail every year in accomplishing this task because my strategy is not right. Just saying that I will do this doesnt make it happen. You have to make it right by being in a right frame of mind with right planning and execution.

So in a nutshell, just stepping into a new year doesn't make you a new person.You have to toil hard for grabbing opportunities with right planning while taking risks so that you execute your tasks in a timely manner. Best of luck everyone for the new year!