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