Mock indeed! Considering it appears to be making a mockery of the entire baby ejection procedure. That was ten days ago. Someone said, try milk with castor oil. It apparently triggers off a tummy upset which in turn induces labour. Don’t ask me how. However, now we’ve even covered one end of the loosies to labour route.

Liberal dividers of labour that we are, the husband promptly came down with a tummy upset when his lassi went astray. Loosies done, we continue to wait for labour.

If you really want to know all the ways in which you can coax the baby to come out of its comfy cocoon, try this site: Natural ways to bring on labour while I watch my due date go by! 

This week, Pitara, powered by Amazon, launched its niche online bookstore for children. The big idea: to make Pitara the best place to buy books for children between the ages of 0 to 14. A place quite like the small neighborhood bookstore, where the person behind the cash counter knows the books, knows the authors, can lend a helping hand when you’re lost in the maze of colorful book covers, and most importantly, truly loves books, and absolutely adores children. That’s what the Pitara Shop aims to be.

With the power and credibility of Amazon.com behind it, the Pitara Shop ensures that its customers — you — never have to think twice before transacting on the Internet, be it the safety of swiping their credit card, or ensuring the right book gets to the right person at the right time, every time.

Pitara’s team of editors has worked hard to make sense of the hundreds and thousands of books flooding Amazon’s warehouses. Our big push to showcase books from India is visible in the categories for 4-8 and 9-12 year olds. So do look in there for some truly fine books.

Meanwhile, our work is cut out: in the coming days and weeks, you’re going to see many more categories, many more sections, many more lists, and many more books. The next time you’re thinking of ordering some books for your children, you’ll first think of Pitara.

About time too! Kids are hanging around school and college canteens downing oil-soaked chhola bhatooras and samosas, cheese-filled burgers and pizzas, and calorie-choked colas (we’re not even going down the “pesticola” route). Then they sit in front of television sets, video game consoles or just loll around on the sidewalks — and we wonder why our kids look like walking potatoes.

It’s time kids were given healthy options in canteens, be it veg-filled noodles, crunchy sandwiches, low fat yummies like Bhelpuri, and kulchas instead of bhatooras. We’ve all grown up on masala nimboo soda, and sherbets. Perhaps its time we shared that childhood cuisine with our children.

Two months ago, we took him for a rafting and kayaking trip on the Ganga, beyond Rishikesh. He took to kayaking like a duck to water, except of course, that this duck had a “stiff” challenge ahead of him. Exhorted on by the expedition leader, Siddharth high-tailed back to Delhi and started haranguing me for yoga classes (something, ehm, I’d been trying to drag him to for the last six months). To strike the iron while it was hot meant promptly getting hold of a yoga teacher who would come home on weekends and put all of us through a rigorous one-hour session.

It’s less than a month — he’s discovered his toes, and his waist, and his knees and his spine. But, most important of all, he’s discovered himself. With eyes closed, and his breath reverberating inside him, I can see that stillness come through when he is doing his homework or reading a book.

In her feature on how tweens are fast becoming the new teens, AP writer Martha Irvine says, “Child development experts say that physical and behavioral changes that would have been typical of teenagers decades ago are now common among “tweens” — kids ages 8 to 12.

Zach Plante is close with his parents — he plays baseball with them and, on weekends, helps with work in the small vineyard they keep at their northern California home. Lately, though, his parents have begun to notice subtle changes in their son. Among other things, he’s
announced that he wants to grow his hair longer — and sometimes greets his father with “Yo, Dad!”

“Little comments will come out of his mouth that have a bit of that teen swagger,” says Tom Plante, Zach’s dad.

Thing is, Zach isn’t a teen. He’s 10 years old — one part, a fun-loving fifth-grader who likes to watch the Animal Planet network and play with his dog and pet gecko, the other a soon-to-be middle schooler who wants an iPod.

In some ways, it’s simply part of a kid’s natural journey toward independence. But child development experts say that physical and behavioral changes that would have been typical of teenagers decades ago are now common among “tweens” — kids ages 8 to 12.

Some of them are going on “dates” and talking on their own cell phones. They listen to sexually charged pop music, play mature-rated video games and spend time gossiping on MySpace. And more girls are wearing makeup and clothing that some consider beyond their
years.

Zach is starting to notice it in his friends, too, especially the way they treat their parents. “A lot of kids can sometimes be annoyed by their parents,” he says. “If I’m playing with them at one of their houses, then they kind of ignore their parents. If their parents do them a favor, they might just say, ‘OK,’ but not notice that much.”

The shift that’s turning tweens into the new teens is complex — and worrisome to parents and some professionals who deal with children. They wonder if kids are equipped to handle the thorny issues that come with the adolescent world.

“I’m sure this isn’t the first time in history people have been talking about it. But I definitely feel like these kids are growing up faster — and I’m not sure it’s always a good thing,” says Dr. Liz Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. She’s been in practice for 16 years and has noticed a gradual but undeniable change in attitude in that time.

She and others who study and treat children say the reasons it’s happening are both physical and social. Bodies developing faster, studies show Several published studies have found, for instance, that some tweens’ bodies are developing faster, with more girls starting menstruation in elementary school — a result doctors often attribute to improved nutrition and, in some cases, obesity. While boys are
still being studied, the findings about girls have caused some endocrinologists to lower the limits of early breast development to first or second grade. Along with that, even young children are having to deal with peer pressure and other societal influences.

Beyond the drugs, sex and rock’n'roll their boomer and Gen X parents navigated, technology and consumerism have accelerated the pace of life, giving kids easy access to influences that may or may not be parent-approved. Sex, violence and foul language that used to be relegated to late-night viewing and R-rated movies are expected fixtures in everyday TV. And many tweens model what they see, including common plot lines “where the kids are really running the house, not the dysfunctional parents,” says Plante, who in addition to being Zach’s dad is a psychology professor at Santa Clara University in California’s Silicon Valley.

He sees the results of all these factors in his private practice frequently. Kids look and dress older. They struggle to process the images of sex, violence and adult humor, even when their parents try to shield them. And sometimes, he says, parents end up encouraging the behavior by failing to set limits — in essence, handing over power to their kids.

“You get this kind of perfect storm of variables that would suggest that, yes, kids are becoming teens at an earlier age,” Plante says.

Natalie Wickstrom, a 10-year-old in suburban Atlanta, says girls her age sometimes wear clothes that are “a little inappropriate.” She describes how one friend tied her shirt to show her stomach and “liked to dance, like in rap videos.” Girls in her class also talk about not only liking but “having relationships” with boys. “There’s no rules, no limitations to what they can do,” says Natalie, who’s also in fifth grade.

Her mom, Billie Wickstrom, says the teen-like behavior of her daughter’s peers, influences her daughter — as does parents’ willingness to allow it. “Some parents make it hard on those of us who are trying to hold their kids back a bit,” she says. So far, she and her husband have resisted letting Natalie get her ears pierced, something many of her friends have already done. Now Natalie is lobbying hard for a cell phone and also wants an iPod.

“Sometimes I just think that maybe, if I got one of these things, I could talk about what they talk about,” Natalie says of the kids she deems the “popular ones.”

It’s an age-old issue. Kids want to fit in — and younger kids want to be like older kids. But as the limits have been pushed, experts say the stakes also have gotten higher — with parents and tweens having to deal with very grown-up issues such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Earlier this year, that point hit home when federal officials recommended a vaccine for HPV — a common STD
that can lead to cervical cancer — for girls as young as age 9.

“Physically, they’re adults, but cognitively, they’re children,” says Alderman, the physician in New York. She’s found that cultural influences have affected her own children, too. Mom, what is promiscuous? Earlier this year, her 12-year-old son heard the popular pop song “Promiscuous” and asked her what the word meant. “I mean, it’s OK to have that conversation, but when it’s constantly playing, it normalizes it,” Alderman says.

She observes that parents sometimes gravitate to one of two ill-advised extremes — they’re either horrified by such questions from their kids, or they “revel” in the teen-like behavior. As an example of the latter reaction, she notes how some parents think it’s cute when their daughters wear pants or shorts with words such as “hottie” on the back. “Believe me, I’m a very open-minded person. But it promotes a certain way of thinking about girls and their back sides,” Alderman says. “A 12-year-old isn’t sexy.”

With grown-up influences coming from so many different angles — from peers to the Internet and TV — some parents say the trend is difficult to combat. Claire Unterseher, a mother in Chicago, says she only allows her children — including an 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter — to watch public television. And yet, already, they’re coming home from school asking to download songs she considers more
appropriate for teens. “I think I bought my first Abba single when I was 13 or 14 — and here my 7-year-old wants me to download
Kelly Clarkson all the time,” Unterseher says. “Why are they so interested in all this adult stuff?”

Part of it, experts say, is marketing — and tweens are much-sought-after consumers. Advertisers have found that, increasingly, children
and teens are influencing the buying decisions in their households — from cars to computers and family vacations. According to 360 Youth, an umbrella organization for various youth marketing groups, tweens represent $51 billion worth of annual spending power on their own from gifts and allowance, and also have a great deal of say about the additional $170 billion spent directly on them each year.

Toymakers also have picked up on tweens’ interest in older themes and developed toy lines to meet the demand — from dolls known as Bratz to video games with more violence. Diane Levin, a professor of human development and early childhood at Wheelock College in Boston, is among those who’ve taken aim at toys deemed too violent or sexual. “We’ve crossed a line. We can no longer avoid it — it’s just so in our face,” says Levin, author of the upcoming book “So Sexy So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood.”

Earlier this year, she and others from a group known as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood successfully pressured toy maker Hasbro to drop plans for a line of children’s toys modeled after the singing group Pussycat Dolls. Other parents, including Clyde Otis III, are trying their own methods. An attorney with a background in music publishing, Otis has compiled a line of CDs called “Music Talking”
that includes classic oldies he believes are interesting to tweens, but age appropriate. Artists include Aretha Franklin, Rose Royce and Blessid Union of Souls. “I don’t want to be like a prude. But some of the stuff out there, it’s just out of control sometimes,” says Otis, a father of three from Maplewood, N.J.

“Beyonce singing about bouncing her butt all over the place is a little much — at least for an 8-year-old.” In the end, many parents find it tricky to strike a balance between setting limits and allowing their kids to be more independent. Plante, in California, discovered that a few weeks ago when he and Zach rode bikes to school, as the two of them have done since the first day of kindergarten. From moment to moment “You know, dad, you don’t have to bike to school with me anymore,” Zach said. Plante was taken aback. ”It was a poignant moment,” he says. “There was this notion of being embarrassed of having parents be too close.” Since then, Zach has been riding by himself — a big step in his dad’s mind.

“Of course, it is hard to let go, but we all need to do so in various ways over time,” Plante says, “as long as we do it thoughtfully and lovingly, I suppose.”
__________________________________________
Martha Irvine is a national writer specializing in coverage of people in their 20s and younger. She can be reached at mirvin@ap.org

__________________________________________

I’m fairly dictatorial in setting limits for the quality and quantity of technology our nearly-12-year-old, Grade-6 son, Siddharth can access. It’s ironic in a way, for a set of parents who’ve spent nearly a decade building an on-line media company for young children (www.pitara.com), to be so militant about limiting access to the Internet, to video games, to a cellphone, to mobile music devices (such as the iPod) etc. In my defense (which is of course always open to debate and debunking), I truly believe that there is far more for him to learn from the brick and mortar, sky and earth world that exists outside of the avalanche of tech gizmos that are being showered on kids these days. He plays tennis and soccer with as much gusto as he picks up the tabla and guitar in his spare time (which is rather limited given the academic load that has already kicked in this year). He’s an avid reader, can sit through a conversation without zoning out, and can dish out the most fantastic poetry that I have ever seen from so young a child.

On the flip side (c’mon, there has to be a flip side!), he does feel kind of “disadvantaged” when compared to his more-endowed friends, whose rooms are choc-a-bloc with broadband-connected computers, PSPs, X-Boxes, a personal mobile phone and an iPod. It helps that he can counter the “I have this, and I have that…” level of teenage conversation with “I’ve trekked to 10,000 feet” and “I’ve jumped right into the icy swirling waters of the Ganges” — which is basically what we’ve been doing to proffer an alternate way of life. But, I have to admit, there are times when he looks at the cool gizmos, and says, “Darn!”

The inspiration for the state’s “life-skills education programme” came from Bollywood, the Hindi film industry, whose prolific output has a huge influence on Indian society. In the 2003 blockbuster, Munnabhai MBBS, the anti-hero played by Sanjay Dutt, is able to cure all ills with a simple hug.

Delhi educationalists, concerned by 20 suicides at schools and colleges last year, compared with just one the previous year, decided to take the film’s popular theme literally. They hope to prevent the kind of situation that led to Khushbu, a student at Subhash Nagar Government Girls’ School in Maharastra, jumping to her death from a rooftop in September after failing a mathematics exam for the fourth time. An estimated 4,000 students commit suicide in India each year because of exam failure or fear of failure in a society where there is intense pressure to succeed academically.

“Students may try to speak out but no-one is listening to them,” Rina Ray, the state education secretary, told The Times. “In India there is a cultural barrier to praising and parents do not hug their children. People think it will attract the evil eye so they, particularly girls who are considered to be a liability, can have low self-esteem. We aim to promote a good touch. It is about the power of a warm hug.”

The idea has already been given successful trials in some schools in the capital and will now be introduced to the rest of the state. “Many government schools in India are rigid and boring places but children must want to come to school. The teachers also need to learn to relax a bit,” Mrs Ray said. She was educated in Britain and says she hugs her son twice a day.
 

The accepted theory is that handwriting practice helps in cognitive development. But then, that should be for any kind of handwriting. Why does it have to be cursive? Scholars who study original documents say the demise of handwriting will diminish the power and accuracy of future historical research. And others simply lament the loss of handwritten communication for its beauty, individualism and intimacy.

In a world where children will grow up to use only keyboards, does it make sense to spend so many painstaking hours on perfecting a manual skill? Some say, the loss of “handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. The neurological process that directs thought, through fingers, into written symbols is a highly sophisticated one. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better — a lifelong benefit.” (Ref: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_2.html)

Some others say students who don’t write cursive need more time to take notes or write essays. But I beg to differ here. I write cursive, my husband doesn’t. He writes much much faster than I do. And his cognitive skills don’t appear underdeveloped at all.

It would mean more centres of higher education and perhaps better quality of education all around. The competition these centres will provide might egg the country’s existing centres of learning to improve themselves.

More importantly, this move could contain the US$ 4-billion annual drain of resources from the country for higher education abroad. Students in India will not need to go out for better quality education.

It will certainly fill a large gap in the education sector in the country. But what about the even larger gap in primary education? What about the issue of schools who do not have teachers, labs and even toilets? Don’t they need investments too?