Gargi Pant | ParentsSquare

Getting Along with your Siblings

A friend told me once you aren’t a parent until you have your second child. Parents of one child may not understand this statement but those with two or more children will immediately relate to this. My friend was referring to the seemingly constant bickering and fighting between siblings. This continual fighting between siblings is… [ Continue Reading → ]

Surviving a Long-distance Marriage

Sunil and Rehana dread Sunday nights. The couple married three years ago and a year later, Sunil, a management consultant, started travelling every week. Come Monday morning and he’s up at four to catch the six a.m. flight. He doesn’t return until late Thursday night. Sunday evening means the Monday morning taxi is only a… [ Continue Reading → ]

Home Remedies From the Kitchen Shelf

Ginger doses External application of half a teaspoon of dry ginger powder with hot water over eyebrows and forehead gives relief in headache. One teaspoon of crushed fresh ginger rhizome juice with one teaspoon honey, thrice daily, for seven days, gives relief in bronchial asthma, corzya, and congestion. To cure indigestion, take one teaspoon of… [ Continue Reading → ]

Violent Video Games: Do they desensitise young minds to violence?

Violence in the media sometimes begs for imitation in real life because it is demonstrated as fun and as an effective way to get what you want. Many violent acts are perpetrated by the “good guy” whom children have been taught to emulate. A video game has an added attraction – it frees you from… [ Continue Reading → ]

The Friendly Neighbourhood Clinic

The sounds that emanate from the dentist’s clinic in our neighbourhood are the regular ones – of the drill, spit vacuum and water being sprayed on teeth. But those sounds are often drowned by children’s giggles. This must be our desi version of Patch Adams, I thought. Even my little niece enjoys her visits to… [ Continue Reading → ]

Lock on Porn

Rajni is aghast. She can hardly believe the report sent by her 12-year-old son’s teacher. He was found surfing pornographic sites on the Internet and downloading a collection of pictures that the teacher thought was ‘unsuitable’ for a 12-year-old. Rajni is at her wit’s end. She tries to keep tabs on the sites her son… [ Continue Reading → ]

Hill Tales by the Lakeside

Remember the movie ‘The Sound of Music’? One of my most vivid childhood memories of the film was about the picturesque lake where Maria (Julie Andrews) takes her young charges boating, with snow-covered mountains in the background. Years later, the memory assumed reality when I went to Nainital, in the Kumaon hills of Uttar Pradesh…. [ Continue Reading → ]

Is the baby’s milk bottle safe?

You have prepared milk for your child and you fill his feeding bottle with it. The baby gulps it down with an obvious delight. Then you sterilise the bottle. But, is that enough? It isn’t, according to a WWF (World Wildlife Fund) report. The report cites evidence found during a study commissioned by the Department… [ Continue Reading → ]

Cave Art at its Best: Ajanta caves

I could feel it moving and as I heard the soft humming of its engine, I shut my eyes tight. “I don’t understand why anyone should be scared of flying,” said my brother, helping himself to a handful of chocolates served by an airhostess. I decided to ignore him for a while. We were on… [ Continue Reading → ]

Is Your Child Being Stalked?

Your child is just three clicks away from a paedophile. Shocked? You need to be. A recent report in the Newsweek magazine says that the Internet houses an underground network of paedophile rings where children are lured into sexual meetings, and abused for the production and distribution of child pornography. The report enlists a number… [ Continue Reading → ]