Divya Mohan's Blog

SCIENCE

Sprinkled with Rain

Painted by Rainbows and Twilight colors

Splashed by Fishes, Ducks, Turtles, Frogs, and Hippos

Bundled together in 1 story

Chloe Cloud, Bring me some Rain!

A Picture Story Book...

For kids who

Love animals!

Love science!

Love nature!

Love playing in water or rain!

Are very very curious!

Chloe Cloud, Sunny Sun, Winnie Wind, and Sally Sea
are here to show you

A water cycle!

Animals in the riverside!

A drought!

A happy ending!

Author's Note

Well, I combined nature science and storytelling for kids to create a love for learning, because I wanted to help thousands of children around the world

Figure out how this world works
Connect with nature &
Be curious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LiWxCTeW0Introducing...

Chloe Cloud

She might remind you of cotton candy

up in the great blue sky!

But, she can take on any shape

A unicorn, a dinosaur, or a dragonfly!

Sunny Sun

Sunny paints the clouds pink and purple, making the whole world look beautiful and arty!

Winnie Wind

Winnie Wind is Chloe's best friend -

they love to chase across the sky.

Winnie helps Chloe to drift

Her blowing causes clouds to fly!

Sally Sea

“Richie River always gifts me lots of fresh-water," Sally said.

"Maybe it’s time for us to fill her riverbed.”

The science in the book

Learn all about

Riverside habitat
Drought
Water cycle
,,,,Values embedded
Each of us is special in our own way
Together we are strong enough to overcome any challenges
Helping those in need makes us happy
Free Stuff: Celebrating the Book Launch!
BLOG: ,,Exciting science facts about water on earth and outside
Click the below images to download and print


,,,,Available on Amazon

If you love the concept of learning Science through Storytelling, grab a copy of ,,“Chloe Cloud, Bring me some Rain!” here.

Follow me on FB ,,@AuthorDivyaMohan for more updates.

SCIENCE

Sprinkled with Rain

Painted by Rainbows and Twilight colors

Splashed by Fishes, Ducks, Turtles, Frogs, and Hippos

Bundled together in 1 story

Chloe Cloud, Bring me some Rain!

A Picture Story Book...

For kids who

Love animals!

Love science!

Love nature!

Love playing in water or rain!

Are very very curious!

Chloe Cloud, Sunny Sun, Winnie Wind, and Sally Sea
are here to show you

A water cycle!

Animals in the riverside!

A drought!

A happy ending!

Author's Note

Well, I combined nature science and storytelling for kids to create a love for learning, because I wanted to help thousands of children around the world

Figure out how this world works
Connect with nature &
Be curious
Introducing...

Chloe Cloud

She might remind you of cotton candy

up in the great blue sky!

But, she can take on any shape

A unicorn, a dinosaur, or a dragonfly!

Sunny Sun

Sunny paints the clouds pink and purple, making the whole world look beautiful and arty!

Winnie Wind

Winnie Wind is Chloe's best friend -

they love to chase across the sky.

Winnie helps Chloe to drift

Her blowing causes clouds to fly!

Sally Sea

“Richie River always gifts me lots of fresh-water," Sally said.

"Maybe it’s time for us to fill her riverbed.”

The science in the book

Learn all about

Riverside habitat
Drought
Water cycle
,,,,Values embedded
Each of us is special in our own way
Together we are strong enough to overcome any challenges
Helping those in need makes us happy
Free Stuff: Celebrating the Book Launch!
BLOG: ,,Exciting science facts about water on earth and outside
Click the below images to download and print


,,,,Coming Soon...

If you love the concept of learning Science through Storytelling, do look forward to grabbing a copy of “Chloe Cloud, Bring me some Rain!”

Coming soon on ,,Amazon stores...

Follow me on FB ,,@AuthorDivyaMohan for more updates.

Working from home with kids during COVID times

With the COVID outbreak, working from home has become a new normal for many of us.

But the question is: would work from home ever feel normal for parents with little kids jumping around?

Honestly, I was at the other extreme end of the spectrum! I never before worked from home with my little one, until COVID happened! I either went to work or took the day off. Somehow, I dogged the mess every time!

In my opinion, it was just impossible to work with constant interruptions!

But at last, it struck! I couldn't dodge the muddy ball anymore!

I finally found myself in important presentations with AAAhhhhhhrg

“Mamma I am bored! What should I do next?”
“Mamma I am starving!”
“Mamma can you wipe my poos!”

Alright, I admit! COVID has surely made a lot of impossible things possible! In fact, it has taken things a step further!

I not only started keeping my 5-year-old occupied but also ensured that she was developing her skills like she would if she was at kinder! After all, she is a future global citizen and deserves to learn and grow whether or not she is at school! Isn’t it!

Here’s how I did it!

Kids schedule integrated with Work-from-home schedule

A schedule reminds you of what exactly to do next - thus relieving you from the stress of thinking about it all the time!

Also, kids love routine and structure when they get used to it!

Here is my schedule that integrates work time with kid’s play and learning time. Feel free to download, print, and tweak this to meet your needs. Put it up on the wall! And enjoy!

This schedule overlaps office breaks with kid’s breaks. And engages kids with independent activities during work time.

Now that we have a schedule, let us explore the 4 independent activities that combine play and learning.

Time slot #1: Creative play/challenges

All kids love being creative given a chance!

Kids get so deeply involved in creating something new that time just flies!

What more? Creative challenges exercise children's problem-solving skills... Builds their self-esteem... Encourages a can-do attitude... Helps them grow intellectually and emotionally!

Basically, this is an awesome time for them!

Here are some creative play challenges to keep your kids engaged:

Lego Challenge: ,,Build a new thing every day for the next 30-days
,,Plenty of creative magic with paper
,,Drawing challenges
,,Make your own puzzle
Build a tower of cards: Exercise patience and perseverance by building a tower of cards! Can you get more creative and build a house with cards?
Time slot #2: Learning Video/Radio

There are some awesome resources for kids to keep learning while you are busy working!

Yes, this is screentime! But it is productive screentime you see! Let the kids use it wisely! Choose a couple of them for the day, and repeat when required!

Learning radio:

,,Here are 67 episodes of fun and frolic!

Science videos:

,,Storytime from Space: I love these Astronauts for their wonderful work to get children excited about space!
,,So much more about science
,,Facts for kids

Time slot #3: Learning activities

This is the time for kids to practice and get better at their skills.

Literacy and numeracy
,,Tracing Alphabets
,,Tracing Numbers
,,ABC with Playdough
,,Activity books
,,Play a learning game

Wiggle Waggle - video activities
,,Enjoy yoga with stories
,,Dance away

Time slot #4: Phone a friend

This is the time for building relationships by having 1:1 or group time with family/friends.

Set up a call with grandparents or other family members or friends, and let the kids have some fun!

Yup, you are right. Kids can easily get bored after a few calls. That's why having a list of activities that they can do while on the call can help.

Here are some activities for kids on a call:
Storytime
Art - Drawing/Painting/Craft
Dance
Gymnastics - Summersaults/Cartwheels
Or any challenges that they tried in their creative playtime

Tip: Keep the iPad or any device in a corner of the room so that kids can run around and play hands-free on the call!

More to come!

We are all in this together with a noble cause to develop our kids while they stay home with us! By giving our time a structure, we can make it super entertaining and valuable to our kids while reducing our own stress levels!

Yes, I know that keeping kids learning is a marathon and not a sprint! We do need a continuous supply of materials to keep it going.

I plan to take a deep dive to find more treasure down there! I will be sharing them with you as I discover them! Drop your email address in the subscription box below to receive these resources straight to your inbox!

Let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below or on my ,,FB page / ,,IG profile.

Cheers,

Divya

,Understanding how this world works is fascinating!

,Where you a nature science kid when you were little? And, do you secretly wish that your little one falls in love with nature and science too?

,Well, it is never too early to get kids to enjoy the wonders of this world and the universe!

,Children absorb everything that you tell them! Go ahead and introduce those fun facts to see them fall in love with science!

,“Did you know!” series is one of our family activities that we play to kindle our curiosity, learn together and bond as a family. We share pictures and videos to discuss fun facts about the world around us!

,It is easy and fun once you have all the information that you want to share!

,Here are 4 fascinating facts for kids about ,water that supports life on earth,! Use them to challenge your kid to know more on a “Did you know!” session or just to pass time while on a long drive!

,Enjoy reading!

,Fact #1: Water makes life possible on Earth!

,Earth is 4.5 billion years old!

,Oceans were formed on earth, ,,4.4 billion years ago,,!

,Do you know what was the first living thing on earth? It was a microorganism (like bacteria). It was,, born 4.28 billion years ago,, in a deep sea just a little after oceans were formed.

,Thereafter, several plants and animals came into being! And, all these plants and animals ever born on earth was made of water!

,Be it in the deepest sea or the driest dessert, be it a tiny bacteria or a giant whale, every living being on earth is made of water! And needs water to live!

,Did you know that more than half of your body and mine are made of water! (55 to 80% to be precise).

,Nobody knows how earth got water in the first place! But it is said that comets, which are huge frozen snowballs made of water ice, struck earth delivering water to it. It would have taken several comets to fill our oceans.

,Is it magic? ❄☃️

,Fact #2: Life outside earth?

,Is there life outside earth?

,Astrobiologists are scientists who look for life on other planets (They love aliens! ❤).

,But you know, there can be no life without water! Which means, no aliens without water! So water outside of earth is of great interest to these scientists.

,So far, Earth is the only known planet with liquid water on its surface.

,Jupiter has 79 known moons of which 1 moon, by name Europa, has a water-ice surface! Probably you can go ice skating on it! Watch out! There may very well be oceans beneath its surface with extraterrestrial creatures on it .

,Through the studies that scientists do, they speculate that planets with oceans may be common in milky-way! Expect to meet many aliens in the future .

,Fact #3: We are all connected!

,Probably the water that a Dinosaur drank millions of years ago was part of the water that you drank yesterday! (Oops!)

,A glass of water that you pour on the ground

,seeps into the ground,

,is absorbed by plants,

,flows into the rivers,

,drunk by animals and birds,

,flows into the oceans,

,gets through fishes and sea animals,

,escapes to air as water vapour,

,drifts through the sky as clouds,

,falls down as snow or rain to the ground,

,freezes into ice on mountains and glaciers

,melts into rivers,

,gets into tap and back to your glass to drink!

,Everything on earth is deeply interconnected through water!

,This is possible because water can exist in all 3 states: solid, liquid and gas! In fact, no other thing on earth can be seen in all 3 states naturally.

,Here is a Magic that you can do at home: Put water in the freezer to see it turn into solid ice! Heat water on the stove to see it turn into gas!

,Fact #4: Water, water everywhere, but not a percent to drink!

,Most of the water on earth (96.5%) is in the oceans.

,Oceans are huge! A drop of water in the ocean can have millions of living things: Bacteria, viruses, fish eggs, baby crabs, plankton and small worms!

,But we humans, cannot drink water from oceans as it is too salty! It’s like adding 2 teaspoons of salt in a cup of water! Yuck! You can never drink it!

,If most of the water is trapped in the oceans, where else can we find water for us to drink?

,A little bit of water on earth (2.4%) is frozen in ice, snow and glaciers! A little bit of water (1%) has seeped under the ground. A very tiny bit of water (0.1%) is in rivers, streams and lakes. This is what goes in our tap for us to drink!

,By the way, an extremely tiny bit (0.001%) of water is in the clouds!

,That was a lot of science and facts!

,Isn't it?

,Do share the love of learning with other little science explorers!

Have other science topics that you want to share with your children?

Let me know in the comments below! ,It will tell me where to invest my time to best help you create a love for learning.

,Have a Happy day!

,Cheers,

,Divya

,,Information source: National Geographic, wikipedia

,Every Morning...

,,Me,: ,Drink water

,,5-year-old,: ,No

,,Me,: ,Here is your water in your favorite pink cup

,,5-year-old,,: ,I don't want it!

,,Me,: ,If you don't drink water, you will dry and shrink and become an elf!

,,5-year-old,,: ,That sounds great!

,,Me,: ,If you want to be Emma Wiggle (her favorite ballerina and singer) when you grow up, you must drink water!

,,5-year-old,,: ,Actually, I thought of a backup job to do when I grow up!

,,Getting your kid to drink water can seem like getting your broom to fly!

,Research shows that 50% of the kids are not hydrated enough and 20% do not drink water most days! It's not surprising because c,,hildren don’t always recognize that they’re thirsty.

,When I was a little girl I was just the same. I never drank water. I hated it because it was boring and tasteless! My mom ran behind me with a glass of water every day! And guess what happened? When my little one turned 3, I had to run behind her the exact same way! (My husband says: Karma follows! ).

,Fortunately, I found some helpful tips that actually worked to make my little dragon drink cool water ! ,I thought it is a good idea to share these tips to save you from running behind kids as I did ,. ,,Enjoy reading and trying these!

,Tip #1: Tasty water

,Water is the elixir of life! But it doesn't have to be a tasteless elixir, isn't it?

,Add a flavor by dropping in small bites of fruits or spices to your water jar. There are innumerable options available - strawberries, blueberries, cucumber, lemon, mint and lime, pineapple, peaches, apples, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin, (yada, yada and yada)! My daughter's favorite is orange-flavored water (and some yada yada yada. She is a chatterbox, you see!)

,Anyways, get creative with these options and plenty more. No kid should feel bored of drinking tasteless water, ever again .

,Tip #2: Rocky water

,Floating ice cubes and chillness are super interesting for little kids.

,To make it even more fun, add a colorful berry into the ice tray along with water, to make a berry-iceberg for your rocky water! Or, add some frozen fruit for some extra flavor and chills!

,If you have some time and want to have more fun, make a fruit juice, put it in the ice tray to make colorful-ice-juice-cubes for your water! What a cool idea!

,And guess what? Coldwater does a great job of hydrating the body and giving the energy required for the day!

,Some cultures believe that it is not good to drink cold water. But there is not enough evidence proving this claim. Of course, drinking warm water has plenty of added benefits like better digestion and getting rid of toxins faster. Use the other tips if you prefer not to drink cold water or if your child is unwell.

,Tip #3: Gamify Water

,Make drinking water a habit by including it in the fun parts of the day!

,My family plays family-games every evening. These days we mark the start of the game with ,water-cheers, (and putting the mobiles away). So I hear my cutie-pie-daughter announce, “Its time for the water-cheers, mamma”! A lovely sight isn’t it!

,Look for what activities you do together daily and shower some water into it! Drinking water together removes the boredom and motivates everyone to keep hydrated and energized.

,Add some rewards to make it even more motivating. Whoever finishes their waterbottle first during the day gets a sticker in the chart. Collect enough stickers to win the ice cream on Sunday .

,Drinking water together is a very effective strategy in classroom settings. Keep a water break schedule before and after group times or outdoor times.

,Tip #4: Water Genie: everywhere, all the time

,When the little one is a bit thirsty, keep water instantly accessible!

,Do not forget to carry your little one’s water bottle when you go out to play or dance or run or cycle or scooter or do anything. Outdoors make kids thirsty. Handing over the water bottle at the right time can do the trick to keep their water levels intact (and save you from buying the bad drinks and spending that extra dollar ).

,Tip #5: Alternate Water Source

,Get some additional hydration by including plenty of fruits and veggies in your child’s diet.

,Mandarines, watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes and strawberries have high water content and can be fun to eat.

,Make juices with various combinations of fruits and veggies for instant hydration. I love mixing beetroot in juices as it makes the color is so attractive for my little color lover while adding in some nutrition.

,Bonus Tip: Water props

,What can be more fun than water? Straws, Cups and Bottles!

,Kids love fancy stuff. Find a new fancy-stuff as a refresher. Straws with mustache or animals or anything colorful will do to get the little one jump for more water. If you are buying a water bottle, look for a small and handy one that your child has not used before.

,Of course, even though kids fall in love with new things quickly they also get bored with it very soon, isn’t it! Use this tip in combination with other ones for maximum benefit.

,Keep it going!

,As I write, I have some favorite strategies that work with my daughter - adding flavor to water and water-cheers before our family-game. But, I do keep a watch for signs of disengagement so that I can try new strategies when needed.

,We are tackling a very complex problem here . Every child is different and every day is different. Try and test different options because we all know that what works best today, may not tomorrow.

,I wish you all the best to say goodbye to the sleepy, fussy and moody ‍♀️ behavior caused by dehydration. H,,elp your little ones get energized by drinking water!

,Cheers,

,Divya

TIME! Can a working mom find time for anything other than work and kids? Well, it is very hard, but it is not impossible. It boils down to one’s passion to follow one’s dreams. Do you have a dream that you want to follow? If yes, read along. Below are 3 useful tips from my experience of publishing a book, Mili and the Dragonfly, while being a full time working mom of a 3-year-old. Tip 1: Craft a plan As a working mom, who is also working on her dream projects, you would be doing a lot of context switching: work - kids - household chores - health - family - your project. How do you plan your project in a way that helps you keep going in the right direction without getting distracted? “When you know your destination, you can find your directions and choose a speed to get there”. So, what is your Goal? Write it down so that you know how to get back when you are off track. “When you travel from one city to another, you see milestones. Each time you hit a milestone, you feel motivated because you know that you are closer to your goal”. What are your Milestones? Write them down so that you get inspired to keep going. What is the set of activities that you have to do to reach a milestone? Write them down. Example of my activity list to reach a milestone. It really helps to visualise your plan, in front of your eyes, maybe on a wall, so that you always know what needs to be done. Whenever something new comes up, you could just add to the list and not have it lingering in your mind - it saves you from thinking about it again and again and then forgetting it. Tip 2: Find time Close your eyes and do this exercise for 2-5 min. Run through a typical day of yours and think of what activities you do. Start with a deep breath :). Now, list down all the activities. Which of these activities cannot be compromised at all? Are there activities that you could skip for a few days in the week? How many hours do you spend on these activities? Can you pull out 1 or 2 hours a day to follow your passion? My list of un-compromised activities included - sleep, work, exercise and taking care of the child. I was fortunate to be able to pull out 3 hours of time in a day to follow my dreams, including travel time and after-baby-sleep time. Being a mom of a little child => dealing with a hundred unexpected situations in a day => it might not be feasible to spend your allotted time every day on your project. But, a little effort spent on most days, adds up to give you your desired results over a period of time. Remember, finding time = prioritising. Not having time for an activity implies that you do not prioritise that activity over others. Here is a very nice video about TIME by Jay Shetty, one of my inspirations. Tip 3: Do not give up There will be ups and downs. Some days will be very stressful - forcing a thought to quit. It is very important to find your inspiration to get through those tough days. “You started this project in the first place because you dreamt of something big or beautiful”. That dream of yours is the inspiration to keep going at hard times. Write down your dream, your purpose, your passion. Reading them really helps to bounce back when times are hard. Watch videos/listen to people who inspire you. I derive my inspiration from several people and channels including Ted Talks, Simon Sinek, Jay Shetty, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Surround yourselves by people who have similar dreams. It helps to find even 1 friend or mentor who can talk to you about your goals and directions. I was fortunate to have one such friend whom I met every week for lunch. We double our ideas and strategies just by talking. Let me tell you about one of my crazy days and how I got through it. I was just recovering from flu that attacked me a week ago. I had a pretty bad day at work with tight deadlines and lots of meetings to attend and conflicts within my team to resolve. Public transport between my house and office was affected by some maintenance work, increasing my travel time to 3 hours, 1 way. I got a call that afternoon from a recruiter telling me that next morning, at 8.30 am, I have a job interview for which I needed to prepare. My daughter was sick. I had to spend time comforting her in the evening. She refused to go to bed before 10.30 pm. I had at least 3 people waiting for my inputs to unblock the work that they were doing on my book. I had to give inputs to the illustrator, book trailer design for a video editor, page details for book layout designer. Each of these activities needed my thinking/research. And, I couldn't delay them due to various reasons. I felt like giving up. I did not have time to think of what to do. I was panicking even though I acted relaxed in front of my daughter. After she went to bed, I talked to myself for 5 minutes - lifting my spirits - “Not every day will be like this. One by one all challenges will get resolved. Let me work hard and fight it out today”. I first finished my book work, then prepared for the interview and went to bed at 1.30 am that night. A few weeks later, I had finished all the rounds of the interview and had gotten the new job offer. My book "Mili and the Dragonfly" was ready to publish. I and my daughter had recovered from the flu completely. Public transport was fixed. And, I knew that following a dream is very hard while being a working mom, but, it is not impossible when Passion and Purpose drive us from within and we back up that Passion with relentless and consistent Effort. Wish you all the success to make your dream a reality. Happy Mother’s day.

As a parent, have you been in a situation where your child wouldn't share his/her belongings with other kids?

I absolutely was! My 3 year old wouldn't share any of her belongings with other children whom she met in our neighbourhood. She would also take away others’ belongings. She would cry, shout and scream if we asked her to return them. I was worried about this behaviour of hers and wondered how I can help her share and be kind to others.

An year ago, when she started going to the daycare, her educators pointed out that not sharing is a normal behaviour for children.

But, I saw that there were children at the other end of the spectrum too. They would selflessly and happily give away their toys for other kids to play. I wondered what these children had in their minds that helped them exhibit this behaviour.

I found my answer by researching and talking to people. The key was Empathy. I realised that feelings of love, kindness, sharing and caring stems from Empathy.

What is Empathy?

Empathy implies that we are able to imagine what somebody else is feeling, then respond in a caring manner that’s human and brings comfort over an ill feeling. Empathy is a skill. We propagate it with application. Most kids between 3-8 years can discern that others have intuition and feelings that are different than theirs, and that actions and words can have an impact on the emotions of others.

Is my child too young to learn about Empathy?

Kids begin to grasp empathy when very young. A fact is we’re all born with the cognitive mechanism to learn it. Newborns, for example, will cry when other newborns cry, and they can show signs of sadness or curiosity when their parents appear sad - albeit they don’t understand what’s happening.

Beginning from the age of three, it is attainable to speak to them concerning imaginary scenes:

How would you feel if someone took away your candy?
How do you think a friend will feel if they had their toy taken?

These conversations will enable the budding toddlers to perceive that others, just like they, have their own emotions.

Between the ages of 5 to 8, children would begin to learn that people tend to have emotions completely different from theirs within the same scenario. Someone could be frightened of things they are not frightened of, someone could be irritated by things that don’t trouble them. It’s at this age that we are able to begin to show kids to use empathy rather than instinctive emotional responses in various situations.

When is the right time to talk about Empathy with a child?

When my little girl gets angry, she gets very rude. She starts beating and shouting. She says things like “I do not like daddy anymore”. To talk about it, I choose a time later on in the day. I describe the situation and I ask her, “if you were daddy how would you feel in that situation”. She promptly replies “sad”, and gives her explanation. We then have a healthy dialog. I ask her if she wants to apologise. Almost always, she wholeheartedly says "sorry" and gives a big hug.

The key here is finding the right time to talk about the situation. The child needs to be calm and relaxed. I usually spend the time just before going to bed - it has now become a routine. My daughter would be settled after her bedtime story. She knows that at this time I would either talk about some of her good deeds or some things that she could improve upon. She is open to listen and I have her complete attention to talk about empathy and other topics.

Repeating such conversations with the child helps him/her understand and think of other’s perspective. Over a period of time, they would put themselves in someone else’s shoe more often to understand the other person, handle situations better and build strong social relationships.

Here

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Have you ever wondered if little children could empathize with others? Could children put themselves on others' shoes and understand others' emotions? Read this story to see how kids can empathize.

I and my 3-year-old daughter, Ridhi, were playing in the backyard when a dragonfly flew into our house. It fluttered around the hall and sat on the curtain for a while until I opened the window and allowed the dragonfly to fly out. However, what remained in my mind were the emotions that my 3-year-old went through in that little time.

Ridhi was initially terrified to see a big insect buzzing around in random directions and crashing into various objects. She was clinging to me until the dragonfly stopped fluttering and sat on the curtain. As Ridhi settled down, I told her that the insect was a dragonfly and that the dragonfly would be as scared as she was, because it was trapped in our house. That made her accept the situation and feel brave. She sat on the sofa near the curtain and observed the dragonfly closely.

"Why did the dragonfly come to our house?" she asked.

"It might have lost its way", I replied.

"Could we help the dragonfly find her way back home?" Ridhi asked.

I told her that we can definitely help the dragonfly. That's when I opened the window to guide the dragonfly out.

At dusk, when her dad was back home, Ridhi narrated the story to him. I was pleasantly surprised, as she not only expressed how she felt but also expressed how the dragonfly could have felt. "The dragonfly was lost and scared", she explained.

An important observation from this incident was that children are capable of empathizing. With a little guidance, they are able to put themselves in others' shoes and imagine how others could be feeling. With this understanding, they tend to help or comfort the other person.

Empathy is a skill that is so important in our lives to socialize and grow into leadership roles. For a child, it helps develop caring, sharing and helping skills.

The book "

There is a lot to learn in this colourful picture book. It depicts and illustrates the various emotions of the child: Fear, Anger/Frustration, Emotional Empathy, and Happiness. The book also illustrates the imaginations of children and is filled with rhyming words and phrases to describe the situation.

Some interesting facts:
Ridhi played a major part in making this book. She chose the title. She gave inputs for illustrations. She "kid tested" my book and helped me enhance it to make it interesting for kids. She has also helped me make a promotional video.
I choose Empathy as the first topic to publish, among several other value based stories, because it was the most popular choice for parents and educators, whom I interviewed - to find out what they wanted to teach their children.

Have you ever wondered if little children could empathize with others? Could children put themselves on others' shoes and understand others' emotions? Read this story and my observations to see how kids can empathize. I and my 3-year-old daughter, Ridhi, were playing in the backyard when a dragonfly flew into our house. It fluttered around the hall and sat on the curtain for a while until I opened the window and allowed the dragonfly to fly out. However, what remained in my mind were the emotions that my 3-year-old went through in that little time. Ridhi was initially terrified to see a big insect buzzing around in random directions and crashing into various objects. She was clinging to me until the dragonfly stopped fluttering and sat down on the curtain. As Ridhi settled down, I told her that the insect was a dragonfly and that the dragonfly would be as scared as she was, as it is trapped in our house. That made her accept the situation and feel brave. She sat on the sofa near the curtain and observed the dragonfly closely. "Why did the dragonfly come to our house?" she asked. "It might have lost its way", I replied. "Could we help the dragonfly find her way back home?" Ridhi asked. I told her that we can definitely help the dragonfly. That's when I opened the window to guide the dragonfly out. At dusk, when her dad was back home, Ridhi narrated the story to him. I was pleasantly surprised, as she not only expressed how she felt but also expressed how the dragonfly could have felt. "The dragonfly was lost and scared", she explained. An important observation from this incident was that children are capable of empathizing. With a little guidance, they are able to put themselves in others' shoes and imagine how others could be feeling. With this understanding, they tend to help or comfort the other person. Empathy is a skill that is so important in our lives to socialize and grow into leadership roles. For a child, it helps develop sharing, caring and helping skills. The book "Mili and the Dragonfly" is inspired by Ridhi's encounter with the dragonfly. I decided to create this book in order to teach the skill of Empathy to Ridhi and several other children like Ridhi. There is lots to learn in this colorful picture book. It depicts and illustrates the various emotions of the child: Fear, Anger/Frustration, Emotional Empathy, and Happiness. The book also illustrates the imaginations of children and is filled with rhyming words and phrases to describe the situation. Some interesting facts: Ridhi played a major part in making this book. She chose the title. She gave inputs for illustrations. She "kid tested" my book and helped me enhance it to make it interesting for kids. She has also helped me make a promotional video. I choose Empathy as the first topic to publish, among several other value based stories that i have written, because it was the most popular choice for parents and educators, whom I interviewed - to find out what they wanted to teach their children.

As a child, I was a rebel. I wanted to be the best at everything I did. I worked very hard to compete and I did succeed. My parents always encouraged me and spoke highly of me. I got a lot of attention from people around. But all these happened at a cost…

At times when I did not succeed, I lost my self esteem. Furthermore, if someone did better than me, I used to feel jealous and left out.

As I grew up, I started meeting several people who were better than me at a lot of things. I realised that I couldn’t be the best at everything. I started looking for ways to excel but only struggled with more pressure, stress, anxiety and depression. I had begun to feel lonely without attention.

That's when I started looking for wisdom to improve my feelings. I read and listened to inspiring people. I realised that my feeling of loneliness was not caused by the world around me, but it was caused by cravings of my own mind.

I started training my mind to feel good about myself and people around me, irrespective of successes and failures. I started using my successes and failures to reflect on and understand my strengths and weaknesses. I used values and techniques like gratitude, respect and empathy while dealing with people. I improved my self esteem, began to value relationships and started feeling amazed by what people do. I changed my perspective towards life by constantly reminding myself of human values.

I wish I had learnt this wisdom to feel good earlier on in life.

I created Value Buds with the intention of encouraging children to understand and practice these priceless human VALUES, at a young age, so that they are equipped to face any challenge in life. My dream is to see children grow up FEELING INSPIRED to dream big and achieve their dreams - without being affected by ill feelings like jealousy, depression or loneliness. Early childhood is the time when a person learns the most. Why not learn and practice Values that helps develop positive attitude to life?

I'm an author, a self publisher, a business analyst, a software engineer and a full time working mom, living in Melbourne, Australia. My purpose is to add a little value to someone’s life every single day.