Unveiling the themes for PADE

Photo A Day Experiment (PADE) was announced earlier and now it is time to introduce the themes for the month of July. I’m doing PADE in collaboration with Ritu KT, whom I introduced in my post earlier (Here)

Following is a list of 31 themes we will be covering in July. These themes are chosen from a pool of themes created by both of us.

We will be doing themes in the order 1 -31. You are welcome to do it with us and leave your post links in the linky tool below each post for the challenge starting 1st July.

We’ll announce the “Shutterbug of the day” everyday from the entries we receive through the linky tool each day. 

From those 31 Shutterbugs, we’ll select one “Ace Shutterbug” in the end of July.

You also have the option to do the challenge in any order.

I hope you’ll come and join us in this journey. Thank you for taking out the time to read this, hoping to see you with your camera from July 1st to 31st!

To participate please click on links of relevant days below

For day 1 "Alone" click here ,  For Day 2 "Books" click here , For Day 3 "Candles" click here

For Day 4 "Distance" click here,  For Day 5 "Fresh" click here, For Day 6 "Layer" click here

For Day 7 "Light" click here , For Day 8 "Rules" click here, For Day 9 "Sharp" click here

 For Day 10 "Shoes" click here   For Day 11 "Street" click here ,  For Day 12 "Tools" click here

For Day 13 "Window" click here      For Day 14 "Word" click here

For Day 15 "Bokeh" click here     For Day 16 "Art" click here

For Day 17 "Bliss" click here      For Day 18 "Bridge" click here

 For Day 19 "Caged" click here    For Day 20"Cartoon" click here

For Day 21"Framed" click here  For Day 22"Letters" click here

For Day 23"Play" click here           For Day 24"Rains" click here

 For Day 25"Shapes" click here    For Day 26"Sign" click here

 For Day 27"Smile" click here     For Day 28"Special" click here

 For Day 29"Vacation" click here   For Day 30 "Water" click here

 For Day 31 "Night" click here

To know the ACE of PADE please click here


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Support us by publicizing PADE through your social media profiles and blog. We’ll really appreciate it!

7X7X7X7

Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.
Open it up to page 7.
Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page.
Begin a poem/a piece of prose that begins with that sentence
Limit it in length to 7 lines/7 sentences.

The 7th book on my shelf is...Nectar in a sieve by Kamala Markandaya

"My heart sang and my feet were light" when I remembered you were coming after 10 long years, coming to me, to my arms where you belong. 

Your room is sparkling and bare and I am at the door gazing at the clock , wiping my tears waiting for you.

I look at you from a distance, my heart jumps at your voice, my hands quiver to take you in my arms.

Your face has a few wrinkled lines, some grey strands and a chin under the chin singing of your blessings galore 

I stand there and wonder if you will recognise my touch, if you will still fit in my lap, If I could once, just once carry you in my arms again 

You hug me tight, sweep me off my feet, and carry me in your arms, spinning the world around me, making me believe everything is still the same. 

Arms and laps, hugs and holds, laps and spins, all are same but the baton is passed on to the younger set of hands.

This is in response to the WriteTribe prompt.

Tips to maintain a good sleep routine for kids

I struggled a lot with my elder one and his sleep. He was a very irregular sleeper, would not go to bed till wee hours and would sleep only about 3-4 hours at a time. It completely changed when he turned around two years and one of my friends suggested me to follow a routine. Since then, through a lot of trial and error I have devised my own routine and a check list which has helped me immensely. Now both my sons sleep around 8:30pm and sleep at a stretch for about 11-12 hours.

Following is a list of things that I consider are important to maintain a good sleep routine (Relevant to age 2 years and above):

Follow a schedule: Plan a schedule for your child. If you want your child to sleep by 9pm (Ideally yes) the process for bedtime should start by 8pm. I recommend the following steps for creating a schedule:

• Dinner at 8pm 
• Hot water bath and some fun play time in the tub at 8:30 pm (I know in India a lot of mothers don’t give a bath at night, I also tried it hesitantly but now I can vouch for it) Not only it is good for hygiene, a hot water bath tends to have a relaxing effect and water play will for sure tire them down.
• In the bed by 9 pm

In order for the schedule to work, two things are very important:

• The child should be mentally prepared that he/she has to sleep in next 1 hr. Keep telling him/her during the dinner that Bath time is in 30 minutes and sleep time after that.
• Consistency: If you have never followed a schedule with your child, this is going to be very very difficult. But don’t lose heart, continue the effort and be consistent. It doesn't matter how unsuccessful initial days are, if you keep the consistency your child will gradually pick up the routine.

Avoid late evening naps: If you want your child to sleep by 9pm, avoid a nap after 5pm strictly. Even a half and hour nap in the evening will freshen the body up completely and give them enough energy to be up till 12.

Avoid sugar content an hr before sleep time: In India a dinner is usually followed by sweets. Please avoid this tradition. Sugar in their system will give them enough energy to be up for next 2-3 hours. Avoid

Physical activity: Make sure their evening is packed with lots of physical activity. This is not only important for a good night’s sleep for also for their overall physical and mental development. If you are not able to take them out daily to a play area, plan in advance clear your schedule for the evening and device games to keep them and you physically active for 1-2 hours in the evening. (I normally plan my meals a day in advance and prepare dinner before 5 pm)

Use rewards in the starting: If your kids are late sleepers, it will be very difficult to induce them to sleep early; one of the thing that can support you for some time is cooking up a reward system. In our house we follow a weekly reward system (based on stars), each start represents a good habit/good deed (including good sleep habit) and by end of the week if the total is 10 or more my Kid gets the bigger reward (In his case its mostly 1 hr of television, because otherwise through the week he is not allowed to watch it).

Train them to sleep on their own: The reward system will work for sometime but generally after a few days/months in the routine, they should be able to sleep on their own. Their body will adjust and will start getting tired by the fixed hour of sleep. When this happens, you child should be able to sleep on his/her own. I do not recommend bed time stories/poems etc because kids associate with them for a very long time and it becomes a daily cycle which is very difficult to break. I use to just sit next to my 2 year old when he started sleeping on his own, even breaking this habit became a issue.

Always put them to bed happy: Following a routine for the first time can be difficult and will result in a lot of tantrums however try to make them sleep with a happy face as much as possible. I always always tell my elder one that I love him a lot and I am there in the house with him, so he doesn't need to worry about anything.

Bedroom environment: Though I read a lot about creating a special environment in the bedroom, I strongly suggest to NOT follow it. Reason is, if the child gets use to of sleeping only in a typical environment like only with lights on, soft music playing, with a favorite toy etc etc, he/she will become dependent on it for sleep. The child will find it very difficult to sleep in any alien environment, or with/without light, with noise. This is why we see a lot of cranky kids on trains. My goal is to maintain a good routine with basic things, that i can replicate anywhere even during travel (A bath can be replaced with a hot sponge)

And I strongly suggest avoiding TV in the bedroom. It will tempt them.

These points have helped me a lot and I sincerely hope that it is useful for each and everyone who reads it however do note that each child is different hence not everything I discussed can be applied to every child. The key is to realize the importance of a routine and discipline and take it forward from there. 

Best of luck, lets build beautiful memories

Image courtesy peasap

Ripples

We sail on ripples

Of a thought

In a quest to grab its shadow

This Haiku is shared with Haiku Heights - Ripple.

Image courtsey Jason Nahrung

Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -Confucius

Did you ever notice?

The green of the washed leaves just after rains

The pink of smiles and brown of stains

The small mud foot prints on the floor

Stained postcards in the store

The pit pat of rain drops on your window

The smear of hands on your pillow

Smell of a new book

Rush of blood at that first look

The dance of joy on the street

The chuckle of Grand Ma when you meet

Blackened window by the kitchen

With smoked patterns that are hidden

The dark green circles on her wrist

Peace of night and morning mist

The crackling of veggies in the pan

The red of December and yellow of Jan

Ring of glass on the table

Mr. Thumpkin and game of pebbles

Smell of rains and rustle of leaves 

Footsteps on the door and shuffle of keys

Did you ever notice?

Everything has poetry but not everyone can write it

Everything has music but who can sing it ?

Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -  Confucius

A special thanks to my dear friend and blogger Leo for inspiring the theme

Image source:commons.wikimedia.org