As a new mum, nothing terrified me more than travelling alone with V by flight (nope, not even poop explosions!). See, the thing is, if you travel with a baby in a car or auto or train, you have the option to move around or pull down windows, basically you aren’t enclosed in a tiny space with either a baby who cries at the drop of a hat or a toddler who doesn’t stop talking. 

Anyways, when she was around 2 years old and I was the only adult travelling with her, to my parents’, I decided to give my full buckle carrier a miss because I knew she wouldn’t stay put. I chose an early morning flight so that she’d sleep through at least some parts of the journey. But, she wouldn’t sleep, and the questions kept pouring in. Sharing some snippets of our conversations below and leaving you to figure out the learning.… Click to read the rest

I’m often asked how I taught/ teach V a variety of concepts. And when I say that all her learning is child-led, people have a lot of questions and doubts.

What do I mean by child-led? 

At one point of time, scientists believed that a baby is like a blank slate or a tabula rasa. She has no knowledge and would not be in a cognitive position to understand complex ideas until she turns 3. But, research on how the brain works and learns has come a long way now, and we know that infants possess the capacity to explore, question and actively learn if given the right stimuli.

As a biology teacher, I’d love to talk to V about DNA and the works. But I also understand that doing that would be detrimental and I need to fan the flames in the direction she wishes. She loves geography ( a subject I don’t understand to date.… Click to read the rest