Play Date Moms Lahore.... yes?? no??

child led play -early morning bonfire with parlor parlor 

This is in response to my best friend’s post on her page in which she tagged me. it was about a group on Facebook“ play date moms Lahore” and my friend asked me to comment as she had some idea as to what I think of play dates in general . As we all usually do I started typing my immediate response in the comment section, editing it a couple of times coz I didn’t want to be harsh or personal to anyone. And in a minute or two I was done with the replay here it is

 “for these bachas I am happy at least they get to meet each other , its better than kitty parties anyway  where waili ladies meet strangers in search of future rishtas for their kids  ( as one such lady explained to me recently –uff her explanation!!! )  -- While they leave the bachas with maids and male servants---( to do with them as they please )

and pressed enter but Baaanggg!!! My Internet was not working anymore so I had to retry and it was still stuck so as annoyed as I was I just turned the flap down .

But the comment and the post were still there hanging in my head I wasn’t really satisfied with my answer. It is one topic I can go on and on about coz things are not as simple or as straight forward as they may seem on FB. A coin may have two sides our parenting issues have a million. I thought about kids my children age and the routines they usually have and I thought about their mothers, I thought about our changing society and its complications, the education systems and the limited opportunities our kids get in terms of structured as well as unstructured play time.

And by the time I also thought that may be me and some of my friends are being judgmental here. I am not so happy about the Idea of play dates in the first place because the Initial encounter with some Pakistani play date moms was of a bunch of affluent  ladies  who took a foreign Idea and to make it exotic, giving it local themes like “ guddi guddai ki shadi” “ paindo” “pranda party” And such. Now if someone selected these as their kids birthday themes instead of Rapunzel and Frozen ( cause they wanted kids to have a flavor of their culture) I would never have questioned BUT play dates?? Well why not if they get to learn how to make parands  and made some…. but  seriously is it a play date where moms or one hosting mom decides the theme gets the arrangements done by designers with a proper ( read expensive) mehndi decor, professional singers/entertainers, Party Favours, dance floor, HSY and Maria B joras  especially bought for the occasion, in short an occasion worth being photograph by Irfan Ahson himself…. My point is that what do kids have to do in all this? And what will they get out of it? Not to mention the pressure it puts on other moms to beat the previous one in terms of extravagance

I for one always thought that play date is simply an opportunity for kids to get together whether the rest of the activities are planned or not. It is something that is primarily for the kids and not for moms to be used as an opportunity to be the talk of the town.

 When I say that “please I am not interested in a play date”  it’s because…

1.       First and most important is the one I mentioned above it’s a big NO NO for me

2.       If not the above then It seems I am usually the one who is “supposed” to host with almost no help from other moms coz apparently I enjoy the life and kids more and they are all so tiered with God knows what pressures and need a break.

3.       It’s very easy to explain the idea of a play date but it’s tough to get the message through. The host is supposed to entertain the adults more than kids (dads also needs break and would love biryani and korma… app kai hath ka :P) if not then majority won’t show up/ send their kids

4.       It only give kids limited opportunity in terms of socializing like we are in a way dictating as to whom they can play and whom they cannot… like if the “guests” have a  chota lerka/larki as “help” they are supposed to sit in the corner and I will give him food their not with the rest of kids and won’t include him in the activities oh! The benefits of play date are just for kids of certain classes not servants…. Or poor neighbors you see.

Now being that said let me come back to the original issue “what do I have to say about the play dates mom Lahore”

1.       Nothing negative as I yet do not know who they are and what is their take on a play date

2.       I would love to join and know

3.       I assume they know what a play date is ( like not an entertainment session for biryani devouring daddies)

4.       I actually admire them, even if they are the designer type( they might have taken it to a whole different -for me wrong- level) at least they or many of them I assume are conscious moms who want to actively contribute to their children’s lives , who know that their kids are missing on actual play due to limited outdoor activities or too much of electronic gadgets in their lives

5.       If many of us ( moms and dads  who think like me – I am sure there are plenty out there) join the circles then may be just maybe we could restore the sanity to it

So what do you say my friends don’t give in too early or too easily these kids – all of them , not just our own- are going to make our society/ nation tomorrow. Don’t just sit there in the couch and sulk get up take charge and contribute J

3D puzzles

 

3D puzzle A must have if you have kids between 5-9! It is the best thing I've ever bought from street venders.

I am soo very happy that I made these part of their Eid gifts, these came with a picture of assembled  model and there were easy markings on all the joints. M figured out and made her's all on her own(exept for the pink roof- the walls that it was supposed to be attached to were not bending the way they meant to. Once fixed she made it 3 times in  2 days and now she remembers it by heart and still not bored (told me to pack it away so she can do it after a while when she doesn't remember what goes where) shefu just punched out pieces from hers and played with them the way she liked. Here shefu the shokhi is happily posing with Apa's hard work. didn't tell her  but I've got 2 more for her ;)

Meanwhile in the life of the little one......

Secret Messages on Eid ;D

This choti  Eid instead of starting the day with sawayaan ( vermicelli ) we started of with uncovering secret Eid messages 

I set up the morning table with the supplies including sheets with secret Eid messages. the trick is to write whatever u want to with a white candle

and told the lil ones to unveil their messages by painting over them with water colors 

well to my surprise it was easier for shefu to follow hahaha as all she does at this stage is Colooooooooorrrzch! and coolooorshz!! and coloorzch!!!

Miru's took a while to understand that its not about "drawing"or painting the way she usually does{ she is still in the princess phase} so it was tough for her to just Paint  the way she used to do 2 years ago, another proof "its hard to unlearn  :)

But once she got the first letter unveil she loved it so much that she wrote many many more one for everyone actually  ;)

Working With Paint

Well ideally today's should be M's first day of school post and pics , but I guess that can wait. what we have here is  are  M's  creations on Paint. From school the situation was such that I had to take her to her baba's design studio { cant call it mine as yet} and to keep herself busy ( we dont have anything there as yet to entertain anyone--let alone kids ) she asked permission to work on computer as "she was supposed to get ready for her ICT class the next day . To my surprise she came up with this - she called it "blossom branch" for her this was something that has to do with japapanese art :)

and then another version of blossom brach with small people { twillerbees} in it at night- dont miss the small speach bubbles!!

and finally a third one { my personal favorite} :"A world in the sea"

though these are not her first attempts with paint tools and she is already a good artist when it comes to draw and paint {manually} Still I was so filled with amazement and joy by looking at her confident style on computer and the entire cradit goes to her amazing ICT teacher in kindergarten :) { I never ever thought of giving her time to use computer to show her creativity or even to practice for class not even for assessments  : D. Think this proves technology in the hands of a child is not that bad after all ...LOLs

More on the Arts-ee side

Well though its been 8 days since July is officially over there are a few over due posts/ updates. so I'll try to wrap them all in one :)

Make Ata{wheat flour dough} Birds

First of all in the month of Ramadan all our routine is off. Kids stay up all night till sehri time {I know it will freak some of my discipline inclined friends} Here is a sneak peek on what do they do around 3 Am.

with the inspiration coming from drawing books

 Then we do Painnnnnnnnntsss { well never this late} , recently M tried her hands on blow painting for the first time...and it was ...well frustrating--- until we got the wobbly eyes on!!

While Shefu the destroyer dribbled the fabric and acrylic paints all over the sheets

Fun with Tangram

I always love to go back and re-read old favorites cause there is always something new to learn. This time I stumbled upon "Tangram" in a book that I had read a million times already (needless to say missing it till now). Looking at the images brought back memories of the time when we were little and got it as a gift (don't think I was really interested then...LoLs). Only now that I am a mom I get to see the hidden wisdom in it. Plus 6 years of motherhood has taught me that anything introduced properly, positively and at the right time gets it due attention. Developing an interest comes with Motivation. Hence I decided to give it a try

So what is a Tangram?  It is an ancient Chinese puzzle, A square cut into 7 pieces with 3 basic geometric shapes. There are two large, one medium and two small triangles, one square and one parallelogram. only the parallelogram can be used in two different directions, by flipping over. These can be rearranged to form an end less number of shapes all with the same covered area as the original square.

Initially 2 or more pieces can be used to make other shapes, like the two big triangles can be joined together to make a square as well as a parallelogram! Though the basic rule is to use all seven pieces without overlapping to get hundreds of images in silhouettes.

 Here are the first few attempts by M

 
Make a Tangram in 6 easy steps:

1.Draw a 10x10 inch square on a mount board ( a heavy chart paper can also be used).
2.Mark the centers lightly ( red lines).
3.Draw a diagonal BD.
4.Draw another small diagonal line starting from the center of BC till the center of CD
5.Starting from point A draw a  line towards point C till it touches the small diagonal. from this point make a horizontal line till it touches BD
6.Now starting at the mid of BC draw the last small diagonal line towards the middle of AB, till the point where it cuts diagonal BD.

I have painted mine in a single color to avoid distraction but the pieces can be colored any way you like.
To rearrange the puzzle back into the square was a tough enough job for me and after a few tries I started reflecting back on the method and sequence of cutting. So to encourage her and keep her motivated I drew an extra one on a white sheet of paper.and she got the hang of it in no time. Remember the trust that "I can do it" is the best motivation ;)

Objectives
Critical and Analytical Thinking
Creativity
Independent work
New words to learn: Tangram, parallelogram,silhouette

LINKING UP WITH:

Another Painting Session

While I was busy busy making and thinking about the eidi, Miral enjoyed another session of painting. She took all the liberty and painted herself from head to toe in paint ....she was making "body prints" LoLs

thats what we call free art :) Its just that I dont know whats her poor Art teacher gonna do this winter when she starts school.

Besides painting with hands, feet and brushes today she also enjoyed painting with her toy cars though we had a little phadda over using small nesting blocks or a rectangular plate to use as a pallet for the cars, she wanted to paint every thing including herself after all she got her hands on " paints" after a long long time...

pictures comming soon....

Nesting Blocks

Now that M is up early today and its our potty training day two I didnt want to sleep while she was up, so reintroduced the nesting cups and this time as with potty issue she seems to understand the concept so easily. Though a lot of practice both for her eyes as well as hands is still requiered its very very nice to see that she wants to use the cups in a fashion that they are actually designed for, does it mean that she has started understanding spatial concepts in the teeniest lil way along with many other benifits this activity offers including

1.Visual and small muscular perception of dimensions.

2. This awareness of dimensions leads to observation of the child’s environment.

3. Helps to make smoother and more coordinated movement.

4. Math readiness by introducing concepts of smaller, larger, prepares for the decimal and number system.

wow am I expecting too much from a simple toddler play ?

Can You Count on Your Fingers???

Sorry not our original pic but close enough to whats i am going to talk about (don't remember where i got this pic from or sure would have given the ref.)

Yup that's what we are practicing these days never thought it would be that a great challenge for little toddler fingers. And Its adorable to see her putting so much effort and concentrate so much to hold her little finger with thumb to raise the rest of three fingers to point number three :)

we have started practicing in the sequence from index finger to thumb like index finger is 1 , index and the next one is 2 , index and next two make 3 all fingers raised together 4 and the whole hand with all fingers spread makes five But now i am also thinking to start from the little finger as well

I am sure its a nice exercise for her hand muscles that will help in her small motor skills But its lots and lots of fun as well , as for every number we do the high five style clap and it gives her a special pleasure :)

Try it with your lil ones and do tell us about it !!

Hand Prints

Painting with hands ....and feet is our absolute fav. Here are some fun pics of my shrek :)

Free Play / Planned Work

I don't know how many time do I repeat my self but I cant stop wondering how creative the kids could be when left to play on their own and oh the self debate it triggers..... "weather its good or bad to stop them or /and steer them towards the planed activity when they want to use the Montessori material in a different way; other than what they were initially intended to....."

Yesterday while beading these tiny miny beads M started making geometric shapes with them. First of all she surprised me with a diamond shape that she made with 4 beads (I never made any shapes with such stuff ....and a diamond certainly "NOT". Then came circle by adding some more (damn don't have camera all the time....) When I came back with the camera a few min later she was working on this one... any guesses what it is going to be....

Yo its a "tYiangul"that looks like a house :)

any suggestions on the above issue???

Milk Pack Tower

M loves making towers so every thing and any thing can work as blocks for us these days....

I Love Free play

I love free play as its where the kid's imagination is at its peek , I don't mind much even if she tries to use her Montessori materials in a different way that they are intended and that's why M is spending more and more time creating her own games with the things she has. A few days ago she made this bridge with Dora stickers ... these stickers are more like paper dolls as they are mounted on a hard board...

See u can even walk on it :)

Punk Rocker With Flowers In her Hair : )n

I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair ....yup that's M's first FAVORITE song and my princess doesnt loose a chance to pick flowers to put up in her hair. She picked these flowers from Nana Jan's tarres and with Hassan mamoo's help she managed to get them in her hair ..... itn't it CUTE!!!

First Day Of Eid

This post is exclusive for the Eid Day Activities and the one and only goal was to have fun! and a lot of dressing up too ;)

sorry I didn't take the photos kind of step by step but it sure was fun watching M today. Her getting Dressed so early and so enthusiastically. For First Day Of Eid she had a gharara set complete with bead work,matching bangles,earrings, a cute dupatta, and matching silver sandals..... what more could a Lil girl ask for ( well she didn't even ask for this :p It was All Mommy's fancy come on ITS HER SECOND EID )

and the missing items were filled in by her cute friends Ummiya and Rayha who gave her a cute lil bag and this very pretty necklace with some stick on hair accessories ( which sadly didn't stick to her short and unruly hair). What amazed us most was that throughout the day she didn't once ask to remove any of the accessories so i assume that like all silly girls she likes to dress up :)

she even took her morning nap all dressed up !!!

and here is a fun picture to complete it all, M is obsessed with mirrors and tooth brush these days so after dressing up she thought it might be a good idea to brush her teeth...... (well in front of the mirror it didn't seem that a bad Idea ...kyoon Miral) lol then in afternoon we went to visit nana, nano and hassan mamoon here are some shots in their

At Nana's place we did a lot of bird watching, building blocks loads, loads of baby TV the best of all was counting and building towers with Apples !!!

we wound up our day with a very interesting block / vege printing that we tried for the first time but that deserves a separate post so

Happy Eid To All !!!

Its Raining Its Pouring

well we did lots n lots of things together last month (that i couldn't put up all due to my laziness)
so now i was in a real fix... ammm what should i put up first or should i just post todays activity and leave the rest? but hey we had so much fun in past few weeks n cant skip it all so i thought we might start with the Mirals first "Baiish" on august 3rd

just have a look

actually its not the first "baiish" of her life but first one she trully enjoyed :)
thinking....ammm ...wha should i do with the ball......
seems like she has an idea!
hey jada and beeki y dont u join in too

ammmm.... the camara didnt really capture the rain :(
still we all had great fun as u can see