Life as seen by a young poetess

My co-facilitator of children workshops and herself a teenager Neha pens down her thoughts on Life-

Life is about journeys......... Paths you might have never tread

Life is about failures & victories which before, you've never had

Life is but a mosaic of emotions Some felt, some hidden deep down below.

Life is like the blues of water, Deep at times , & at times....shallow!

Life is but a flamboyance of subtle times, Some nostalgic & others most cherishing remembrances.

Life is but like the beautiful hues of rainbow With the vigor of pastels & quiet of white traces.

Life is like a dream in deep slumber, Kaleidoscope of belongings & heart's desires....

Life is like the love of the fair maiden, with the soothe of ice & passion of fire

Life is a Challenge, Meet it.

Common teenage challenges

A friend of ours, a noted educationist, has listed following challenges for teenage parenting-
Bullying and your child
Confidence building
Moods, stress and depression
Your child’s behavior
Communication with your child
Handling failure
School holidays
Your child and homework
Growing independence
Your communication with your child.

However, going through the list and meeting children of today, may be these are challenges for all parents having school going children of any age.

Friends Care and Share

The beautiful concepts were shared by Ms Shreya Kulkarni, a teenager participant from LTL workshop. Isn't it amazing that she is so aware and so thoughtful ?

Children of English Medium School, SHIRDI

Remaining Connected
Just the other day my cell rang up. Before, I could take up the call, the call got disconnected. The calling number was not familiar but I called the same. I identified myself and asked for the identity of other person. "I am your student, Jairam . How are you”. I said “ Happy . Are you speaking from Shirdi”? He said “yes. You taught us”. I asked “ What did you learn” . Jairam said “ To be happy .We remember you. When are you coming again?” I replied “ whenever I will come, will call you up”.
Have interacted with now at least more than thousand children but here was the one who was with me for ten hours only and made me feel that the connectivity happens even in a group of 60 children, with someone, who was a simple and affectionate soul. What adults find difficult to do, children just do it.

Expressions

LIVE IT YOUR WAY

When I don’t feel like talking
I want to cry out all my feelings
Cause there is no one to share with
So I just calm myself and breathe
Thinking I have exhaled all the bad
But the truth is that I still have it inside
If not full but a bit at least a part of it
Which troubles me pinches me, drives me mad
I am unable to understand the hell will I do of that
I want to shout it out aloud
So I could explain the crowd
That I have done nothing wrong
And if I have then point out
They should understand the way I feel
I am nothing more but just a teen
But then a voice I relish the most
That voice of my heart tells me be bold
It’s your life
You have to know and believe it also
Where you are the actor
Your heart director
And if you talk of people around
They are just the co-actors
So rule over it and live it your way
Cause in the end it’s the good in you, which is going to stay…………

(a poem received from one of my little friends from LTL workshop)
This shows the creativity in them ,which when nurtured and encouraged can make the world a better place to live.

Treat me as responsible person

Recently had revisiting sessions with LTL friends from Sathya Sai School.Since we met after four months,there was lot of excitement,happy mornings and murmurings.Finally they started chatting with each other and this became a bottleneck to proceeding with the agenda.Tried everything without success.Finally requested and they responded positively.This validated the truth that teenagers are growing up and if they are treated as responsible persons,there are more chances of soliciting their desired response.

Are children so different or our experience with them is different?

Had three interesting workshops with children, one for NHPC Faridabad, one for Billabong School Bhopal and third one for English medium school at Shirdi. Yes, the composition of groups were different. ,At Faridabad ranging from 10to 19 studying from class VI to even a student of engineering, at Bhopal children of class VI&VII and at Shirdi all of them were from class IX.
My experience with each group was also very different. At Fridabad , response was beautiful ,at Bhopal it was mixed and at Shirdi it was memorable. The children at Fridabad did learning and masti both, at Bhopal maximum learning was through masti and at Shirdi it was learning with love and love alone.
Trying hard to avoid labelling of children-as for me children are children only- I introspected and realized that it was me, who was different with every group. My own paradigms, my own perceptions probably made me behave and experience differently.
Insights obtained are listed below-
-Children exposed to technology and environment feel very confident about themselves but in the process are less committed to values except those whose parents are making very conscious attempts to reinforce these. On the other hand children less exposed to technology and environment are very committed to value systems and core component of their personality is very strong.
-There is a greater urge to learn about life and to get success in those staying in smaller towns.
-Competition is a strong feeling nurtured by children in bigger cities and collaboration is still the strong point of children of smaller cities.
-Love and affection are very firmly in place in children of smaller cities and children in bigger cities are very practical about these. However, from parents love is a common expectation of all children.
-Children start behaving as adults sooner in the big cities.
The observations are to be validated by more data in times to come.