The day Aayan was born we knew that we both have come a long way from just being good friend, as a lover, as a husband & wife and now as a parent .He has given the new meaning to our life.. we realize that as a first time parent there were lot of things which we will be learning everyday .

Just reminded me that ” Kids are teachers and we are student”

Every new day comes as a beautiful moment to cherish for the life long. The day when you saw your baby in scan reports, when baby took the shape, his tiny little hands & feet, his heartbeat and every time your heart beat you think for a moment is it my heartbeat or my baby..Then you just smile back and say he is my heartbeat .That’s one in a lifetime when you have two heartbeat ..

When you hold your baby for the first time and keep remembering many of his first few and the day he says Papa & Mumma..You are at top of this world ..!! Aren’t we waited for this long to hear these beautiful words .

We know that with every new generation parents wants to give best to their baby .Trust me it not only babies have change over a period of time , parenting has gone under huge change. In today’s world it’s not just mother who is taking are of babies at home.. Fathers are equally involved in all the activities..right from the doctors visit at Gynaecologist to vaccination for Baby, which definitely gives mothers sometime for themselves.

Though with raising your baby, parents hardly get anytime for themselves but believe me raising your baby together not only give your baby but yourselves a lifelong security and comfort that both yes we were always there with our kids in each and every step he took in his growing years.

I still remember the time when I was expecting as been a working mother & staying far away from our parents, a first time parents we had enough of queries in our mind.. Why my baby is crying, is he hungry , not well, is there anything which I am unable to understand and so on..
So, my this first hand experience with raising my little son Aayan gave me the inspiration to start a platform where not only we all mums come together to help and resolve each other queries but to become friends for a lifetime. This is when I started a community : Mums & Babies ,we are close to 1,000 mums.. today with love & support of all wonderful mums, who have come long way to share their valuable experience, the best of the tips.. Our little wonders have got friends as well..

 http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?cmm=50694960

If you are a new Mom then join her community to share the warmth and happiness of one big family……

Nidhi Mehta is the founder of BollyBeatz in Singapore and is a Professional Dancer/Performer/Teacher & Choreographer with over 10 years experience in the dance industry. Nidhi Mehta is an irresistibly energetic fitness personality and choreographer who has pioneered the introduction of BollyArobix dance to the forefront of fitness with her series of unique and intense workout’s. She has also successfully created dance routines for music videos, cultural festivals, corporate workshops and concerts utilizing her knowledge of Bollywood, Indian classical dance, salsa, hip-hop, and other dance forms.

Nidhi in action!

1. Please share about Bollybeatz?

Nidhi: BollyBeatz is a Bollywood Dance Instruction school. I started it in 2002 in Bay Area, California, USA. There I ran operations in the name of Stepz! Dance was always a passion since school days. But as most of us, I completed my MBA and got a job with McKinsey and started working in a corporate. Its only after I got married, I quit my job and then Dance happened to me. It was not planned or even a remote thought in my mind. It was all by chance and accident! I guess some things are just meant to be!

2.     Please share about your various performances and performances by your students. How many years you have spent in Singapore and how you feel about it? What are the main challenges you faced while opening your school? 

Nidhi: I started the dance school in USA, sold it in 2005 and moved to India. I started BollyBeatz in Chennai , India and it did very well till I moved to Singapore in November 2007. Since then I have been here. I don’t know where my next stop is – but I am looking forward to it! I love Singapore – the people are very health conscious and fitness freaks. They enjoy my style of teaching and are quite dedicated. We have performed at the Ms India-America Pageant in USA, at Stanford University, various competitive shows, shows for non-profits.. in Singapore we have been a part of the Dans Festival at Esplanade.

I have been fortunate that things worked out quite smoothly when I started my company. There have been hiccups like coming across some people you have trusted to be your instructor and who have copied your routines and tried to use it as their own. They put a bad taste in your mouth – but I personally feel – there are enough good people out there.

3.     Do you think you can dance for the sake of movement without any meaning or emotion in it?    

Nidhi: Yes – dance is about music and rhythm. You don’t have to understand the language of the music or its meaning to enjoy and dance to it.

4.     How would your life be if you weren’t a dancer?                                                         

Nidhi: I would be in a corporate – probably a management consultant or in marketing.

5.     If you had to choose one kind of dance, what would it be?

Nidhi: Bollywood coz it blends various forms of dance styles into it. What I do and teach is a fusion is Latin Dance, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Belly dance!

6.    What did you sacrifice to get where you are today? What do you think got you this far?(source of motivation) 

Nidhi: I didn’t sacrifice anything for what I have achieved. Yes, maybe my fulltime job in McKinsey, but I am happy about it! I am happy that I quit my job and recognized this opportunity that came my way and grabbed it. I also feel it was destined for me to do what I am doing today. I believe a lot in Karma, Destiny and Luck!

My work has helped me create the perfect work-personal life balance. I do all my admin work from home so I am around when kids need me.

What has got me so far is my perseverance, my husband’s support and my survival skills – coz I have moved 3 countries in 10 years and replicated the same model with success, franchised it and moved on! I don’t get afraid of change. I embrace it as a new opportunity for me to grow!

7.     How do you feel teaching dancing to students? Do you want to share something about your students or any other incidence related to Bollybeatz? 

Nidhi: I love teaching dance. It’s a very satisfying experience to see people who have very low confidence in their dancing skills come to me to learn and then I see them open up, absorb and their stamina increases, steps and flexibility improves and they become great movers & shakers.

 Someone in the USA had wanted to join my classes and had been in the waitlist for 4 months. Suddenly, one day a spot opened up and I called her to see if she wanted to join and she did! Later when we became good friends she wrote me a note saying that she had got laid off from her job after 10 years of working in that company. That’s the day I called her to join the class and she contemplated if she should join or not coz it was an expense she could avoid at this point. But she nevertheless said yes and signed up for the class and she said to me that it was the best decision she took. It helped her to stay out of depression and from being sad. It helped her find a new circle of friends whom she could connect with and dance made her happy!

8.    How do you dance: with your mind, with your soul, with your body or with your heart?

Nidhi:I dance with my heart, body and soul. There are times I have danced with a muscle pull and once the music comes I get so carried away that I forget the pain and dance and of course after class I am dying in pain! I have never missed a class. Even with 100 fever I have taken a painkiller and done my class coz it’s a commitment!

9.    What are your future plans and vision for Bollybeatz?

Nidhi: I plan to start various other forms of dance fitness modules under BollyBeatz and concentrate strongly on the dance fitness element that we provide. We plan to start partnerships and open franchises in various other cities to empower others who love to dance and enjoy teaching take this opportunity to do and create something big with their passion.

10. Message for womenlines readers and other women.

We are blessed that we are women. We have the capability fo multitasking. Some of us do have the luxury of staying home and pursuing our passion and make a career out of it. If that’s an option that you have been given and you are just staying at home . Take a look inside. Look at what you see yourself doing and try and start somewhere. Believe in yourself! I have recently launched a website www.supermompreneurs.com read some of the profiles – they are truly motivating and awe inspiring!

 Visit http://www.bollybeatz.com to know more about Nidhi and Bollybeatz!

Yes , its true! I am staying in Singapore for last 3 years and at times I feel so much disconnected with my country, specially around festivals, marriage parties and other gatherings. When I watch such serials, specially like Sasural Genda Phool and Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hai, I just miss that warmth of relations which is shown  between various characters. Whether it is between two sister-in-laws or cousins or any relationship.  In India we still value relations and at time of need everybody is there around you. There are so many occasions to celebrate and you can share your happiness with so many people around. Love filled communication with relatives and teasing between youngsters fill the home environment with uncomparable joy.

Just like others, in foreign countries we also get used to routine schedule rushing after some dream, trying to reach desired destination. In the ,meantime we forget that life is just not for destinations. It is for bonding between people. Friendship bond, bonding between relatives, brothers, sisters,  and so many other relationships which just happen by chance. May be with your old neighbour. In fact that bonding can happen with your maid too. I was just mesmerized when my MIL’s old maid desperately called her sometimes back to share news about her marriage. I mean she literally called her in Singapore and requested her to attend her party. She has worked for many years at my MIL’s house. Special bonding and love between her and my MIL was the reason behind it!

 When I watch these serials it reminds me who am I and where I belong to. To be honest, then suddenly I realize that I am missing so many things and start searching my Indian identity within myself. I am also  not able to show my kid the importance of relationships. Somehow I feel good if my kid watches those serials as he comes to know different aspects of relationships which we are not following  here. I want to congratulate directors of both the serials who have come up with such brilliant topic and who have stressed on the importance of relations in everybody’s life.

Happy viewing!

Twiddling your Thumbs as a toddler can take you far in life! 

My recent experience with a bunch of kids at my creative workshop led me to write this article on ‘Fine Motor Skills’. The workshop also made me realize the stark gender differences between children. One major realization was that girls are much faster than boys when it came to finishing their artwork/tasks. (already proven fact!)  It’s very easy to make sweeping statements like ‘boys are not interested in artwork as much as girls are.’  ‘Boys are too lazy’ ‘Boys are interested in more physical activity compared to girls’ not being too convinced by these stereotypes, I decided to dig deeper.

It was very easy to understand one simple fact - girls were able to somehow fold paper very well (we did origami @ the workshop). Boys took twice as much time to do the same. The very basics of  origami - which meant folding paper, led them to delay at every other stage, which led them to be disinterested eventually in the ‘artwork’ It was very easy to discern the fact that the development of fine motor skills is so crucial and weaknesses of the same can eventually affect a child’s self esteem. Come to think of this, one of the student’s mother also mentioned to me that her son is slow in writing but exceptionally quick in reading!!!   

What is Fine Motor Skills? (FMS) 

FMS involves the small muscles of the body that enable such functions such as writing, grasping small objects and fastening clothing. FMS involves strength, fine motor control and dexterity. (1) FMS can be defined as small muscle movements those that occur in the finger, in co-ordination with the eyes. (2) Lack of the same, can affect a child’s ability to eat, write, fold paper, wear clothes, etc. Which can eventually affect his self-esteem? 

If you have already recognized that your child could be lacking in this area, you need not worry. These skills can be developed with the right kind of activities over a period of time, love and acceptance, and loads of patience. Following are some practical ways to develop the same:- 

1)   ‘Grasping in the mind’ - Let the concept of ‘writing’ fit into your child’s mind through his hands. Best way to do that is simply showing him how to write in the air. Can start with writing alphabets in the air. (for toddlers you can start with shapes, and for little bigger kids you can follow it up with short words). Also this can be turned into a fun play by taking it a step further. Writing in your child’s palm/hand/back can not only be fun at the same time quite interesting. Next you should now encourage your child to do the same to you! This activity will help to trace his fingers. Finger tracing is crucial step to writing. Kids can do this even on textured surfaces like sand, mud, etc. Give them a plate full of rice and let them draw alphabets on them!

2)   Puffed rice (toddlers)- A very easy way to develop the ‘pincer grasp’ is to give puffed rice, titbits, cereals, etc in a bowl as a daily/weekly activity to your toddler/child. This helps to pick up small objects using your thumb and forefinger thereby using the smaller muscles in the fingers.

3)   Exercise - Simple exercise like opening and closing of palm, moving your fingers - playing abracadabra , moving each finger at a time, playing inchworms etc. Also playing regularly with the ball - fetch and throw helps a lot to build up those small muscles. Twiddling your thumbs with your toddler can go a long way in his FMS development

4)   Look out for toys/activities which claim to help in eye-hand co-ordination.

5)   Drawing /painting - Finger-painting is an excellent and fun way to work on the small finger muscles, which help in FMS. Fine tracing also can be introduced. All you need is a pencil, a book with good pictures and a tracing paper. Teach your child to trace objects from a book/magazine etc. This not only helps in learning to draw also helps to develop FMS. Spray painting with a toothbrush also is extremely effective. Try taking print-outs of template and cutting it out and spray painting on it. Can be fun activity. Lots of templates are available on the net. You can try for ex - http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/zoo.html. This site has lots of templates of animals, cartoons, etc. Watch out for totally fun and crafty ideas !

6)   Placing and pasting activities -  place variety of forms eg blocks, felt, paper, string, yarn, cereal, cotton on outlines. Also you can encourage your child to match shapes, color, pictures to a page and paste them within the outlines.

7)   Dough/clay play - let your child squeeze, knead, pat, roll out dough. If you have moulds then it gets even more interesting for your child to try different veggies, food items, etc. A plastic toy knife can be more helpful to cut the dough (with adult supervision). A dough kit I have at home also has a mini extruder which helps to make spaghetti. My lil one finds this the most interesting of all.

8)   Everyday activities - this would include -

• 1. Buttoning shirts,
• 2. Zipping pants, bags,
• 3. Locking and unlocking door knobs,
• 4. Tying and untying ropes, strings etc, tying shoe laces,
• 5. Manipulating coins different sizes - piggy bank activity.
• 6. Opening and closing lids of jars,
• 7. Sweeping, washing dishes,
• 8. Trying to use spoon, fork, chopsticks while eating their favourite maggie can also go a long way.
• 9. Pinching bubble wrap between fingers…
• 10.Playing the piano
• 11. Playing with a squeeze/stress ball!
• 12. Bead making, punching holes in paper and connecting them with yarn.

DOING ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES SPECIFIC FINGER MOVEMENTS. Get your child to be more involved in housework, indirectly you will help him in developing FMS!

9)   Typing - is also an excellent way to develop FMS for older kids…. so handover your laptop for a while, mums! Don’t we teach our children always to share their toys? It’s time to share ours

Resources - A very important guideline to parents is to make the right kind of resources available to the child. The quality of resources can make a real difference in the actual learning ability of a child too. Bad/sad/cheap quality of colour pencils/crayons/sketch pens etc can make the child disinterested in creative activities sooner than you think. Variety is also equally important.             

 Vertical chalkboards; easels for painting; flannel boards; lite bright; magnet boards (or fridge); windows and mirrors; white boards, etc. Kids can also make sticker pictures; do rubber ink-stamping; use reusable vinyl stickers to make pictures; complete puzzles with thick knobs; use magna-doodle and etch-a-sketch as well. The benefits for these include: having the child’s wrist positioned to develop good thumb movements; they help develop good fine motor muscles; the child is using the arm and shoulder muscles.

There are occupational therapists who also help to do the same, incase you think your child could do some good with extra help. 

With time, patience, positive assurance and encouragement your child will be on his way to grasp Fine Motor Skills!!!

Rupali Sarkhel Desai

Optimistic Life Adventurer, Nutritionist, Mompreneur, passionate about Speaking & Writing on Weight Loss, positive Parenting & Business–meet Suria Mohd, a woman of substance!         

Suria Mohd is founder of Anggun International which is into Support Group Weight Management Program and learning discoveries, a centre to enhance child’s learning abilities. Womenlines wants to share her amazingly motivating journey to reach her goals, with its readers.

Let me share about Suria’s Bio data first!

Suria is a Singaporean and is a married woman with 2 kids. She received her Nutrition degree from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia and completed an exchange program with Illinois State University, USA. After returning to

Singapore in 1997, Suria attained a Postgraduate degree in the teaching of Food Science and Nutrition Studies from NTU/NIE Singapore and began her teaching career as a Nutrition Educator in secondary schools. Since 2003 Suria has been actively involved with the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB). She is a regular speaker and public educator at HPB’s community based health forums and weight management programs. Suria has been featured on the cover of magazines, in local newspapers and has appeared on radio and television programs.She is also the author of “9 Greatest Weight Loss Secrets” and co-authors Best Selling Series “Living in Abundance” with Anthony Robbins & Dr Wayne.

Suria conducts Nutrition and Weight Management seminars, workshops and programs for schools, organizations and business corporations. She established the Anggun Nutrition Academy in 2003 to provide introductory, diploma courses in Nutrition & Weight Management.

The interesting part of her journey is to know how she started from scratch again after failure of her venture wellness training school. She closed down her shop and was in $80,000 debts. “It was an expensive “MBA” lesson for me from the University of Hard Knocks called Life…” she laments!

Suria shares “One of the lessons I learnt was the reason for my failure. I failed for one reason; I did not have any education in business at all. If I were to re-start again I would have at least attended some sort of business training to equip myself with the nuts and bolts of business. That was exactly what I did after that. I soaked up business knowledge like a sponge and started learning (self study) by getting online and purchasing books, and participating in online courses on business and marketing. Meanwhile to pay off my debts, I took on free lance jobs as a public speaker on Nutrition with the Health Promotion board.”

She restarted her business again and the 2^nd time, it turned around a 7 figure sale in 2 years. She attracted 2000 clients each paying about $700 - $2000 each.

However she got distracted, and started investing her profits in all other sorts of businesses which was the reason for her 2^nd downfall. In her 2^nd business mistake, she lost close to half a million dollars.

She shares ‘I missed out on the 2^nd part – How to Keep and grow the money, i.e. what I missed out was the knowledge and education on Investing money wisely. So right now, what I am targeting for this year is to learn how to keep and grow my money wisely via proper investments vehicles. Given all my ups and downs in my business I have also started teaching other aspiring entrepreneurs how to start and grow their business profitably so they don’t have to make the same kind of mistakes that I did.’

Suria says that “My life long learning never ends, and I am at peace for living my life to the fullest, contributing my purpose to the world and touching people’s lives as I continue this journey to live my higher goals in life…”

While Suria is best known for her expertise in Weight Loss & Nutrition her students testify that her biggest impact in their lives comes from her philosophy of “Beauty, peace and Ultimate Happiness manifests itself from within” –

Suria also owns and co-owns other businesses in Education & Fashion. She has expanded her Education business regionally to Malaysia and also to Latin America

Hardcore fan of Bollywood movies and Shahrukh Khan, Suria’s passion is reading books. Books motivate her to do better things in life.

Womenlines wishes her all the best for the journey towards excellence and abundance in life.
Follow her on

http://www.facebook.com/suriafan?v=info&ref=ts

Anggun International: http://www.angguninternational.com

As both parents are working it is not possible for them to put much time with their kids for their studies. It is also possible that you have never performed well in school and never excelled in mathematics and then you are not eager to involve yourself in your kid’s studies as you are reminded about your days.

Getting involved with children in their studies does not mean that you have to involve yourself in your child studies

Simple ways like listed below can definitely help you to relate to your child through studies-

1.Show interest in what they are learning. Do ask them”What did you do at school today? Then you can discuss about what are his problems in any particular subject or what is it that he likes most. Try to make your conversation very light one not like a strict parent.

2.Do find time to attend his school meets and various other programmes. You can participate also in some activities which involves parents and kids both. This will boost his morale.Try to go to his co-curricular classes, sports classes and discuss with him about his interests.

3.What type of environment you have created at home also effects your child’s personality. Buy books, magazines. Provide him  all those extra resources that will help him in studies. If he will never see you involved in some type of study then he will never get motivation. Try to discuss about books he is reading from the library.

These activities will help you in better understanding of school activities. You can observe how well your kid is performing and progressing. Besides this it gives a chance to parent to personally interact with his child and thus helps in strengthening their relationships. When your child will see that his parent is so involved in his activities then his self esteem will increase. He will grow with a positive attitude in life and will excel in all spheres.

The story turns gruelling , especially when the action moves to the Middle East. Some incidences like a stolen kiss, a lost passport, the appearance of a former lover  gives story a baseline but  extreme happens when Samantha runs into trouble with the local people. In other country you have to show respect to the religion which they follow and any sensible lady will try to do it but showing sexual freedom in such scenario cannot be termed as sensible behaviour.

Every character of the movie has its own personality which we can easily locate around us in real world.What I loved in the movie is bonding between four girls and the way they helped each other. Do watch!

Playing cards have always been a fun part of every family and has helped in bonding between family members.Portable, cost effective and easy to handle, makes the set of cards a must to have by every family, specially with kids.

I was never aware that playing card can not only bond various family members but also kids of the family can get benefited from it.

Card games can help them in improving their addition skills, logical skills, eye coordination and memory skills too.

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy  paper, thin card, or thin plastic, figured with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.

A complete set of cards is called a pack or deck, and the set of cards held at one time by a player during a game is commonly called their hand. A deck of cards may be used for playing a great variety of card games. Because playing cards are both standardized and commonly available, they are often adapted for other uses, such as magic tricks, encryption, boardgames, or building house of cards.

The front (or “face”) of each card carries markings that distinguish it from the other cards in the deck and determine its use under the rules of the game being played. The back of each card is identical for all cards in any particular deck, and usually of a single color or formalized design. The back of playing cards is sometimes used for advertising. For most games, the cards are assembled into a deck, and their order is by shuffling.

Cards are inexpensive, easily portable and endlessly adaptable. Families can enjoy a game together, kids can play in groups on their own, and a solitary child can while away the hours playing “solitaire” games or building card houses. We have many suggestions below.

Instructions:
Select a number of pairs of cards appropriate to your child. Older children can use the whole pack of 52. 

Shuffle, and spread all the cards out face down on the table between the players (you can either choose a random arrangement, or lay the cards out in grid form; the latter makes it easier to remember where cards are placed).

The object of the game is to find matching pairs. Players take it in turns to turn over 2 cards. Let all the players see them and study them. If they are not a matching pair, try to remember what and where they are, then turn them back over. Play then passes to the next player. If they are a matching pair, that player removes them from the table and keeps them, and then has another turn.

When all cards have been removed from the table, each player counts up the number of cards they have collected. The player with the most cards is the winner.

Easy Snap

Extremely good for younger children, this variation of the game has only one central, face-up snap pile. The players each add a new card to the snap pile until the top card matches the one beneath it. The first player to shout “snap” takes the whole central pile and adds them to the bottom of his own face-down stack.

If a player runs out of cards, he is out. The winner is the player who ends up with all the cards.

Teachers have their own reasons for not taking their work seriously and the most common is that they are underpaid. I want to request the concerned authorities that they should include the teaching profession in the highly paid job list so that we can have talented teachers around.

In today’s times when every individual is running for something or the other and has no time to think about himself also then concept of kindness is loosing its impact. We have become robots who are programmed to just think about their goals and achievements and dreams. Whole day passes off  with activities related to individuals aspirations. Hats off to those people who can manage to take out time to carry out activities nurturing kindness, love, affection around.

There are so many ways through which you can show kindness to others. Small small activities if carried out in our mundane  days  can lead to precious moments of life filled with happiness and joy. In fact researches show that kindness can also make us happier. People who perform such activities like holding door open for a stranger, doing a friend’s dishes at her place, helping oldies to carry out their baggage’s have higher level of happiness. It makes no difference whether you are helping a loved one or a stranger but a small anonymous act might make you feel like a very good person.

Kindness also helps in keeping yourself  healthy.Helpful people are less likely to fall ill from chronic diseases and tended to have better immune system. Kindness also helps in regulating emotions which has a very positive impact on our health. There is this person named Villaveces who lives in Sydney with his family. He started doing act of kindness after getting inspired by someone who despite of living a very difficult life was able to maintain his generosity. Villaveces started a concept of giving out a card with each act of kindness and it asks the recipient to pass out the good deed to other person.  Visit  his website www.pifaustralia.org  to track the progress of the cards. Very interesting attempt I must say and that too for a virtue, this makes it a nobel concept which needs more volunteers.

In the series of noble attempts there is must read book and must watch movie called ‘Pay it Forward’ where a troubled school boy decided to start repaying every good deed done to him by performing three good deeds to others. Being a mother we can teach kids about this noble virtue and help them in building empathy by encouraging them to understand how others might be feeling.

Let’s start training ourselves to be kinder and then it can be our  attitude that you carry with you always which can create difference in other’s life.