Yesterday evening my SODHU left his 4+ year old kid SAARAA with us. She is quite agile and a mixing kid with our family. Her sweet voice is adorable when she calls us Bada Bapa, Sinu Maa(to my wife), Jemaa(Jeje Maa to my mother) and Jepaa(to my father). She is dynamic and playful. Our house is one of her choicest places as she usually gets freedom to move to anywhere indoor - to all the bedrooms, the living area, the kitchen and also to explore all the things around. This freedom sustains her psychological confidence with each of us and she stays with us even without her parents. For those hours in fact we become her parents equivalent. I have got a whiteboard for my Maa, as she was a teacher by profession. Often she writes Moral Quotes on it. But whenever Saaraa comes, Maa teaches her letters and words there. Saaraa learns happily with a good amount of interest to the way Maa teaches.
Many of the common teaching learning materials are available in our home. Saaraa explored the sketch pen set yesterday on my computer table in our bed room. She requested for a notebook to draw pictures. I have her a piece of a drawing sheet. She was happy enough and choosen our palang(bed) her drawing and painting floor. She first requested me to draw a Titli. I softly denied and told her to draw it by herself. She tried but failed. I then took the sketch pen and drew the outline of the Titli and instructed her to paint it with her choice of colours. She kept doing it for a few minutes and that minutes were for me to learn a bit - her random choice of colours.
(The teachers become strict on this colour, that colour. But at this early stage in school the kids must be given freedom in all their activities)
The most interesting part in her engagement with the drawing and painting activity came when she started drawing some GOOGLE MAP styled small boxes for houses and lanes by the side. She even could explain it herself why she was doing it - "I am drawing these houses and the lanes so that I will not forget the path to your house (house of us) from our house(house of theirs). She is so fond of us(all our family members) that she was finding ways to remember the lane and the house and not forget it till her next visit.
My wife(her bada maa) started serving supper to us.
I gave SAARAA a raised chair to sit on the dining table for supper. Before sitting for the supper she did wash her hands herself and even taught me the procedure to wash hands - the handwash and the tap and the way to rub hands. Her bada Maa(my wife Sinu) fed her as per her pleasure (but we could succeed avoiding her favourite option of noodles). Rice, chilli paneer and the gravy she had along with a disset.
My parents had retired back to their bedroom. And now SAARAA has choosen me as the play partner as Sinu was busy in the kitchen. Our kid Swaraa has been to her maternal uncle's home, else she could have become the play partner of Saaraa.

With SAARAA we did ITIKILI MITIKILI activity for some time, and then an unconventional game of her choice. It was 9.45 pm already. I was back home after a long whole day journey and work late in the evening (7.30 pm). I was feeling dizzy. SAARAA suddenly said, " I want to go back home." and the very next moment she told, " I was joking." (Perhaps a bit of dismay for me by then especially because I was feeling dizzy). I most often enjoy being play partner of the kids, and many kids around consider me as their equivalents. I have a definite kid still in me and manifest it whenever a kid is with me. Being a pedagogy support authority and monitoring authority of schools, I keep open my options to learn it from the kids. And yesterday I had those hours with SAARAA, learnt how the kids learn quickly, easily and efficiently. It was great enjoying SAARAA's joy of learning.
Thank you 💐 all

Sikshya : The way it goes for a kid

The Mutual learning and Teaching Method for a Student and a Teacher.