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No more excuses: Change that diaper, dad!
"He doesn’t do diapers," says a friend of mine who has just given birth, as her husband hastily leaves the room to avoid the apparently too-hideous-to-be-borne sight of baby poop. “I am a New Age man, but diapers are strictly her job,” he says, laughing, almost proud of his ineptitude. He’s #Babycare #Infancy #MaternalLink #Parenting
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Board exam hysteria: Teaching our kids how to fail
This month, millions of Indian families, including my own, will be getting mildly hysterical as exams descend on us like a guillotine. Memory pills are flying off the shelves, coaching classes are full and parents are staying up all night cramming with their kids. In the midst of this frenetic #CBSE board exams #cut-off #failure #IIM #Maternal Ink
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Where’s my rod: Why beating kids never goes out of fashion
Last month, UK politician David Lammy shocked many by blaming last summer’s UK riots on an anti-smacking law, which he said leaves parents “no longer sovereign in their own homes.” Lammy - the MP for the riot-hit Tottenham area – later backtracked by saying the riots could not #Amy Chua #Childhood #dicipline #MaternalLink #Parenting #Wolf Dad #Xiao Baiyou
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Should we stop calling our daughters pretty?
If you have a daughter, as I do, the chances are you call her pretty dozens of times a week, again, as I do. I also routinely call other little girls gorgeous, adorable or some variation of that. There is after all, nothing cuter than the sight of a toddler #eating disorders #Lisa Bloom #MaternalInk #Parenting #plastic surgery
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Save the family ritual, each family needs one
A couple of weeks ago, I did something I hadn’t done for nearly thirty years: I got out Cluedo, a detective board game. And began teaching my very reluctant children how to play it. By the end of the evening, my seven-year-old son, twelve-year-old daughter, middle-aged husband and elderly mother #Dr. Seuss #Games #MaternalInk #Parenting
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Baby in bed: Can co-sleeping kill your child?
If you are like most Indian parents, you probably slept with your baby in your bed. Your child probably didn’t sleep separately until he or she was at least 5 or 6. According to a new ad from the department of Milwaukee in the US, you might as well #Child rearing #Childhood #Human development #Sudden infant death syndrome
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Does your child really need that iPhone?
Ever heard of "brand bullying"? Chances are that you are living it, without even knowing it. Brand bullying, apparently, is what happens when your child is jeered at for being the only one in class without an iPod, so you end up working all hours to buy expensive gadgets that #BlackBerry #brand bullying #IPhone #MaternalInk #Parenting
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No kids allowed: Is India ready for child-free zones?
Once upon a time, everybody had kids, wanted to have them, or was in the process of having them. There was this universal brotherhood of suffering. We endured the screaming of children in restaurants, their howling on planes, their tantrums in theatres — sometimes willingly, sometimes not so willingly — #Child-free #kid free zones #MaternalInk #Parenting
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The toxic cult of the good mother
The hottest new movie doing the rounds of Cannes at the moment is We Need to Talk about Kevin which is based on the disturbing book of the same name, by American author Lionel Shriver. For years now, I have been trying to get my fellow mothers to read it, but #Bad Parent #Home Game: The Accidental Guide to Fatherhood #Lionel Shriver #MaternalInk #Motherhood #We Need to Talk about Kevin
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Overworked granny: The working woman’s unpaid nanny
Behind every successful man is a woman, they say. I say, behind every successful Indian woman, there is an often exhausted grandmother. ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI MD Lalitha Gupte, corporate lawyer Zia Mody, UBS's Manisha Girotra, HSBCs Naina Lal Kidwai, Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma…. practically every high flying #family support systems #MaternalInk #Parenting #Women in the workplace