A blog a day (#14)

KEEPING CHILDREN ENGAGED

I hear a lot of comments about how to engage children in activities that ensure that they do not cause any disturbance or trouble either to their parents or others in the household. Sometimes their tantrums and behaviour hassles parents no end and they find themselves at their wits' end.

I have a special knack with children and have been quite successful in engaging them in stories or activities that ensures that they aren't troubling me while I care for them.

The trick is to think like children do, act like them, and talk similarly. There was an occasion when I was accompanying my three sons by train from Chennai to Bangalore. They were about 6-8 year olds and ensuring that they stayed in one place in a crowded train was a challenge that needed some planning. My wife and I bought a few books (children's books) and thought that handing the books over to them may solve the problem of engaging them. However, that was not to be. Soon enough I could see some restlessness creeping in them. The signs are a bit of argument and some fight among the three sons. Hmm. My thinking cap had to be put and I had to think quickly of something new.

The game that is still popular with us when we are with kids is a "three clap game". I hold the child's hand and ask him to clap thrice. Naturally most children know how to clap. So they go about doing that. My hands control their clapping. I let them clap their hands twice, but at the third attempt, I ensure that their two hands do not meet. I say, "Come on! You need to do better." We keep trying and they keep succeeding twice, but at the third attempt they are unable to clap. We laugh and keep trying. Sometimes, I ask them to hold my hand and say, "See how I am able to clap." Obviously, I do that. But soon enough the kids learn the trick and try to pull my hands away from each other preventing me from clapping three times. It now becomes a fun activity.

In the train when I devised this game for the first time with my young kids, many onlookers were laughing with us at this simple trick.

This game doesn't work with children beyond a certain age, say 8-10 years. With them, one has to be more creative. But that is a subject for another blog!

Suffice it to say that all my sons are now adept at engaging young kids and playing with them.