Read time: about 4 minutes A healthy newborn needs very little skin care. Most skin problems come from using too many products, not too few. Here is a simple routine based on Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) guidance. The newborn skin care routine Room and water: warm room (26 to 27 degrees Celsius), no draught. …
The Ludo board went flying across the room on a quiet Sunday evening. Dice, tokens and one very small red pawn scattered under the sofa. My son Vivaan, six years old and red in the face, was shouting that the game was “cheating” because I had cut his last token with one throw. I sat …
Last winter, at a family wedding, a relative I had met only twice bent down and asked my son Kabir for a kiss. He was three. He stepped behind my leg and held on to my dupatta. And I, wanting to avoid an awkward moment, said the words I wish I could take back: “Go …
The empty chocolate wrapper was lying on the sofa. Chocolate was smeared across his cheek. “Did you eat the chocolate?” “No, Mummy. I didn’t.” I remember standing there with a strange mix of anger and heartbreak. It was not about the chocolate. It was about the calm, steady way he said it. If you have …
“Mummy, I’m bored.” “Mummy, there is nothing to do.” “Mummy, what should I do?” If you have heard these three lines before 10 a.m. on a holiday, you know the feeling. A small panic rises in your chest. You start offering ideas, colors, puzzles, a movie, a park trip. And somewhere in that moment, you …
Joint family parenting sounds beautiful from the outside. Extra hands, extra love, extra stories at bedtime. And honestly, most days it is exactly that. But nobody warns you about the other side, where all the adults love one child and each of them is completely sure they know what is best for him. The evening …
For almost a year, my mornings sounded like a broken record. “Brush your teeth.” “Where’s your uniform.” “Five more minutes, then breakfast.” I was saying the same ten instructions every single day, and Aryan was tuning out every single one. What finally broke that cycle wasn’t stricter rules — it was a simple daily routine …
A few months ago, I realized I’d started every conversation with Aryan the same way: “Homework done?” “Did you have your bath?” “Is your bag packed for tomorrow?” Logistics. Just logistics. He’d answer in one word and run back outside to his friends, and I’d stand there wondering when exactly we’d stopped actually talking. That’s …
There are days when your child comes home and says, “Mumma, she is better than me.” Maybe a friend got higher marks, ran faster, made more friends, or simply seemed more confident. My first instinct used to be to make my child feel better immediately. But I realised that saying “Don’t compare yourself” doesn’t really …
There was a time when I worried about almost every bite my toddler ate. My son was around 22 months old, and apart from breastfeeding, he was hardly eating anything. I tried parathas, curd, milk, flavoured milk, fruits, and almost everything I could think of. What finally helped was not one magic trick, but understanding …
