Meaningful & Enjoyable Activities for Children

This article was written by Salman Asif Siddiqui, and published in HOMEWORKS in July 2013.

One of the toughest jobs for parents is to keep their children engaged in meaningful and enjoyable activities. A lot many have failed to engage their children in activities that have value. Many parents are occupied with activities that are not coherent with the aims of good parenting. “We can’t blame children for occupying themselves with facebook rather than playing in the mud. Our society doesn’t put a priority on connecting with nature. In fact, too often we tell them it’s dirty and dangerous”, says David Suzuki, who is an environmental activist.

 This article introduces over 100 family activities which parents can be engaged in with their children. These meaningful and enjoyable activities are classified into seven types. Besides, a list of seven other activities is also being shared with the readers that may seem engaging but actually have little or no significance for healthy and meaningful family life.

Seven time-killer activities: 
Based on my personal observation and interaction with hundreds of families, I have come to the conclusion that there are seven major time traps that are well integrated in our routines. One needs to be fully aware of these time traps which not only kill time but also adversely affect someone’s capacity to live a meaningful and healthy life. Moreover, these seven activities that are listed below have the potential to make you addict of them and kill your other interests.


 1. TV watching: Watching television actually means inactivity. For many families, it is considered to be their favourite option. Many children are made to sit before TV by their parents from very young age due to which they gradually lose their interest in other activities. TV makes children passive consumers of knowledge and spoils their innate creative talents.
 2. Computer games: Too much screen time is not good for your children. Computer games though successfully engage children but it is not the wise use of their time. Most of these games are making children violent and aggressive besides straining their eyesight.
 3. Facebook: Facebook is highly addictive which very few people can refrain from after joining it. Facebook is depleting relationships that every child needs to grow strong and strengthening networks which invade their life and ruin their peace. People who use facebook more frequently may become more self-occupied, isolated and show narcissistic tendencies.
 4. Mobile messaging: Mobile messaging is another trap that can rob a person’s time. People when overly occupied with their mobile set do not realize that they give more attention and value to their mobile set and less attention and less value to the person whom they interact with. Over involvement of parents in their mobile phones can affect the quality of their interaction with their children.
 5. Purposeless internet surfing: Internet is a great utility but people should beware of this trap as it has become one of the major time-killers in the lives of many. Purposeless internet browsing can isolate individuals and reduce family interaction.
 6. Over sleeping: Over sleeping is one of the major sources of lethargy. It can make kids look dull and sluggish.
 7. Ludo: This is the game which does not require intelligence or effort. Through this game children learn to internalize a very bad value, which is to win by luck and not by strategy or hard work.

To live a healthy and meaningful life, families need to explore diverse activities with a more holistic approach. Indulging into one type of activity is not good for children and parents. The activities that are listed below under the seven activity types provide a balanced program and a broader range of options for families to be engaged in. Parents should critically review their own interests and explore activities which they have ignored previously. You can not make your children benefit from this list until you change your own lifestyle. Choose at least a few activities from all the seven types and model your interest in them.

Meaningful & Enjoyable Activities:

TYPE 1: LITERARY
1.Reading books
2. Reading magazines
3. Reading newspaper
4. Reading poetry
5. Writing diary
6. Writing stories
7. Writing letters
8. Writing dialogue journal
9. Writing essays/ articles
10. Writing poetry
11. Research presentations
12. Listening songs/ poems
13. Attending literary events
 14. Watching drama/movies (on DVD)
15. Visiting theatre
 16. Writers’ club
17. Useful websites

TYPE 2: PHYSICAL
1. Cycling
2. Swimming
3. Skating
4. Cricket
5. Football
6. Basketball
7. Squash
8. Lawn tennis
9. Table tennis
10. Badminton
11. Taekwondo
12. Gymnastics
13. Aerobics
14. Body building
15. Horse riding
16. Jogging/ treadmill
17. Yoga

 TYPE 3: MIND GAMES
1. Chess
2. Sudoku
3. Kakuro
4. Dominoes
5. Checker/ draughts
6. Rubik’s cube
7. Crosswords
8. Word finder
9. Scrabble
10. Mind puzzles/ riddles
11. Construction/ building blocks
12. Robotics
13. Scratch (MIT Project)
14. Useful websites

TYPE 4: ART & CRAFT
 1. Painting
2. Sketching
3. Drawing
4. Calligraphy
5. Printing / dyeing
6. Knitting/ weaving
7. Pottery/ clay work
8. Pot painting
9. Glass painting
10. Fabric painting
11. Ceramic painting
12. Recycling
13. Origami
14. Model making
15. Jewellery making
16. Paint brush (computer)
17. Useful websites

TYPE 5: SOCIAL
1. Story telling
2. Drama/ acting
3. Singing
4. Recitals/ presentations
5. Chatting in family
6. Indoor fun games with family/ friends
7. Pen friendship
8. Photography
9. Film making
10. Art exhibition/ display
11. Giving tuitions
12. Attending fairs
13. Web development/ digital portfolios
14. Blogging
15. Visiting friends/ relatives/ neighbours
16. Volunteer work

TYPE 6: DOMESTIC 
1. Stitching
2. Embroidery
3. Cooking
4. Baking
5. Salad making
6. Cleaning/ dusting/ mopping
7. Mending/ servicing/ repairs
8. Washing clothes
9. Ironing
10. Polishing shoes
11. Organizing room
12. Shopping groceries
13. Helping parents
14. Helping siblings
15. Teaching siblings

TYPE 7: NATURE
1. Plantation/ gardening
2. Vegetable farming
3. Experiments
4. Sight seeing
5. Hiking
6. Walking
7. Boating
8. Fishing
9. Stargazing
10. Camping
11. Shooting
12. Keeping pets
13. Travelling
14. Field trips

AN INSIGHT INTO CHARACTER BUILDING

NATIONAL ANTHEM IN SCHOOLS

City’s Elite Schools Say No to National Anthem

Written by Sidrah Roghay and published in The News on Thursday, May 03, 2012 

The restive Balochistan province is not the only place where the national anthem remains barred from many of its educational institutions. Several leading elite schools of Karachi have also stopped following the tradition in their morning assemblies, calling it a “waste of time and energy.”

To the utter dismay of many parents and students, several schools, including Bayview High School, the CAS and Rhodene Academy, have either abolished the singing of the national anthem altogether, or have been doing it only once a week for the past many years.

As the regulatory authorities concerned looked the other way mainly because of the influence and connections of owners of these private schools, a tradition that ruled every school of Karachi for decades has been erased.

The schools, which abandoned the tradition of the national anthem, mostly follow the Cambridge International Examination system, catering mostly to the elite, upper-middle class and middle class families.

Nadeem Islam, vice principal of Bayview High School, said that assemblies occur in his school every day, but the national anthem is sung only once a week. “It takes too long, and wastes time that can be used in the class constructively.”

He argues that celebrating the Independence Day and teaching history are enough for the students.

The answer of the principal and owner of another private school, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was more baffling. “I do not ask students to sing the national anthem: firstly, because it is in Urdu; secondly, I do not believe in national cohesion. What purpose does the national anthem serve? Students should be engaged in more meaningful activities.”

The principal’s obvious disdain for the national language and anthem underlines the fundamental crisis of Pakistan’s education system which remains divided not just on the class basis, but also on the ideological grounds.

Many students of these so-called modern liberal schools remain stranger to their own country, people, language and history, senior educationists say. Anwar Ahmed Zai, chairman Board of Intermediate Education, says that singing the national anthem has been a tradition at all the educational institutions since 1952, when Hafeez Jalandhri’s verses were finally selected from among many hundred entries.

“Not singing it (the national anthem) should definitely be discouraged,” he says. “The national anthem serves three main purposes: ownership of the country, unity and identity. These values can only be inculcated at a tender age, not when the children are old and have grown up thinking it as unnecessary.

“Forget schools, there was a time when movies in cinemas played after a collective national anthem was sung. If entertainment was followed by it, then educational activities should surely follow suit.”

Dr Muhammad Memon, director Institute of Education Development-Aga Khan University, believes that the national anthem should be “mandatory.”

“When we gather in the morning to sing the national anthem it is a commitment to serve the country. There is no second choice. We must do it every day.”

Professor Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed of the Pakistan Study Centre at Karachi University says that singing the national anthem is a general practice worldwide.

“It is a beautiful composition, and a tool we desperately need in these times to maintain national identity. Those who are against the practice should reconsider their position.”

Salman Asif Siddiqui, director Educational Resource Development Centre, says: “School is the only place where a child can learn the national anthem. He might not comprehend it at that age, but the tune will stick to his head, exactly like a nursery rhyme. At a later age, he can draw context from his memory.”

“It takes three minutes to sing the national anthem. Why should it be a waste of time?” says Yasmeen Qazi, the mother of a student at one such school.

Ibrahim Muzaffar, the father of another schoolchild, is also concerned. “There are certain norms that make up collective citizenship. How else will one expect students to consider themselves patriotic Pakistanis?” he asks.

“School age is the period when students can memorise the national anthem. One cannot discard everything by calling it unnecessary,” says Fariha Sanaullah, a mother of two school-going students.

“Why destroy the beautiful tradition which we have cherished as a nation for decades?“

“If a child grows up thinking the national anthem is unnecessary, he will have the same attitude towards other things, like patriotism or building one’s country,” says Farah Khan, a young mother of a three-year-old.

THE LAST LECTURE: BOOK REVIEW

Book Review by Salman Asif Siddiqui, published in Journal of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Research, NED University – June 2012

Book: The Last Lecture

Authors: Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow

Length: 206 pages

Published by: Hodder & Stoughton, UK

Year of publication: 2008

ISBN: 978-0-340-97773-6

What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? On 18^th September 2007, Randy Pausch, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, delivered a lecture titled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'. The lecture was a part of University’s old tradition according to which professors at the end of their tenure are asked to consider their demise and ruminate on what matters most to them. Theses talks which are full of wisdom and invaluable lessons are generally regarded as The Last Lectures.

But in the case of Randy, it was not the end of his tenure. He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2006 when he was 45. He was married, with three little children aged five, two and one at that time. Unlike other professors, the time of his Last Lecture came very early in his life.

Randy’s last lecture at Carnegie Mellon was attended by an audience of over 400 colleagues and students. Right after its delivery, the lecture was uploaded on Youtube and University website. It became extremely popular in no time and viewed by millions of people across the globe. Later on, in April 2008, Randy authored a book The Last Lecture with the help of his friend Jeffrey Zaslow who was a journalist.  The book is not the transcription of the lecture that Randy delivered in Carnegie Mellon, but the story behind the lecture with some details of his life that were not given in his lecture. In Randy's words, the book is a way to continue what was begun on stage. The idea of writing this book was as exciting as the idea of preparing the lecture. Readers will find both the stories in the book.

With little time left in your life, it is not easy to commit writing a book. Randy did not want to consume the little time that he had for his three children and his wife by writing a book. But he was keen to compliment his widely celebrated lecture and preserve the lessons of his life in the form of a book. He therefore invented a way to do it. Based on one of his life principles which resonate throughout the book, “the brick walls are not there to stop us; they are there to let us show how badly we want something”. Time limitation did not stop Randy write this beautiful book. He wrote it when he was served an advance notice of his death. He had three to four months left when he chose to record his legacy. Randy asked his friend Jeffrey Zaslow for collaboration, to which he willingly agreed. Randy utilized the time of his bike riding, which was a crucial exercise for his health in giving talks to Jeffrey on his cell-phone headset. On fifty-three long bike rides, fifty-three talks were delivered to Jeffrey who then spent countless hours to turn them into this masterpiece book.

Apart from a brief introduction in the beginning and an acknowledgement page in the end, the content of the book is organized in six parts. The first part of the book is titled 'The Last Lecture', which takes into account perhaps the most touching and emotional background of Randy’s lecture that nobody in the audience could ever imagine without reading this part of the book. It discusses how he convinced his wife Jai about going for this last lecture, she not being very happy over this idea, as only a few months were left for them to spend together and plan for life after Randy.

The second part of the book titled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams' was the title of Randy’s lecture. It was a strategic decision to choose a title through which he was going to communicate to a range of known and unknown people, his students, colleagues, his kids, his loving wife, relatives, friends, parents, counselors, educators and patients of incurable diseases around the world. This part of the book outlines how Randy engineered a presentation that has a lasting inspiration and impact in the lives of millions of people.

Randy lived a life that was driven by his childhood dreams. He has clearly illustrated how dreams add meaning to life. He lived a very successful life by accomplishing all of his childhood dreams from being in zero gravity to playing in National Football League, authoring an article in World Book Encyclopedia, and to being a Disney Imagineer. The book contains stories of how passionately he pursued his dreams and how some extra ordinary people including his parents played their role in his life.

The other parts of the book are filled with meaningful anecdotes of varying experiences like cancer treatment, birth of children, difficult situations at job and other turning points in life. There is a chapter in the book that outlines the tips of time management, which are based on Randy’s personal life.

In the last section titled 'Final Remarks', Randy has described unique qualities of his three kids. This description is extremely profound yet simple enough to state that even educational psychologists would marvel at his insight. His vision for his children can surely inspire other parents, too. Randy says, “It can be a very disruptive thing for parents to have specific dreams for their kids. … A parent’s job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams. … So my dreams for my kids are very exact: I want them to find their own path to fulfillment. And given that I won’t be there, I want to make this clear: Kids, don’t try to figure out what I wanted you to become. I want you to become what you want to become.”

Randy’s writing indicates that he was an optimistic person. At one point he analyzed, “Cancer has given me the time to have these vital conversations with Jai that wouldn’t be possible if my fate were a heart attack or car accident.” Besides, he has also expressed his deepest gratitude and regard for his wife.

In the end he points out the two head fakes of his talk. First, the talk was not about how to achieve your dreams but how to lead your life. Second, the talk was not just for those in the hall, it was for his three kids.

The book which is a kind of life story is a unique non-fiction filled with anecdotes and narratives. Organization of content is like a story board, which sustains readers’ curiosity and attention up till the end. Language is simple but often symbolic containing great wisdom in short phrases. Nobody can remain unmoved by the unique style, wit and intelligent humour that run throughout the book making the reading light, enjoyable and impactful. Randy calls himself a visual thinker and the book, too, offers a visual experience through a number of photographs.

Soon after its launch, the book became a New York Times best-seller and spent more than 85 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The book’s first printing alone had 400,000 copies. It has been translated into 46 languages. There are now more than 5 million copies of the book in print.

Though Randy has lost his life to cancer in July 2008, but he will continue to inspire us all through his breathtaking book and lecture. This book is worth reading for anyone who cares about the meaning of life and its legacy.

CHARTER OF CHILDREN'S RECOGNITION

Proposed by Salman Asif Siddiqui, founder and director of ERDC and Published in DAWN on 5^th May, 2013.

Children learn best when they are respected, and this respect is every child’s right. If we take a look at the quality of experience that children undergo during their education, we will arrive at the conclusion that it is filled with feelings of fear, insecurity, rejection, embarrassment, humiliation and guilt.

I often ask teachers if education without insults is possible and a lot of them wonder at my question. I have asked many students, who have been top performers in their schools, if they have ever experienced a fear of disapproval and most of them say ‘yes’. Quality education cannot just be referred to the conceptual coverage of curriculum. Quality education needs to be redefined as making learning meaningful and enjoyable with making children feel unconditionally respected and recognized.

Recognizing children is to accept and acknowledge them as what they are. Children should not be recognized conditionally on the basis of their test scores, mastery of a foreign language or show of obedience. They must be recognized wholly just because they are human beings and created as the best creation by the best of all creators.

Children’s self-respect is something that remains at risk throughout their childhood. There is an acute need to have a national consensus on the protection of this basic children’s right. I would like to propose a Charter of Children’s Recognition for this purpose that is based on three fundamental principles. As per the dictionary definition, ‘charter’ is a document describing the rights that a particular group of people should have. The charter which is introduced in the following can serve as a practical guideline for teachers and parents to work with children.

1^st principle of children’s recognition:


Listen to and acknowledge children without losing your temper.

How do you feel when you are not heard or acknowledged? You feel unimportant. Sometimes you feel disgraced. We feel recognized when we are heard. Listening can be a very powerful tool to make children feel important and recognized. Children bear tons of things to share ranging from interesting and weird questions, to realistic and hypothetical ideas, to a variety of sentiments and feelings.

Encourage children to express in whatever language they feel comfortable and listen to them without being impatient, judgmental or losing your temper. When you will allow them say whatever they want to say in their preferred language, you will find a world that was hidden before. After having listened to children it is appropriate to acknowledge them by simply rephrasing what you have heard. Acknowledging a child’s point of view does not mean agreeing with him or her. The act of acknowledging makes children feel understood and respected.

2^nd principle of children’s recognition:
Recognize the individuality of every child instead of comparing children.

How would you feel if you are compared with your colleagues? You would feel humiliated. We 
would not like to be compared with anybody, so as with children. Every child is differently creative. Expecting children to be alike is unjust. They can be similar in some ways but actually they are unique and therefore different from each other. Comparison between children communicates that you are not accepting children as what they are rather demanding them to be what their peers are. It shatters their self confidence and they view themselves as incompetent.

When we believe that every child is uniquely intelligent and creative, only then will we understand that it’s perfectly fine if they learn differently. Expecting all children to learn in the same way at the same pace and respond invariably is absolutely inappropriate and ridiculous. Children show phenomenal development when they are accepted with their individual learning styles and pace. Children must be recognized for what they do instead of what they have not done.

3^rd principle of children’s recognition:
Treat children with unconditional respect and trust.

How children are treated when they are young has a huge influence on the type of people they will grow up to be. Children are born pure and innocent with delicate self-esteem. Their sense of self-worth grows through approval from outside. What children need most are respect and trust, and not costly toys.

Respect is their basic need which comes prior to education. Quality education is to understand and treat children respectfully irrespective of their academic performance or behavioural state. One more reason for which children should be respected is that respect itself is reciprocal. Children who are treated respectfully learn to be respectful and treat others respectfully, too. Respecting is natural when children do something which is desirable and socially acceptable. Respecting becomes more challenging for many when children do something undesirable. We must remember that even in the later case, we should disapprove the wrong doing but not disapprove of child. This is to treat children respectfully and reject the bad behaviour, if there is any.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal in his magnum opus work Javidnama introduced a clear vision for educators. He says, “The purpose of knowledge is nothing but to show you the splendors of yourself”. Education that compels children to understand the curriculum and does not understand and recognize the child can not serve the child. The education process must not be impersonal because it dehumanizes and demoralizes learners through which the purpose of existence is adversely affected. 

TO GRADE IS TO DEGRADE

To grade is to degrade

 Sidrah Roghay, Published in The News on April 05, 2012

Aneesa Saeed sits in a quiet room on the third floor of her house, reciting text from a stack of papers that she carries with her. These papers are her notes – they represent the entirety of her educational assets for her school year. Rote-learning every word of these notes, she thinks, will help her pass her exam tomorrow.

Aneesa is a product of the current education system, one in which schools focus most of the academic year on preparing students for exams. Many flaunt the A1 grades that their students receive on panaflex sheets outside their school gates, an act to attract admissions and motivate students to aspire for higher grades.

Though the matriculation examinations in Sindh are scheduled to start today, there are a number of educationists who strongly disapprove of this particular system of assessment, a claim that they back with some strong arguments.

Kanwal Laeeq, faculty at the Educational Resource Development Centre, conducted a research analysing the content of exam papers from 25 schools. She said that exam papers were not actually testing for the things that they claimed to. “For example, a language test paper was not testing language skills,” she said.

“When one speaks about learning a language, there are three things that need to be taken into account: listening, speaking and understanding. However, a majority of the language tests only judged a child’s knowledge of the contents of the books they were assigned; questions such as which character said what.”

“Schools promote uniformity, something that is challenged by creativity. School systems, in general, do not encourage creativity. Even if a teacher wants to teach something outside the course content, they are held back by time constraints,” said Kanwal Laeeq. “A certain amount of chapters have to be completed in certain amount of time; the result is that the education imparted is exam-oriented, not skill-oriented.”

When Salman Asif Siddiqui from the Educational Resource Development Centre asked a group of O Level students, who had received A* in physics and math, if they liked these subjects or were passionate about them, they replied in the negative.

“They told me they had rote-learned for the exam,” he said. He feels that judging a student on a day’s performance, a day on which they are made to “cram and reproduce mediocre writing,” is flawed.

“Exams label students as A class products, B class products and C class products. In doing so, they often fail to recognise the creative spark in a particularly bright student. Take the example of Steve Jobs, a college dropout who the education system had labeled C class.”

He maintains that the state of education is changing internationally, with the private sector in the USA and the UAE beginning to experiment with new modes of assessment and the UK also accommodating new practices. He believes that one thing is for sure: “Educationists globally are rejecting examination as a mode of assessment.”

Mr. Salman Siddiqui believes in project-based assessment and a learners’ portfolio, in which a child selects their topic of research and works on it over a period of time. “This tests their understanding of the subject better.”

“And this would actually be fruitful in the long run, as it will raise a generation of students that can think. Why else are there students who can get full marks in social studies tests, but are unable to come up with solutions for social ills?” he asks. Abbas Hussain, who heads the Teacher’s Development Centre, calls himself a radical anti-exam activist. “To grade is to degrade, having no exams is the best way!” he says.

But this, he believes, does not mean that he is against assessments per se; his belief is that “assessments need not be made in the form of an exam”. However, he believes that before coming up with more creative modes of assessment, the first step schools need to take is to come to an agreement to “negate exams”.

RETHINKING EDUCATION: WHY?

Our problems in education are manifold. The top most issue is with the intention. Parents intend to get their children educated so they can earn better and live a respectable life. Schools intend to gauge their success through the board results and the extent to which parents throng for admissions. Curriculum experts intend to measure the effectiveness of the curriculum by its capacity to cater to the needs of the future corporate world. Educationists are trying to identify the skill set that is required to survive in the future’s economy. Education is serving as an instrument to support the corporate culture, consumerism and capitalist economy. For individuals the matter of satisfaction is that they are getting everything what they want and improving their quality of life through education. For institutions, the matter of satisfaction is that their students are serving one of the best corporate companies on high positions with the best of their abilities. And in the entire business of education, where is the reason for which man is created?

Salman Asif Siddiqui
Director
ERDC