24th January 2019

24th January 2019 and phew! The parenting workshop is done! 

9 o'clock saw Pam, Jan and me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at a presentation by Paul Jebaraj on the assessment tool he is planning to implement  for use with all the children in Pachaikili. It is an ages and stages form covering all aspects of development, which is designed for parents to fill in and for teachers then to score so that they get an indication of where the child is developmentally in relation to the norm for their age. It will also provide ideas for activities which teachers and parents might use with the child and it should of course highlight additional needs. 

The form is yet to be translated into Tamil and checked for cultural appropriateness but Paul is very enthusiastic about it. It will be trialled at Pachaikili and he will take responsibility for training the teachers in its use and for monitoring how it works in practice, whether the language used has too high a literacy level for the parents, how the parents respond, etc It could then be rolled out to other preschool settings, such as government balwadi. Dr Santi is very keen on this programme also and has been working with a paediatrican from CMC who will be setting up clinics to be run at RUHSA where children will come for appointments if they are shown to have additional needs. 

After this presentation we had a talk with Rakesh and Sekar re the elderly in our centre. We have been concerned that no one seems now to take any responsibility for introducing them to possible activities. There used to be a caretaker Rani whose responsibility this was, but she was dismissed a year or so back. Today we learned that she had been asking for more money, but there was none available in funds to pay this. Actually we had never felt that she was very good at the job, being rather lacking in go and initiative. Apparently after she lost her job she went around telling people that, because no pooja ceremony had ever been performed on the building ( it being CMC policy not to allow this, as they are a Christian institution) that therefore the place is unlucky and that is why so many of the elderly have died.... Nothing to do with old age then. We had a useful discussion about the way forward and how to revive the good practice which was happening in the centre, when elders and children used to interact daily. We will raise all this with Santi ( 'Shanti-mam') at our meeting with her on Monday. 

And so at last my workshop on parenting could be put off no longer. Duly at 3 approximately 25 staff turned up, many more women than men. I made it fairly informal and asked them to discuss certain issues in small groups, issues such as what they believe about corporal discipline, whether they use it, where they think those beliefs have come from etc. Enough people were prepared to share fairly openly and some interesting discussion ensued, re cultural differences, giving freedom to one's 

children, what their expectations and hopes are for their own children, how to discipline without beatings etc One of the women said that they are just now trying to reduce the burden of stress on academic achievement in the schools in Tamil Nadu because they have realised how narrow and damaging this emphasis can be. An interesting exchange and the beginnings of a debate, at least.

My thanks for input from Jude re this blog. Below I have posted a short video of Rani working with the children who are dramatising the story of Handa's Surprise, which was a gift to the Pachaikili last year.  The children love it!