A blast from the past, where we should pause and spare a thought for mothers back in the 60s and 70s. Mothers who were the target audience for clever ad agencies that used bonny babies to sell everything from cigarettes to beer. Here's a walk down memory lane ... aka 'When advertisers were probably high on the cocaine they were trying to sell to children'
We live in a hyper-informed age, where we are just a book or website or whatsapp mommy group away from the answer to all our problems. While that can be enormously helpful, it often comes with its own pitfalls. Like when Debkanya Dhar Vyavaharkar decided to (unsuccessfully) follow the parenting advice of a mummy in another country. A few tears and white hair later, she has found inner peace by coming to terms with the fact that parenting is much easier when you follow your own instinct, even if it goes 'against the book'
We all dream of a life of adventure, where we can spontaneously chuck our day jobs and go off seeking the unknown. But what if the dream did come true? If someone told you to pack your belongings and move to the other end of the world? With a little toddler in tow? While some may hesitate, Roshni Rao took the plunge. Here is her story ...
Fed Is Best! It sounds so right. I mean, which parent would want to starve their baby, right? Except, it can be so wrong – almost like the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing – lulling us into a false sense of complacency, about an issue we need to be more aware about. These three words … Continue reading Why ‘Fed Is Best’ Can Be Such A Misleading Trope
Breast Milk vs Formula! Breast Is Best! Fed Is Best! These few words form the crux of the most polarizing parenting debate ever. Yes ‘Fed Is Best’ but what if the debate was not confined to just breastfeeding versus formula? What if there was a third option? This is the question I had when a … Continue reading Of Milk-Sharing & ‘Milklings’: Another View Of The Breastfeeding-Formula Debate
It is estimated that 1.8 million women will benefit from the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act that gives mothers 26 weeks off after childbirth. However, adoptive mothers get just 12 weeks, and that too, only if the child they adopt is less than 3 months old. Debkanya Dhar Vyavaharkar writes about how the Bill seems to … Continue reading Does India’s New Maternity Bill Ignore Adopted Children?
Work-life balance. Lean in. Work-from-home. Dropping Out. Sabbatical. Childcare. If you’re a mother who has had a thriving career at any point of time in your life, at least one of the phrases mentioned above will resonate with you. It is the 21st century but we are still fighting hard to bring up our babies while … Continue reading How Raising Babies Is Giving Rise To Darned Good Entrepreneurs … erm Mompreneurs!
Parenting is fun. For the first time, you’re totally in charge, teaching a young, impressionable mind right from wrong, good from bad, etc etc... Or so we’ve been conditioned to believe ... especially us Indian parents, who grew up on a healthy dose of ‘Because I told you so’ when we were kids. But actually, … Continue reading Finding Magic In The Mundane: Lessons From A 4-Year-Old
It all started as an argument between my sister and me more than a year back. She, an artist, and I, a new mum, were on the brink of launching our own children’s merchandise brand. We were deep in discussion about products and designs. She kept proposing design after design, which I, in my ‘new … Continue reading Do Babies Really Love Pastels? 50 Shades Of The Colour Debate
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. And here on Earth, they’re both striving to be equal. Or at least one sex is trying to play catch up with the other. I was eight months pregnant when the Nirbhaya case shook Delhi. It wasn’t the first or even the last time a woman was … Continue reading “Boys Don’t Wear Pink” – And Other Stories Of Bringing Up The Sexes
Tura Turi 