20 November 2019

Curious kids or parents at test😲- Part 7 (Sun doesn't rise, but earth rotates!)

I many times hear people say that this is not the right age to tell kids about this.. he is too small... I wonder is there really anything called as right age? Kids have amazing grasping powers and for that matter much better than adults. Kids are very receptive. They do understand. Why not try them?? I will quote one such incident.
My kid was in Junior KG. It was Saturday afternoon. It was lunch time. I was feeding my kid. He was feeling very lazy and he was trying to lie down while having his lunch. I was tired of telling him to sit straight.
I was racking my brain to engage him in some interesting conversation so that he would sit straight. I just asked him conversationally, "Just tell me what time of the day is it?? Morning, afternoon, evening??"
Kiddo: afternoon...
Me: Correct!! Now tell me what people do at this time??
Kiddo: I am having lunch. Then Nani is serving the food. Aunty is cleaning utensils (He answered looking around the room)
Me: So tell me during day do people sleep or they do work??
Kiddo: Work
Me: Should I tell you something funny?? At this very hour Dada, Dadi and Bua are sleeping.
Kiddo: (Now sitting straight and with a look of wonder in his eyes) how come??
Me: Do tell me where are Dada, Dadi and Bua these days?
Kiddo: U-S-A ( he answered stressing on each syllable)
Me: And all of them are sleeping right now because it's night in USA at the moment.
Kiddo: (with disbelief) but we have a day here.
Me: Absolutely right!! We have day here in India and they have night in USA.
Kiddo: How is it possible Mamma?
Me: it's quite simple actually. What is the shape of the earth??
(My kiddo already had encyclepedia with very nice illustrations. So Pat came the answer)
Kiddo: it looks round like a ball.
Me: Do you know the Sun remains constant and our earth rotates around itself. How you turn around yourself while playing Ring-a-ring-a roses. Earth also rotates around itself.
Suddenly my Kiddo's football became the earth. And the torch became the sun. I switched on the torch which was now Sun and the football earth started rotating. Then I showed him the portion of the earth which was facing the Sun. There it was a day. Then I showed him the portion of the earth which was away from the Sun and where light could not reach. There they had night. My kiddo was totally entrapped in this demonstration. Later on we purchased the globe. And my kiddo showed me India which was facing the Sun had day and USA which was exactly behind India had night. After this demonstration my Kiddo's face was shining with excitement.
After few days I had been to my Kiddo's school for parent teacher meeting. His teacher informed that she was teaching children about how sky appears during day and night. After she had finished teaching my kiddo had exclaimed, "Teacher, actually sun does not rise. But our earth rotates." My kiddo had explained full day night cycle to his teacher in his Hinglish. The teacher had recorded the full explanation on her mobile phone and showed the recording during teachers meeting. The teachers were deliberating on whether to introduce the concept of solar system in Seniors KG. My kiddo's teacher told them that if a Junior KG student can explain full day night cycle then why can't we just introduce the kids with solar system.
What more satisfaction a mother could get than her kid's appreciation for such good reason. Mother's efforts had shown fruits!
In formal curriculum the kids learn about day night cycle in third or fourth standard. But I just tried to explain it to Junior KG kid with the resources easily available at home. He understood. If we parents take little efforts the kids can do wonders.
Explaining day-night cycle was only a small portion!! Encyclepedia has played a major role in building and increasing a knowledge bank of my kiddo. In next blog I will take you through our favorite pastime - reading hour!!
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https://kinfolkclub.com or https://motherlab.blogspot.com 

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