| My son teaches me about the spacebar! |  |
| My son teaches me about the spacebar! |  |
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To me, a spacebar is a spacebar, the long key on the keyboard.
But to my son? -- Read on to know what happened!
We read a lot these days, my son and I.
Typically, I read, and he (hopefully!), listens.
Currently, we are reading the first Harry Potter book together.
Once in a while, just to ensure he feels 'involved' with the story, I would ask him to read a few sentences, and also write them out on his workbook.
He would gladly take that up, but always would run into problems when stringing out words on a straight line because he rarely respects the need for a space between two words.
Thinking a modern-day kid would be better off taught using the computer as a backdrop, I asked him, which was the biggest key on the keyboard. Pat came the answer "The Spacebar".
Wanting to drum into him the importance of the "space" in written language, wanting to make him realize that is the reason the keyboard has such a large key for "SPACE" while the other keys are pretty small in comparison, I asked him, "So, what is the spacebar used for, tell me?"
That was when I realized, my son is not just more modern than me, he is more modern than I thought.
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So, guess what my son's answer was?
"The Spacebar is used for JUMPING!!".
That was when I closed down the book we were reading and gave him a good old-fashioned lesson on why words need to be separated by a space, and also made a mental note not to let him play at the computer for too long.
Rajendran.
| Seven Types of Love - Oneupwomanship! | |
| Seven Types of Love - Oneupwomanship! | |
I knew love was never measurable or gradable.
It just happened.
It just transpired.
But I also knew that one could love a person MORE or LESS than one loved another.
But, only today, I discovered (see research paper here!) that one could actually put numeric values and GRADE love!
Wow!
And, guess my chagrin when I realize that a woman's love comes ahead and higher up than a man's!
Only saving grace is a child's love is of the cheaper, more selfish kind, at least!
See chart below!
Comments?
It just happened.
It just transpired.
But I also knew that one could love a person MORE or LESS than one loved another.
But, only today, I discovered (see research paper here!) that one could actually put numeric values and GRADE love!
Wow!
And, guess my chagrin when I realize that a woman's love comes ahead and higher up than a man's!
Only saving grace is a child's love is of the cheaper, more selfish kind, at least!
See chart below!
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Comments?
| Management and Parenting - Resembling each other again! | |
| Management and Parenting - Resembling each other again! | |
Not very long ago, I had posted about how a Management Gospel was fitting well as a parenting tip too.
(See that post here - Management Gospel about Parenting)
That was about reading something on Management, and applying it to Parenting.
Seth Godin, yes, he with the clickable head, wrote a perfect compliment to it today.
He writes in his blog, about how children are like snowflakes.
They are usually only to point out to you the NATURE of the problem, the UNIQUENESS of it all, and how, more often than not, ONE SIZE DOESN'T FIT ALL.
Goes to show, where all you can pick up advice, if only you know how and what to look for.
Reminds me of some very serious advice I read a while ago, about shoes for children.
One real DON'T in that list was, "Do not make your younger ones wear the hand-me-downs from the older ones".
It seems, the shoes once worn by a child, takes a contour that fits the foot, and it is nearly impossible to change that contour once it sets, and force fitting it on to the next child will really damage the tender foot....
Now, are you able to see what I am seeing here?
There is a real 'parenting nugget' hidden in that Shoe-Shop advice.
Making a younger one try and get into the shoes of the elder, is not just harmful for the foot. It is harmful for the whole personality of the younger child. It creates unnecessary pressure and forgets the fact that each child is unique and it is foolish to try and make the younger a spitting image of the elder.
Stepping into the shoes of ---- Hmm, what an image it conjures up! And, see this page, and look at what an anticlimactic example this dictionary-page gives, for stepping into the shoes of.... Just what I have been professing NOT TO DO!
Well, that's life for you!
(See that post here - Management Gospel about Parenting)
That was about reading something on Management, and applying it to Parenting.
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He writes in his blog, about how children are like snowflakes.
I quote from that post:-He goes on to draw a comparison with organizations, and says most advice is not to give you real useful plug-and-play solutions.
The other day, I heard a parent wistfully point out that kids never act just the way they say they will in all those parenting books. "What to Expect?" Not really. Sort of like snowflakes, they're all different.
They are usually only to point out to you the NATURE of the problem, the UNIQUENESS of it all, and how, more often than not, ONE SIZE DOESN'T FIT ALL.
Goes to show, where all you can pick up advice, if only you know how and what to look for.
Reminds me of some very serious advice I read a while ago, about shoes for children.
One real DON'T in that list was, "Do not make your younger ones wear the hand-me-downs from the older ones".
 |
It seems, the shoes once worn by a child, takes a contour that fits the foot, and it is nearly impossible to change that contour once it sets, and force fitting it on to the next child will really damage the tender foot....
Now, are you able to see what I am seeing here?
There is a real 'parenting nugget' hidden in that Shoe-Shop advice.
Making a younger one try and get into the shoes of the elder, is not just harmful for the foot. It is harmful for the whole personality of the younger child. It creates unnecessary pressure and forgets the fact that each child is unique and it is foolish to try and make the younger a spitting image of the elder.
Stepping into the shoes of ---- Hmm, what an image it conjures up! And, see this page, and look at what an anticlimactic example this dictionary-page gives, for stepping into the shoes of.... Just what I have been professing NOT TO DO!
I quote again:- When his father retires, Victor will be ready to step into his shoes. It will take a very special person to fill Barbara's shoes.(Couldn't he think of a different example, I wonder! Must he always use Son stepping into Father's shoes, for godssake!)
Well, that's life for you!
| Come On, Grandpa! How COULD you! | |
| Come On, Grandpa! How COULD you! | |
Some explanations, first.
(In blogging terminology, what they call "FULL DISCLOSURE").
Vembu, our latest blogger at Jambav, and the first grandpa to blog with us, recently wrote about how his grandson showed traits of 'chauvinism' when he refused to dance along with some girls.
The grandson he wrote about is Aditya, none other than my own son. Yes, he is my father-in-law.
Radha Vembu, his daughter, works in the same company as I do, AdventNet Inc, though with a different product team, called SQLOne.
Given that Radha and I work from the same office, and our home is just a few hundred yards from work, Aditya visits us occasionally, late in the evenings.
He usually spends that time with the Jambav team, playing games, giving 'user' feedback, and sometimes, finding bugs in our stuff.
Now, on to what happened TODAY.
Today though, one of our over-enthu teammates took him to a computer and showing him the photo that featured him immobile (refer this blogpost by his grandpa), asked him what happened, and whether he wouldn't dance with girls still.
And, that blew it! In a very very uncharacteristic manner, the usually brave and strongwilled boy just started crying loudly, and hugging me, hid his face from the others around him. No amount of consolation would do! I had to call his mom to distract him on to something else. Later I learnt that he had told his mom that he had been made fun of, that there was this photo of his, which had an arrow showing him particularly, and this was an incident so long ago (happened last year!), and why was it being talked about now! I also heard that he had complained that the other boy in the group, who also didn't sing that day, wasn't shown in the photograph and wanted to know why! (I plead guilty for that, I cut it up so that it fit the blog post better, both physically and metaphorically!)
Radha was pretty angry with me, and my teammates who had brought his attention to that post. She even wanted to pull down that picture of his (which I don't intend to).
But, I learned an important message today. I have said this before, and I say it again. This generation is special - very special - in the sense that this is the first generation of online denizens where people ACROSS generations will be active online simultaneously. Be it a grandpa on a geriatric forum and an active senior executive busy at work, or be it a mature adult online at work with his own teenage son roving cyberspace looking for chat friends. Either way, there are going to be clashes and differences galore. We need to be very very careful about what we write. (Wow, the word write itself pronounces the same as right!)
I remember Arthi of the Toddlerspeak blog telling us all about something similar. How she feels Akank is soon going to grow up, and read all the stuff that has been written about her, and she better do a politically correct job about it hence, etc.
Interesting times, these! Sorry Aditya, grandpa was only PRAISING YOU, calling attention to his genetic traits etc, okay?! I know you know the song backwards, dear!
(In blogging terminology, what they call "FULL DISCLOSURE").
Vembu, our latest blogger at Jambav, and the first grandpa to blog with us, recently wrote about how his grandson showed traits of 'chauvinism' when he refused to dance along with some girls.
The grandson he wrote about is Aditya, none other than my own son. Yes, he is my father-in-law.
Radha Vembu, his daughter, works in the same company as I do, AdventNet Inc, though with a different product team, called SQLOne.
Given that Radha and I work from the same office, and our home is just a few hundred yards from work, Aditya visits us occasionally, late in the evenings.
He usually spends that time with the Jambav team, playing games, giving 'user' feedback, and sometimes, finding bugs in our stuff.
Now, on to what happened TODAY.
Today though, one of our over-enthu teammates took him to a computer and showing him the photo that featured him immobile (refer this blogpost by his grandpa), asked him what happened, and whether he wouldn't dance with girls still.
And, that blew it! In a very very uncharacteristic manner, the usually brave and strongwilled boy just started crying loudly, and hugging me, hid his face from the others around him. No amount of consolation would do! I had to call his mom to distract him on to something else. Later I learnt that he had told his mom that he had been made fun of, that there was this photo of his, which had an arrow showing him particularly, and this was an incident so long ago (happened last year!), and why was it being talked about now! I also heard that he had complained that the other boy in the group, who also didn't sing that day, wasn't shown in the photograph and wanted to know why! (I plead guilty for that, I cut it up so that it fit the blog post better, both physically and metaphorically!)
Radha was pretty angry with me, and my teammates who had brought his attention to that post. She even wanted to pull down that picture of his (which I don't intend to).
But, I learned an important message today. I have said this before, and I say it again. This generation is special - very special - in the sense that this is the first generation of online denizens where people ACROSS generations will be active online simultaneously. Be it a grandpa on a geriatric forum and an active senior executive busy at work, or be it a mature adult online at work with his own teenage son roving cyberspace looking for chat friends. Either way, there are going to be clashes and differences galore. We need to be very very careful about what we write. (Wow, the word write itself pronounces the same as right!)
I remember Arthi of the Toddlerspeak blog telling us all about something similar. How she feels Akank is soon going to grow up, and read all the stuff that has been written about her, and she better do a politically correct job about it hence, etc.
Interesting times, these! Sorry Aditya, grandpa was only PRAISING YOU, calling attention to his genetic traits etc, okay?! I know you know the song backwards, dear!
| Missing Dad, when Dad goes missing... | |
| Missing Dad, when Dad goes missing... | |
Probably this post is triggered by the fact that my dad was diagnosed with a possible tumour in the brain following his being admitted in the hospital when he developed a speech slur, last fortnight.
Or, probably, I write this soon after telling a friend what kind of dad I wanted to be:- I told him, I want to be son's best friend.
Anyway, here is the actual thought that made me write this one up.
Robert Scoble, ex-Microsoft Blogger Extraordinaire has an equally famous blogger wife that not many seem to have heard of yet.
Her name is Maryamie Scoble, and she blogs here.
In a recent blog post, she said:-
Touched though I was with her love and longing for her dad, and reminded about my own attachment with my dad, I also had another residual thought running in the background.
Is he the best of Dads, who is missed when he goes missing?
As much as I love my son, and wish him the best of things and want to have fond memories with him, and want him to look up to me as his personal pillar of support and care, I wonder if he will miss me when I am gone. Further, I wonder if he SHOULD?
If I were to play my role as his dad best, shouldn't part of that role be also to annul the need for a dad?
I am reminded of my own boss, Sridhar Vembu's oft-spoken refrain about being a manager. "Your first job as a manager must be to become redundant for your team. Only then can you focus on the really important, useful, vital things.."
But well, dear son Aditya, this whole post is based on a flawed premise anyway!
It is based on the thought that it is YOU who needs ME, and not the other way around! Wishful thinking, eh?
Or, probably, I write this soon after telling a friend what kind of dad I wanted to be:- I told him, I want to be son's best friend.
Anyway, here is the actual thought that made me write this one up.
Robert Scoble, ex-Microsoft Blogger Extraordinaire has an equally famous blogger wife that not many seem to have heard of yet.
Her name is Maryamie Scoble, and she blogs here.
In a recent blog post, she said:-
Tomorrow marks the 12th anniversary of my father's death and I still miss him so very much. I miss him when I am happy, because I want to share my joy with him and I miss him when I am sad, because I want him to comfort me with his kindness and words of wisdom. I miss him when I succeed at a project because I want him to be proud of me and I miss him when I fail because he can tell me it's not the end of the world and I will have another chance. My Dad was my hero and no one can ever replace him.
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Is he the best of Dads, who is missed when he goes missing?
As much as I love my son, and wish him the best of things and want to have fond memories with him, and want him to look up to me as his personal pillar of support and care, I wonder if he will miss me when I am gone. Further, I wonder if he SHOULD?
If I were to play my role as his dad best, shouldn't part of that role be also to annul the need for a dad?
I am reminded of my own boss, Sridhar Vembu's oft-spoken refrain about being a manager. "Your first job as a manager must be to become redundant for your team. Only then can you focus on the really important, useful, vital things.."
But well, dear son Aditya, this whole post is based on a flawed premise anyway!
It is based on the thought that it is YOU who needs ME, and not the other way around! Wishful thinking, eh?