Learnings with LittleMM - Chota Bheem - I Love My Daughter’s TV Cartoons!

This is my Toastmasters Speech from 2016.

I got first place for this speech in club level contest which qualified me to participate in Area level contest....

When I Think of summer…I think streets busy with children playing. The lovely fragrance of mangoes and the soothing lap stories of my Grandma…

Those were the days when children spent their summer vacation with their Grandparents.

I would pester my Grandma to tell me a story...

With my Ajji’s imagination and powerful narration, I will be taken to the land of Raja, Maharajas, to the fierce fight of ten headed Rakshasa, Ravana with Rama, to the tender tale of a cow …Punyakoti.

All the stories of course were loaded with moral values. Fast-forward to a couple of decades and here comes the summer again!!!

Who is telling stories today?? Just peep around the houses. ..if you can.

You would hear TVs screaming with a chirpy chorus...

“Bheem Bheem Bheem Chota Bheem Chota Bheem"

Yes!..you have guessed it right. I am talking about the Indian Televisions superhero Chota Bheem.

Let me tell you how my fascination and association with him began about 4 years back...

It was a lazy afternoon.

On such days… my husband who is an avid philatelist opens up his huge collection of stamps and spends hours studying them.

If something interests him, he would share it with me and we would pick up a discussion.

One such stamp was about Gladiators…We were in the middle of a deep discussion.

My daughter who was about 4 years old was hovering around, proudly announced...

“Amma… I know about Gladiators….

I felt happy that she has started picking up a lot of new things from school and patted my back for putting her to the right school with a hefty Fees.

I asked “Maithu, Who told you about Gladiators?”

My little daughter said that Chota Bheem has gone to Rome and met Gladiators… That made me speechless.

From that point on, be it for Pyramids of Egypt, samurais of Japan or Kumari’s of Nepal, or

beautiful islands of Bali, the cowboys of US, Tribals of Africa…she knew it all...

 And every time it was Chota Bheem who had been there or done it.

I was amazed to learn that her source of intelligence is a cartoon...

So I decided to watch Chota Bheem with my daughter LittleMM.

I was confused..from anything I had ever heard, watched, or read, Bheem has always been one of the five Pandavas and who was shown as a big man with a big mace.

You can imagine my perplexity when I saw this nine-year-old boy with no sign of brothers or a mace..

His companions are, a 7-year-old brave girl called Chutki, Raju a younger boy of 4 years who runs around in his diapers, and Jaggu, a monkey who speaks like a human being are his companions.

If you ask me what links the mythological Bheem to Chhota Bheem is the character’s legendary physical strength. Just like Bheema of The Mahabharata, Chhota Bheem can lift enormous boulders, fight giants, and save lives. But the similarities end there.

Usually, Bheem is busy fighting with evildoers who visit Dholakpur often. When Bheem is not busy fighting evil, he excels at various sports, winning various titles and contests held in a different part of the world and that’s is how my daughter has got exposed to the world at large.

Apart from this Bheem is virtuous and highly principled. All the stories of Chota Bheem are packed with tales of courage, loyalty, and honor... Of course, is important for boosting the morale of our children.

There are cartoons on TV that teach values like

friendship,

teamwork,

courage,

helpfulness,

Kindness

love and determination to kids...

and more importantly Imagination...

And that’s why I say, I love my daughter’s TV Cartoons. I enjoy every bit of it while I watch it with her.

Someone has said...

There are no perfect parents, And there are no perfect children...

But there are plenty of “PERFECT” moments along the way...

And I believe..watching cartoons together is one such “PERFECT” moment.

Reminisce Learnings with LittleMM - Color Cards

My work needs me to connect with the US counterparts after I am back from the office. There will be meetings or discussions during the evenings. Usually, it will be after 8pm for an hour or two. Occasionally it will go beyond this time.

I could not spend much time with my daughter when she was a toddler.  The Primetime I spent with her was only in the evenings that is after 6 pm. This was the time of the day I most cherished. Little MM and I would go for a walk or to the park. Sometimes to her nearby friend's house. After we were back, we watched multiple Rhymes CDs and sang and danced with them. There were no smartphones or smart TVs to watch from youtube. Hence the CDs! 

After dinner it was my favorite time again! that was the storytime. I had to read a complete Children's book. We read Tulika books, Pratham books, Amar Chitra Katha, Little Golden Books, The Berenstain Bears etc. 

Calls in the evenings meant missing most of the evening fun. It disturbed her a lot and LittleMM would scream and interrupt by calling Amma..Amma..Amma....constantly.

With this background noise, I had to struggle during meetings as I was not able to communicate with her. 

I came up with an idea to use Toastmasters Timer Cards with a twist as a way of communication during these meetings.  I gave her one each of green, yellow, and red colored foam sheets and put across a few guidelines to use the cards.

She had to flash Red card vigorously if she felt like crying or screaming. That meant I had to drop from the meeting and listen to her immediately. 

Else she can show a yellow or green card if she had to just say something and she just wants to be around.

This system worked well with both of us. LittleMM would step into the room and would flash the Green or the Yellow card to say that she is just around and I can listen to her after a while. 

After she was got hold of language and was able to understand it, we did not have to use this system!