Indian Daddy's Blog

 

I am a father of 7 years son and trying to provide quality time in the midst of a busy work schedule. Professionally, I am a wildlife biologist as such I spend many days from my house inside the forest with no connectivity. But as I return home I am turned into a family man and a father. How can we (my son and me) spend time: Early morning : I am an early riser and always left my bed between 4:30–0500am. This is my me time. From 5:00 -7:00, I do my all work- walking for half an hour, meditation and daily journal, and reading. 7:30 I wake up my son with a kiss on his forehead. I open windows and softly request him to wake up. Every night we sleep at the same time and I give him suggestions to wake up as I request so there is no hindrance. He usually takes 10 minutes to freshen up. then I give him the first glass of water and two biscuits to start the day. Thereafter we read his books (either textbook or reference) and request him to read loudly. I correct his pronunciation and maintain ...

This is the last part of autumn. Nature has welcomed the winter here and this is indeed a very pleasant time. Many festivals happened during this year in India. Among them the Durga Puja, Diwali, Raas,  and many more. People are also in festive mode but due to the COVID19 situation restrictions prevail everywhere.  On the eve of this festive season, we went to visit a natural site near our residence. We spent a night and rekindled our love for nature after several months. Neel was excited to visit the location. He felt the first touch of winter, fog, campfire, etc. In this post,  I would like to share how we enjoyed touching cool river water. Neel and me wake up early in the morning and went away to wander on the lone village roads. We went to the bank of a river called Kasimdaha. It is a small river coming out from Manas national park. This is a perennial river as there are many rivers in this place are seasonal or rain fed.  The name  Kasimdaha  might get...

  The story I am going to share is from ten years ago. I was a full-time researcher then, doing my research on translocated rhinos at Manas National Park, Assam.  I and my team is commonly known in the nearby area as the IRV2020 team (Indian Rhino Vision 2020), a program designed by the Government of Assam for long time survival of the rhinos in the 7 protected areas of Assam.  I was fortunate enough to be part of it.  Every day, we used to venture out for the rhinos in the early morning and return during the late afternoon or evening from the jungle. There was no place for leisure or to hang out with my friends and families.  So, I often visited the evening market with my colleagues. It was a great pleasure to have piping hot milk tea with pakora and samosa. We did not have the refrigerator to preserve the vegetables so we had to buy them every day from the local market. One day, I brought some vegetables from a teenage boy. The boy easily persuaded us to buy h...

As the whole world is under the Corona Pandemic, this has been a desperate time for us. Corona is slowly breaking our economy and the future seems blank as of now. It has threatened the evolutionary traits of social relationships and keeping us inside our home. In India, 21 days lockdown has put all of us inside the four walls of the house. From morning to night our family members are spending time together.  Although we are accustomed to the gadgets, I and my son are trying to use this bleak time to bond with nature and finding time for creative works.  We are also exercising, running and utilizing time as much as possible. The following are five activities you can try with your kids during the lockdown. I hope it will help you engage your kids and they will enjoy it as much as our kid does. I will share more such activities over time with you.  1. Painting and drawing  Every day, Neel and I spend a couple of hours with pen and pencils...

Eye of Elephant  Neel often finds the opportunity to visit National Parks and encounter wildlife. Recently Neel earned lots of adventurous experiences to visit in Manas National Park. It was the last week of September and the day was raining. The day was cold and we took a jeep with a rooftop. Usually, wild animals are active in pleasant (slightly cold with rain) weather. The elephant, rhino are normally inactive full noon on a sunny day. and they are observing to act in actively the early morning and evening. As expected, we found different species of the animal during our safari. We sighted birds, deer, rhinos, elephants, and buffalos. We encountered an elephant herd in the Latajhar area . Neel was so excited to locate the elephant herd. He loves to see small elephant claves playing with older ones. We stopped our jeep on a safe distance and enjoy the behavior of the elephant herd. I request Neel not to make noise as the elephant able to detect very-low-f...

Neel was asking to visit a Museum for a long time. He explored the museum on Youtube also seen in the Pawpatrol popular  Nick Junior TV Channel children program. Recently he has learning lot from the Ryan Youtube Channel.  We visited The Assam State Museum situated at Guwahati a state capital of Assam. This is a prime location and one of the most famous places to visit in Assam. This is very big and full of knowledge and information. Thus we decided to spent our first day at the museum only in the cultural section of Assam. Where nicely displayed different cultural models of Assam. Neel's mother explained him different cultural events of Assam according to models.  Neel enjoyed his first visit to the museum. Will share more on his views on the recent future.  Disclaimer: We took proper permission for the photography inside the museum.

Helicopter Parenting or Cosseting Parent or simply Cosseter is modern aged parenting terminology.  This metaphor of parenting was appeared as early as 1969 in the best selling book  "Between Parents and Teenagers" by Dr. Haim Ginott. Who mentioned briefly about mother hovering to her child alike helicopter. Later on, Foster Cline and Jim Fay coined the term 'Helicopter Parenting' in the year 1990.   Helicopter parenting means a parent who takes overprotective or excessive interest in the life of their child. Since there is no limit to how much people will do for their kid but still it requires a certain limit. Generational Demographer Neil Howe described helicopter parenting as the parenting style of Baby Boomer. Helicopter parents attempt to ensure their children on a path to success by paving it for them. The rising of helicopter parenting coincides with two social shifts. The first was the comparatively booming economy of the 1990s with low unem...

Fatherhood is a brilliant experience . Though this relationship is not discussed as much as compared to motherhood. 'Fatherhood' may be a divine creation. I am fortunate enough that I am a father of five years energetic, inquisitive kid (Neel). I would like to elaborate some of my lively moments with my son Neel. I often stay outside due to the profession. I am a conservationist and wildlife biologist. So my job profile indicated my limited time for a son. However, when I reached home I invariably spent time with Neel. I spent almost 80% of the time with Neel at my home. I try to obey Neel's every command and request. We play, sing, arranging our rooms, looking clouds in the azure sky or sometimes bright moonlight and stars at night.  I love to pick Neel's tiny fingers on an evening stroll as I love to pick my departed father's finger in my childhood. We enjoy our ' MeTime ' running on the road, playing basketball, creating pebble a...