“How toys are important for the development of my child”

Toys, children and play are like morning, sunshine and freshness. It’s just natural for a child to play with toys. If play is the work of a child then toys are the tools.

I have a 24 month child, named Annhad. From the time I conceived my child, I was very clear about the toys that I would want my baby to play with. As a responsible parent I know that toys help build and develop a child’s essential skills. They prove to develop and enhance self confidence, creativity, emotional and social bonding as well as resilience. For my child development, toys are important in following ways:

(a)   Toys make Learning process self-sustained based: When Annhad was 4 months old and we were anxiously waiting for him to crawl, I picked up a colorful ball from the nearest toystore and placed in front of him. He got attracted towards it and started to move towards it after few days. Babies respond instinctively to their surroundings and toys become important as they stimulate a baby’s brain, thereby arousing interest and inquisitiveness.

(b)   Relationship with the world are based on love, kindness and sharing: Annhad, who is now 24 months old, is fully aware of his surroundings and the people he interacts with. My help’s children come to play with him in the evening. I have seen him sharing his toys with them. He gets so excited to see them play with his toys.  By learning to share his toys and playing with my help’s children, I think my child is fostering strong and loving relationships.

(c)   Toys promotes joy which is very essential for my child’s self esteem and health: My child’s ability to learn to throw/ catch a ball and getting appreciation from his mother/grandmother surely adds to his positive self. Our smiles, when he shows us his achievement with blocks, our “thank you” and appreciations when he shares his toys with others, will surely grow my child into a good citizen with positive frame of mind.

(d)   Toys maximize Annhad’s learning potential: Toys that my child plays with help him understand his environment to the fullest. He tries to figure out on his own how things are working. I have seen him exploring a car completely just to understand how its wheels were moving. He uses his own imagination to build blocks and solve any problem that he encompasses.

(e)   Toys create a basic trust in the world: The toys that my child plays with gives him a hands on experience of how things are moving around in this world. By rolling a ball or by building stacks of blocks he is becoming more aware of his surroundings. My positive feedbacks on his achievements and rich experiences that Annhad gets with his toys gives him the confidence to go on in the new world. The toys help build interest in the activities around.

Thus, I am sure of this fact that Toys are those vital tools that would help enhance mental, physical, emotional and social development of my child. They are the basic instruments for the development of my child’s imagination and creativity.

Beating retreat: A ceremony commemorating the regal of Indian Martial Tunes!

Today, on the January the 29th, 2013 India culminated their Republic day’s celebrations with the Beating Retreat at the Raisina Hills and Vijay Chowk on Rajpath. Being away from Delhi I became the audience to this grand ceremony while sitting in front of the television. But the moment I switched on the television to see the ceremony I was taken back to 2005 when I was posted in an Army unit at Delhi and got the chance of being there at the venue. And I am taking this opportunity to share with everyone what I felt while being there at the moment.
The venue of the Beating Retreat is the Raisina Hills and Vijay Chowk flanked by the North and South block which is part of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential estate) properties. The venue itself adds to the grandeur of the event. The pulses becomes fast as you try and gather a perfect spot to view the ceremony.
Perfectly at the designated time, the cavalcade of President started to arrive along with his cavalry of bodyguards mounted on decorated horses. This is accompanied with Fanfare sounded by the trumpeters mounted on the domes at South and North Block. The President gets a National salute by the Presidential Bodyguards and the air around the venue starts to reverberate with the Indian National song. Oh, what a sense of pride every Indian must have felt as the “Jan Gan Man” started to play by the bands there!
After this the main event started with Martial tunes being heard from little far off. But no, it was just coming from over the cliff. The bands from three services come marching into the venue with style personified. And the view of the bands marching to the martial tunes is simply majestic. The whole group is indeed the best of the pipe and drum bands from various units and battalions of Indian Army and Navy and Air Force band.
The martial tunes are played by the bands along with different formations and walking style by the band. They walked smartly around in slow march and quick march and kept everyone gripped to their seats. This was followed by a spectrum of peppy beats by the drummers. One has to be there to feel the moment. Famous as a Drummers call, this gives way to the lowering of National flag with the bells at a distance ringing in the air. Indeed a divine event.
The event is culminated with national flags being lowered with Retreat sounded by the trumpets. Upon this the band commander takes the permission from the President to disperse the band. And when President concurred to that the most popular and most magnificent tune is played by all bands. The bands march out playing “Sare Jahan Se Accha” and walks past the cliff in between the North and South Block.
But this is not the end. As the music ends, the grandness of the event is increased manifold by the majestic lights atop North and South Block defining clearly its boundaries. And one can hear a louder “Aww” from the crowd who are just spell bound.
Today, after 8 years when I saw this event on Television my memories were refreshed and I promised my son that I will surely take him to witness this grand ceremony and enjoy every bit of festivity attached to the same.