Here's how parents can have sensitive conversations with kids

Talking to kids about sensitive but important topics and events in life can be a tricky situation for many parents and guardians Nevertheless it is necessary and must be done with utmost empathy and careEvery parent or guardian must have a dialogue with their children at some point in their lives to address their complex problems Talks about subjects including racism grief loss sex divorce and other struggles for which we occasionally lack the necessary solutionsIf youve ever felt numb or blank when dealing with your childrens inquisitive minds Sudarshan Vig Cofounder and CEO Merlinwand in an interview with IANS tells how to navigate this situation with easeWhat inspired you to start online publishing personalised books for kidsI along with my cofounders happen to be parents of growing kids We realised that over the last few years the dependence of kids on devices has greatly increased and that only exploded during the pandemicThis led to a decline in reading habits which is foundational in the development of skills like freewheeling imagination creativity and attention span In order to bring back the reading habits in kids we started MerlinwandThe idea is multipronged To make sure they go back to reading in spite of competing content like videos video games etc we made sure the books are personalised where the hero character and ones friends can be personalised in our books This way the kids can be part of the story and thereby enjoy it moreWe also chose to create our own content very imaginative standalone stories which speak about contemporary topics and issues in a fun and relatable way Our mission is to turn every kid into their own hero in stories which are dealing with contemporary and sometimes serious issuesGood touch and bad touch How to make children understand the difference between the twoOne good thing which has happened recently in our curricula is that even schools teach about goodtouch and badtouch We should continue this practice and we should bring more and more schools into this approach This should ideally be part of the education policyOther than that we also need to maintain such a relationship with our kids that they do not fear opening up to you about anything that happens in their lives whether good or bad We need to be empathetic to them and accept their vulnerabilities We should always create an atmosphere where they can voice their discomfort freely and openly so any issue like good touch and bad touch can be discussed in the same environmentTalk to your kids about racism Start the important conversation during the early yearsThis is a tricky topic to deal with considering that a significant number of folks do practice some kind of divisive ism whether its racism or communalism or classism or casteism or ageism or any other Many times we do practice the same without even realising itAgain the onus is always to educate and practice equality and freedom as far as possible Also give the freedom to kids to ask questions to raise any question against something we did which goes against what we preach Believe me that works wonders for us to know ourselvesAnother factor is that even if we talk and speak to our kids about these divisive practices they will definitely witness the rampant usage of such evils around them Encourage them to have discussions with kids their age practicing such evils Also highly emphasise the value of debate and discussion over aggressionOne possibility is that the kid may be at the receiving end of such divisions We need to make sure they have high selfesteem and the onus is on us as parents to resolve the issues in the right forumTips for talking to your kids about divorceOne of the biggest thoughts most parents have are how will kids react to the news of something like a divorce Now to be honest kids are way more mature today than ever before and they are way smarter than we give them credit for Unless we are talking about toddlers most kids already would be aware of conditions at home that may possibly lead to divorceIf the divorce and conditions around it are mutually agreed upon its easier to have the kid sit down and ask if one has questions and if the kid needs something in particular to be decided or talked about In fact the conditions surrounding a divorce should be taken by taking a kid into confidence and both parties need to give due respect to the kids opinions as wellIf it is an acrimonious divorce the best bet is to try as much as possible to have a third party assess the situation and possibly a therapist who can help the kid deal with it Taking help from professionals is part of our evolution of ours as well as our kids wellbeingHow should parents make kids aware of child abuseDespite strict laws against child abuse in India many are still victims of the crime Child abuse can be mental or physical abuse Psychologists state that if your child is not eating properly has problems sleeping and gets irritated or panics easily these are signs that your child is facing mental or physical abuse Sometimes parents tend to blame their kids when they share incidents like these Its not at all healthy and steps like these can have a serious effect on a kids mental health When children are taught they are special and have the right to be safe they are less likely to think abuse is their fault and more likely to report an offenderHow toWar is a difficult topic to talk about The conditions leading to war are so complex geographically and politically that it is always difficult to justify the mass killing on either side to impressionable kidsHowever we can always talk about certain topics While it is great to celebrate victories in wars we should never glorify it to a huge extent In spite of ourselves we should maintain a pacifist narrative and talk more about the reasons behind any war in the past than the war itself If we do talk about war it makes sense to bring out the violence of it all and how everything needs to be done to avoid violence at any cost A good way is to personalise stories and talk about how it would affect them personally if we were part of a warAlso read Consuming prescribed steroids including inhalers may change brain structure StudyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever