By Mansi Zaveri
This is the season of celebration and there’s joy, light and happiness everywhere around us. As we look to take a break from school and work to spend time to indulge in the festivities, the idea is to have a good time, together, with family and friends while devouring our favourite treats and reminiscing our childhood memories!
Celebrate the Diwali break with your kids in a way that is relaxing, engaging, entertaining and safe. Go ahead and bookmark these points.
Choose Comfort Over Style
Yes, Diwali is all about those designer lehengas, sherwanis, sarees and dhotis. Go ahead, pamper yourself and the family and opt for a sustainable designer wear brand and get the photo-ops done and out of the way. But after it is done, choose clothing that is comfortable. Especially when bursting fire crackers say yes to comfort and safety and no to over flowy dresses.
Join Hands With Your
Li’l Masterchef
Step into the kitchen with your children and share the joy of cooking with them. Sit and mould ladoos in perfect and not-so-perfect ways but create memories in the process!
Bond Over Rangoli
Another safe and fun way to engage kids is to bond over colours- another beautiful custom we have in Indian culture. There’s some serious focus and dedication kids learn when they design colourful Rangoli or the simpler alternative- Kolam in South India. Hand them over a pack of colours, and some Rangoli stencils and give them a dedicated space. If they are too young, a corner of their room would do. For the older ones, trust them with the space near the entrance of your house. They will feel happy! P.S- remember not to deck them with the prettiest or newest clothes when doing Rangoli!
Book Your Time For
Movie Nights
After a tiring schedule of celebration, parties and endless selfies, wind the day with the best activity with your kids. Bookmark a list of the best family-friendly movies you can watch with the kids on OTT. There’s nothing better than cosy cuddles with your kids and a bowl of makhanas or popcorn- try it!
Create Best From Waste
From discarded pista or groundnut shells to old leaves and flowers to pencil sharpenings, there is just so much we can do to decorate the house and the child’s room, to proudly display our attempts! Try it, it is a lot of fun!!
Answer Their Whys
Kids need answers. All the time. Every time. When they see you making those laddoos, or the Laxmi Pooja or lighting so many lamps- they are going to be asking you all the questions about why we do what we do.
Why not answer it in a language they understand? Tune into kids podcasts or watch exclusive kids videos on YouTube with a puppet show on Ramayan to answer their questions.
Read books on Diwali, listen to podcasts on stories that answer the whys and hows. Search for the I Am Not Bored podcast that answers all of your child’s questions and addresses that curiosity. (IANSlife)