Under Pressure

Under Pressure

Girls today are under more pressure than ever.

They want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.

The books, magazines, TV shows, commercials show them the fake made up beauty. Young girls are forced to make-believe the “Picture Perfect Beauty”. Actually there is nothing like a “Perfect Beauty”.

After all, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. It’s the high self-esteem and confidence that carry & present out the beauty in anybody. Isn’t it?

Long hair or short hair, dark skin tone or fair, with braces or specks, with pimples or freckles…..it doesn’t matter. What matters most is what you think you are. Do young girls today think they are beautiful? Sadly, a majority don’t. They relate beauty with the cute looking fairies, flawless princess or gorgeous thin tall super models or actress with full make-ups. Is this what beauty is all about?

Come on, wait a second and take a look at this clipping.

Is this the beauty our young girls yearn for?

We parents should join hands with Dove to support it in its campaign for Real Beauty.

Keep building up the self-esteem and confidence of our dear daughters!!!

Angry Daughter

Daughters are such emotional & sentimental sweet hearts. They need constant reassurance of love and lots of appreciation. They thrive on unlimited praises.

Come on…..Moms can’t talk Goody-Goody always. Moms vent out sometimes…….OK OK many times. Daughters are too sensitive to take it light-heartedly. They get angry in a jiffy. They make a long face, sob, sulk, hide and what not. They are extremely strong willed. One second they are very sweet and cooperative, and then the next moment they may suddenly turn very angry and defiant. The smallest thing tends to set them off.

A small funny comment, throwing away a girly pinky stuff, comparing with others, praising their pals, remarking on studies, not believing their self-knit stories, paying no interest to their imaginary fairy world, criticizing their looks all these are triggers to their anger. Once any one of them is triggered daughters would sulk instantly.

It takes a long time to cool them. Moms can’t neglect their sulk. It hurts. It makes Moms guilty. A verbal fight or a temper tantrum is far better than sulking. It sends out a harsh message. You know what it is ……

Moms must understand that daughters’ sulking is not a conspiracy on their part. They are simply doing what argumentative strong willed children do. These children tend to push the limits further, test harder, resist longer, use more drama, all more than the verbally efficient child. It is just a way of expressing themselves.

After all, they are imitating us……We agree on it, isn’t it?

Affirmation of Love

Braiding your daughter’s hair can be a bonding, caring act remembered with warmth by both of you. I love pretty hair. Hair that has been combed smoothed and placed in just the right way. I love seeing little girls looking pretty with matching clips and hair-bands.

I enjoy doing the hair of my 2 lovely daughters. It is two to three minutes just us. I smoothly comb out their hair and play with it and we talk. It is very intimate to me. I have had some of the best conversations with my daughters while styling their hair in the mornings.

We come up with a different style every day. With every style I feel she gets an all new fresh look. With her sitting close to me and her soft lock of hair in my hand, I feel that’s the MOMENT. A warm feeling spreads within.

We moms are very eager and curious about our daughters’ hair right from pregnancy. Would it be thick or fine or curly? We keep wondering. Baby combs! When my daughters were babies my brother used to brush their tiny hairs with soft baby combs. They enjoy the soothing feel. What a lovely way of bonding!

Moms do every step in hair care with great care. My grandma and mom would show their care right from the selection of the best ingredients to do the home-made hair wash powder called shikakai.

Shikakai is referred to as "fruit for the hair." It has a naturally mild pH, and it gently cleans the hair without stripping it of natural oils. Indians use shikakai as a natural hair wash to promote hair growth and strengthen hair roots.

Though I don’t do it right from the scratch like them, I have take up the love for hair grooming from them. Moreover, it’s a fortune handed down generation after generation.

In our family tree,

we all are blessed with lustrous long hair

and blessed with loving mom who is a pro in fixing hair.

As Moms, we enjoy :-

1. Giving Shampoo bath to her at regular intervals.

2. Being very careful nothing hurts her eyes & she remains calm.

3. Drying her hair by untangling every single strand.

4. Smelling the heavenly fresh scent from her washed hair.

5. Praising her how she looks gorgeous in free hair.

6. Dressing up and selecting matching clips, hair bands from her ever added collection.

7. Styling her hair with lots of adjustments.

8. Waiting anxiously to read her expression when she sees in mirror soon after.

9. Taking all pride when she smiles at your work of art.

10. Doing minor corrections when something comes off.

11. Repeating steps 1 to 10 until we are lucky enough.

Ya, we don’t know how long this unique feeling of braiding our daughters hair may last. Very soon they would become big girls to take care of it all by themselves.

So I make it a point, that each stroke of comb is an affirmation of my love for her and it is not just another chore.

In my hometown India, braiding daughters hair is very special. In these snaps, we can easily feel the love between mother and daughter. It is a common form of socializing.

Sometimes when I am drained out of the busy day's work I sit & let loose my hair to relax.

My toddler starts combing my hair. It is really wordless. I close my eyes and feel treasured.

Dove – Celebrating Real Beauty !!!

Whenever I go out with my daughters, at least there are two strangers to greet them as "Cute doll" or "Beautiful Princess". Of course, kids are cute. But these compliments are mostly based on their looks. I agree that they cannot be praised for their intelligence or creativity in a 10-second interaction by a total stranger.
But still, why do people make empty praises with mere attention drawn to looks, hair or clothes? How do our kids realize that these are not Real Beauty?

Do we want the silly "Princess Syndrome" to operate unchecked on our young girls? On very basic level, princess stories are transformation tales. Many of them are about the turning of one kind of girl into something very different, which is still a common storyline in our fiction, whether in books, film or television.

Onslaught

A one minute video that details all the beauty and media imaging that young girls are inundated with within a 24-hour period.

Furthermore there is an aggressive marketing and merchandising campaigns of a huge array of beauty products which are creating and feeding an enormous appetite for transformation. Media also breeds cross-merchandising and that's earning a bundle for entertainment companies.


From a historical perspective, the transformation parallel has been there for centuries - but the merchandising associated with conglomeration has amplified its effect; now almost all of our little girls think that they are ugly. They worry too much about their looks maybe be their skin tone, freckles, hair or stature. They yearn for a transformation. They are unable to accept themselves as they are.

It is difficult for young girls to enter a toy store, fashion store or even a bookshop without being assaulted by beauty-related merchandise. Marketing industry canvases them to look slimmer, softer, tighter, younger and what not. As a result their self esteem decreases too much.

So it is now high time for us moms to talk to our dear daughters before the beauty industry does. We need to teach them true beauty lies within and not on the surface.

One of our culture's immediate visual signifiers is :

Beauty equals worthiness, success and popularity.

Ugliness equals worthlessness, failure and wickedness.

So make them understand what true beauty is. Now girls are questioning the world of beauty around them. Mom, now your daughters need you more than ever. Rise to the challenge!

Enter into girl world to learn what your daughter really faces. Things are more intense for a girl today than when you were her age. Your daughter is bombarded with media images that suggest how she should look and feel.

As a responsible mother, I have taken the first step by supporting the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund (DSEF) was established to raise the self-esteem of girls and young women to make them feel more beautiful and confident every day. The DSEF is part of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, a global effort designed to widen today's stereotypical view of beauty.

I was honored with the T-shirt and Dove products for taking up the challenge. Now I wear it proudly, as I celebrate my real beauty and help build the self-esteem in the next generation. You should do your part too……Get involved at www.campaignforrealbeauty.com

Play your role good as a concerned mom!!!

Diaper

Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.

Yes, I am being repaid now……Repaid now for all those countless diapers I changed ……

Mothering is demanding…… Initially I had no idea that a mom’s world would revolve around what comes out of her new baby's cute, little bottom. Suddenly poop becomes a priority... and a purpose. Moms embark on a stinky journey into the world of baby poop!

I had the privilege to try my kid with new featured LUVs Diaper. The big Jumbo pack of LUVs Diaper was sent to me straight from Los Angeles, US. Just for one wonderful reason that they LUVed my site. They loved the “Mummy of Gals” community. It was a great honor to Motherhood.

“Repaid as Diaper“

I have elaborately reviewed the LUVs Ultra Leak Guard Diapers here. I swear this review is unbiased and is not a mere advertorial. I am full of praise for this product and I have shared it with you fellow moms.

Luvs, a trusted name in baby care provides parents and caregivers with a diaper that offers premium leakage protection far less than the pricey brands

. The most notable point about this Diaper is the Bear Hug Stretch at no extra cost.

I tried it on my younger daughter. She was excited to see the Blues Clues doggy in it. She loved its smell at first shot. It had such a soothing and pleasant scent. What grabbed my attention first was its thinness. Unimaginably thin for a diaper. I am a brand-hopper and I have used literally all brands of diaper for my kids. But I have never ever seen such ultra thin diapers.

My toddler happily ran around in it. The reinforced leg cuffs gave a comfortable fit. The stretchy elastic side fit made the back fit perfect.

A Diaper needs to pass through 3 basic tests:

• Good Comfort
• Wetness Protection
• Proper Fasteners

So LUVs passed the first test of Comfort with distinction. Next we are moving to Wetness Protection.

I used it overnight for my kid. Diaper didn’t seem thick enough to soak up all the wetness that would soon be coming its way. I waited for the results.

Voila!! When my little girl woke up from bed in the morning Luvs Diaper absorbed all the mess. There was not a bit of leakage in the bed sheets. Usually her diaper weighs a ton in the morning with all the night wettings. So I was prepared for the worst but nothing disastrous happened. Diaper has a blue leak guard core inside. Believe it or not, Luvs is presently offering a “Ultra Leak guard Guarantee”, with a promise to refund consumers the cost of one bag of diapers if the leak protection is less than satisfactory

So LUVs passed through the second test with 100 % satisfaction. Next we are moving to the Fasteners.

Two large fasteners kept Luvs diaper sealed to my kid. These tabs are dual in nature, with half of the tab using a sticky adhesive and the other half using Velcro. The Velcro attaches itself to the front side of the diaper and it can be removed and reattached several times without wearing out. It is tight enough so that she cannot open it on her own.

So the Fasteners were also to my appeal very much. The look and the feel of the diaper were itself worth mentioning. It has an overall cloth like softness. The blue quilted back- sheet is full of cuteness. Varied themes of Blues Clues with blue, orange, red and yellow color are kiddies’ heart stealers!!!

I just love this product !!

Try it and you’ll love it too !!!!www.luvs.com

When God created daughters

Angels as Daughters

I love my kids. Maybe, I love them more because they are girls. Having daughters adds spice to mother’s life. Isn’t it? There are a lot, u can do for them.

You can put simple make-up for them, try new hair-do for them, decorate their hair with flashy clips, do henna art for their tiny hands, can sew fancy designer wear for them and make tiny fur purses, hand bags, hair bands, beaded bracelet and neck lace for them. These are all very interesting, up to me.

Herein, I have discussed some of my time-pass activities. But in a way, they are very informative and teach my kids new skills without even their knowledge. They learn it practically.

Sewing

I am trying my hands at sewing dress for my little angels. The material hunt is the most thrilling episode. Buying apt cloth, matching or contrast lining, zippers, frilly laces, buttons, matching threads and other add-ons …its really a big process. Of course, buying a ready-made one for a bit higher price is quite easy…but I think, hand-made dresses are really heart-made. Wearing them for special occasions really creates an ever-lasting sentimental memory.

Involving kids:

Unlike buying readymade over the counter frocks, while stitching their dress, kids also have a role to play. They have the option to choose the desired color material or the design of buttons etc. Step by step when they see it getting completed, they love trying it on and on. Finally they have an attachment to the finished product. They would love it however simple or un-fitting it might be. They could perceive the amount of love and hard-work mummy has put in to make it for them.

Scrap-booking

Scrap-booking is also an excellent hobby for mummies. Of course, nowadays every mummy is ever-ready with camera to capture the wonderful shots of her little bundle of joy, why not organize them by scrap-booking? Earlier, I saw a very useful tool by Google for organizing the photos scattered around different folders and drives in your computer.

It is Google Picasa. It is Free. Try it and I am sure, you’ll thank Google for providing such a wonderful tool free-of-cost.

Google Picasa

After organizing them in computer just choose the best ones, crop it, adjust brightness and contrast to your satisfaction.

Now, you are ready to do scrap-booking. U can do it as a book, chart or can do it digitally also. To begin with, u can see here :

About Scrapbooking

Involving kids:

Kids like to watch us treasuring their photographs. It improves their self-esteem. Believe me; they won’t disturb you, all thru the process. Ask your little helper, to lend a helping hand in gluing pictures, embellishment, stones and stickers. They can help in other decorations and frame work too.

Gardening

I don’t have an extensive garden. But just a small balcony corner has turned out to be cozy greenery. It is a nice place to take a refreshing look every morning. Little flowers smile at u with lots of confidence. Fast growing creepers are a booster dose for your life. When I see creepers catch whatever support they get, I become more enthusiastic to grab all possible opportunities. The way they turn, twist and climb teaches adoptability to the surrounding environment.

Involving kids:

Just sow some seeds in a small pot. Any available seed at home would be fine…tomato seeds, chilly seed or onion bulb, sprouting potato. Or u can start with money plant, button rose or table rose. Mustard seeds are all time favorite for science projects. Ask your kid to water it and see it grow. Ask them to talk with them too…u can see them say wonderful tales and plants are good listeners.

Cooking

I cook for my family day in and day out. I try something new every-time just out of curiosity, boredom or lethargy. It turns out surprisingly great. I strongly believe that cooking with love produces remarkable results. Your dish should be a blend of different ingredients soaked, cooked and garnished with love. We eat with our eyes first. So make it colorful. The concept of Rainbow Diet, comes in here. Add colors to your food. Eat colorful items.

Have Fun and Stay Fit with Rainbow Diet

Involving kids:

Kitchen play set attracts every kid. So playing with real utensils and trying simple recipe is a big accomplishment according to the kid. They like to take part in measuring ingredients, mixing, sauté and serving.