Home Remedies - From the Kitchen shelf.

Whatever problem your child is facing, the best option is to consult his/her pediatrician or atleast a call. The suggestions mentioned below is based on my experience and the advice carried from generations of grandmother and my friends.


Repeated vomitting or Diarrhea/Diarrhoea:

BRAT Diet:
B - bread (white,not brown), bananas- raw and ripe
R - Rice (phen, kanji, pori, avil, khoi, rice cakes, Rice Krispies cereal, Horchata (Mexican rice drink), Suero (Puerto Rican rice drink, Rice Dream packaged milk)
A - Applesauce (mash boiled apple), apple juice- in limited quantities
T - Tea , Toast


Other than above - Jelly Pudding (Jello), Marie biscuit, noodles - only boiled with little olive oil or little butter, Fruit Loops cereal, light fish curry + rice, Potato chips(home made) , mung dal khichri- punjabi style), Aloo boiled, raw banana mashed, chicken soup (clear- no vegetables), Chicken noodle soup, chicken rice soup


Preferably NO Milk or if u really want to - Soy milk or Lactose Free milk- like Lactaid.


After Diarrhoea subsides curd rice can be given, or buttermilk.



For Stomach Ache
- For infants: Add small amount of Asafoetida powder to half spoon warm water. Rub it on the naval regions.
- Warm castor oil and rub it around naval.


 For Cold
- Boil big (black) Cardamom(seeds powdered) with Milk and give to your baby to drink.
- Heat Mustard oil in pan with few Ajwain / kala jeera and garlic till they turn black -> strain this oil and apply it every night on baby's feet, palm and back of ears.
- Give Honey with Ginger juice (1+ yrs)
- Add Turmeric powder with baby's milk. Boil it and make your baby drink it with a spoon of honey.
- A herb called "Doddapathre" or "karpuravalli"...this works wonders.
You can wash the leaves in slightly warm drinking water, heat the leaves on the tava till u feel it is really hot(this kills bacteria). Now squeeze the juice, mix few drops of honey and administer.
Alternatively, heat the leaves on the tawa and give hot-formentation(check on ur skin b4 u place on baby). Include areas such as head, forehead, bridge of the nose, chest and back. Gives fantastic relief.
In case if you want 2 know the name of the leaf in English here's the link:
Panikoorka : Naturemagics Home 
Ginger and Mango 
Ayurvedic Tips 
HerbNews.org



For Loose Stools
- Steam a raw Banana with a pinch of salt and feed him.
- Nutmeg powder (1/8 of a nutmeg) in honey can stop loose motions.
But, meically if there is any foreign object in the body which causes loose motion one shud let it go & not worry for 4-5 times of loose stool. After that if it's continuing without control you can try the options mentioned.
-  also juice of vilvam leaves can help in loose motions.


Constipation problem
- Raisins, Prunes, Boiled Palak,Plantains and Musambi juice


Body Heat (not same as fever)
- good oil massage and bath preferably coconut oil
- less spicy food
- include more of fresh juices and veg salads ..
- Buttermilk and not curd. NO CURD after sunset.
- Raw Mango juice is good.
- Pudina is very good for stomach too.
- Head bath is important.

Met a Wiki-peronality!!!

Recently we had a guest visting us for dinner.
He is a very well-known "Wiki" personality. I shall address him as Dr. This article is not about him, but the way my son interacted with him.

I was in AWE when I met him and just couldnt be "myself" those few hrs. unlike my son... He was all over him asking him the weirdest questions and he calmly answered the child and played with him. His manners and decency showed how down-to-earth he was inspite of his stature. He actually walked up to the kitchen and asked me to join him for a drink, not being bothered about cooking. I was stunned! Never expected a person dealing with such high-profile leaders would be so cordial and straightforward & simple in style.

So here goes my 3 yr old almost as soon as he enters:

Krish - Hey! you r a old man !
Dr. - NO Im a young boy!!
Krish - NO NO, Im a boy, YOU ARE OLD!!!
(ohh God! I didnt know where to look)
Dr. hands him over a chocolate box and then the topic changes.

Krish - Hey! whats your name?
Dr. - Im Dadu. Whats yours ?
Krish - Im Dev Acharya Menon!
Dr. - ohh.. you are the best boy in the town...
Krish - I KNOW

After some funtime.

Krish - Dadu where is your old MOTHER?

Both my husband and Dr. didnt understand this part and was blank. Not knowing what to answer, I pitched in to explain him. Krish is missing his grandparents big time. He knew that a "Dadu"(grandpa) will be with "Dida"(grandma).
Mamma is everyone's "Mother". The concept of husband-wife was still not familiar. So, what he means is - Dadu, where is Dida(grand-ma) ?

I just hope we didnt offend him(Dr.) and Krish's behaviour can be considered acceptable at his age and Dr. would forget and forgive those errors.

PS: incase you are reading this Dr.
Thanks for your visit and it was a pleasant and charming change for us, esp my little one.

Next day was Holi. Krish specially made a card with his handprints for Dadu. Still he is speaking about him and the chocolates. We will cherish this memory forever.

Don't like Veggies & Fruits

Aahhh... Ive heard this so often... Have you ever thought what the reason could be?
Here are few I tought off and you could ad on your list to this. Children love whats natural and not tampered with our spices.
Like:
- Eat rainbow colour vegetables.
- Cooking style should retain the colour and flavour of the vegetables used.
- Show the actual vegetables, cut them, go infront of the mirror and show the similarity with the body parts.
- Explain how beneficial each one them are.
- Check out the examples below.


A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye.
The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...
And YES, carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red.
The heart has four chambers and is red.
Tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure "heart and blood" food.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength.
Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium.
If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak.
These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.



A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.
Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. Walnuts help develop more than three dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart.
Each grape looks like a blood cell and grapes are also profound "heart and blood" vitalizing food.


Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.



Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow.
Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase
the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Onions look like the body's cells. Onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs.
When a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers.
And how profound is this? - It takes exactly nine months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods.

Disciplining - Home & School

written on July 21st 2009...

Dev, aka Krish, is now 3yr old and has been going to kindergarten from March.. Its been 4 months now and I keep wondering if Im doing right sending him to this school in Germany.. where he is not even speaking English... how will he shape up, and adjust to Indian Education System(IES)...
Yes, IES, is my biggest worry, esp after interacting with my friends back home, how and what they are doing things in Indian schools...


My thought process is changing..
eg. Yesterday he couldnt stop his poo and did it in his pants in KG and they just MENTIONED it... I was very upset... and kept on telling him on the way back home, at home his father also said the same "strictly"(atleast he thought so...). Today morning I told them while dropping him, that I hope he would mention it today and not pee/poo in pants...
The instructors response - You MUST not talk over it so much.. then he would start thinking that its not good, he might just stop the natural process... Once in a while accident happen with all children.. I mentioned it only FYI...
Initially, I used to get very insecured as he kept on crying for almost 2 months while dropping him to KG... other kids were fine.. or took lesser time to adjust... Later did I realise, that not just the place, the surrounding even the language was new to him... He couldnt COMMUNICATE... After 3 mnths he started speaking & now he is unstoppable!!!!!!!!
So the feedback is given only as FACTS... your child does this and that.. but its not abnormal, many other kids do it... few take time to "understand' or "behave" as we expect them to... ...thats the whole problem - WE EXPECT a LOT and keep expecting forever... whether the child is going to the KG or +2 or entrance...So, Im changing lot of my home-schooling tactics with him as Im seeing lot of +ve progress in my child...
I always thought Indian Education System is the best as, all across the globe the Indian professionals find it easier to establish themselves, only to realise that things are not that rosy as its seen from outside...
When it comes to educating a child, NOTHING is PERFECT/ as per BOOKS... every child NEEDS to be handled differently, every child has his/her UNIQNESS and that needs to be harnessed... Let the flower grow on its own, u just keep watering and manuring it "as and when required".. too must of either/both will just not be able to make it bloom well...I hope the school and home both understand this and either has to be more supportive to the child...
Instructing a child is easier in school than at home:
Ive concluded this from my experience about child learning in school and home.....When we try to educate our child, he/she sees us as Mom and many a times its like ok I shouldnt do it... but he might not be "SCARED/bothered" to repeat the same action again........ For a TEACHER in SCHOOL its rather easier, as there are RULES and every child has to FOLLOW the RULES... A child may not do it the first time, second or third but seeing the other kids do, he eventually does the same things DAILY... And thats what a montessory teacher is TRAINED for... Moreover she sees more children each passing year and she should be smart enough to chalk out a pattern of behaviour amongst children - like restlessness, or interests... If she is getting impatient its her FLAW not the child's.... A child is like a wet clay, he is just MOULDED by the teacher and parent alike, but at a very different platform....

The process of giving or taking FEEDBACK should be more FACTUAL rather than OPINIONised... It should be a CHART with a CURVE of progress, which may vary wrt to the area of interest and also diff for diff child.... & most imp at this stage of life both Parents & Teacher MUST understand this!!!.
In any case, a child must never be HIT/ BEATEN up, wether in school or at home!!! .. I really do not know if I shall be able to keep my own words.
Talk things over to the child.. he should not get aloof and avoid telling parents the TRUTH by parent's reaction.... and be sure no one ever DARES to come near to that level with any child...

Actually, I keep asking for feedback on Krish's "talkative" attitude.. and what I should do to keep him quiet... The teacher is rather happy that he is so expressive .. Im sure in India I would have got a baggage of "complains" by now...Infact they said, its wonderful that he can mix English and German and even mother tongue simultaneously....

Once he wanted the book on Dogs... the teacher couldnt understand what "Dog" means... yeah she is Japanese and speaks only German-Japanese.. .. so this boy smartly went to her.. took 1 book... pointed to that and said.. "BOW BOW" where.. with all actions!!!!!!!!!!! ........... hahaha...

Rectifying children too much and restricting them from doing what they otherwise would do naturally is a "CRIME"... I know its a very strong word.... but if we keep on saying DONT... eg. dont throw, dont jump, dont spil... how else will they be able to EXPLORE themselves and DECIDE what they should do / WANT to do???In India, everything is expected from a child at a very early age... whether its holding a pen/coloring/writing.. Im not against it or for it.. or debating the eductaion system... What Im saying is as parents or teacher we must accept few FACTS as it is...Like, its very normal for a 3-4 yr old to roam around and not being able to sit at a place... When a teacher complains this to the parent, how can she NOT understand that!!!! So, saying the child is wrong/ taking a tone of complaining... At this age if he gets this kind of feeling, he might grow up to hate the whole process of schooling.... ...
Here, Im worried that Krish is 'lacking' in academics compared to any 3 yr old in India... as in writting alphabets/numbers... I keep telling his instructor to make him hold the pen... but they just refuse to do so.. REASON - he doesnt want to.. & more u force a child to do something more he revolts from doing it.. LET HIM TAKE HIS TIME... we have no problem in progressing at his PACE.. you MUST not FORCE him.. They say, he SPEAKS better than anyone else in his class... He speaks German and English exactly the way teacher pronounces, he repeats new words and remembers well where and how to apply them... Many 3 yr old wont do that... He is good with puzzels, blocks and fixing and breaking and then refixing kind of stuff, rather than sitting at a place and color... He colors not more than 2 min.. that too rarely...So, a child just needs some sweet words for encouragement and patience... one cannot expect a 3-4 yr old behave like adults sitting at a place and color to perfection one whole sheet!!!

Talking about Religion & God with child

Dev in Düsseldorf - Germany, trying to recite like his father.


We noticed his skills to hear and memorise rather than sit and read, on one of the weekends just after his 3rd birthday. In the morning after his bath, he went in front of our temple (prayer area) and started reciting Hanuman Chalisa (video above) in the same tune as his father. We managed to grab the camera and record the above. Guess, he would have continued if we didnt disturb him with this gizmo. After the camera was switched off he joined his father and sang it to completion!


I do my prayers, chanting a few Shlokas daily. My husband never fails to recite his Hanuman Chalisa. But we never taught him these! Consciously or unconsciously many a times I say "God Bless" when soemone sneezes, "Oh God!" when Im tired or when I'm surprised about something. Back home, every Birthday or festival or sometimes for no reason at all, we visited a nearby temple just to thank God and sometimes to have those delicious "Prasad".

Thats when it occured to me as to when this got introuced in his life. We never taught him this one. He has been hearing it continuously - not even daily and picked up with all the feeling of devotion. Another lesson of my parenthood. We need not teach everything to our child it just gets incorporated in their daily life as a part of routine just by observing us.Im still left with a few queries as I observe him & how  would I tackle if he comes up with these:

1) The daily activities - Prayers and chanting shlokas. Should we ask them to sing with us or wait till they show interest or do things on their ow. Ive till now followed the later.
2) Apart from daily prayers - eg. is it really necessary for a child to keep fast etc. (Ive seen even 2 yr old children do it without even knowing why they are being refused even milk.)
3) Singing shlokas or any Aarti songs / anything similar for fun as kids do sometimes offend others. But is it really to be taken so seriously?
4) Do you insist on them to do these activities daily or its on their will ?
5) How do the child perceive God eg. someone who would punish if you dont do certain things, or as friend who would come to rescue in times of difficulty or.... etc...
6) Have you told them something about "what/who" is God?
7) What kind of stories you narate them eg. from Bible, Ramayana or Krishna episodes in Mahabharata, etc.. - I sometimes get really worried when I see him role-play Ravaana's role rather than Ram... - is it a matter to concern?