How Music And Performic Arts Can Root Stability In Your Child?

Gone are the days when parents used to push their kids into studies and books. The 21st century parents understand the value of sports and extra co-curricular activities in a child’s overall development. The younger generation is lucky enough to have parents who press equal importance on sports and co-curricular activities as much as they press on academic education. 

Talking about co-curricular activities, dance and music are two such activities that can overhaul the entire personality of your child. Read on to understand how musical studies can help your child perform better in life. 

Increases Memorization Ability: According to several scientific researches, it has been proven that students who learn music have excellent memorization skills and perform better than their fellow students. There are several top schools in Delhi that parents can consider their kids to enroll in. Once they pick up a taste in musical arts, students can pick a specific music genre or instrument that they specifically like. 

Enhances Creativity and Analytical Skills: Learning musical arts is perhaps the best way to trigger creativity and passion within a person. They learn how to create excellent work and aim for perfection at whatever they are doing. Several scientific studies have revealed that kids who learn music or any other performing arts perform equally well at their academic studies. There are several music schools in India that help students performing well at their regular curriculum as well.  

Emotional Stability: It is a scientifically proven fact that musical notes and ancient Indian ragas have the ability to trigger certain emotions within a person. Children who learn music somehow become better at understanding their emotions, which in turn helps them to take better life decisions. They tend to have higher self-esteem and comparatively calmer than their peers during their growing years.   

Stress Release: Academics are increasingly becoming unbearably stressful for kids these days. Hence, engaging them in co-curricular activities help them deviate them from what they are studying in school and enjoy something that they really like. This will only add skill to the overall learning of your child.

The Know of International Schools and Schooling

A school that provides an international education for an international community is known as an International School. These schools are generally found in and around major cities as they focus on catering the education needs of children of the expat families in particular and the children of the host country in general. There are international schools aligned to different countries like the United Kingdom or the United States of America, France or Germany.

However, in the year 2009, the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) set a few criteria as to the definition of an International School:

•A student’s education should be transferable across different international schools.

•A mobile population is there (more than that in state schools).

•A multinational and multilingual student body exists in the school.

•An international curriculum is followed by the students.

•The school/s is or are internationally accredited by the likes of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) or the Council of International Schools (CIS).

•The schools/s is or are not selective.

•The main or the bilingual language is English.

But these criteria are not hard lined and there exist international schools that have deviated from this definition. For example, there are international schools that are selective in nature.

What Curriculum Does an International School Follow?

One mammoth distinction between international schools and national or state schools is that an internationally recognised and prescribed curriculum is followed by the former. These curriculums may include the English National Curriculum, the International Baccalaureate (IB). International GCSEs (IGCSEs) and the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). The existence of a uniform internationally recognized curriculum makes it possible and in fact easy for students to switch schools.

Benefits of Choosing an International School     

The benefits of getting your child admitted in an international school are many. For a start, they give children an international multicultural education. This makes children have a first hand taste of diversity as they get to meet people who are from culturally diverse backgrounds. And all of them are united by that fact that English is their official language in the school. So the first “unity in diversity” lesson is learnt by the students while they are in an international school.

Since international schools have a mobile population with people leaving and new people coming in all the time, this makes the pupils of an international school incredibly adaptable. They open up and make friends quickly which in turn leads to an overall personality development, while it keeps the mental health of the kids at a very healthy level by making it easy for them to open up about things that they want to discuss.

Besides all this, extra-curricular activities tend to be a little better than other schools as pupils get a chance to show their talent in different sports as well as performing arts and to volunteering trips to other countries. This gives a huge bonus to the exposure that a kid gets and makes him a more confident person in life. In Delhi and the National Capital Region, The Shri Ram School is one such name that has become a potent force in this field and is in fact arguably one of the top international schools in Gurgaon. Their expertise, dedication and skills are top-notch and ensures all-round growth of children.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme in India

Mid-day meal scheme in India includes the provision of lunch free of cost to all government school students on all working days. Some important objectives of this scheme include reducing classroom hunger, increasing enrolment, having attendance, improved socialization, inclusivity, and addressing malnutrition. It is also involved in social empowerment by providing employment to women under the mid-day meal scheme. This is the largest meals scheme and is very popular in India but it faces many challenges like gross irregularities and casteism. Despite facing challenges, it has achieved a lot in fighting malnutrition and improving enrolment in government schools making government schools competitive to some of the top schools in Delhi and other best schools in India.   

Challenges In Mid-Day Meals Scheme

Poor Quality Of Food

There are so many complaints regarding the poor quality of food in the mid-day meal scheme. The food supplied to students of government schools in India is not sufficient to meet the required nutritional standards. Along with the quality, there is discriminated supply of meals regarding the quantity. There can be many reasons for this. One of the major reasons can be undedicated workers and officials as some of them may try to make a profit out of this government scheme. At some point in the hierarchy, there is something irrelevant and the mid-day meal scheme is facing challenges regarding its proper management and delivery.

Gross Irregularities

Actual children being benefitted from the mid-day meal scheme are very less compared to that furnished by the states to the Ministry of Human Resources to claim the costs of cooking and food grains. Inflated transportation facility to schools is the other major irregularity in the mid-day meal scheme. This along with other gross irregularities is leading to a consistent decline of the enrolment of students in government schools. 

Casteism

The claws of casteism are definitely prevalent in the mid-day meal scheme in India. Some student bodies during their visits to some government schools have found the practice of casteism during the mid-day meal scheme. They have reported about the caste discrimination between the dalits or other lower caste students and upper caste students of the school. Some lower caste students are not even allowed to serve food to upper caste fellows or they are not even considered to be mere equals. This kind of discrimination is the prime reason for the dropout of nearly 20% of government school students.

How to deal with stressed out kids?

Parents try to do the best for their children in every way possible from selecting Best school in Delhi for them to making sure they excel in their extra curricular. Yet, these days more and more children are getting overburdened since they are put through extremely stressful circumstances. Between schoolwork, homework, tests and exam anxiety, co-curricular activities and peer pressure, kids these days are under a lot of stress.

Is your kid stressed out?

 The mood or behavior of child will change if they are stressed out, according to leading pediatric psychologists. In a situation where a kid is stressed out he or she will seem irritated, cry more, withdraw for activities, or have negative self depreciating conversations. He or she might complain about headaches or stomachaches and have a shift in their sleep and food cycle. Kids under stress will mostly not want to go to school and have problems while getting ready. If you have noticed the above stated symptoms, there is a strong possibility that your child is over stressed. But fret not, here are a few ways you cab help them cope with it.

1. Stop the chaos 

They say “A rushed child is never a calm child”. A chaotic morning sets the wrong tone for the rest of the day. So make sure you have a morning schedule, leave enough time and make sure everything they need is ready to go.

2. Get more sleep

Kids who get enough sleep are likely to be less irritable and better able to handle school stress.  Sleep is extremely essential to a child’s well-being. Statistics show that enough sleep results in children being less irritable and better at handling stress.

3. Talk

The solution to every problem is communication. If you suspect that your kid is over burdened or bullied, have a conversation with them by asking them how his or her day has been. This is a good way to subtly suggest them what to do, especially with older kids who don’t like being told.

4. Practice relaxation

Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and positive thinking works well with kids too. Try writing daily affirmations of a piece of paper and put them all in a bowl and right before your kid heads to school ask him to pick one. According to psychologists this trick works really well in creating a positive outlook towards the day.

5. Cut down on extras

As a society, we’ve come to assume that busy is an equivalent of being happy.  Keeping busy is an unhealthy way to deal with life’s problems, and the psyche has been forwarded to our kids. Too many after-school activities means less time for self so reduce them and use dinner time to de-stress and bond with your family. 

6. Don’t criticize

Criticizing creates fear and negative affirmation. Even if you disagree, never talk negatively about their homework or the review they got from their teachers in front of your child. If a child is already feeling stress you need to be the calming force. So try to remain positive.

7. Limit technology

The adverse effects of technology are well known. Kids who spend more than seven hours a day using technology have higher risk of being stressed.  So put limits on your kid’s tech time and spend more time being physically active.

8. Get help

If school stress is affecting your child’s mental health and over all well being then it’s important to talk to a counselor who can help your child adjust and cope. Top schools of Delhi like The Shri Ram School offer in-house counselors, so that your child’s welfare is never compromised.