Posted by Sunitha, a facilitator with Parenting Matters. She shares about how the tool of “active listening” helped her.

I had always thought that I was a good listener and a very open and friendly mother with whom my children could talk about anything they wanted to.  In our parenting group, we had a session on how to practice active listening, which is the foundation of good communication. I felt very good about myself as I believed I was following it. But it was only after the following incident that I realised how wrong I was.

Posted by Kesang Menezes who is a facilitator at Parenting Matters and mother of two girls aged 11 and 15.

We live in a society where the majority of women are forced into stereotypical roles and barely given choices about what they would like to do with their lives. But yet there is the emerging middle class which is empowering its girls to go ahead and achieve whatever they would wish for. These girls are doing well academically (and on average far better than boys) and surging into careers like engineering, management etc. I come from such a family as well, where I was brought up to believe that truly the sky is the limit for my ambitions. I spent my teen years only thinking about what career I wanted and dreaming about all that I would achieve. And then I got married and had a baby... all of my own choice. 

This blog is written by Mrinalini Ponappa Banerjea, a certified parent educator and mother of two teenagers

“Hi! How are you?”

This is a question we are most asked and we ask others in return. And, while it is a very intimate question, the answer is almost always an unthinking,”I am fine. Thank you. And how are you?” And so carries on the never ending cycle of a personal question followed by the cagey and socially “appropriate “answer. And, in this fast paced world of chasing time, it’s quite possible that no one really wants a five minute monologue answer to this question, when over decades, it’s been a polite way of greeting both close family and friends, to the people we are being introduces for the first time.

This blog has been contributed by Kesang Menezes, Co-founder - Parenting Matters and a certified parent educator.

My kids want to watch TV. I say, "No".

And they ask, "Why?"

I wonder if I am ready to launch into the whole explanation of how they have already seen too much TV today and that TV is not good for them.Or should I just say " The TV is not working" or " No cable today "and save myself an hour of discussion and wailing!!

 This blog has been written by Sujata Vasant Dewaji, a facilitator at Parenting Matters.Publised on http://parentedge.in/using-punishment-to-discipline-does-it-work/

I hear this from a few parents.

“I have to hit, for her to comply, else she just does not listen. There is so much to do in the day, her studies, homework, other activities… and if she does not complete on time, she will be left behind!”

“He is so stubborn. How do I teach good behaviour? This is the time to mould him to behave well”.

Did it work for me?

This blog post has been contributed by ParentEdge. Learning is a continuous process, and needs to happen both in and outside of school; thus parents have an important role to play in shaping their children's future. ParentEdge (www.parentedge.in) aims to expose parents to global trends in learning and partner with them in the intellectual enrichment of their children.

For years I thought I was a good listener. I was wrong.

One incident proved this to me. In a listening workshop I was to listen to a colleague for five minutes and then repeat what she said. I was the boss and I had to go first, right in the beginning of the workshop.