By Kulsum Mustafa
Inspirational Indian: Our hero number seven is not just one individual but the entire children clan. These feisty humans during these dark and gloomy days of lockdown have helped spread sunshine in their families. Salutation to these little angelic souls and their upbeat, demeanour, their chirpy patter, pranks and their expression of sheer joy at the undivided attention of their parents and elders. Most of them, with working parents never really had it so good.
Locked inside their houses with no, absolutely no access to parks, game parlours, restaurants or parties. It is a strange world that confronts the children during the lockdown. Love, security and importance are the three demands of every child. The National Lockdown due to Coronavirus seems to have provided the children with these in abundance. While for the little ones it is sheer joy to have their parents around 24x 7, for the older ones it seems a long holiday from the school and freedom to laze around in their nightwear . Believe it or not but if there is a section of society which has really truly enjoyed the introduction of lockdown in India, it is our kiddos. Enjoying the undividedattention of their parents they have been happy to miss the mundane task of getting up early to go to school, going for tuitions and doing homework.
Never before has the family enjoyed the presence of their children so much. Proving to be real stress busters for the elders, the children are sunshine for the family in these gloomy and dark hours of lockdown. Their cheerfulness and glee have added so much brightness in the homes. They have kept the entire family entertained through their pranks, jokes, and of course and enthusiasm to learn a new skill –be it gardening, cooking or learning religious lessons.
Here our team brings for you some videos of these sunshine kids. Due permission of their parents have been taken.
So the first is Omisha Khanna. She turned five during the lockdown. Hugely disappointed by the fact that she could not throw a birthday party and call her friends, her family made it up by decorating an area in the drawing room as Party zone , made her favourite snacks, baked a cake and above all got her to pose for the video and pictures. It was her journalist aunt, Roli Khanna who shared the videos with us.
What stood out in this cute video is the fact that hearing the Prime Minister Modi’s speech on the eve of the lockdown little Omisha could not fathom why Modiji wanted to break the cycle. It was only after her dad explained to her that it was the cycle of disease that was to be broken, she signed a sigh of relief.
There is another video shared by Mr Nadeem Uddin of his six-year-old son Nabil Uddin where he is helping Nabil brush up his religious lessons or what he calls “deen ki buniyaad. “
Five year old Mohd Arshan is busy rolling out chapattis. This video was shared by his father, Dr Abid Asghar. The little one who like his parents wants to be a doctor when he grows up appears to be enjoying the role of Roti Chef in the lockdown.
Cute Inaya Rizvi melts our hearts in this video when she refuses to share her chocolate cookies with even her mom. The video was shared by her doting grandmom Shahna Naqvi.
And here is a video that strengthens the beautiful bond between a brother and sister. Nine-year-old Zoran Rizvi is taking lessons from his mom to learn how to bake a cake for his older sister Zara. In another screenshot we can see how the little one is enjoying her birthday party online.
There are many many more videos but we cannot accommodate them all here. Please add them to your own sunshine albums. We must fold our hands for these little sweethearts. We must pray that normalcy returns and these caged bundles of joy get a chance to run and that they inherit the Earth that is pure, welcoming and free of all disease.
Here are tips to keep your kids engaged during lockdown :
*Involve them in easy crafts.
*Play with them indoor games like ludo or carom.
*Teach them basic, kids cooking.
*Teach them vertical gardening.
*Involve them in an online writing competition.
*Design storytelling sessions.
*Access for them free reading audios.
*Assign them simple household chores.