The Koreans believe that the earlier you learn to use chopsticks, the better, because it builds intelligence. So by that measure, 17 month-old Xeno here, should be the next Einstein. 
May 20 2010
Chopsticks.
May 16 2010
Match Devan !
Are you of South-Asian-European mixed descent?!
If yes, Devan needs your help.
http://www.matchdevan.com/
Apr 24 2010
Restaurant-friendly Children
What a great blog post this is. Ok, sure, I think it is great because I share the author’s opinion.
That is.. “kids food” and “kids menus” are out… learning to eat real food is in. Spicy at all ages is just *fine* — I’ve even made the “what do you think kids in India eat?!” point.
And doing so with an impeccable set of table manners is an absolute must.
Her rules for parents taking children to restaurants aren’t half bad, either!
next.
Mar 03 2010
Generation Snack
I read this great blog post during lunch today. It’s on modern American children’s habits of snacking — blame squarely laid at the feet of the parents who’ve taught them this habit. When a certain child I know was in primary school, some alternative school, they insisted that the children have a series of small “lunches” or frequent snacks at 2 hour intervals resulting in this particular child and no doubt others thinking that actually, they *had* to eat every two hours or they would die. Before age 2, maybe but At age 10? 11? Yeah, Snack Generation.
Def. not an example of healthy eating IMHO.
Sep 29 2009
Parenthood & Communicating with Baby.
You know your brother is a parent when suddenly his emails start bouncing back with “Sorry, email box full” messages. 
And speaking of which, I hope it’s because he’s busy talking to my nephew, because as the NY Times says communication begins at birth.
May 07 2009
Girls on Our [American] Streets
NYT Champion of Causes, Nicholas D. Kristof, has written a very interesting article today on teenage prostitutes in the US. He helps to remind us that the challenges with regard to child rights in the poor parts of the world, also exist in the industrialised world. A reminder we don’t get often enough in a “not in my backyard” world of denial that we live in. A reminder, too, that the US is one of only two UN-member states which has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Teen prostitutes, as young as 13, exist in all parts of the overdeveloped world and elsewhere. I do not mean to single out the US here, but since that is the context about which Kristof writes in his column today, that is the context that appears here.
Feb 16 2009
21st Century Librarian
NYT: 21st Century Librarian is a great video currently up on the NYT video site about the role librarians play in (primary) schools these days. The libarian in the video talks at length about teaching children, particularly ESL-speaking immigrant children, to use search engines and understand that not everything online is true.
Check it out.
Jul 26 2008
Randy Pausch dies, leaving his childhood dreams fulfilled
I saw this on Jasonji’s blog, which is highly appropriate given that he is one of my biggest mentors.
I am such a sap; it made me cry. 
Dec 01 2007
Sing My Sisters Sing.
Rather than inundate you with facts and figures on World AIDS Day 2007, I thought I’d point you to Annie Lennox’s new song on HIV/AIDS, Sing Unfortunately, You Tube disabled the embedding feature on it, so you’ll need to click on that link in order to listen and watch the video. You can download it from iTunes, too. Why would you want to buy the song, let alone the album that it is a part of? You’d want to buy it because proceeds are going to help people with HIV/AIDS. Check out The sing project website here.
The photograph I linked to instead comes from this article on how the world is marking the day this year.
And I will end as I always do and just say: Have you and your partner been tested recently?
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