Trip

A road trip to Chennai to meet the in-laws and friends. The boy enjoys these trips as he has no rules at in-laws. 

We went out for lunch and he took his time to eat and explore the place. 

Letter to Santa

 Not asking for much... :)

Potions :)

Effect of reading Harry Potter, Covid and the obsession with sanitizers.

Presenting the home made recipe from the boy for making sanitizer.

Emails!

 And the boy has started emailing his classmates - one who stays in the 7th floor in the same building(!) and another friend who is outside the country

Key passages from Grit - Useful insights for parenting

The following passages from Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success by Angela Duckworth 

Sometimes, when I talk to anxious parents, I get the impression they’ve misunderstood what I mean by grit. I tell them that half of grit is perseverance—in response, I get appreciative head nods—but I also tell them that nobody works doggedly on something they don’t find intrinsically interesting. Here, heads often stop nodding and, instead, cock to the side.

“Just because you love something doesn’t mean you’ll be great,” says self-proclaimed Tiger Mom Amy Chua. “Not if you don’t work. Most people stink at the things they love.” I couldn’t agree more. Even in the development of your interests, there is work—practicing, studying, learning —to be done. Still, my point is that most people stink even more at what they don’t love.

So, parents, parents-to-be, and non-parents of all ages, I have a message for you: Before hard work comes play. Before those who’ve yet to fix on a passion are ready to spend hours a day diligently honing skills, they must goof around, triggering and retriggering interest. Of course, developing an interest requires time and energy, and yes, some discipline and sacrifice.

But at this earliest stage, novices aren’t obsessed with getting better. They’re not thinking years and years into the future. They don’t know what their top-level, life-orienting goal will be. More than anything else, they’re having fun.

In other words, even the most accomplished of experts start out as unserious beginners.

Sleeping

And the boy is no longer sleeping alone. The wife keeps the fan at a blast and goes under the blankets. I am not comfortable with that mode of sleeping. Therefore I have moved to the boy's bedroom and sleeping next to him.