Barbies, Math and a very efficient baby sitting service



Really sorry--I have had to remove this post as it will soon appear in a book. Making it available online would have been very unfair to my publisher who has placed so much trust in me. I hope you enjoy the other posts as much as you enjoyed this one. A heartfelt thanks for your support and understanding.Thanks for continuing to read what I write.

Comments

  1. Hi didi
    so cute
    you know although there was more of girly stuff i could relate to it totally.you are really lucky to have such a sweet baby.and by the way things are changing in india, female infanticide is very soon gonna be the thing of the past.probably there would be some of male infanticide too in the future although i am against both.

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  2. Oh my! how cute :) it's a good way to get them to learn Maths. I used to hate that in school. Your daughter sounds so cute! I want to meet her one day and play with her the same game.

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  3. I love these Atul-Purvi stories!!:-)

    And you are one heck of a mother...never missed a chance to teach your daughter maths with Barbie..LOL!!

    cute post!!:-)

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  4. This is one of those makes-you-smile posts..:)

    G.

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  5. so cute - my daughters used to play barbies too. now they don't play any more, but the younger one (10 yrs) still obliges whenever my 5 year old niece comes over:)

    very cute story.

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  6. Great parenting skills ..... "Total Integration" of fun and math ...bravo !!

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  7. that is the most innovative game I've ever come across..!!! very creative and smart!

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  8. Very innovative to integrtae maths and barbie! I'll keep that in mind.. we have some fun games too. rt now its with ABC's u can read it at my blog :) . Purvi sounds very sweet. Lil p is also all girly girly..

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  9. nice... will remember this one!

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  10. Well we need to appreciate the innocence and intelligence of your daughter in naming her day care :)

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  11. So cute :) n so smart of u to integrate all kinds of stuff into the barbie barbie game!

    God knows i want TWO baby GIRLS! But tell me..i'll be able to equally love my SONS if thats who the almighty decides i should have!

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  12. You are right Preeti, especially when it comes to the waiting part. I waited for my now 2 year toddler for 10 years and here she is. I enjoy every minute with her. Not a night goes when I rest thinking, " what would I do if my darling was not here next to me?" And yes, we can always cherish these wonderful memories with them years from now.

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  13. Awwwww...she is so cute! I can now understand well why Satish calls her his soulmate everytime he talks about her :)

    And please don't ask me why, but I'm just feeling like crying now - they're happy tears though :)

    Touchwood Preeti!

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  14. This is so cute. Even I have a boy and I so want a girl now. And I would love to play Barbie with her :-)

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  15. Anonymous7:50 AM

    Awww ... I love girly girls! :-) Just like how you wanted one girl and one boy, I want twin girls! Everyone thinks I am out of my mind but I do hope like hell that I will have twin girls!

    I too dislike the concept of Barbie dolls though as a child I did have a couple of them. But the way you manipulate the game into subtle learning lesson is very clever! And the babysitter sounds so much fun! :-)

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  16. Anonymous10:34 AM

    You are a great mom, PS! And I imagined every scene as you have narrated...It looked awesome! (I do imagine every scene as i read, be it a book or a blogpost narration!)

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  17. Girls cna be such adorable playmates for a momma. And you have doen such a wonderful job. That was such an innovative method teaching for math....kept the lil one happy in the bargain too...
    hmm maybe you should start a blog on "spend time with kids the happy way..and make it useful too" :D

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  18. Time well spent... I totally second that opinion :-)

    Really good post!!!

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  19. Such a lovely post..bringing back the good old memories..if i would ever have a time machine to go back i would always prefer going back to my childhood days..

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  20. i swear being the sole representative of the tribe is quite a task!

    when i was expecting my second, i was like you, hoping, hoping but then we got a cutie pie son.

    and a totally cute post...

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  21. That is really sweet, the best part is u integrated learning with fun :D

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  22. This is just so cute! You know, I told my husband before I married him that if I had only one child, I would want a daughter. He still says that was one of the reasons why he decided to marry me :)

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  23. even i used to play barbi game with my mother.thanks for making to remember my childhood.enjoy ....

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  24. Jyotiajay: :) Did she make you do mathn too? :P

    Bhavya: Sons are also sweet! :)

    The thinker: Shhh..dont tell my daughter that :)

    Suma: Now that I think of it, I think even if my second was a son I wouldn't have minded so much. I think they would have fought less. Don't know.

    Sundari: Is it? omehow I don't want to go back to my childhood! I am happy being mom :)

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  25. Prats (from pune): Thank you :)

    Prats(from Bangalore): Better to write for mags. I get paid too :) :)

    Athivas: hope 20 years hence my daughter says so! :)

    Thoughtful train: Let me hasten to add sons are great fun too!

    Dil Se: :) Barbies are horrible! I hate them! :) Hope your wish comes true.

    Sparkling: :) Touch wood indeed.

    Gayathri: 10 years! Wow!

    Sunny raju: Inputs were from me :)

    Pavi: of course!! Sons are great fun too. Actually once a child is born it doesn't matter so much, me thinks..I dont think i would have been too disappointed had I got a boy. In fact I was prepared.

    Sumit: :) For future use? :P :)

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  26. Shruti: Am sure she is great fun too! :)

    Namita: Thank you. I made it up to save myself the sheer torture of playing with barbies!

    Ron:Thank you!

    Pink dogwood:Thank you

    Geetha: :) Thank you

    Mathew: If i had not made up thta game I'd have died of the torture in playing with Barbie dolls. I detest them.

    Doli: :) Both mine are extremely wary of strangers and not friendly to outsiders at all! (Thank God for that!) :)

    Krish: it is very much prevalent esp in rural areas and 75% of India is in villages, right?

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  27. Sweet :). Purvi would turn out to be quite a lady :).

    So you played basketball too. What are you :)

    I remember girls in neighbourhood trying to involve us in their girly games (ghar-ghar, office-office) when we were of that age and it was an act of shame to be caught playing with them :).

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  28. Preeti: Yes, I'm sure they are, but I think daughters are sweeter :)

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  29. that was really cute..i am glad to see how you are allowing enough freedom to kids to choose :)
    good going

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  30. hey Preeti,

    Thats a really cute post and purvi is cutest of all :D

    takecare
    keep writing

    Chinmayi

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  31. oh, ho.. di you know what?
    this post made me cry and smile at the same time?
    and just made me wish I could come over and hug the whole "busy mummy, baby care centre prop/ Angel purvi and bring on those ugly barbies too"** mass hug!!
    and for a 8 year old, she must be very good doing all that math!!
    good on you Purvi!!

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  32. Swathy: :) :) Thank you.

    Chinmayi: Thanks :)

    Ani_aset:Thank you :)

    Bhavya: My son is reaaaaaally sweet :) All the girls in his class say so :D

    Brown Phantom: :)Me? I'm just a mother of two :-) Ever noticed how all these childhood games have a double-double in their names--"ghar-ghar", "office-office", "Barbie-barbie", "Hotel-hotel" etc :) And you used to play?! LOL

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  33. Preeti,
    You blog definitely is one of the most valuable assets you ll be passing to your kids - Something that they will treasure and PROUDLY share with their kids too! Heee... :P

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  34. so very lovely!!

    i just luv barbies and i used to play it when i was small!
    the whole thing you told here reminded me of my childhood times!

    and now, i want my daughter to play the same.. it would be so lovely to watch her play like this!
    no no! i dont have any children nor i'm married yet!
    but the baby sitting service you said made me feel that i'm already a mother! :D

    wishes to ur daughter!
    cheers

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  35. As i read the comments I see that my thoughts are already been said, but I still wanna tell u how much your thoughts inspire all of us and how it will help all the new parents of our time. All the best!

    Sri

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  36. Aah - such a feel good post :) I never played with barbies but I love little girls playing with fun...its fascinating to watch them play and I dont know about them, but I learn a lot!!!!

    Not just in India, even here in US, many Indians only prefer to have boys - just today at dinner I met a friend who is pregnant with a baby girl and I asked her...."have you thought of a name?" - I do know her personally and well enough to be able to ask this question - and she responded - "I wanted a boy so I had a name picked out...but now it's a girl so I don't know".....I'm not saying she is unhappy with the girl but I somehow didn't like her comment :( and her facial expressions added to my misery :(

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  37. cute...very cute..no other words to describe it..it makes it so mushy and delightful to read all this..little does we realise wen the opportunity presents itself..at that time we wud shoo the kid saying we are bc...but little do we realise that its a moment to treasure..whoa..i wud do anything and to play with my dad :((

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  38. Gils: I'd do anything to have 5 minutes with my dad too.

    Shachi: Its a national obsession--sad but true.

    Sri:Thank you!

    Swetha: :) I HATE barbies! :) I am always amazed when people love them! :)To each their own!

    Shalini:Hope they think so too..Thank you.

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  39. Awww.....Purvi sounds so very cute and you a smart Momma :)

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  40. We just got back from Kasauli... there's a temple there where people are supposed to go and pray for kids... it is called Baba Balak Nath Mandir... Sachin was saying, "Baby Nath Mandir hota, to jaane ke baare mein soch sakte they na?"

    Lovely baby sitting service :-) I donated the lone Barbie doll I got (as a gift) to my niece, who is now 19 herself!

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  41. Baby sitting service - I could use that! I really found it funny that you induce maths lessons in the play. Aah.. a mom is always looking for opportunities :D

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  42. SS: I did that to cure my own boredom of mindlessness in Barbies :)

    Raaga: Baba ya baby--what matters is a happy healthy baby, at the end of the day.

    Disha: what an ADORABLE pic you have!!Your little one is sooooo sweeet!

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  43. This post took me back to my childhood days.As a kid I and my sis have played Barbie-Barbie too! And yes, I have also played ghar-ghar with my kitchen set, office-office,teacher-teacher and also, doctor-doctor with my doctor's set. (I do find all this silly now :P but had great fun back then!):D

    Purvi's idea of baby-sitting is super cool...it sounds so much fun!! I don't think as a kid I had that kind of imagination. And your idea of including some Math makes it all the more interesting. It also reminds me of how I used to try including such tricks when I was helping out my brother (who is 10 yrs younger to me) with his studies.

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  44. This post is a darling. It brought back so many memories too. My mother too preferred girl babies. I have two younger brothers and my mother would have loved for all the three of us to be girls.

    And you are a terrific mother to use the idea of games and injecting math in it! Lessons learned this way always sticks. Kudos to you!

    Vidya

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  45. Anonymous6:19 PM

    Did I miss something or is there no Monday "thought for the week" special?

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  46. dear preeti
    little daughters can be real charmers. i can relate so well with my 4 yr old daughter -tia that i almost look forward to being with her alone when she returns from school and my little brat of a son-adi still has an hour to reach home.
    your post is nice and inspires us mothers to enjoy our kids activities in a positive way.

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  47. piyali: thank you! :) I think its important to enjoy both kids! :) I love speding time with my son too. Maybe I'll blog about it sometime. Warm regards to Tia and Adi.

    Thoughtful train: Thank you for asking. had mentioned in postscript that I was taking a break :)

    Vidya:Thank you. Hope so!

    Mamta: Wow--you had a bro who was ten years younger! and childhood games aren't silly a all! :) I think i used to play them too but it seems so so so long ago! :)

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  48. Anonymous4:14 AM

    such a sweet post! well... all ur posts are but this one takes the cake :)

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  49. Hi Preethi, I would not agree with you any less on this blog. I too am a mother of two kids - an elder son and a younger daughter. Went through the same emotions like you while delivering my second baby :)

    Reading this piece took me back to the delivery table where I was delivering my second child... flashes of her first glimpses made my eyes moist... Thanks for bringing back those lovely memories...

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  50. wow!
    I used to play teacher-teacher and House. Only I'd design and craft my own furniture and kitchen from cardboard and create a mess in my sister's room. She was never amazed by my creativity :D

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  51. Anonymous7:31 PM

    Preeti - your post script appears as special characters (Like the Wingding fonts).

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  52. thoughtful train: Are you using Internet Explorer? Pls change to Firefox! It is so much better than IE! Thanks for pointing it out though.On mine and for many friends too, it is showing fine.

    Meira: :-) She transferred that book na! Don't expect praise now for messing her room now.That is asking for too much :)

    Vidya: Visited your blog and read about them. Your two are adorable :) (touch wood)

    partywithneha: Hope it is black forest! :-) (my fav one)

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  53. Aww this is so cute... You are a cool mom that’s for sure. I dunno if this is a coincidence, but just a while ago me n my mum were discussing my Barbie days, and my mom said i always gave English names to my Barbie’s and she never figured out why. I even named my soft toys with English sounding words. Grumpy, Monica, Cookie, to name a few.
    You know what you should do.... d next time u play Barbie Barbie with your daughter maybe u should hide a digi-cam somewhere without her knowing, and record the whole baby sitting service cum Math and English session. That way when she grows up you can show it to her and you both can have a hearty laugh over good old times. Trust me she'll love you for that.
    Anyway, keep up the cool mommy job..... And of course for us lesser mortals keep writing such sweet stuff. :)

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  54. Anonymous7:22 AM

    No Preeti, I dumped IE several years ago! Was A Mozilla fan and now I'm love with Google Chrome!! But I guess it still has to fix some bugs ... :-)

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  55. Thoughful train: Apologies. I read my comment again and it sounded so presumptuous! Did not intend that at all. Don't know why it is appearing like that--and i cant even fix it coz its fine in mine! :)

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  56. Ah Barbie....Annie has quite a few Barbies/Cindys etc...I am quite adept at plaiting blonde nylon hair and fiddling with two stiff plastic legs which will try as one might , not fit into a pair of Barbie tights. However, the real fun begins when we combine Annie's Barbies with the small regiment of Action Man soldiers the boys used to play with...Barbie looks great in military fatigues in a jeep...Action Man looks less appropriate in a frilly pink fairy dress however!

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  57. hehe..oh yes. I got an earful quite often :D

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  58. nice post..I guess the mentality of the urban Indian middle class is changing but at it's own pace!!

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  59. Anonymous3:52 PM

    I am reminded of those waiting moments of 7 years after a still birth of the first one. She looked like a boy with curly hair, but very much girlish in activities like bathing barbies, combing their hair etc. The days she learned by teaching and correcting all of us at home were great and even after 16 years of her education like that, now I am the only student of her listening to her. If it was pronounciations, spellings and maths at that time, now it is presentations, Current affairs, projects etc. bcz we are good friends also.

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  60. Sweet post :)
    The post made me think about my own childhood :P
    {Not much trouble with barbies,but I used to pick up stray kittens and puppies and bring them home...much to my mother's disgust! :P}

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  61. Anu: I used to do that too! :)

    ithinksoann: You are fortunate indeed. Touchwood.

    rahul: Hope so! Thanks and welcome to my blog.

    Meira: Well deserved. :P

    Niall: heh heh..Cross dressing Barbie :-)poor Action man :)

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  62. Little girls ROCK! :D Very sweet post.

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  63. Baby girl are angels.. How I wish I had one of my own so that I can do all that decking up :)

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  64. If in case u wonder how a bachelor like me could thoroughly enjoy this nice blog,... even I have no idea, but wonder o' wonders, this was a good post.
    What I like here is how you made ur kid grow using things she likes, and she has an attittude also!
    Well, here goes some Gibran dose for you:

    Gibran On Children

    And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,"Speak to us of Children."
    And he said:
    "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for
    itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
    For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
    You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make
    them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
    You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

    For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."

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