Gift idea for your child

Do you want some ideas to give your child best gift which will remain with them for the lifetime? If you think of giving a gift to your kids, what would you think? A toy? A bike? Or some games, books or some clothes? Off course you should give all of these to your kids. It always helps to make them happy. But I am not going to tell you all the temporary materialistic gifts you can think of for your child. As we all know Health is wealth. This is the most trending buzz after the corona pandemic. Are we sure we don’t get to face similar health related catastrophe in future? In case it happens or in general, we must prepare ourselves and as well as the upcoming generation on a healthy platform with which they can fight any such situation in the future. So, I will suggest everyone to give your child “Health” as a gift which will remain with them for their entire life. But how? You are the one who is going to plan for this gift to them. Let’s get started.

I would recommend three aspects to build the “gift”. Physical, Mental and Food. I will give more stress on the physical part today.

1. Physical:

It is very important for kid to develop a good physique and immune system. If you are born in 60s-90s, you grew up without the gadgets and technology. You were lucky to play outside games more than indoor games. You were fortunate to play in clean environment with lots of friends around. Unknowingly the activities you did were going to the fixed deposit of your health account. You had good, clean foods. That is another asset in the account. Your body was not exposed to different rays around us. Basically, we have developed a pretty good immune system knowingly or unknowingly. But the time has changed; the scenario around us has changed. So, we have to really think and invest time to give our child a proper platform where they grow with better health. It is us who are going to induce a habit of doing yoga and exercise for at least half an hour daily. In places where 4–6 months, people get hard time to go outside because of snow or cold, indoor activities becomes utmost important. Remember, kids learn faster by observing their parents. You cannot forcefully inject something. If you, yourself do as a family, the process will be much easier. Let’s start. I am laying out few basic yoga asanas which help child’s brain, mind and overall body development.

Few basic points:

1. Be in yoga friendly clothing.

2. Choose preferably day time. If not then evening time

3. Empty stomach.

4. Slow and within the limit of a person.

5. Should be under adult’s supervision until kid is expert.

6. Watch the videos for all the poses I laid out to understand more.

The routine I have prepared includes 20 simple yet beneficial asanas (postures). Pictures are copied from general internet search. Total time required to complete one set: 30 min

Remember, this is just a structure. Parents need to watch videos of the methods and let kids know about it with the benefits associated with each asana.

a) Malasana (Squat position with folded hands):

Duration: 2 min

It stretches the ankles, groins, and back. Please refer video in reference section.

2. Pada Vyama (leg flexing):

Lie down on your stomach. Now fold your leg and touch your heel to your butt. 10 times each leg and 20 times with both the legs.

3. Supta Matsyendrasana (Supine Spinal Twist):

Duration: 2 min

Turn each side with keeping knees and head in opposite direction. Please refer video in reference section below.

4. Baddha Konasana (Butterfly pose):

Duration: 2 min

It stimulates abdominal organs, ovaries and prostate gland, bladder, and kidneys.

Please refer video in reference section below.

5. Free hand exercise:

Duration: 7 min

Good for flexibility of all organs specially hand, neck, legs and spine.

Please refer video in reference section below.

6. Hand clapping back and forth:

Counts: 100 (50 front and 50 behind)

Method: Open your both end and clap on the farthest at the front and move your hands 180 degree towards back and then clap again.

7. Surya Namaskar (Sun salutation):

Count: 10

This is one of the best exercise we have in yoga. It takes care of entire body as whole.

Please refer video in reference section below.

8. Savasana (Resting pose):

Duration: 3 min

Method: This is resting pose. Take some rest

Please refer video in reference section below.

9. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog pose):

Duration: 1 min

It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression. It stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands.

Please refer video in reference section below.

10. Bhujangasana (Cobra pose):

Duration: 15 seconds

This is excellent posture for upper spine, back and neck.

Please refer video in reference section below.

11. Setubandhasana (Bridge pose):

Duration: 15 seconds

It is a very good posture for lower back.

Please refer video in reference section below.

12. Paschimottanasana (Full Forward Bend):

Duration: 10 seconds

It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression

Please refer video in reference section below.

13. Dhanurasana (Bow Pose):

Duration: 10 seconds

It strengthens entire spine.

Please refer video in reference section below.

14. Thoppukaranam (Squat with ear pulling):

Counts: 5

It improves memory power.

Please refer video in reference section below.

15. Naukasana (boat pose):

Duration: 10 seconds

It strengthens the belly muscles and hips

Please refer video in reference section below.

16. Phalakasana (Plank pose):

Duration: 30 seconds

It builds upper and core body strength, lengthens the spine and strengthens the low back muscles

17. Halasana (Plow Pose):

Duration: 10 seconds

It stretches the shoulders and spine.

18. Vrksasana (Tree Pose):

Duration: 15 seconds

Good for body stability.

19. Tadasana (Palm tree pose) :

Duration: 15 seconds

Good for height increase

20. Janusirshasana (Head to Knee pose)

Duration: 10 seconds

Helps in digestion

Apart from the above poses, one must practice “Vajrasana” for 10 min after every meal. It helps in digestions.

Now that you have a basic structured layout available, please do a thorough research on the internet and understand the in depth of these asanas.

2. Mental:

With the physical exercise, it is equally important to have a peaceful and calm mental balance for the kids. They are in their growing stages of life, they are acquiring knowledge continuously from surrounding, and they are studying many subjects in their school life. Hence, one should not ignore this important aspect. It is our responsibility to provide them a suitable platform for their minds to nurture for memory, concentration and happiness. In today’s world, there are many distractions around them. The most common is the electronic screen time. Research says if a child spends more time with screen, it affects their brain and neuron development. To fight with all the distraction, we must teach our kids some techniques to remain stable, to use their concentration power so that they can use it in their productive work. For mental supplement, I will suggest few points.

a) Meditation: I will not recommend any hard core meditation techniques for kids. If you can teach them to sit on the floor for 5–10 min daily or thrice in week with nice background meditation music, you will notice a big positive change in your kids mental stability. As a family, we all should do it together.

b) Pranayama: Although it sounds like adult’s business , but if we teach our kids simple breathing technique for few min, it will improve their thought process and thinking capacity. Anulom Vilom is one the most common and popular technique practice today.

c) Prayers: Latest scientific research has proved the importance of prayer on human brain and mind. If we teach few positive affirmations from your ancient spiritual or religious texts, then it will surely impact your child’s mind. It will make them disciplined in their life. Best practice is to do after bath or just before going to sleep.

d) Activities: To keep the kids away from the distraction, we have to keep them busy in some activities, like playing indoor/outdoor games, music, doing crafts, household work or even studies, travelling outside etc.

4. Food:

“We become what we eat” — a proverb which explains everything which I want to talk about. The food which we are giving to our kids will determine their future health. The more junks we give to our kids, the worse their immune system will become. It is all about what we as a family eat and drink, the kids follow. We have to give them our traditional food which our grandparents and parents used to give us. We should also discourage to go for any junk and fast foods if they insist. It is all right to have fast food outside sometimes but that should not become a regular habit. There are increased uses of frozen food and sugary syrup in school going kids menu which should be immediately stopped or reduced. Parents should be well aware of the adverse effect of this type of food with prolong intake. Parents should also consciously provide kids home cooked food. In a fast paced life, it is sometimes difficult for some parents but if we have to think for the future of the kids, then we have to sacrifice our time and energy. Today’s healthy food will shape up your kid’s future to be beautiful and promising one.

Decision is yours. If we consciously take a decision today to follow everything good for the kids, then what could be the better gift for them?

Please write a response if you want to get the Yoga poses in a tabular format, I can email you

Reference video link:

1. Malasana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfCNoooA_fA

2. Supta Matsyendrasana (Supine Spinal Twist):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezyMaQEaVaI

3. Baddha Konasana (Butterfly pose):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oWWAuKc5Ww

4. Free hand exercise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4QS2USKmk

5. Surya Namaskar (Sun salutation):