Parenting carnival held in the city

CHENNAI: To make parenting enjoyable and less stressful, Chennai Counsellor’s Foundation (CCF) held a day-long parenting carnival, titled Root 2 Fruit, the first-of-its-kind in the city, at Chinmaya Heritage Centre, Chetpet. “Even comparison with other kids can lead to a feeling of low self-esteem among children,” said Dr S Mohan Raj, consultant psychiatrist, who was addressing a gathering of parents of children in the age group of 6-12 years.  Dr Preethika Chary, director, EPICENTTRE, Apollo Hospitals, said that in children, environmental intervention (parents, teachers, society and nature) impacted the brain, hence experiential learning and not rote was best for kids. Dr Sharada Srinivas, consultant neonatologist and paediatrician, Apollo Hospitals, stressed that training for motherhood should start at the pre-pregnancy stage itself. Counsellor Brinda Jayaraman urged the parents to “listen to the signals of the child and provide what the kid needs so that the child believes it can trust his/her parents” and ‘Turn Don’t messages to Do’s and turn mistakes into learning experiences.’ Diet consultant K Yashodharai said that for children in the age group of 6-9 years, at least 1900 calories per day was the ideal requirement. One of the floors was converted into a day care where the parents could leave the kids so as to actively participate in the panel discussions. ETL, Kriyative Club, Chettinad Srihari Vikasam, ICICI Prudential, Kreeda etc had also set up stalls.