New Online Channels to keep Kids entertained

The Story till Date

Like the story of Lord Ganesha's marriage, lockdown continues to progress with the promise to end after every 2 weeks. I cannot comment on whether Lord Ganesha was lucky not to be married but this lockdown confined most of us to our homes with our wife. I am sure now by working under our wife, many of us would have learned to appreciate our boss at work, prayed for the safe return of our maids, and also learned the importance of 'work from office' in a happy family life. 

My story was a bit different, My family and I were planning on a different journey in our life. I was also trying to up-skill myself on the career front so we had decided to move out of Bangalore. But the curfew made it difficult for us to move, so we remained holed in our apartment for the complete first and second phase of the lockdown. As the third phase allowed inter-district travel with approval, we decided to take the opportunity and drive down from Bangalore to Cochin. We completed our interesting travel last week and was immediately welcomed by the government for a 14-days quarantine at our hometown. 

Kids Initial Pastime

This eventful year has brought many changes in my life. I have started to think about the basic freedom that we exercise, the vulnerability of our lives, and felt the helplessness to the request of my kids to be taken outside. With the schools closing early this year my kids were happy that all their exams were suspended but as they ventured more into the lockdown period they also started to feel the heat of the situation. The Initial days were great with quality time being spent with the family playing ludo, monopoly, caroms, and different games of cards. With time, the focus slowly moved to more interesting content on TV and the internet.

With protocols becoming more clear in the coming days, we were drawn back to our work leaving kids on their own. As my kids grew restless and irritated, I was able to see new live episodes of Tom and Jerry at home. But I cannot blame them totally, with all the pent up energy and no chance of going outside my son brilliantly brought back Tom to life. We tried many options to capture their attention, but all were short-lived. Even online courses had their limitations. We were desperate for an activity where the kids could engage themselves and also bring out their creativity. It was during these times, that Tik Tok was gathering momentum on social media circles. But as all contents were not age-appropriate for kids, the usage was restricted under parental guidance only. 

The New Channel of Engagement

Taking inspiration from tik tok, my kids decided to explore creating content on YouTube. As my kids loved origami they decided to have a channel showing how to create various objects through the art of Origami. The activity was engaging but the involvement of parents was also high in editing, mixing, and other activities. Due to our work constraints and lack of time, this interest started losing steam. Then one day they came across an app online that can apply a cartoon filter on normal photos. This app also had the option of arranging the cartoon pictures in various layouts. This sparked an idea to bring out a comic series for family and friends. After a lot of brainstorming they finalized to name their comic series - ChukkyNutty. The main plot of the comic is an illustration of some innocent fun and pranks between a brother and sister, represented by two characters - Nutty and Chukky respectively. This new activity made the kids more involved in their work. They had more ownership as the majority of the activities were done by them, with minimum involvement from parents. I found this new activity interesting and thought of sharing with all. Few of their comics are shared below. More of their comics are available on Facebook and can be accessed by clicking on #ChukkyNutty

These stories do not stop at our house alone. I recently came to know that my friend's kid has started a YouTube channel promoting easy cooking recipes. Its a very cute YouTube channel on easy to make but delicious items. Her channel has some awesome dishes that can be prepared with minimum items, time, and effort. The videos are very crisp, short, to the point, and well-edited. It even inspired me to try my hand at cooking her recipes. One of her latest videos is shared below. If interested, do check her channel at #TheLittleFoodTrail

I am sure these references are all just the tip of an iceberg. Kids today have a totally different perspective compared to our childhood days. I don't think most of us would have got an opportunity or platform to showcase our skills to such an audience. Today, kids walk hand in hand with all of us in the digital world. They are like fish to water when it comes to exploring new apps and adapting to its services. My learning from all of this is that if we provide them support and extend some quality time for their interest, they can explore their skills deeper and grow in confidence. That being said, it is equally important to monitor our kid's online activities and sensitive them about the pros and cons of exploring the online world. As I believe 'even this hard time will pass' but during such a period if we are able to inspire our kids to explore on their own on a safe path, I strongly believe it can help them to face the world for a better tomorrow.