Month: July 2016

Art Sparked Hope

“I want to be a teacher,” she said. And in the neatness of her braid, the primness of her posture, the clarity of her speech, you could tell she wanted to be a teacher. Every child I met that day, had such hopes and aspirations for their future. They, who would probably leave this room and wander the streets till dusk, braving dangers I could never imagine, never having a home to return to because their parents needed to work every single minute of the day simply for them to survive. Children are so alive with hope, a stethoscope around …

Artprenticeship Day Two

After last session, Manahil and I spent the whole week missing our friends and how lively the house had been last Saturday. So as the weekend approached once again, we couldn’t contain our excitement. We bought chocolates for everyone, hauled and moved furniture to make space, spread plastic all over the floors and fairly hopped in anticipation. Then the bells began to ring as one by one the eager toddlers trickled in. The first thing we did was warm-up. Because warm-ups are essential to getting those creative juices flowing! The toddlers absolutely loved it and it geared them up for …

Artprenticeship Day one– Marble Painting

Toddlers are not difficult to entertain. Even the simplest of art activities will enrapture them. No, what is difficult is entertaining them for a long time. Toddlers have short attention spans and the same activity that enraptured them five minutes ago will spell boredom now. So what does that mean for an art playdate? It means, that in order to spend two constructive hours, you need to have more than one trick up your sleeve. The first thing we did was create cosmic sun catchers (if you want to know more about that, look here: cosmic sun catchers) and though …

Live. Learn. Grow

Live. Learn. Grow

Being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) is one of the most rewarding experiences. But let’s be real, being a SAHM is also a huge sacrifice. Sometime back I was at the mall, introducing myself to the mothers of Manahil’s school friends and they were all so supremely talented! Gynecologists, engineers, business administrators, (artist!) you name it! And they were all putting their ambition and hard work aside and using their talent and intelligence to raise a first class next generation, which is a very noble thing of course! But you have to admit, that sometimes, in the midst of dirty diapers and …

Artprenticeship Day One — Cosmic Sun Catchers

Children await summer vacations as joyfully as mothers dread them. Three long months of two toddlers lolling around the house the whole day, picking fights out of boredom is quite a frightening prospect. So, I thought to myself, what can be done? I could potentially send them to a summer camp, but then, they’re only going to be toddlers once. They’ve already spent every morning of the whole year at school and now is my chance to spend time with them before they outgrow their cuddly selves. But I do require some form of constructive entertainment or we’ll end up …