When Nalina Ramalakshmi tried to get her children to adjust to a new city after her family relocated from the US after 20 years, she found herself at a cultural crossroad. Her first challenge was to bridge the gaping gap between traditional and global approach to parenting, with she herself being a subscriber of the latter. The initiative led her to launch the ParentCircle magazine in 2011. Today, the publication is a widely circulated magazine with a global readership.
“The magazine since its inception had received a huge response and we thought this the right time to launch the e-portal as we wanted parents to learn and share their stories on parenting through blogs and queries on the platform,” says Nalina.
Nalina says the chief idea behind the platform was to build an ecosystem, so that all stakeholders related to a child can come together and exchange information. “With varied interests coming together, the whole visual aspect of content sharing has made life simple. Now, if I am looking at options to teach or convey a piece of information, I can just use online visual resources such as a flip book. The experts include Kailash Satyarthi Foundation, family, child bloggers and doctors,” she explains.
Stating that saying ‘no’ to children is the most common problem faced by parents globally, Nalina says it is a word modern day parents need to learn to say aloud. “Children today seem to be the bosses and parents are not in control of them anymore. Thanks to global influences, we are changing from a traditional to nuclear family set-up where working parents find it easier to fulfill every demand of the child rather than giving explanations,” says the mother of two.
“Today, even a three-year-old plays with an I-pad. The web portal will help set the right limitations for the child and regulate internet access. Social media in fact is a huge detriment in a child’s development.
Children in India are the third highest bullied population online after China and Singapore,” she says adding that it is impending of every parent to have a conversation with children and try to put a perspective to issues like these.
Reach out: www.parentcircle.com
Homegrown
Aiming high
With more than 20 experts, knowledge partners and 50 plus educational institutions on board, ParentCircle aims to hit a user base of 1 million parents in the first year