Whoever said that moms and daughters could never get along is either mired by stereotypes over the years, narrated by ancestors, or that they never got along well.

Honestly, my mother and I never got along much because of our differences, but still, there is an unseen bond of caring. As a mother who crossed the 40th-year milestone, I cherish a forever bond with my son. I have read this quote innumerable times, and it also applies to my life: “if you ever feel like giving up, just remember a little girl is watching who wants to be just like you.” I have never seen my mother give up, no matter how complex or challenging situations have been. This quote applies to a daughter as well as a son too. Similarly, whenever I wanted to give up, my son would look at me with his small eyes and tug at me, telling me not to give up! 

A mother and a daughter is an age-old bond too. It starts from the cradle and ends in the grave. There can be rocky paths, but together, they do it. Of course, ups and downs in the relationship are there, but they can handle it because there is something extraordinary about a mother and a daughter’s bonding. They can be each other’s shadows as well as sunshine! They even say it is a love-hate relationship as well. But distance has never affected the bond much. Like any other mother-son, father-son, or father-daughter bond, a mother-daughter bond is unique.  

In many homes, a daughter is considered her mother’s shadow, though it may not be the case. A daughter always has an identity of her own, and she may share zillions of differences between her and her mother. But there are ways to bridge these differences too.

I am sure you will agree that none of us can be clones of each other – so can a daughter and mother be similar? Well, it all depends on the bond built from childhood. Differences and similarities can also be celebrated, accepting each other for what they are. Many jokes and stereotypes have been narrated or gone viral on mothers and daughters – primarily negative!   

the stereotypes – Real and reel

1. Mothers and daughters are rivals and can never get along.
2. Daughters are supposed to be perfect like their moms and are their shadows (attributing Indian soaps)
3. Daughters have to take on maternal roles early on and learn household chores like their mothers.
4. Traditional roles in the household are reserved for mothers and daughters.
5. The emotional well-being of a family rests on mothers and daughters.
6. A mother can spoil a daughter’s family dynamics after marriage.

There are many more. I am sure if you are a daughter or a mother reading this, you will have more such stereotypes and stories to narrate on how a mother and daughter bonding has been perceived by society!

Many of you may even disagree with the above stereotypes as well. In a typical patriarchal society and surroundings, a mother is expected to “discipline her daughter and groom her to be fit for the world.” Often, a mother and daughter move apart too after a certain age because of refusal to meet these expectations and standards. Yet, many mothers and daughters have broken these cliches and maintained outstanding bonds. They are best friends and share every tiny detail of their lives too. Distance has made their hearts grow fonder by the day as well.

10 ways to make Mother-daughter relationship easy

How many of you share a friendly bond with your moms? Even if you don’t, what are the things you have done with your mother during your growing years and even now? Do you have any rituals? Fret not, even if you share nothing in common! 

1. Communication
   Good communication is critical in any relationship, and it’s no different between mothers and daughters. Make sure you take the time to listen to each other and respectfully express your thoughts and feelings.
   
   
2. Spend quality time together
   Spend time doing things you both enjoy, whether it’s going shopping, cooking, or just spending a quiet afternoon at home.
   
   
3. Please respect each other’s boundaries
   Each person has a unique personality, preferences, and lifestyle, so it’s important to respect each other’s choices and boundaries.
   
   
4. Be supportive
   Be there for each other through the good and bad times. Offer encouragement and support when needed, and always strive to build each other up.
   
   
5. Acknowledge each other’s accomplishments
   Celebrate each other’s successes and show appreciation for one another’s achievements, no matter how big or small.
   
   
6. Seek common ground
   Try to find common interests and activities that you both enjoy and participate in these things together.
   
   
7. Apologize and forgive
   No relationship is perfect, and misunderstandings and arguments are bound to happen. Be quick to apologize, forgive, and strive to overcome disagreements.
   
   
8. Share your experiences
   Share your own experiences and perspectives, and try to learn from each other’s experiences.
   
   
9. Show affection
   Regularly show affection, whether it’s through hugs, kisses, or just kind words and gestures.
   
   
10. Keep an open mind
    Be open to new ideas and ways of thinking, and be willing to try new things together. This will help keep your relationship fresh and exciting and will help you grow together as individuals.
    
    

Mother-daughter Bond & How?

So, what are you waiting for? Pen your itinerary TODAY and list things you want to do with your mother and vice versa. Signing off with Signe Hammer’s quote that touched my heart, ‘Mothers of daughters are daughters of mothers and have remained in circles joined to circles since time began.’

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So, are you an aesthete? Aesthete is a word in the American English dictionary which means a person who loves and appreciates works of art and beautiful things – anything handcrafted! Are you someone going out of their way to look for handmade artefacts and curios? Do you travel to see art and craft festivals in other cities? If you say yes to all the questions above, you are an art and craft enthusiast or an aesthete.

It is the gifting season and that time of the year when cities in India start wearing a festive look. Streets adorned with colourful streamers and artists displaying handcrafted products are the highlights of the winter months in almost every state. From December-February (and sometimes even March), nearly every city hosts art and craft festivals or a week dedicated to local artists. 

Apart from festivals, online too, stores are selling exclusively handcrafted and customized gifts like stationery, clocks, embroidery, Papier-mâché products, pieces of furniture, metal craft work, cloth puppets, pottery, clay pots, glass products, block print fabrics, ceramics, different types of paintings – glass, oil, pastel, wood, and materials. Antiques form a big part of every house now – wooden/ stone/clay/glass. Aficionados have unique corners reserved in their homes for the same. Thanks to this, a lot of gifting has now become handcrafted, encouraging local artisans to come forward. More people are becoming interested in learning how to make things and gifts. 

Many artists and artisans are conducting online and offline workshops during art fairs, festivals, and on market days. Seeing many DIY (Do It Yourself) kits to make your artefacts in stores is also enjoyable. In addition, children are becoming more interested in making their gifts. Isn’t it a thrill to see a smile and a look of surprise on your loved ones’ faces when they open your gift?

Handmade gifts have always retained their charm over the years. It is still special to receive a handmade card or a gift from loved ones vis-a-vis a readymade gift. I know a gift is a gift, and what matters is the giver’s heart and intentions. Still, there is something magical about opening the strings of a box to discover a handmade piece of jewellery or stationery. To date, I cherish handwritten cards and handmade gifts from my loved ones. 

I encourage my son to make gifts for his friends rather than buy from the shop. The biggest reason is we all will remember these gifts years later and even the person who gifted us. It is the most beautiful moment to open that treasure box years later to discover scribbles in old books, diaries, small origami boats, planes, and artwork given to us by our childhood friends. I still have handwritten letters from my childhood buddy. We both reminisce about those letters and postcards to date and joyously share them with our children now. Letters are gifts in themselves too. Stones wrapped in toffee wrappers, marbles in small cardboard boxes, cardboard, and paper coins, greeting cards (almost obsolete now!), colourful scrapbooks tied with strings, diaries with old pics pasted in them, old sketches of crushes, phone numbers, zodiac signs hurriedly scribbled in books – make you feel so good!

10 Reasons Why handmade Is Thoughtful

1. Personal touch

It is always a different feeling to be treated exclusively where you have the maker’s signature or print on the gift. The maker is your loved one putting extra effort into making you feel special!

2. Souvenirs for life!

Corporations these days love personalising the gifting to their employees. For example, some online retail stores have tie-up with local artists who make small curios or something that symbolizes the company. These remain lifelong with the company logo embossed in them.

3. Memory building

Each handmade gift will have a memory attached to it. For instance, the facility will always remind you of the occasion, date, and year of gifting. But, of course, you can create a memory box too. Then, years later, you will jog in your memory lane when you open it. 

4. Encouraging local artists

If you cannot make something of your own to gift your loved one because of the time crunch, you still have the choice to get a handcrafted gift. Look around your neighbourhood for local artisans and get them to make a customized gift for your loved one.

5. Eco-friendly

Raw materials for handcrafted items are from nature. Hence, they are environment-friendly and safe even for children. For instance, Assam is famous for all its bamboo products like dolls, baskets, toys, mats, shopping bags, and fans. These can be beautiful gifts for anyone.

6. Activates creative juices

It stimulates our brain cells to think out of the box to make different things. It challenges us to do things we usually don’t do.

7. Encourages socializing

Gifting makes sure you meet people and have human contact. Even the most reserved person would find motivation in meeting and gifting their loved ones.

8. Beats blues

Making something with your hands keeps you busy in your mind and helps drive away unwanted and depressive thoughts. It is a good distraction!

9. Children love it

A constructive activity for children to feel good about what they made. Also encouraging minimalism as well as creativity in children. Handmade is always good vis a vis the expensive gifts we buy for birthday parties.

10. Elders cherish it

Older generations have always cherished handmade gifts and even food we cook in the kitchen. Watching them beam with joy and pride if we make something of our own and gift them is a pleasure.

How many of you make gifts for your friends or loved ones? If yes, do share stories behind making gifts. Every handmade gift has a story to tell. Each moment counts, and it adds to all our memories.  So, happy gifting ‘coz we all have an artisan in us !

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“Once upon a time” is a phrase most of us heard while growing up, and now our children hear from us. Storytelling is essential, “an interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.” How many of you grew up listening to stories by your parents and grandparents? Most of you will nod and agree – mainly the 80s and 90s generations and the generations before. 

Family time was better back then, and we spent quality time together thanks to limited or almost no screen time. Storytelling was one of the mediums that kept us bound together. Traditionally, the best time for stories was always in candle lights. I am sure you just went into nostalgia mode because I just did too! I fondly recollect the time we kids would huddle up during power cuts and listen intently to all kinds of stories – fairy tales to spooky ones. The reason children and parents bonded well back then was also because of storytelling. That was the magic of storytelling.

As we grew older, we made our own stories and narrated them to our families. It became our time then, where we added characters and changed plots as we wished. We read stories aloud, too, and later enacted them. Storytelling became a part of our favourite playtime activities, where we played role-play. It was a fun and cathartic time when we did not worry about clocks, losing smartphones, or friends. Each day, someone new in the gang would come up with their stories or versions of fairy tales they read at home. Sometimes, a telly character would emerge from the narrative into our storytelling/weaving sessions. 

Cut to 2023. Stories and themes have changed over the years, and so has the storytelling style. Storytime has shrunk over time, too, because of parents’ long work schedules, children’s extra classes/tuitions, and often relegated to weekends. 

So why storytelling?
Here are a few reasons why it can be fun for Kids

Magic is everywhere and so are stories too. All you need is a story jar (you can create one – a glass bottle or jar). Ask your kids to write words of their choice in chits and drop them in them. Once you collect enough words, start weaving stories. So, you may not even need a book at times to tell a story. Storytelling is as simple as it is. So, get going and narrate a story. Imagine the same joy you felt as a child and the happiness on tiny faces as they light up listening to your stories.

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“Cooking for children is not about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It is about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.” – Julia Child. Indeed, cooking is a beautiful experience – a harmony of the three ingredients mentioned by Ms Child and with a dash of unique aromas and tongue-tingling food.

The age of two to ten is a phase of curiosity and learning new things from external experiences. Sensorial experiences rule this age range – taste, smell, vision, hearing, and touch. Of these, taste plays a dominant role in a child’s life. It is time for the child is exploring smells, tastebuds, and flavours. Once children cross four years, their tastebuds start becoming distinctive as well. It is the “my favourite food is this” phase. You will often be hearing about foods they love at this time. 

Have you thought about teaching your children cooking? Wait, most of you will gasp, I am sure, when I say this. Many of you may be thinking: “How can we teach children cooking? Aren’t they too young to learn it? Fire is dangerous, and so are hot vessels”. Well, as they say, you can never be too old or young to learn cooking. You can start with basics (minus knives, sharp objects, or fire). Yes, you can teach them how to do fireless cooking. Begin teaching basics at home, like a topping for a sandwich, encouraging them to spread the filling inside it or sprinkling from the herbs bottle (of course, all this with supervision), and applying cheese on a loaf of bread or paratha. There are many ways to introduce children to cooking at home. 

Just like home is a hearth for love, hopes, and dreams, a school is a hearth for beautiful memories and life skills. What you learn in school is irreplaceable and is for life. For example, cooking is one of the best life skills we can ever gift our children. They say you can survive anywhere in the world once you learn how to cook. 

There have been a lot of gender stereotypes surrounding cooking for years too. For instance, at home, it is a girl’s domain to cook in the kitchen, and boys need not learn to cook since a wife will cook for them in the future. Most of these myths are no longer there, but we still have a long way to go. 

Schools can do a lot to bust these myths by adding cooking to their curriculum. This way, all children can learn this valuable life skill. Have you imagined the school syllabus to have cooking as a formal subject? The higher classes in some schools in India have it as a part of life skills rather than as a separate subject. Mostly, it is only vocational schools in India that teach cooking separately as a subject. Mainstream schools do not do the same, though. 

Parents and teachers, trust me, you will be amazed when you see these tiny kids cook you unique dishes. A message to all the children, “learn how to cook and try out new recipes. It is okay to make missteps but do learn from them as well. Make the kitchen your fun zone and help your parents and siblings! Enjoy new flavours and aromas. Happy Cooking“.

Pause…Breathe…Reflect! Nature has its way of applying brakes in our life. It does send us feelers and reminders on how we lead our lives, but we tend to block the reminders or skip them. Instead, we use excuses to stave off cravings, our fast-paced life, busy careers, family time, and most importantly, ME time to get on a fitness routine. So, when all alarm clocks go off at the same time, nearly screeching in our ears, we wake up one day and realize: Uh, oh…let me pause and reflect. At least once in all our lives, we have had such screeching alarm clocks blown in our ears. 

Two years ago, Corona was one of the screeching alarm clocks sent to us to pause and reflect. It doesn’t matter who sent it. Either way, the two-year break in all our lives (for some, it is still ongoing) made us think about the value of things in our life – us, our families, our special moments, career milestones, and even educational milestones. It made me wear my thinking cap too. I had completely ignored my fitness and stamina until two years ago. I would not remotely look at the weighing scale, grandly declaring that I am sure I am fit. Yes, I do annual health check-ups and have been given clean chits. But it made me realize that these reports aren’t precisely measuring my stamina. Having all vital stats in place is excellent, but I still needed to recover my lost stamina and endurance. Running around my 8-year-old son made me realize the importance of fitness even more and a stark reminder of aging. 

I had ignored myself for far too long, thanks to years of body shaming and other reasons. Body shaming is one of the key reasons many people stop looking at themselves in the mirror, considering the calories they consume and their sedentary lives. The pandemic made me re-look at myself in a new way. I started facing the mirror daily, looking at my body each day I had a bath. I started acknowledging my body, accepting its flaws, and speaking to myself, saying – “It’s my body, and I am proud of it!” 

The next I asked myself: “Am I fit enough? Can I do something to respect my body better?” Again, I got my answers from within. Another response I got from my gut was that being fit isn’t only about physical fitness. It is supposed to be holistic – an amalgamation of physical and mental wellness.

10 Reasons Why
We must set self-fitness goals 

Trust me, your gut/inner voice will also give you answers. Once you get the answers, you will take action instantly. So, I chose Zumba since I love music and dance (my inner calling). This helped increase my cardio fitness, but then I realized I needed to work on all body parts to increase flexibility. Also, since I am people-oriented, I wanted to join group fitness classes, and another pre-condition was timing. Luckily, things worked out, and I began an active workout regime with my gang and our trainer. So, I suggest you choose your mode of workout – something you would love to do consistently, and kickstart your new routine. It will be exciting for you to fall in love with yourself.

1. Having a checklist of health goals

2. Keeping tabs on physical parameters

3. Prevents over or under workouts

4. Ensures consistency in workouts

5. Having workout buddies

6. Enjoying your wellness journey

7. One step at a time

8. Tuning to your body signals

9. Make your body your best friend

10. And Don’t Forget to Live

Signing off with this food for thought for all of you: “Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Instead, be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.”

When a relationship fails, a zillion theories float about what transpired. Relatives and friends do a mini post-mortem. The moment spouses or partners part ways, judgments are passed, and the famous blame game begins. What, Why, When, and How are the favourite questions asked in turns? Ideally, what happened at the time must remain between the duo. But rarely is privacy maintained thanks to the “concerns” of families and friends.

There are myriad reasons for the disintegration of relationships, breakups, separation, and divorces. Once the honeymoon phase ends, the next stage is crucial. It is when the foundation of trust and mutual respect is built. The second phase of the relationship is where people start showing a side of themselves they never revealed during the initial days of dating or courtship. The feeling of being unwanted, taken advantage of, and abused by the partner mostly begins in this stage. Next, a lack of trust and misunderstandings make their way. Where there is abuse, the first instinct is often to forgive the first occurrence. The power play also spoils relationships. A sense of feeling superior overpowers the equality between partners. Then there are well-meaning friends, families, and relatives who decide who is right and wrong the moment they know a relationship is going awry. Finally, unwanted, unsolicited advice affects the couple’s ability to reason. As a result, it is a crazy mess of a beautiful bond that could have been saved if there had been clear communication.  

Recently, reading about the reasons behind marital discords and divorces in India provided some insights. Money ranked as the top cause of divorce. The other reasons were intimacy, deviant peers/buddies, poor division of labour at the house, parental ideological differences, addiction, and lack of communication. 

But I am sure the list is variable. It can differ in all relationships, including dating, marriages, and live-ins. But unions and live-ins are the only relationships that come under society’s scanner since they are the only ones legal in India now. Society generally perceives relationships other than marriage as casual; hence, they should not be taken seriously! 

While old-timers will blame an unmarried couple for having relationship issues because they aren’t married, ironically, married people are also accused of not treating their partners appropriately or doing “enough” for the relationship to be stable. In other words, no matter the relationship status, society is bound to blame them. Often, couples are judged and labeled unceremoniously when the relationship isn’t taking the route “it should be taking.” Then, instead of allowing the couple to sort their differences out, the connection gets further messy, with people interfering, offering unsolicited advice and pities.

As they say, “it takes two hands to clap” it does take two people in any relationship to put in equal effort to make it work. So if I were to rearrange the order and add some more to the reasons for marital or relationship discords/divorces, these would be my order:  

Out of all these mentioned above, I would say parental ideological differences and peer influence can be held as least responsible for a crumbling relationship. However, substance abuse (liquor and drugs) contributes significantly to deteriorating relationships. More often than not, people abusing substances get violent and abuse their partners. 

Domestic violence increased a lot because of this during the pandemic, and it was sad to see people remaining trapped in relationships thinking their partners would overcome the addictions and tolerate abuse. The recent cold-blooded murder of a girl by her live-in partner sent chills down the spine and shook the nation. It is a shocking example of one of the many cases where substance abuse proved fatal to the partner. She kept giving the benefit of the doubt to her live-in partner, a drug addict, thinking he would change. Sadly, her friends are now slowly opening up, saying they saw the red flags in the relationship but failed to stop her. She had rebelled against her family to live with her boyfriend. Following this, her family cut her off, and when she started suffering abuse, she couldn’t return to her own family, which was her safety net. This isn’t to say that live-in relationships are wrong but to make people aware that they need to see red flags when they enter a relationship.

After this horrific incident, more cases of abusive partners are reported, and people are opening up about the abuse they suffered in their relationships.

A healthy relationship entails open communication, trust, honesty, mutual respect, and unconditional support. Of course, love remains on top for a good relationship but with healthy boundaries and space set by each other at the beginning.   

Divorce/breakups must be the last option, but if it breaks you from within, it is excellent to walk away from it. Toxic relationships only scar you, so please do not blame yourself for it and walk off immediately. 

Signing off with a recipe for a happy Sunday. Take a big pot. Add a scoop of communication, respect, acceptance, empathy, unity, boundaries, choice (yes, u do have), efforts, honesty, and garnish with love. If you have the above ingredients in your relationship, ask yourself: “To be or Not to be” with your partner.

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“I am fabulous.” “I am awesome.” “I am good at solving problems.” “I can do anything.” “I am strong.” How often do you say this to yourselves? Yes, you may have your good friend telling you this, but do you do this for yourself? If you answer yes, then it is impressive. But if not, please start doing this. 

The statements mentioned earlier are called affirmations. In other words, they mean “the action or process of affirming something.” It means statements reflecting positive energies with a focus and an end goal of achieving something. Affirmations are also linked to emotional wellness; to be an emotionally thriving adult, we must first be emotionally healthy as children. Gentle affirmations are not toxic. They are simple ways to remind ourselves we are going well. We can do it, a subtle way to boost our inner self – a moral boost to our confidence.

Children are the most affected in this competitive world and changing social fabric. Thanks to stress and pressure from adults and external surroundings, children subconsciously become shock absorbers of all negativity and negative emotions. As a result, children end up mimicking their caregiver’s and family members’ behaviours, little knowing how to deal with them. 

For instance, if kids see adults screaming at each other or going into silent mode, there is a high tendency for they will start doing the same. Likewise, if adults suffer from self-esteem and confidence issues and do not know how to cope, how do you think children will learn to manage? Whatever family structure the kids belong to – single parent, nuclear families, co-parenting families, or joint families, all are affected synonymous. 

So, how can we help our children grow in a healthy environment? How do we boost ourselves emotionally and pass on similar positive energy to our children? In other words: how do we self-empower? Adults do so by journaling, writing affirmations, self-care, quality sleep, physical activity, avoiding alcohol and caffeine in the evening, cutting chords with toxic people, etc. The tips mentioned above can be taught to children as well. They can be taught simple ways of expressing themselves and encouraging positivity.   

So, when can children start writing affirmations? Do we have any age/time limits to create positive affirmations? You guessed it right, as early as they began learning to write. 

quick tips for children to write affirmations

1. Request them to think about dreams/beliefs they want to include in their life. You can tell them to say it to themselves aloud. Most importantly, believe in them while saying.

2. Once you know what you want, start writing the messages in complete sentences.

3. Jot statements in the present tense with an active voice – "I am enjoying a stress-free vacation" or "I am building my blueprint the way I want it to be."

4. Use positive words in statements. Avoid using negative tones like expressing doubts in the comments you are writing – "I wish," "Not sure if it will happen," or even future statements like "I will do XYZ" or "I will start believing XYZ."

5. Keep telling them "Never indulge in self-shaming. Be proud of who you are." 

6. If writing differs from what your child likes, try asking them to draw on the mirror with their fingers or even draw anything they want to achieve on a piece of paper. 

7. If writing or drawing also doesn't interest your child, suggest the child orally frame affirmations, sing them aloud daily, and dance to their composed tunes.

8. Have you heard of a money box or a piggy bank? Make one colossal piggy bank of a cardboard box where affirmations (small one-liners) can be written on chits of paper/cardboard and dropped in as and when they write. They will be like currency. Every week, they can open it and re-read whatever they wrote. It can be one affirmation per day.

Children can read these statements daily when they begin their day. Another thing is you can continue to add to this list. Affirmations change with various milestones; hence, the child can be encouraged to form the statements minus grammatical corrections/any editing by an adult. After many years, these very statements will become beautiful memories for a child after turning an adult.

If your children are too young to write, you can write/frame the statements for them. Take their suggestions when you write them. You can use colourful sticky notes (with small messages) pinned on the refrigerator/soft boards/cupboards and all places where they are likely to see them. The more they read them, the more the positivity absorbed by them. As they say, children are akin to a sponge. They will absorb all that they are exposed to. So why not surround them with positive messages? Of course, it doesn’t mean you overprotect them with toxic positivity – avoiding reinforcing unrealistic beliefs. These positive messages must be realistic and achievable. They will keep them grounded and help them develop a healthy emotional relationship with themselves and others.

10 Reasons Why

affirmations are suitable for children

1. Builds self-confidence – As children, these statements mean a lot and help them take up challenges to do things they consider problematic. Since they are framing it themselves, it is an "extra edge" feeling for their self-esteem.

2. Helps handle big emotions – Affirmations can help children label their feelings better and cope with them.

3. Improves focus – Children can create goals for themselves by writing them down. It isn't only enough to list them. Affirmations can be framed so that the child knows they need to achieve the goal at any cost, and the only way is improved concentration.

4. Ability to resolve conflicts – Whenever they have a problem, these affirmations will come of help. They will find new methods to decide issues vis a vis running away from them.

5. Encourages positive self-talk – Each time they hear a criticism, they will remember the affirmations, which will trigger inner positive conversations. This will help reaffirm their own beliefs.

6. Energizes the mind during classes – For students, these positive statements or phrases can be recalled at any point of time in the day, especially in school. It will help them re-focus on the subject they are learning, especially if it is difficult to master.

7. Helps in team motivation – Children can use affirmations to boost each other's spirits before beginning their group presentations and even use them effectively during the activity. 

8. Resolves body image issues – In almost every school, children tend to body shame others – some subtly, some directly. Children get badly affected by listening to such conversations. Affirmations help resolve body image issues and restore self-esteem.

9. Setting new challenges – While learning to do a new task or activity, positive phrases are a powerful tool to reinforce confidence to do new things they haven't done earlier.

10.  Self-Esteem matters – As a tool, these statements instill a feeling of accomplishing a task – big or small. That feeling remains for a lifetime. 

Leaving you with my favourite line – “Nothing is Impossible. The word itself says I’m Possible.”

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