Shashu and Amma

A small trailer of the first episode of season 2 by shaashu

Shashu grew very curious about water purification before it reaches our homes for consumption, after I told him that during our childhood, we used to drink rain water directly and that how I miss doing that now, due to the impurities present in air. Sea water is desalinated to remove salt and other unwanted minerals which are considered unfit for drinking and then in commercial purifiers, they are purified and made fit for consumption. Though rain water is stored, it can't be used for drinking directly but needs to be purified first and then only consumed .

Shashu recently got to learn about nature through his EVS teacher and grew very much eager and loved the fact that everything under the sun, which is created on its own is nature. He was amazed at the fact and wanted to discuss more...

Shashi wanted to know about the water which gets expelled from the AC vent, while the AC is running. The work of an AC is to lower the temperature of the room, so the process is simple, when the temperature drops, the humidity, of the air is cooled and water is expelled, just like after boiled water is cooled, it leaves off water droplets in the lid, AC, after cooling the room, expels the hot air in the form of water.

Shashu dearest got curious on the process of converting wood to furniture. When the tree is cut, it's no longer a tree, but is called a log. This is left to dry well till it's fit to be called timber. Later, the timber is milled, ie it is roughly cut and then the timber is sawed,ie cutting into desired shapes and sizes, levelled, where the uneven surfaces are smoothened and then the desired furniture is cut and assembled with the appropriate tools.

A lot of honey bees were buzzing around our garden and Shashu was observing them work tirelessly. He thus came up with his next question, Do bees ever sleep ma? Bees do take a break and sleep. There are three types of bees, namely, the Queen bee, forager bees( older ones) and young workers which majorly take care of the cleaning of the bee hive. The last members of the bee hive sleep by taking short breaks in the daytime, while the older forager bees take a nap during the night.

I keep instilling this important trait in Shashu to never waste food. In this episode, I tell him how a farmer grows rice. Rice, to grow needs, proper sunlight, excess, infact, a puddle of water throughout its growing stage and the proper type of soil. The farmers, prepare the soil first, followed by filling the land with required amount of water. Next sowing the rice seeds, and maintaining the proper environment by weeding out the unnecessary plants. After about 3 to 4 months, the rice crop is fully grown and mature. Once the time arrives for harvest, the excess water is drained out from the land and let to dry out, leaving the crop to dry and crisp. The crop is finally harvested and beaten to separate the paddy from the stalk. Once separated, the paddy is again processed to remove the husk from the rice. This rice is later polished and cleaned to be stored in jute bags. these bags are the sent out for distribution. After undergoing these many steps, and not one step is simple, do we get rice on our table. When the farmers ensure that we get all the rice he grows with so much effort,why not we teach our children to give the same respect to food and not waste a single grain of rice? Making kids understand the importance and value of food needs to be done right from the time they start helping themselves with eating. Just like any other social trait, respecting food, eating just the required amount of food and avoiding excess food on the plate resulting in waste should be avoided. #foodwaste #foodwasted #foodwastebattle #foodwastemanagement #foodwastenot #foodwastepledge #foodwastesucks #foodwastewarriorsinposition

It was just another lazy Sunday and Shashu, who is somebody who does all his chores of having his bath, spending some time meditating and later having his breakfast, was in a mood to skip all this and have his bath after enjoying his favourite breakfast made by his maternal grandmother. That's when .y mom said to him about the I'll effects of having bath post food. He got curious and asked me the reason behind. As, you all would have observed, I follow more of a factual and scientific policy of explaining things to my child. I don't believe in making up stories for the time being. This is the reason why u sit and try to explain things according to his understanding. So, just like fuel combusts to help a vehicle run, food is the fuel if our body and burns to generate energy. By bringing up combustion itself, it defines some process which happens in desirable higher temperatures. By bathing, we bring down the temperature of the body, which is not favourable for the food in rhe digestion process. This results in slow digestion, indigestion, and improper distribution of required nutrients to the body. In a long run, it makes the entire digestion process sluggish, if done often. Hence it is not preferred to take a bath post food. Also please note, my second one's voice in the background 🧐😜 Next in the segment, he asks why do we Burp after a meal? When we consume food or air, we normally tend to breathe in some air along with it. Also, when we chew food and drink water hastily, or keep talking while eating, excess air tends to enter our body. This excess air is expelled by our body before reaching the stomach,as burp. This process helps to save our stomach from excessive bloating. To avoid burping, we should hence chew and drink slowly, avoid speaking during eating.

Today we were watching TV and a tea powder ad flashed, in which a very lovely soul distributes tea for free, to people waiting in a traffic during a heavy downpour. Shashu noticed the way the woman was talking and was quick to question me, saying,"Amma, is she a man or a woman?". When i asked him why he had this question, he said, "She is dressed like a woman and has the voice of a male, hence asked". It was quite a wide topic to be covered,but, someday, I have to answer him this, so, being the biology freak that I am, I just refreshed my memory a little and tried putting the answer into shashu's understanding. The deciding factor of our gender are the chromosomes. Basically, a female carries XX chromosomes and male carries XY chromosomes. Sometimes, a genetic disturbance occurs in pregnancy, which causes an addition of chromosome to this set, that is, an extra X is added to the chromosome set, resulting in XXY chromosome, this condition is called Klinefelter's Syndrome, where a boy is born with an extra chromosome, basically he is born in a male body but shows traits of female and believes himself to be a female. This is not something abnormal, but it's pretty normal, when we talk about societal norms. They are actually the third gender. I said this to Shashu, so that he does not gets confused. But actually Transgenders prefer them to be either addressed as females (when they choose their gender)or as males, and not the third gender. I understand, this is a very sensitive and wide topic,but I have given a intro to my child and believe that I have taught him to have respect towards it just like he respects a male and a female, likewise. Will talk to him more about it in upcoming days.

Today's question, arose after myself and Shashu were discussing how much fun we have playing in the beach. Following this he asked me the million dollar question that, "Amma, why should I take bath after playing in the beach?",to which I casually replied, to wash off your stickiness, which is caused due to the salt water. Several rivers come join the sea, carrying salt and minerals from riverbanks, resulting the sea water to get salty. It is from the sea that we get salt, which is taken from the seawater after drying the water in specified areas and evaporating the water, leaving behind the salt. This salt is purified and used by us for cooking and other required purposes.