Education On The Go

Vroom..Vroom..Beep…Beep…

Living in L.A., half our lives is spent in driving. Being a mom, I feel like I spent 80 percent of my time in the car either picking, dropping off kids, taking them to activities, birthdays or any events. Literally, my minivan, Sienna, has become a mini second home for me. I have kids neck pillows for long rides, food, extra water, blankets for cold days and pajamas for late nights.

My husband jokes with me that maybe I should drive a RV around. HAHA

One day, it pondered over me that I spent around 2 hours or more a day driving kids back and forth from their activities. That is more than watching a movie. Somewhere, I felt I was wasting that time because the car rides were mostly silent or listening to music. My husband and I have not bought Ipads or hand held video games for kids as we felt they would get addicted to it.

I kept discussing with Ankur about doing something productive with that time, but could not lay my finger on what to do. Then on one weekend, we were going some where far and kids were getting bored in the car. My husband suggested we play a game of naming fruits and vegetables.

Ta – da! That was it! I found the solution on how to spend that time.

At home, I am always struggling to get their attention when I want to teach them something. It always is a fight to have them pay attention especially when living in a joint family, they are easily distracted. Or sometimes, there is not enough time in the day.

There are so many things, I want to teach them. I started inventing educational games. There are days when I will focus on spelling and math for my son while driving for swimming class. Whilst for my girls, I will focus on phonics and learning words. I also try to teach Gujurati (native language) words by categorizing them into topics like fruits, vegetables, and colors. And if they use those words at home, they get a reward. This way I want to make sure that they do not lose their native tongue since they mostly speak English at home.

There are days when I will teach them religious prayers and songs. Also, I will teach them about humanity and compassion.

Currently, I feel kids are like sponge where they will absorb all the information you feed them at this age. Especially, with my son who will become a teenager in 5 more years and who knows then how much he will be willing to learn.

It does take some effort from my end because I have to think of  and prepare the topic. There are days when I want my drives to be quiet and peaceful, but then my kids remind me…

“Mama, we still have to learn fruits.”

It has been a good eight months since I started this so called project and I can say that I am very happy with the result because now my kids are eagerly waiting for their car drive.

I would advice parents to try this a couple of times. You will be amazed at the results and the extra bonding time you get with your child. These are moment they will remember many years from now.

Feel free to share your experiences.