How to develop leadership at a young age

Leaders are not born but made. “Before one becomes a leader, success is all about growing yourself. But when one becomes a leader, success is all about growing others.”
The overall development of the child depends on various factors ranging from academics to exposure to environment, passion or interests, extra-curricular activities, etc. Today’s young children will be the next generation of leaders in their families, communities and workplace. And hence it becomes very crucial to enhance all factors since their early age to develop their leadership qualities.

Young leaders should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, which in turn develops a sense of responsibility, self-efficacy and positive mindset, coupled with planning and organisational skills. This process enables them to become better learners, therefore develop qualities like creativity, confidence, problem-solving, perseverance, focus, non-verbal communication, receiving constructive feedback, collaboration, dedication, and accountability.
Amidst today’s very competitive environment, a child would be reluctant to take up initiatives, and therefore a series of interventions with a completely different approach is required to overcome this limitation. Genuine leadership opportunities support to transition into adulthood, foster skills and character to be responsible citizens and promote social and emotional well-being. These opportunities should be such that provide real-life occasions to practice – where successes and failures are equally valuable and time is spent on self-reflection with coaching feedback.
Eduscan Institute conducts such Leadership training; specially designed by Dr. Alka Kalra – a renowned educational psychologist; which is unique because the training focuses on identifying and highlighting the hidden potentials rather than working on personality gaps. The training is designed with carefully selected activities that not only boosts physical and academic progress, but also other personality aspects such as stage confidence and social skills. The learning outside the classroom accelerates the learning inside the classroom. Thus enabling children to conceive a positive self-image and trust their abilities to lead. The leadership training batch starts on 1st July and will continue till 31st August. Visit their website to know more about the course.

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is renowned Psychologist and a Professional Counselor who is known as a crusader for children who are misperceived as underachievers. With her Unnerving passion for children who have hidden learning difficulties, Dr. Alka wanted them to never undermine themselves and realize that they have unique skills and strengths. To work on these children she established EDUSCAN in 1995. Within the span of two decades in the UAE. Dr. Alka has changed the lives of numerous children who struggled at school due to their low-performance they are now in the roles of white collar jobs with good portfolios.
Dr. Alka’s passion is to work on who are poor in math and have reading, writing and spelling difficulties. She believes in training teachers as it is incredibly crucial because teachers can touch many lives. Dr. Alka conduct programs such as the “Walk on Fire” where participants walk on burning coals without a single blister which she calls a “life changing” experience. Community Development Authority (Dubai) certified psychologist Dr. Alka is famous for assessment of personality, aptitude, intelligence and hidden learning difficulties etc. Dr. Alka has the honor of receiving university gold medal in Masters of Psychology and has second Masters in Education as well. She had earned her Ph.D. and had her Postdoctoral Research from University of Pittsburgh- USA.
A true all-rounder, she was also the winner of the All India Best Cadet Award and received the Gold Medal from the late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Some of the other major awards she has won are “Woman of the Year Award” by International Women Association, Lady of the Year award by Indian Ladies Association and Lioness of the Year Award by Lions Club International. The latest feather in cap of success is that she is honored to be Super Hundred Women Achiever from India in Middle East & Africa.

3 Questions for Powerful Parenting through Communication

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” — Mark Twain.Communication is a very important aspect of parenting. Communication between parents and children happens all the time. Therefore, it has the most impact on children.Whatever is being communicated to the children; has a direct impact on their emotional and physical well being.

Also whether the communication is happening ‘at’ instead of ‘with’ children makes a lot of difference. What is more important is ‘how’ the communication happens rather than ‘what’ is being communicated.
SEE ALSO: How to Develop Leadership at a Young Age
We often witness that parents use harsh words or rude language with the children when they are angry with them. During communication with children, 3 filters of utmost importance should be used to improve the communication.

1. Is it true?

Many things are spoken but most of the time if the information is true or not, is not verified. And that creates misunderstanding

2. Is it important?

The second filter is about how important is that information. Parents need to analyse the significance of the information that they wish to convey to their child.

3. Is it helpful?

The third filter is whether the information is helpful to the child or family? Only if it supports and enhance the esteem or motivates the child; should the information be communicated to the child.
These 3 filters help us to eliminate the unwanted statements and enrich the quality of content while communicating with children. This immensely improves the relationship between parents and children.
The approach of the parent also plays a vital role in the way communication occurs. The assertive approach that allows two ways interaction is much more effective than the dictator’s approach which is only commanding or instructing. So it is suggested that parents should encourage their young kids to not only understand non-verbal clues but also effectively use it. If parents positively reinforce this, it gets embedded as a part of their personality.
Parents need to understand their children before being understood by the children, which can be achieved by active listening instead of just hearing while communicating.
What you say is important but how you say is more important.
Are you interested in getting more such insights on parenting? Do you need any feedback and suggestions from an expert? Then don’t forget to listen to the live talk by Dr. Alka Kalra, educational psychologist, on Facebook. She will be live every Thursday at 12:30pm.For further details, follow Eduscan Group on Facebook. Keep your questions ready!

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is a community development authority (Dubai) certified psychologist and a professional counselor. She believes that each child has unique skills and strengths and is particularly passionate about children with learning difficulties. Through assessments (personality, aptitude and intelligence) and tailor made courses at Eduscan, not just for children but also teachers and parents, she has positively touched the lives of numerous children.
She regularly shares her views on parenting and child-rearing practices on TV, radio and on Eduscan’s social media. She has been appreciated and awarded various titles including:
• Top Indian Achiever Super 100
• “Woman of the year” by International Women Association
• “Lady of the year” by Indian Ladies association
• “Lioness of the year” by Lions Club International
• All India Best Cadet ‘Gold Medal’ by Prime Minister of India Late Indira Gandhi

3 Effective Strategies to Deal with Stage Fright

‘It’s the biggest day of your life and probably the scariest one too. There are hundreds of people in the audience who have gathered just to hear your speech. You finally step on the stage and hear a huge round of applause. Your speech starts; people are clapping and responding well. Suddenly, you fumble and forget your next few words and everything turns

You will be surprised to know that the third richest person in the world, Warren Buffet was once even scared to take his name in front of everyone. But he had this urge to overcome his stage fright. He joined a public speaking course and successfully completed it. Today, we all know who he is and that’s the power of overcoming fear!
Always remember that nobody can die while speaking on stage. But yes, there are people who would prefer to die, than to speak on stage. Try out a few strategies if you have the desire to speak on stage or in front of a large group of people.
1. Visualize
These strategies can be used anytime. It involves visualizing yourself as a good public speaker, trying to imagine the audience laughing and applauding and visualizing the fact that you are helping various people through your speech.

2. Practice
In order to be well prepared, you need to organize your speaking notes and run a thorough practice. You should be able to memorize the opening statements in such a way that even if someone wakes you up from a deep sleep and asks about it, you should be able to recite it. Keep practising in front of the mirror till you see yourself doing perfectly fine!

3. Stay Calm
Be at the venue preferably an hour early. Notice the things happening at the event and try and include elements from the live event in your speech. Remember to stay calm, revise your notes, take a walk and have sufficient water. Double check your mike, projector, etc. and then you are good to go.

Following these few tips can really make a lot of difference in your performance. Something similar is taught at Eduscan Group summer camps.
The whole objective of the camp is to make the kid confident and independent. The unique part of the camp is its final day function performance where all the camp kids put up a show for their parents. Children get to perform activities like public speaking, karate, yoga, dance, aerobics and more. In fact, during the camp they even work on the memory and concentration of children. On the final day they demonstrate the concentration power of kids by making them read information on a business card blindfolded. They can easily recognize the color of a ball they are handed over, blindfolded! This leaves the audience in awe! The function displays a beautiful transformation in kids and their behavior. Children who used to be scared to talk to strangers come out of the camp with a lot of new friends! It is an overwhelming journey for the parents as well, since they see the transformation in them.
About Eduscan Group

4 Ways to Overcome Phobias and Fears

Do we really know what is a phobia? It is something that makes us nervous; when we get those butterflies in our stomach. It makes us feel different from what we normally feel. Abnormal breathing, sweaty palm, and jittery feeling are just some common signs. The body is not in our control and it is reacting to some unknown factor and that is defined as the true state of phobia.

Even young children suffer from different kinds of phobia or fear. Having phobia or fear can be a factor in one’s growth and development as an individual. Dr. Alka Kalra, renowned educational psychologist, and director of Eduscan Group has shared some interesting steps on how you can overcome your fears and phobias:
SEE ALSO: How to Develop Leadership at Such a Young Age

1. Identify your fear or phobia

You may be scared of water, height, insects, travelling in an airplane, etc. Some students may fear speaking in public. Teenagers or middle school students mostly experience anxiety or fears related to social acceptance and academic achievement. It is extremely important to understand the components that actually trouble you.

2. Identify the factor that brings discomfort to your body

If you are scared of a cockroach, then you need to understand that at what distance it starts troubling you. To understand this you can get an artificial cockroach, first keep it far away and then slowly bring it near you. Distance is a very important factor to identify your fear. The distance at which you feel the discomfort in your body will help you define your fear.

3. Systematic desensitization

Once you understand the factors that trouble you, then you learn to face it. Relax your body, breathe in and breathe out. The only difference between a dead man and an alive man is breath. Be it any emotion, fear or anger, our breathing gets affected, it either becomes too fast or it becomes too slow. We need to focus on how to normalize it. It is important to understand that the brain controls our breathing. Once we understand the art of doing it, we will feel more relaxed and will actually be able to face the fear. And that is exactly what systematic desensitization means; facing your fear!

4. Rationalize the factor

Phobias are unrealistic fears. If you have a fear of driving and you feel someone will hit your vehicle. Try and understand why do you think it will happen only to your vehicle alone? Rationalize it, move it from your right hemisphere to the left hemisphere of the brain which is linked to logical thinking and make sure that you logically start thinking about it. All phobias and fears exist on the right side of the brain. Learn to move it to the left side and start to logically reason it out. Then is the time when you do long deep breathing.
Follow these steps and you will be amazed to see that it is not what your body and mind decides, it is you who control your body and mind. It’s time to take the wheel and drive it to any destination you want to go. Fears exist when you don’t really know what you should be doing when you know your clear steps about it, you can learn to deal with it.
Some things are easier said than done. It might happen that you may find it difficult to follow the above steps. If you want to learn this art and be a part of Dr. Alka’s most powerful program which is known as Untap your hidden potential training. Some people are even phobic of their own success, they don’t even know how to handle it. They are so fearful that they are not able to achieve what they are capable of achieving just because of the mental block. This mental block is ‘I KNOW I CAN’T’! This training will help you remove this mental block. So, If you are on a lookout for how to handle yourself and how to handle your fears how to overcome issues which are stopping you to get effective results, join Dr. Alka Kalra on 21st of September for this training and you’ll see your life changing!

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is a community development authority (Dubai) certified psychologist and a professional counselor. She believes that each child has unique skills and strengths and is particularly passionate about children with learning difficulties. Through assessments (personality, aptitude and intelligence) and tailor made courses at Eduscan, not just for children but also teachers and parents, she has positively touched the lives of numerous children.
She regularly shares her views on parenting and child rearing practices on TV, radio and on Eduscan’s social media. She has been appreciated and awarded various titles including,

  • Top Indian Achiever Super 100
  • “Woman of the year” by International Women Association
  • “Lady of the year” by Indian Ladies association
  • “Lioness of the year” by Lions Club International
  • All India Best Cadet ‘Gold Medal’ by Prime Minister of India Late Indira Gandhi

4 Ways to Help Kids Become ‘Thinkers’

Are you a worried about your developing some analytical and creative skills? There are easy ways to help raise a creative child. From endless games and opportunities, to asking interesting questions of your child, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to develop creative thinking among young children.

Below are some interesting ways to improve your child’s creativity:

1. Present a picture to your child

Ask them to explain what they think is happening in the picture. To make it more interesting, ask them to explain what they think was happening before the picture story, and what they think will happen later on in the story. This will help them to come up with an apt logical sequence. You can play this game together as a family, where everyone can come up with their story from the same picture, and then share it with each other. An ideal picture should be the one with an action.

2. Mute a video

Another idea is to mute a video on the television and tell your kids to write down the conversation that they think should take place, by closely observing the gesture and posture of the actors. You will be surprised to see the results! Children who think on a creative end, will come up with interesting conversations. Maybe they’ll end up giving an unimaginable ending to every Harry Potter sequel!

3. Ask Open-Ended Questions

You can ask your children open-ended questions like, ‘What would you do if you had superman powers?’ , ‘If you can ask for 3 wishes, what would it be?’, ‘If you become the prime minister/leader of your country, what all would you want to do’?. This will help them to be more creative, imaginative and thoughtful.

4. Choose a family story

You can choose a favorite family story, for example, how dad fell asleep at one of the children’s’ annual performances when he was invited as a chief guest. Then ask the child to explain the story from a third person’s perspective, for example, from the principal’s perspective on what she would have thought. Being able to think about a story from an alternative perspective is an important part of improving thinking skills.
It is very important for parents to give some time of the day to enhance their child’s creative thinking skills. This can be half an hour after dinner, or maybe early morning before they go for school. Look into your schedule and make sure that you have chalked out some time to work on this with your kids.

About Eduscan

Creative thinking is a big part of Eduscan’s Winter Camp leadership training course. During the three weeks of this course, they conduct some similar activities in class with children, in order to enhance their logical reasoning and creative thinking skills. This course is specially designed by Dr. Alka Kalra, renowned educational psychologist, and Director of Eduscan Group.

3 Tips on How to Improve Your Child’s Memory

Memory plays an extremely important role in our daily lives. It helps us retrieve and organize information in our brains. It is very important to work on improving and enhancing the memory of young kids. It is during this time that kids pick up and learn things faster. Using the right techniques and tricks to improve their memory goes a long way in helping them recall information later on in life.

There are two components of memory. They are observation and visualization. There are innovative approaches to help improve these two components of memory:

Improve Kids’ Observation Skills

1. Memory drawings
It is a very powerful technique which enhances the observation skills of kids. For example, we see a wristwatch probably 20-30 times a day. But when you ask your child to draw the dial of his wristwatch, he may struggle to draw the same immediately. That’s the time when you give them a chance to look at the watch again and redo it. Another example is to tell your kids to draw their bedroom or kitchen. It will be fun to compare their drawing with the actual room and notice which ones they have missed out. In such cases, they observe keenly as they know it is followed by a test.
2. Spot the difference
A very common but effective game to improve concentration is to the spot the differences. Present two similar pictures to your kids with minor differences and ask them to highlight those differences in a given time limit. Another idea: put a lot of clocks in one room at the same time and keep one clock at a different time. Tell your kids to identify the clock with a different time.

Improve Kids’ Visualization Skills

3. How you see things
Remembering the basic numbers can be hard for young kids in the beginning. You can pair up every number with an object. For example, number one looks like a pen, two looks like a duck, three an eyeglass, four a boat, and five a star. At first, write down numbers one to five on a piece of paper and ask your kids to recall. They may or may not be able to recall every number. Then, draw these objects next to every number and tell them to visualize the same. Ask them to recall and you’ll see the difference. You can continue this exercise for number six which looks like a hockey stick, number seven which looks like a walking stick, etc.