Can kids tell the difference between advertisements and truth?

A recent television commercial on the small screen in India cocks a snook at general advertising practice of arrogating the most outrageous claims to products. This soft drink ad adopts the ploy of showing an ad being filmed in which a female model is shown lathering her hair with a soft drink, saying how the… [ Continue Reading ]

Development Profile of children by Age

For the sake of convenience and easy reference, the major areas of development in a child have been grouped according to age. One month profile Turns towards the source of light, tries to fix his gaze on the mother or any object nearby like a toy, and briefly follows a light source. A sudden sound… [ Continue Reading ]

Thumbsucking: A Comfort Habit

My niece Bhawna mumbled while sleeping and I turned around to give her a good night kiss. I found Bhawna sucking her thumb even in deep slumber. Bhawna is three years old and has not been able to get rid of this habit. It worries her parents a lot. They often wonder if it is… [ Continue Reading ]

Mesmerised by the Tube

The fact that television has an edge over other media because of its multisensorial appeal and the fact of its ubiquitous existence is what has made researchers probe its almost mesmeric hold on people across the world – especially pre-teen children, considering their impressionable developmental stage. The hearth and the kitchen, traditionally the core of… [ Continue Reading ]

Small Screen, Big Aspirations

The edge television has over other media due to its multisensorial appeal and its ubiquitous existence has made researchers probe its mesmeric hold on people across the world – especially pre-teen children, considering their impressionable developmental stage. With this concern in mind, ‘Centre for Advocacy and Research’, a Delhi-based media research organisation in Delhi recently… [ Continue Reading ]

Little Adults beat Wrestlers

I was working on a story on the impact of television wrestling shows on child viewers. I checked out related articles on the Web, read up the chapter on ‘The World of Wrestling’ in Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, instructed the graphic artist for an illustration and almost had the introduction ready. Until I spoke to a… [ Continue Reading ]