A strong and sturdy plant speaks of the soil beneath; A soil that is well-ploughed, and watered; which breathes, replenishes and lets grow. The right soil does not merely give birth. It nourishes and sustains. Children are those saplings we plant with much hope and dreams. For them to nourish and grow into healthy minds, there needs to be a lot of digging around; a whole lot of watering and manuring, with patience and diligence.
Turn the pages of your 3rd Grade Environmental Science textbook and you would realise how early in your academics, you were introduced to the lessons of life. Though the origin of plants on earth, was traced back to around 3.5 billion years ago, they are still the reason for human life on earth. If we refer to our textbooks then, photosynthesis is a process through which plants take in Sunlight, Carbon Dioxide and Water and convert it into Oxygen. The growth of the plant depends on the intake of these three basic needs.
We won’t enter the much debatable topic about who's the best, DC or Marvel? Even though your favourite is either one of them, there are certain characters that speaks for themselves . It might be a superhero, villain or even a sidekick. Their character stands out and appeals to the audience. One such character could be our Batman. You might be a Marvel fan, but there must be a point of time when you just associated yourself with our very dear superhero.
You find twelve year old kids, beaming with energy, always on a go, dreaming to be their favourite idol. They build their own world around themselves, filled with imagination and aspirations. This is the age when they are about to reach their teenage, there is always an adrenaline rush that stimulates all their senses.
While every student was busy building their own world, D Gukesh, a twelve year old kid based in Chennai built his name as the World’s 2nd youngest Grandmaster. He achieved his final GM norm while he was participating in the 17th Delhi International Chess Grandmaster open against IM Dinesh K Sharma. He achieved such great heights in chess at the age of Twelve years, seven months and seventeen days. Though he missed the World Record of Sergey Karjakin, a Russian chess player by a whisker of just 17 days, he still aims high and continues to be focused on other tournaments and championships.
We know Blaise Pascal as the inventor of Pascaline, the first mechanical calculator and we believe there is a story to every invention or discovery. The story behind the invention of the first mechanical calculator is quite simple. Pascal’s father was working as a tax collector in the French city of Rouen in the year 1642, and in order to help his father with the calculations, pascal developed the world’s first mechanical calculator.
A noble cause that left the windows of opportunity open for others, to take inspiration from the raw format of a mechanical calculator and advance its functions. That’s life, you need inspiration, and you can find them anywhere. From people, things or just words. One such quote by Blaise Pascal is ‘chess is the gymnasium of the mind’.
Savielly Tartakower is a French Grandmaster, a leading chess journalist and a successful author in the 1920's and 1930's. Even though he was a strong player he is mostly remembered for his wit, maverick and aphorism also known as Tartakoverisms. He grew out to be one of the most notable chess players of his time even with his impactful quotations and statements. In his quote, "No one ever won a game by resigning" he wanted to state that unless and until you continue to play the game till the very end, you would never know that you ultimately won or lost. Chess is a game that you play with skilful tactics and proper strategic planning. You decide your action before making a move with scanning and browsing over the situation in and around your position.
Benjamin Franklin's essay, the morals of chess, is still celebrated among the chess lovers. All the four virtues are abided by people to succeed in chess and in life. There is a strong notion that exists among players ‘There are times when a well-placed pawn is more powerful than the king.' So, the placement of the pawn is crucially important to overpower the game. Very similar to life, where trivial circumstances or situations lead you to define the course of your life. In this blog, we would discuss, Benjamin Franklin's fourth and final virtue of chess.
Indeed true, the upheavals in one's life fly away swiftly leaving a clear sky, and then life goes on. But for some people, a storm is a dramatic magnificent dance of nature that needs to be enjoyed. True to its saying, Benjamin Frankin was different, he was one that fell in love with the storm. His deep love for oceans and storms stimulated him to discover the modern understanding of the Gulf stream. Among his numerous voyages that took him to places, he encountered violent storms in the ocean. During his frequent sailing between Europe and North America, he started to notice a pattern to these storms and concluded the understanding of Gulf stream, an ocean current that effects weather on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
A person's outlook towards life interprets a great deal about him/her. While people chase over materialistic things to make life easy, Benjamin Frankin was one such curious soul who was dedicated to make life simpler for others, through his inventions and discoveries. The Pennsylvania Stover and the Lightning Rod are examples of him being a naturally inquisitive individual who spreads happiness among people by transforming nature from being destructive to constructive. His eagerness to know things introduced him to the world of chess and its virtues. So, we would discuss, what is the second virtue of chess according to Benjamin Franklin's 'The Morals of Chess'?
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing" The American Superhero, Benjamin Franklin was a prominent figure of the early American history. What's incredible about his personality, he wasn't restricted to any particular profession. He played contrasting roles in different phases of his life, he was a leading author, civic activist, political theorist, diplomat and even a postmaster. He believed in an uninterrupted flow of life, just like a river.
Kids are known to be inquisitive. They would constantly have thousands of questions bubbling in their mind and they love to find the answers to them. The Sci-fi movies today even blow an adult's minds away. Back in the days, when we as kids used to be awestruck by watching movies like Jurassic Park or Star Wars, imagine the level of excitement for kids who belong to the present generation!
We say that 'no matter how far we go, we would always find our way back home'. For an individual, home symbolises family, warmth, love and the sense of togetherness and a child is no exception to that. Though the formation of nuclear families have shrunk the amount of time that a child spends with his/her entire family. The hectic schedule of parents and distance from grandparents have reduced their world to themselves.
In the critically acclaimed Hollywood movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” – a biopic on Chris Gardener, the famous investor, inspirational speaker and author - there is a scene where the protagonist solves the Rubik’s Cube during a cab ride.
While sharing a ride with an enterprising stockbroker from a prestigious firm, Chris Gardener (played by veteran actor Will Smith) notices the man struggling with a Rubik’s Cube and offers to solve it. Apparently, Gardener solves the Cube before they reach the destination, impresses the man, lands a position as a trainee in the company and goes on to create history!
For most parents, the arrival of a child is a vow to work towards the well being of their bundle of joy. As the child grows, their expectations and aspirations from the child increases gradually. What remains constant, is their wish to mould their child into a good human being, imbibing the basic humanitarian qualities and moral virtues.
The words of Dr. Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist & author, seems quite applicable in the way our youngest generation is sprouting up. Raised in the lap of technology, Gen Z is all wired up in technology 24/7. The American Academy of Paediatrics reports that on an average, kids spend up to 7 hours a day on some or other random electronic device. The question is what do they filter and what goes into their brains?
Is your child a passive plodder who needs to be pushed around? Or is he/she a silent observer or perhaps a hyper energy-ball who requires some toning down? At Mind Mentorz we believe that the behavioral patterns of a child are closely associated with his or her mental development. We aim to season and temper the young minds in a magic pot of brain-games, channelizing their energies, creativity, and thought-process in a well-balanced and productive way.
With an impending future where our children will be doing jobs that are ‘not yet invented’, it is essential that we prepare them for a highly competent and hi-tech world where intelligence would rule and machines might dictate. A generation that grew up on life and its circumstances will soon be extinct. We have before us a whole new breed of “tech-lings” who are born into a matrix of coding and programing and being warped in the way they need to grow.
“The way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing”. The words of Vladimir Kramnik, the Russian chess grandmaster, eloquently sum up the impact of cognitive training. A strategic game like chess not only mirrors the child’s personality but the 'moves' give a peek into the child’s innate character.
A child is a curious soul, full of energy, inquisitive and innovative. They have the potential to build an imaginative kingdom around them and bring out their artistic self. The only needful aspect is to give a direction to those art and imagination. They need to have steady and gradual all-round development. We at Mind Mentorz work to put the kids at the forefront and provide them with tools, devices and instruments that harness their mind.
Learning to code for kids is becoming increasingly common these days and one cannot dismiss the fact that it is a fast paced technological world and one needs to make complete use of it, be it to use them for convenience or use it to help kids learn the various skills much needed these days.
A relatively new topic for kids to learn, coding, as many people think, is no rocket science. As against the popular knowledge, young kids have an added advantage. Statistics show that kids learn coding faster, as compared to an adult. One can also view it as another language learnt another type of literacy.
