School bus, classroom and playground safety: the checklist to runMost school safety is decided by things you can check in one meeting — and by a handful of rules your child needs to know by heart.Questions to ask when visiting a preschool or day careOne hour of watching a preschool tells you more than any brochure. Here is what to ask, and what to look at while they answer.
Toddler & PreschoolYour toddler at 23 months: nearly two, and the vocabulary jump
Family Life & RelationshipsSingle parenting in India: the practical, legal and emotional map
FertilityOvulation: the signs, the tracking methods, and which are worth the money
Baby NamesBaby names that mean sun: 61 Indian names with meanings
Baby CareHand, foot and mouth disease: the playschool illness that looks alarming
Baby CareA premature baby: the NICU, kangaroo care, and going homeOne in seven Indian babies is born early. The road is longer and the fear is real — but preterm care is one of the great success stories of modern medicine, and much of what helps most is done by the parents themselves.1
Baby DevelopmentBaby week 7: the discovery of hands, and full coo conversationsThis week the baby discovers something astonishing — its own hands. The long staring, the fist steered to the mouth — not idle play; the body's map is being drawn.2
Baby NamesBaby names that mean ocean: 10 Indian names with meanings10 names whose meaning is ocean — 5 for boys, 5 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.3
Big Kids & TeensWhen can my daughter wear make-up?There is no medical age for make-up, and the argument is rarely about make-up. Here is a way to handle it that keeps the relationship and the boundary.4
Birth & PostpartumPain relief in labour: epidurals, injections and the drug-free methodsLabour pain relief in India ranges from an epidural on request to nothing at all, depending on the hospital. Deciding what you want — and where it is available — is a third-trimester job.5
Education & LearningMontessori, play-based or traditional: which preschool approach?Every preschool in India now describes itself as one of these, and the label on the gate tells you very little about what happens inside.6Parenting articles
Baby Care
Twenty newborn things that scare parents (and which ones actually matter)Newborns do a great many alarming things, almost all of them normal. Here is the list, sorted honestly into 'ignore it', 'mention it at the next visit', and 'go today'.- Typhoid in children: recognising it and treating it properlyTyphoid is one of the illnesses where the treatment is straightforward and the mistakes are common — a half-finished antibiotic course is how it comes back.
Umbilical cord care, and umbilical herniaKeep it clean and dry, and put nothing on it. The traditional applications are the main reason newborns develop cord infections in India.- Vomiting in children: what to do at home and when it is seriousMost vomiting is a stomach bug that ends in a day. The danger is not the vomiting itself — it is the fluid that leaves with it.
Baby Development
Baby week 2: the weight comes back, and the clock runs upside downThis week hands you a receipt — birth weight regained, which means the milk supply is working. And a test — a baby wide awake at 3 am who sleeps all day.- Baby week 3: the first growth spurt, and the first tummy-time workoutSuddenly hungry every hour? Don't panic — it's the first growth spurt, a two-to-three-day storm. And this week life's first workout begins: a few minutes on the tummy.
Baby week 4: one month done — and the first coo is comingThe first month complete — the tunnel of the longest four weeks is behind you. The baby now 'sees', pauses to listen, and is testing its first sounds.
Baby Names
Baby names that mean gift: 22 Indian names with meanings22 names whose meaning is gift — 14 for boys, 8 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean glory: 24 Indian names with meanings24 names whose meaning is glory — 11 for boys, 13 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean glow: 11 Indian names with meanings11 names whose meaning is glow — 3 for boys, 10 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean god: 150 Indian names with meanings150 names whose meaning is god — 130 for boys, 20 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean gold: 33 Indian names with meanings33 names whose meaning is gold — 13 for boys, 21 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean grace: 29 Indian names with meanings29 names whose meaning is grace — 7 for boys, 22 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean great: 14 Indian names with meanings14 names whose meaning is great — 9 for boys, 5 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean happiness: 45 Indian names with meanings45 names whose meaning is happiness — 28 for boys, 19 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean happy: 23 Indian names with meanings23 names whose meaning is happy — 14 for boys, 9 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean heart: 18 Indian names with meanings18 names whose meaning is heart — 12 for boys, 6 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean holy: 52 Indian names with meanings52 names whose meaning is holy — 18 for boys, 35 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean home: 11 Indian names with meanings11 names whose meaning is home — 7 for boys, 4 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean humble: 12 Indian names with meanings12 names whose meaning is humble — 3 for boys, 9 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean intelligent: 26 Indian names with meanings26 names whose meaning is intelligent — 14 for boys, 12 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Baby names that mean jewel: 14 Indian names with meanings14 names whose meaning is jewel — 6 for boys, 8 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.- Baby names that mean kind: 14 Indian names with meanings14 names whose meaning is kind — 5 for boys, 9 for girls — each printed with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
Big Kids & Teens
- Helping a child recover from a bad exam resultResults day in India carries a weight it should not, and every year children are lost to it. What a parent says in the first hour matters more than anything that follows.
- Her first bra: when, what kind, and how to make it comfortableThere is no age at which a girl needs a bra — there is a point at which she is more comfortable with one. Here is how to judge it, and how to buy without making it an ordeal.
- Phones, gaming and social media: setting rules a teenager will actually keepYou cannot supervise a teenager's phone the way you supervise a toddler's. What works is a small number of firm rules, an open conversation, and attention to sleep.
Birth & Postpartum
The first forty days: recovery, confinement customs and what really mattersNearly every Indian community prescribes forty days of rest after birth — and modern medicine largely agrees with the instinct. Here is the honest map of those weeks: what the body is doing, which customs to keep, and which signs never wait.- The first hour after birth: skin-to-skin, the first feed, and what to ask forThe hour after birth has more effect on feeding, bonding and the baby's stability than almost anything else that happens in hospital — and it is the easiest thing to lose in a busy ward.
The hospital bag: the complete checklist, and what to leave at homePack at thirty-two weeks, park it by the door, and make it smaller than you think. One medium bag, one small one, one papers pouch — here is exactly what goes in each, and the leave-at-home list that keeps it carryable.
Education & Learning
- Montessori, play-based or traditional: which preschool approach?Every preschool in India now describes itself as one of these, and the label on the gate tells you very little about what happens inside.
- Parent–teacher meetings: what not to say, and what to ask insteadTen minutes, a queue behind you, and a teacher who has said the same sentences forty times. Here is how to make it count.
Questions to ask when visiting a preschool or day careOne hour of watching a preschool tells you more than any brochure. Here is what to ask, and what to look at while they answer.
Family Life & Relationships
100 love messages and quotes for your wifeA hundred messages, sorted by the occasion you actually need one for — including the day after an argument, and the year she became a mother.- 49 surprise birthday ideas for your husbandForty-nine ideas, sorted by what you actually have: no money, no time, small children, or a free weekend.
A father's role during pregnancy, labour and the first weeksThere is a great deal for a father to do, and almost none of it is announced. Here is the practical list, trimester by trimester.- Annaprashan: the first-food ceremony, and how to do it safelyThe rice ceremony marks a baby's first solid food — and it usually happens exactly when paediatricians say solids should start, which is a rare and pleasing agreement between tradition and medicine.
Feeding & Nutrition
Formula feeding: choosing, preparing safely, and doing it without guiltFormula exists for good reasons and feeds healthy babies every day. What matters is preparing it correctly — that part is not optional, and most of the risk lives there.- Homemade or packaged baby food in India?Packaged baby food is convenient, expensive and heavily marketed. Homemade is cheaper and mostly better, and there are situations where the packet wins.
How much snacking is too much?The commonest reason a child does not eat at mealtimes is that they have been eating all afternoon. Grazing is the problem that disguises itself as fussiness.
Fertility
Preparing for your next pregnancy: health, timing, money and your older childThere is no single correct gap between children. There is a set of things worth sorting out first, and they are not all medical.- Secondary infertility: when the second baby will not comeConceiving once does not guarantee conceiving again — and secondary infertility gets less sympathy and less investigation than it deserves.
Subfertility: what causes it, how it is investigated, and what treatment involvesAround one couple in six has difficulty conceiving. Most causes are identifiable and many are treatable — and the first step is a set of tests that both partners should take together.
Home & Lifestyle
What to actually keep in the nappy bagThe bag everyone over-packs for a month and then under-packs forever. Here is the list that survives contact with an actual outing.- Winter with a baby: warmth without overheating, and the season's real risksIndian winters bring two opposite risks — an under-dressed baby in an unheated house, and an over-bundled one with a heater burning oxygen in a closed room. Here is the balance.
Your baby's first Diwali: keeping it joyful and safeA baby's first Diwali is mostly about managing three things — noise, smoke and sleep — so the rest of it can be enjoyed.
Mum Wellbeing
The Indian postpartum diet: regional traditions and what medicine saysPanjiri in Punjab, methi laddoo in Maharashtra, pathiya sappadu in Tamil Nadu. Much of it is genuinely good nutrition — and some of the rules attached to it are not.- The loneliness of new motherhood, and how to build a circleOne of the strangest parts of new motherhood is being never alone and profoundly lonely at the same time. It is extremely common, and it is fixable.
The mother's own nutrition: iron, calcium and the meals that get skippedIndian households feed the baby carefully and the mother last. Here is what her body actually needs during recovery and breastfeeding — and the deficiency that quietly affects half of Indian mothers.
Parenting & Behaviour
Marks, tuitions and comparison: managing academic pressure without breaking your childIndian children carry one of the heaviest academic loads in the world, and the cost shows up in anxiety, sleep loss and worse. Supporting a child's education and pressuring them are not the same thing.- Praise, criticism and confidence: what to say so children believe in themselvesIndian households are generous with criticism and stingy with praise, and then wonder why children lack confidence. The fix is not more compliments — it is different ones.
Preparing your first child for a second babyFor your first child, a new baby is not a gift — it is a competitor arriving with no notice. Here is how to make the transition kinder, before and after.
Play & Activities
Raksha Bandhan with young children: crafts, meaning and cousinsRakhi is the festival small children can genuinely take part in — because the main activity is making something and tying it on someone.- Recipes children can make themselves, with an adult nearbyCooking teaches maths, sequencing, patience and a life skill — and children eat what they made, which is the part that surprises parents most.
Scissor skills: a safe progression for preschoolersCutting builds exactly the hand strength and coordination writing needs — and it is one of the few skills where the progression really matters.
Pregnancy
Bicornuate uterus and other uterine differences in pregnancyA uterus that formed in a different shape. Some of these differences matter for pregnancy, some do not, and one of them is straightforwardly treatable.- Blighted ovum: diagnosis, treatment and recoveryA sac that formed and an embryo that did not. It is one of the most bewildering diagnoses in early pregnancy, because everything felt normal.
- Brown discharge in early pregnancy: what it usually meansBrown discharge is old blood rather than fresh, and in early pregnancy it is common and usually harmless. Here is when it is not.
- Can you eat karela during pregnancy?Karela as a vegetable in a normal meal is a different question from karela juice on an empty stomach every morning — and only the second one is a real concern.
Cervical insufficiency: a treatable cause of second-trimester lossA loss in the middle of pregnancy, usually without pain and often without warning — and one of the few causes of loss with a genuinely effective treatment.- Chemical pregnancy: what it means and what happens nextA positive test, then a period a few days late, then a negative test. It is an early miscarriage, it is common, and it is a loss even though it lasted days.
- Coffee, chai and caffeine during pregnancyThe number to remember is 200 milligrams a day. The harder part is knowing what that looks like in a household where chai arrives four times before lunch.
- Creating a smoke-free home during pregnancyA smoke-free home is the single most useful thing a household can do for a pregnancy, and it is a negotiation rather than a rule — particularly in a joint family.
Every pregnancy scan explained: what each one looks forFour or five scans do the real work of a pregnancy, and each answers a specific question. Here is what each one is looking for — and what the report's terminology means.- Exercise and yoga in pregnancy: what is safe, what helps, what to avoidExercise in an uncomplicated pregnancy is safe and genuinely beneficial — for blood sugar, blood pressure, sleep, mood and labour. The Indian instinct to rest completely does more harm than good.
Toddler & Preschool
Your toddler at 24 months: two years old, and what the check coversTwo years old: about half of adult height is reached, tantrums are at their loudest, and a child who could barely speak a year ago is now negotiating.- Bedtime battles: ending the nightly negotiationThe child who needs water, a wee, one more story and a different blanket is not being difficult on purpose. They are stalling, and stalling responds to structure rather than to argument.
Hitting, biting and pushing: why toddlers do it and how to stop itHitting and biting are normal in the second and third year, alarming to watch, and entirely fixable — but not by hitting back. Here is what works.
Tools
Feed and nappy tracker: which side, when, and how many wet nappiesBuilt for 4 am, one-handed: three buttons for left, right, bottle; two for wet and dirty. The answer you need sits in the first line — when the last feed was, and which side next.- Growth calculator: check weight and height against the WHO chartsAge in months, sex, and either weight or height — whichever you have. The answer comes back as a percentile on the World Health Organization's growth charts.
Height predictor: how tall will your child grow?Father's height, mother's height, boy or girl — and out comes a rough estimate of adult height. The answer is a 17-centimetre range, not a number — and that range is the honest answer.