Preteens juggle classes to hone new skills

PUNE: Krav Maga. Capoeria. Gyrotronics. Merengue. These names may baffle even adults, but they make up your child's early education.

While juggling fancy school curricula and extra curricular activities, new-age children also have to go through an entire gamut of special classes to survive in this world of competition.

Even a few years ago, it was assumed that robotics was a field that only college graduates or geeks dabbled in. Not any more, as today's parents are convinced that robotics sessions for their six or nine-year-old would polish their skills and help them succeed.

Tahir Khan, general manager of IndiaFirst Robotics Academy which runs robotics classes in nine cities in the country speaks nonchalantly about the need of classes for children as young as six. "We have various levels, and the first level for six to nine-year-olds helps them design cars and trains. A large number of parents enrol them in these and see robotics as a natural choice." "Children break toys and fix them and have the constant urge to create, which is why toys such as Lego are popular. Concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) do not seem foreign or tough to those who attend these classes. Often, parents even report a 10% growth in physics and mathematics performances," he said.

While this belief that such sessions help children satiate their urge to "create" and introduces them to concepts of science is shared by some new-gen parents, many others oppose it.

"I do not follow the mindless competitiveness of today's parents and in fact, also do not feel the need to send my child for early schooling. Opportunities and exposure will come as one goes along and then I will ensure that my son can follow whatever he is interested in without pushing him," said a six-year-old's mother Meenal Agarwal.

Vishal Gupta, founder of mycity4kids, which lists and curates classes like Khan's, said he sees many such fancy classes being offered for even preschoolers. "Younger kids are attending such sessions, especially on science and technology domains, these days. In fact, there are even classes such as astronomy and game-making, which includes both theory and practicals."

Gupta says that this belief probably arises from the thought that increased exposure and focus on letting children discover their passions would be useful.

"Even photography, journalism and film-making classes are being organized for children and they take good interest," adds Gupta.

While summer and extra curricular classes are no more termed as hobby classes and keep parents busy,

The pursuit of such personality development classes has led to highly specialized platforms that curate these.

Anandita Khemka, the mother of a nine-year-old, is hooked to one platforms, FindUrClass.com. "There are classes on any topic one can think of, and this makes discovery and choice easy as it provides videos, feedback, pictures of the classes with details on costs and options to book them online," she said.

Child and development experts, however, warn against this trend of following the herd.

"While it is good to know what one's child is good at or is interested in, parents need to understand that they cannot buy childhood for the kid by paying and sending them to so many classes. In other major Asian countries, children are Olympic winners and have other successes as they follow their passion since childhood but they are supported for the same. Parents need to follow children, observe them when they go to classes when they're very young and then put them into only those classes that they show interest in instead of following the rat race and wanting their children to learn everything that the neighbour's kids are learning," clinical psychologist and counsellor Anindita Garg said.

Entrepreneur Rina Nathani, the founder of FindurClass, said, shares the deep thought that has gone behind setting up the platform "We have 'explore, enrich and excel' as levels or categories for those of six years and above. - resonating with their needs of that age. As children reach pre-teenage, they know their interests and as they grow, they want to polish or be skilled in their passion. There are many classes which help children turn their passions into professions."

Nathani observed that in both Mumbai and Pune, certain parents want to go beyond the regular classes of swimming and gaming, which has led to the mushrooming of classes on Krav Maga Israeli self defence system and Capoeira Brazilian martial arts which combines dance and music.

"Classes on drone making, Rubik's cube, and others are offered, which focus highly on mind stimulation and development. Some interesting classes include blind-fold reading and brain stimulation workshops. There is also an increased interest in cooking classes for all ages and genders," she added.