Our Rituals

I have a personal ritual that I have created with my daughter. Every night, when we are tucked in bed, we say our gratitude prayer to our Creator. I say five things I am grateful for and my 7 year old daughter says five things she is grateful for. I love this exercise. My daughter comes up with very amazing things, such as one of the days she said about different colours of people and that she is grateful that some are dark, some fair and there are so many differences to celebrate. I had created this exercise with an  intention, to help her see how many things we already have and we don’t need new clothes or toys to feel happy as false advertising on television always promotes and children start believing it.

She is a student of Vidyashram-The Southpoint School. At Southpoint there are various rituals that children learn and follow in class. A ritual is any practice that is done everyday consistently so that it becomes part of our consciousness, it becomes a habit.  These rituals teach them to be responsible and active beings of their immediate environment. Some of the rituals include arranging own desks, cleaning own desks and chairs, cleaning up one’s own spaces such as classrooms and play areas. Such simple rituals are very powerful ones. They solve many problems existing in our country that of patriarchy, value of work done by hands, gender discrimination, waste that humans create and how to manage them.

If each child picks up the right habits, he becomes an active and contributory citizen. 

- Harshita

(Preschool and Primary school teacher; publicist)