The Parent-Child relationship is a partnership and a two-way street. All parents strive to teach their children good values and discipline. Effective parenting skills aid in filling up the generation gap. When the parent understands the balance between enforcing limits, and where to encourage and discourage, he displays positive parenting and reduces the distance between parent and child.

Every parent is as old as his child and grows and evolves with his child. Sometimes, it is easy for parents to slip into ennui as being a parent is no easy feat. But such things are easily remedied as there is nothing love and attention cannot fix.

However, sometimes despite your best efforts, you may hear from your school teacher that your child is having difficulty following instructions. Rest assured that it does not reflect on your parenting as children are intrinsically curious and have short attention spans. They want to explore so much in such little time. Dubai school teachers amongst others report that children tend to drift into fantasy worlds or have such an active imagination that they struggle to keep up with the speed of their thoughts. With gentle coaxing and conditioning, you can help them overcome this as following instructions within their everyday environment helps them to make friends, learn and stay safe.

When interacting with children it is best if we bend to or sit down at their level and maintain eye contact. This helps them feel connected. Use their name and keep the instructions short with minimal distractions around. Use minimal words with maximum effect. For eg: instead of saying “It’s 9 pm and time for dinner, let’s sit together and eat.” try saying, “It’s time for dinner now”. Too many instructions in a sentence confuse and distract the child and he ends up following none of them.

Keep instructions positive and do away with the negative ones. Instead of telling him what he cannot do, try telling him what he can do instead. Instead of saying “Don’t stand next to the window” try saying “Please, come sit on the couch with me” instead.

Using non-verbal cues and gesturing offers added help to your child to understand what you are asking of him. Pointing, hand gestures and facial expressions will cover the gap in your communication with your child. Children are visual learners so visual cues such as pictures or a colourful schedule will help them to understand what you need them to do.

Children also need to be taught that instructions must be followed the instant they are given. If you think that you can repeat it two or three times before they obey, then you are conditioning them to learn that they need to comply only after the first two requests. In the Middle East, this is something we tend to do unconsciously but have to keep in mind to avoid it consciously.

Interactive entertainment options available on every device in the home, make it difficult for the outdated games we used to play but it is up to us to ensure that screen-free time is not completely abandoned. A healthy balance of both will provide the best of both worlds to children who require physical activity, social skills, creativity, imagination, competition, and camaraderie.

As technology permeates every sphere of life in the UAE, with this too we have a technology-aided solution brought to you by Matatalab. Matatalab uses STEM learning to help students develop essential social-emotional skills with tools that require the use of devices as well as offline play and screen-free coding. To use Matatalab robots or the MatataBot, children need to step out of their comfort zones and work cohesively in groups while brainstorming and problem-solving. Through this, they also learn to follow instructions given not only by the teacher but to also listen to their peers as they collaborate. Working with Matatabots involves:

Decomposition which is breaking down the complex problem into smaller parts,

Pattern Recognition which involves finding similarities and differences,

Abstraction is where the child can ignore unimportant details and

Algorithms where you take calculated steps to meticulously solve problems.

With these four computational thinking skills, children can sharpen their listening skills.

Within the GCC countries, group activities with Matatalab, entail working together and building on productivity. The tasks usually involve having specific roles such as a leader and a speaker etc. Students learn how to cooperate with the group as a whole and be flexible and open to constructive feedback. This greatly influences their listening skills.

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Technology has been embraced in so many ways and it has proved to be very beneficial and convenient. It has grown from strength to strength, especially in the field of education.

Online technology is reshaping the classroom experience. Teachers have new tools at their disposal which allow them to offer a quicker, standardised teaching experience to the children than pen and paper. Digitalization offers myriad options for tailor-made educational solutions for each student’s strengths and weaknesses, interests and pace of learning. These kinds of online tools make the learning environment flexible and less daunting for the child as learning is made fun with the use of characters and games and he can pick up from where he left off from school as well as home.

Augmented Reality is one such feature that is taking the education world by storm, especially in Dubai and becoming more and more popular in the learning experience for children. Visual cues have always led to a better understanding of the concept than just reading it in a textbook. Earlier videos were used with textbooks and now characters or environments are brought to life using virtual reality to give an almost real-life experience.

Alive Studios Zoo is a company run by Cynthia and Ron Kaye that has developed 3D-reality technology to create an unbelievable learning experience for early learners. This patented technology requires no 3D glasses to have the 3D experience. Their goal is to use technology to increase engagement and knowledge. Resources from Alive Studios are being used widely across America and even Middle East regions, have spread to 26 other countries worldwide. It is fast becoming one of the favoured apps for digital learning. An ingenious offering by Alive Studios Zoo is the Rugs Alive App. This app is created to help pre-schoolers in UAE with collaboration, communication, and concepts of STEM.

Rugs Aline is a colourful classroom rug that comes to life when paired with the Rugs Alive Mobile App. The Kit contains the Rug, Habitat cards for the animals and Magical Zoo Coins. Classroom rugs are available in different sizes and shapes to suit your classroom.

You will find 26 zoo animals on this rug with matching habitat cards and coins. You can download the mobile app on any device and bring to life these animals and learn about their habitat. All you need to do is scan the habitat card and you will find an augmented-reality version of the animal on the rug right in front of you. By scanning the Magical Zoo Coins, you can view a smaller version of the animal standing right on your palm. Children can learn about how this animal moves, what it eats and other various information about the animal. The most exciting part for the children is to be so close to the animal and take fun pictures with them. The rug also includes the alphabet song through which they can learn the alphabet. Rugs Alive entertainingly enlightens children and teaches them about animals and their habitats around the world, upper case and lower-case letters and collaborating with their peers over their findings. They can enjoy other STEM and SEL-related activities as well in the GCC region. This app is the perfect complement to other apps such as the Journals and Letters Alive app.

This app is found to have increased student attentiveness and involvement and encourages learning. Children are motivated to learn and are excited to be with the animals every day.

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Children all over the world including in the Middle East have grown up playing outdoor and indoor games with their friends or even alone. Children not only relax their minds while playing with their peers but also learn interpersonal skills, creativity, sporting skills and get good exercise. Earlier in Dubai, children spent at least 2 to 3 hours outside in the evenings playing games or simply tossing a ball around. Today, given the change in the climate children prefer to spend more time indoors and perhaps even play games on their devices or social media. Albeit, every child will enjoy playing the games that have entertained so many generations before, if they are taught how to play them. These traditional games elicit intellectual as well as physical growth and help them forge friendships that could last a lifetime.

Most of our favourite games do not need any special equipment barring the stray stone and a willingness to play. They usually do not require any adult supervision as they are safe apart from the occasional fall or bump.

Cops & Robbers, Hide & Seek, Dodgeball and Catch, are just some of the evergreen games that we have all enjoyed at a young age.

Learning coding through games can be fun and educational. A very popularly used online platform in the UAE to learn coding is CodeMonkey. This is an award-winning online platform that teaches kids real coding languages like ‘CoffeeScript’ and Python through block-based and text-based coding. CodeMonkey’s engaging game-like environment is specially designed by Jonathan Schor (Founder and CEO) for the K – 8 curriculum. Realizing the weight coding will carry into the next generation, the team of experts at CodeMonkey devised games such as Dodo does Math (where students will use a real coding language to solve diverse math puzzles and use code to help a Dodo bird find its eggs), Coding Adventure (where students can learn programming basics with the help of a greedy monkey and Wrap up the course with learned concepts that will be applied with logic and skill to complete tasks assigned.) and many more. The GCC countries favor Code Monkey as it facilitates parents, teachers, and kids alike and because it is a browser-based application that does not require the use of any special software or hardware except your personal device. It is easily accessible and affordable.

Because of these reasons, children now seem to deviate towards playing games on their devices rather than in the outdoors or board games. The visually appealing games on the computer lure young minds away from the traditional cardboard and plastic games. However, nowadays, these kinds of online games have evolved into learning-based applications which tie up with school curricula and offer players the opportunity to practice, learn, and compete in coding contests. Some platforms support over 25 programming languages such as CSS, CSS Flexbox, Scratch, JavaScript and much more. Unique tasks present challenges that allow you to become familiar with the language while at the same time enjoy learning it. Working your way through the different levels of the games, hone your tactical skills, critical thinking, and cognitive development.

Interactive entertainment options available on every device in the home, make it difficult for the outdated games we used to play but it is up to us to ensure that screen-free time is not completely abandoned. A healthy balance of both will provide the best of both worlds to children who require physical activity, social skills, creativity, imagination, competition, and camaraderie.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the world for us as we know it. The world has been forced into the digital age at speeds that will make your heads spin. Even those that did not propagate the option of working from home or homeschooling were forced to embrace it. Research in the UAE and data from over 130 parents, showed that the perception of home-schooling was mainly positive, and this change was welcomed by a large part of the parent body. Armed with this knowledge, academics from not only the Middle East but throughout the world have come forth with learning programs and lesson plans to help parents encourage home learning.

Every parent and student had to familiarize themselves with the concept of an online classroom, group communication, and software-based homework submission. Most reservations about the online method of learning were laid to rest as a very insignificant percentage of students reported a decline in interest or other related negative feedback. As e-learning became a way of life, more and more content emerged online with apps, programs and online platforms being dedicated to this style of education. One such online platform which is especially very favored by schools in Dubai is the Australian-owned Blake E-learning’s Mathseeds. Blake E-learning along with 3P Learning—the team behind the world’s most used educational website – Mathseeds created this leading, global EdTech platform.

Mathseeds is the perfect early learning maths program to form a strong base for math students. It syncs with all your devices for your convenience and can be set up in minutes. This program includes a personalised path with downloadable worksheets and a curriculum to support your pace of learning and math level. Fun characters and lessons use real-world examples and accompany you through your learning journey while providing instant assessments and reports, so you are aware of your progress. Numeracy skills and curriculum topics starting right from kindergarten to Grade 3 are covered in depth.

Homeschooling also requires increased parent/teacher involvement with lesson planning and guidance. This is where Mathseeds comes in to provide you with adaptive lessons and worksheets perfectly suited to your grade or topic. Skills can be practiced online or offline and cover activities that may not be convenient for you to create at home.

Mathseeds provides you with a free 30-day trial and each subscription gives you access for up to 4 children, so it becomes cost-effective as well. Instead of lining up your bookshelves with different workbooks, you can get the award-winning Mathseeds Essential Skills workbook series which flawlessly complements the online Mathseeds program. Each guide provides a 36-week training and learning sequence with assessment tasks like the Driving Tests area and end of map quizzes.

Once you have determined the area of interest for your child… it could be geometry or puzzles etc, you can use Mathseeds to customize and suit your child’s lessons to fuel his interest in the subject. The use of ‘Teaching Learning Materials (TLM) such as toys, characters, etc greatly increases the interest in the topic and proves beneficial.

According to research in the GCC areas about early childhood education, math is one of the key competencies that affects a child’s learning outcome. Through these years, maths can prove to be a daunting subject for some, but it is easily interchanged with one of the most enjoyable subjects with the use of correct teaching methods and resources. This is where Mathseeds comes in and ensures children achieve mastery. A strong foundation in maths eventually builds critical thinking skills and logical reasoning. This later transforms into the overall cognitive development of a child.

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They say where words fail, music speaks. Much in the same way, music can be medicine for the mind. Lilting music is found to affect the unborn child positively. We have all seen even an infant enjoying the lullaby his mother sings to him or the familiar tune that his favourite toy plays. Music soothes the soul and is the language that everybody speaks right from the beginning. In GCC areas, music plays a wide role in religious, social and interpersonal lives.

Musical experiences help form cognitive and neural pathways in the early development years of a child. Matatalab delves deeper into the role of assimilating non-musical skills with music and observing the results. They find that multiple neural systems are hence engaged and so it fosters communication between both hemispheres of the brain and accelerates development, particularly in the areas of language acquisition, mathematical learning and reading skills. Studies in the Middle East have shown that children who learn to play an instrument and are consistent with their practice have shown an incredible increase in their IQ levels by 3 points.

Matatalab uses STEM learning to help students develop essential skills and social-emotional learning which will have a positive impact on the future of these learners. Matatalab’s solutions are a combination of tools that require the use of devices as well as offline play and screen-free coding. The Matatalab platform holds the attention of the students while entertaining them and inspiring them to explore and learn more. Its solutions combine subjects taught in school along with coding in ways that stimulate children to gain more knowledge. And adding to its repertoire it now introduces a musical add-on accessory that you can use in tandem with all tools on the platform. It encourages children to develop a liking for music.

Matatalab is a technology, education company, established in 2017, that is reshaping the way that children between the ages of 3 to 9 years can learn coding. In Dubai as well as the rest of the UAE, the use of Matatalab’s coding robots has been exponential and it has become a much-sought-after tool by educational establishments for their ground-breaking STEAM solutions. It now includes an Innovative Music Learning Tool where children can learn how to compose their favourite melody and through its various combinations also create their very own. This music add-on accessory has 16 Alto Clef Music Blocks, 16 Treble Clef Music Blocks, 10 melody blocks with pre-set melodies that kids can combine with robots or scenes they create while learning how to code and 3 double-sided music warm-up cards. Additionally, these patented tools help in sensory development as well.

Learning to string a musical piece together using these music blocks improves coordination and memory. With the correct teacher guidance and parent encouragement, these students can become more socially adept and better at coping with anxiety. They are also poised to become better communicators. Using Matatalabs music add-on accessory improves listening skills as in addition to instructions from the teacher, they also need to listen for speed, rhythm and pitch.

This accessory allows you to shuffle through the Do, Re, Me… Ti scale of notes and learn composition and beats through programming. In this manner, children can often compose their own songs. This activity also allows them to build up their patience and perseverance, which are handy skills to master when tackling difficult challenges faced later on in life. Reading and composing music is translated by the brain into the physical motion of playing that instrument thereby improving hand-eye coordination. Improve your creativity by adding that beautiful song to your coding adventure.

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