The cover story ‘Safeguarding children against air pollution’ was timely and relevant (PW December). I have some friends who have moved out of Delhi, despite it being their hometown for generations, because of severe air pollution and associated health risks. One of their children had developed asthma while the other was constantly getting colds and chest infections. It’s sad that they had to leave their hometown because of denial of the basic human right to breathe clean and fresh air. Your story says that air pollution kills one child every three minutes in India. We are staring at a major human tragedy if we don’t fight the pollution menace at the government and household levels urgently. Mariam Chandy Chennai Introduce children’s craft section My children love the Kidzone and Activity Zone sections of ParentsWorld. They are informative and interesting. The Christmas craft activities in the December issue were particularly engaging and my children loved creating reindeer in my flower pot, glitter globe and Christmas terrarium. As a parent I loved that all the three craft activities required easily available materials. Please make the children’s craft section a regular column in the magazine. Riana Thomas Bangalore Useful & informative Thanks for an informative cover story on safeguarding children against air pollution (PW December). The suggested list of indoor plants to help reduce carbon dioxide levels, increase humidity, and mitigate the impact of pollutants, was especially useful. I bought an areca palm for my living room and the positive effects are already showing. Keep up the good work! Damyanti Mathur Delhi Explain significance of toys The early childhood section story ‘Does your child value her toys?’ struck a resonant chord with me (PW December). My five-year-old daughter has a cupboard full of toys. She strews them all over the place during playtime without bothering to stack them back carefully. When I was growing up I remember having only four or five toys which I treasured and played with over and over again. I appreciate the suggestions made by the author to get children to value their toys, especially encouraging children to gift unused toys to underprivileged children. I also believe that parents need to spend quality time playing with children and explain the significance of gifts to them. Also there’s a tendency among parents to gift computer tablets and mobile phones to children. Tech gadgets will make children lose interest in physical toys. Preetha Raj Coimbatore Respect children’s rights Thank you for the column ‘Child rights: What every parent should know’ by senior lawyer Veena Jadhav (PW December). It was informative and enlightening. As parents, we often take our children for granted and especially fail to respect their opinions. It was an eye-opener to me that the UN Convention on Child Rights, 1989 to which India is a signatory has included the right of children to be heard and to free playtime in its schedule. In the rat race for academic success, we force our children to rush from school to tuitions…
