Tug of War
Once again, everybody in Marietta’s family is quarrelling over watching
the TV – just like they do every day! Marietta’s
brother wants to watch a cricket
match while little Susan is eager
to watch her favourite programme
of song’s. Mummy and Aunty are
good friends but their favourite
TV programmes are different.
Mummy likes to watch the
news while Aunty enjoys a TV
serial. Marietta wants to watch
cartoons and Daddy enjoys the
football match. He says that he
can watch TV only in the evening.
Finally, everyone had to watch the
football match.
2020-21
Looking Around
Let us talk
Ö In your home too, do people quarrel over fans, TV, newspapers,
chairs or anything else?
Ö In your home, who settles such quarrels?
Ö Talk about an interesting incident at home when there was
a quarrel over such things.
Ö Have you ever seen people quarrelling over something
elsewhere? What ?
Why the Difference?
It is 7 o’clock in the evening. Pratibha is hurrying home from her
friend’s house. Her brothers Sandeep and Sanjay are busy playing
round the corner with their friends.
They are in no hurry to go home.
Even if they are late, nobody
will scold them.
Pratibha thinks that
this is not fair. Why
should there be one rule
for her and another for
her brothers? But what
can she do?
Let us talk
Ö Does this kind of thing happen in your house or in any of
your friend’s house? What do you think about this?
Ö Do you think that there should be different rules for girls and
180 boys, women and men?
2020-21
The World in my Home
Ö Think – what would happen if girls had to follow rules made
for boys and boys had to follow rules made for girls.
Pilloo Aunty
One day, Pilloo Aunty took Phali and Nazu and their friends to
the beach. What a good time they had! They played in sand
and water, and then went for a ride on the Giant wheel. After
that they ate bhelpuri and bought balloons. Then everybody
enjoyed some icy cold kulfi. When the kulfi-seller asked for
money, he made a mistake. He charged for five kulfis instead of
seven. The children thought, “Hurrah! We have saved money.”
But Pilloo Aunty paid the money for seven kulfis to the kulfi-
seller.
The children will always remember what Pilloo Aunty did
that day.
Ö If you were to write a different ending for this story, how will 181
you end it?
2020-21
Looking Around
Ö Is there anyone in your family who is like Pilloo Aunty? Who?
Ö What would the children have thought if Pilloo Aunty had
paid less money to the kulfi-seller? What do you think about
this?
What Should I Do?
Akshay loves his grandmother
very much. She loves him dearly
too. She talks to him about
many interesting things.
Anil is Akshay’s friend.
His grandmother likes
Anil too, but one thing
that she tells Akshay
again and again is that
he should never eat or
drink anything at
Anil’s house – not even
a glass of water! “They
are very different from
our family,” she says.
One day there was a volleyball match in the big ground near
Anil’s house. It was a hot day and everybody was tired and
thirsty after the match. Anil invited everybody home. Anil’s
mother gave water to all of them, and they drank it. When Anil
handed Akshay a glass of water, he suddenly remembered his
grandmother’s warning. Akshay stared at Anil, not knowing
182 what to do.
2020-21
The World in my Home
Talk about it
Ö What do you think Akshay will do?
Ö Why was Akshay confused?
Ö Why do you think Akshay’s grandmother warned him not to
drink even water in Anil’s house?
Ö Do you know of anybody who thinks like Akshay’s
grandmother?
Ö Do you agree with Akshay’s grandmother?
Ö What do you think Akshay should do?
Who will Decide?
Dhondu comes from a very
large family. His elder uncle
looks after the family – their
fields, money matters, etc. He
decides about all the small and
big things for the family.
Dhondu has always worked in the
fields. But now, he wants to do something
different. He would like to borrow some money from a bank
and buy a chakki machine to grind grain. There is no such
machine in their village. Dhondu is confident that this new
work will help him earn more money for his family. Father has
agreed to let him try the new work. But his elder uncle is not
agreeing to this.
For the teacher: These examples reflect some situations that we face in our
daily life. These often affect us in different ways. Encourage children to 183
think about these and to express how they feel about them.
2020-21
Looking Around
Talk about it
Ö If you were in Dhondu’s place what would you do?
Ö Has it ever happened with you that you wanted to do something
but the elders in the family did not allow you?
Ö Who takes important decisions in
your family ? What do you feel
about this?
Ö How would you like if only one
person made all the decisions for
your family?
I Don’t Like It!
Meena and Ritu were going home after playing hopscotch. “Come
on, come to my house,” pleaded Meena, pulling Ritu by the
hand.
“Is your Uncle at home? If he is, I will not come,” Ritu
answered.
“But why do you say that? Uncle likes you. He was
saying – bring your friend Ritu home and I will give
both of you lots of chocolate.”
Ritu pulled her hand away from Meena saying, “I
am scared of your Uncle. I do not like it when he
even touches my hand.”
Saying this, Ritu went home.
For the teacher: Some children may have similar experiences as Ritu did.
It will help to build their confidence and feeling of support, if children can
184
discuss this in class. In case you feel the need, you could talk individually
with some of the children. If there is a counsellor in the school, you could
take their help.
2020-21
The World in my Home
Talk about it
Ö Have you ever disliked anybody’s touch? Whose touch did
you dislike?
Ö If you were in Ritu’s place, what would you do?
Ö What else can be done when such things happen? Discuss.
Ö Everybody’s touch is not the same. Ritu did not like it when
Meena’s uncle held her hand, but she liked to hold Meena’s
hand. Why do you think there was this difference?
For the teacher: You may be very careful and sensitive to deal
with children if they wish to share problems related to drug
addiction of their family members. The harmful effects of drugs/
narcotics may be discussed in the class. Such issues should also
be discussed in the inservice training programmes.
It may be possible that children from such families (Drug addicted
members) may fall victim to such habits/practices. A timely action
needs to be taken to prevent them. On this theme, charts and posters
can be prepared by the children with the support of teachers and
discuss in the class.
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