Toddlers are no longer allowed to eat, poop, sleep, and just be. Rock climbing mini pyramids, identifying notes of an ektara, and appreciating Impressionist art while listening to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, are what it will take to kill competition that awaits your tot. Sowmya Rajaram takes baby steps to explore the pre-school production factory
Toddlers are no longer allowed to eat, poop, sleep, and just be. Rock climbing mini pyramids, identifying notes of an ektara, and appreciating Impressionist art while listening to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, are what it will take to kill competition that awaits your tot. Sowmya Rajaram takes baby steps to explore the pre-school production factory
Wee Willie Winkie is floundering in self-doubt. He has been sidelined in a coldblooded ouster by an influential composer of the classical era. Ten month-old Aahvana Kapuria just ditched humdrum nursery rhymes for Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. 
Who: Ashvika
Age: 4.5 months
Doing what: Listening to Mozart, reading picture book
"In the long run, it helps because the world outside is so competitive that one needs to start young," says Dr Meenal Chaudhry, mother to four-and-a-half month old Ashvika, a student at Bumblebees learning centre at the upmarket Greater Kailashu00a0 II in Delhi. Toddlers here indulge in freeplay while listening to Western classical music, are exposed to art by Impressionist painters, and shown films in foreign languages. Pic/ Imtiyaz Khan
The toddler, a resident of Sainak Farms in New Delhi listens to Mozart three times a week, and can squat attentively with a book for five minutes at a stretch. When she's a year older, she will nod off to lullabies sung in Spanish and sit in at RL Stevenson poetry reading sessions. Her mother Priyanka Kapuria says her attention span has lengthened, she is less restless and more sociable. Akshaye Jalan, founder of Delhi-based Bumblebees, an early childcare and learning centre where Aahvana is a regular, is happy to take credit. "What prevailed 10 years ago is not the norm now. We don't pressurise the kids. The best practices from around the world backed by scientific research have been adopted here."
Aahvana has younger classmates, some as little as four-and-a-half months old. Dr Meenal Chaudhry, mother to four-and-a-half month-old Ashvika, hopes the exposure will equip her to tackle the competitive world that awaits her. So, if the first time you saw a Van Gogh painting was at a social studies class in standard eight, you need to get with the programme. Two year-olds 'appreciate' paintings by Michelangelo, Picasso and Andy Warhol in the hope to discover their aptitude for art in diapers.
I know he is too young to be at school, but it's far better than keeping him at home where all he does is sleep.
Neetu Chaudhry, mother to 4.5 month old Aayaan, a member at Bumblebees. Pic/Imtiyaz Khan
Back home in Mumbai, at eight months, Jiana Shroff attended Level 1 of a music class at the Toddler's Activity Centre in Worli. She learnt to play the mini tabla and recognise the sound of the ektara. A year on, she has taken to music in a big way, and is now breezing through Level 3, says mother Purvi Shroff, excited.u00a0
Mumbai-based child psychiatrist Parvin Dadachanji admits to old-fashioned beliefs about child education. She says a child that sits around at home, lounging, sleeping and pooping, is absorbing and learning as much as the one filling gas from a toy petrol pump into his banana yellow Beetle under 'expert supervision', recorded by a litter of CCTV cameras.
And it doesn't come cheap. Fit Kid gym in Mumbai charges Rs 300 a session, while it takes close to Rs 60,000 for a 3-month membership for 6-18 month-olds at Bumblebees.
"The centres can call it free play, but it's still a structured activity where the child has to leave the house at a said hour, travel to another location, stay for a fixed period of time guided by teachers and instructors. At under one year, every child is constantly stimulated by what's around, discovering even without anyone's help," she explains.
Divira Kothari (one year seven months) had nobody to play with in her building. "There are only so many toys you can buy your kids. I brought her for a trial class and she loved it," says mother and college professor Megha Kothari. Seen here at Fit Kid, Tardeo, at a session that was spent in free play and identifying parts of the human body. pic/ vikas munipalle
But the West is doing it already
With global testimionials to back their confidence, pre-school centre founders propound the it's-never-too-early-to-start theory. "Times have changed, and we need to change too," says Rachana Chandaria-Mamania, Director, Toddlers Activity Centre., Worli. Having attended similar sessions while growing up in the UK, Mamania claims that the activities helped sharpen her concentration as early as seven months.
Her centre exposes kids aged 8 months to four years to melody and rhythm through miniature ektaras, manjiras and dholaks. What good can a dholak do for a 6 month-old who's just learnt to sit up? Plenty, says Shroff. "I'm fond of music, and wanted to expose Jiana to it. The results were amazing. She took to classical music so well. In an increasingly Westernised world, Jiana may choose to have nothing to do with classical when she grows up. She loves the jam session, and waits for it."
Separation anxiety, performance pressure and the threat of infections that consulting paediatrician Dr Indu Khosla warns of, don't rattle Kapuria. "If sending her to play school is going to leave her with separation anxiety, why send her to school at all?
She must go through it and get used to being away from me for short periods of time."
But how much of an Andy Warhol painting will an 18 month-old retain as an adult? "The idea is to bring art down to their level. We've tied up with Colaba's Gallery Maskara to source classics. Van Gogh's Sunflowers tells them about colour, what petals look like, and the way the flower bends towards the sun. The same with introducing them to foreign languages. Studies have shown how early exposure can up the child's chance to learn a foreign language in adulthood, by 80 per cent," says Jalan, about the practice of playing lullabies in European languages and screening foreign animation films.
Clinical psychologist and trauma therapist Seema Hingorrany sees it as nothing short of information overload. "There is no need for a child under three years to go anywhere near an activity centre. Parents can take them to a park, show them leaves and let them feel the mud instead."
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Where are the playgrounds?
While Yifat Agam, Director of Vanilla Children Place in Chennai may sink in nostalgia about a time spent climbing trees and touching grass, she says today's parents have to battle noise and pollution during outdoor activities.
Her solution? Bring nature into hygienic, air-conditioned environs. At play-gym Vanilla Beans, kids as young as eight months clamber onto a mini rock climbing pyramid in the hope to better hand-eye coordination and motor skills. But Dr Khosla has other views. "Baby gyms don't make sense because a child who has learnt to walk will never stop and sit down unless it gets hungry or sleepy. The child is thrilled to be walking about, curious, dying to explore. That's the best exercise in itself," she says.
For most parents, these centres offer dry runs before the kids head off for fiercely competitive school admissions.u00a0 Hephzibah Julie, mother of six month-old Priscilla Sharon, a member of Vanilla Beans, is happy that "...she doesn't wail in the company of strangers."
Watchingu00a0 Picasso at two doesn't make you Picasso
Even at one year, my son needs to have an edge over competition. The programme helps prepare him in an entertaining way. He's learning enough to face the pressures ahead," says Atashi Saraf, mother of Bumblebees student eight month-old Krish. This might be a whiff of what Bubla Basu, children's author and senior English teacher at JB Petit High School for Girls, calls panic. Parents believe that unless they 'prepare' their child for an interview, they will not make it to the 'best' schools they have zeroed in on. What they need to understand is that there is such a thing as late bloomers. There will always be kids who decide to do something completely different from what you expose them to," she says. Basu sees one-off art appreciation and language sessions as capsule learning. Play-way is nothing but teaching, just like curriculum learning. "We all know syllabus learning left us within minutes of leaving school. What parents can do is expose kids to various kinds of people to help build social skills and confidence. Those are the only skills that stand you in good stead in life anyway. The rest are just additional acquisitions."
Celeb babies are bilingual too
Hollywood actress Jessica Alba has apparently vowed to speak only in Spanish to her five month-old daughter, Honor-Marie, until she is at least two. Halle Berry, reportedly spent her pregnancy practising French so that she could teach her now eight month-old baby girl, Nahla. 
Reports say Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (extreme right) speak French and English with their six kids, apart from hiring tutors who speak Vietnamese and Cambodian, for their children adopted from those countries.
PIC/ Getty Images
Why the pre-school boom happened
>>Modern parents are anxious and ambitious. They want their kids to excel at whatever they do. They worry about competition.
>>Parents want the best for their kids, and since most families are nuclear (with both parents working), disposable income is available to enroll kids in swanky centres.
>>Peer pressure isn't restricted to school students. It can get ugly among adults too. The fact that the neighbour's kid is going to a pre-school eggs other parents on.
>>Competitive and tough school admissions have made parents see pre-school as a sort of induction into the big bad world of education.
Research says
A January 2007 New York Times article said, research has found that learning a foreign language increases the 'grey matter' density in the brain, delaying dementia by nearly four years in elderly patients.u00a0
Toddlers are learning about
Van Gogh, Impressionist
Andy Warhol, pop artist
The handbooku00a0
Know your alternate edu centres
Gram-Mangal on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border focusses on Early Childhood Education, apart from being involved in development activities for rural and tribal children. Vikaswadi is a cr che for kids below age 3. They have a balwadi for kids aged 3-6, and a primary school for 6-9 year-olds. grammangal@hotmail.com
Shibumi in Avalahalli, Bangalore, sees kids aged 6 to 10 taking care of plants and animals, cleaning the space they work in, going for nature walks, and visiting museums and factories. They sketch, bake, work with clay, make toys; learning is not separate from day-to-day living. shibumi.blr@gmail.com
Rishi Valley School in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh set up by thinker J Krishnamurti is known for its non-traditional approach. Classes are often held under a banyan tree, with an emphasis on conversations in groups, field work and village visits. Teachers are friends to be questioned, and students are rarely judged by their academic scores or sporting honours.u00a0office@rishivalley.org
Shikshantar School, Gurgaon, Haryana allows kids to be introduced to unit assessments only in Class 6. office@shikshantarschool.com
The forecast
*What's next -- six-month olds in spacesuits modified to hold diapers?
"You'll see India's education system gravitating towards a more well-rounded curriculum that will embrace art, drama and poetry, even at the pre-primary level."
-- Akshaye Jalan, Founder, Bumblebees, Delhi
*"We'll see swimming for under six-month-olds as well as yoga for babies, with an emphasis on asanas that help them identify parts of their anatomy."u00a0
-- Yifat Agam, Director, Vanilla Children Place, Chennai
*"With more parents working longer hours, the concept of regulated day care will become big. Foreign language classes using flash cards and story-telling are already a rage abroad. Soccer and football for one year-olds is also expected to gain ground soon."
-- Rachana Chandaria-Mamania, Director, Toddlers Activity Centre, Mumbai
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