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."