Children’s Book Online

In the course of a discussion a writer friend told me that the Children’s Book genre is very competitive one. He was narrating how anything falling out of the genre of text books is notoriously more challenging to market than mainstream fiction and non-fiction. The discussion led me to introspect as to whether it is something to do with the not-so-prevalent habit of book reading among the children or it is the failure of the circulation mechanism that are trying hard at many venues but are often clueless to understand the target audience.
When one is writing children’s books it is not only being addressed to a mixed audience, but the individual’s with purchasing power are only half your audience. Remember: children’s books are written for both a child, and the adult who is buying the book. True, there are some cases where a child has some spending money, but the majority of sales are impulse purchases made by adults for children.
In terms of the market trend to take the book out to the desired audience a whole lot of channels are being used. Some of them are doing large children’s festivals. One such writer/publisher admitted to not being successful in selling 30-40 copies in what was a whole day affair. Some of them are hitting malls but the footfall is increasingly getting less over there during recession and footfall-sales conversion being even lesser.
A few publishers whom I know also adopted the innovate strategy of developing an in-school program with puppet characters. So far they have gone to many schools and have more scheduled. Some schools do like the idea of interacting with them but not all will sell the books. And being an educationist I personally feel that the decision makers are different in every school…even within the same district.
Well, the market will keep plugging along till one finds the magic bullet. While I do support the idea of reaching out to your audience in whatever possible way, I recommend the writers/publishers to have a common meeting ground for the same. How about selling your books on the online kid’s corner? It can also be a common meeting ground where authors, parents, schools, teachers and even children can review the given book. At least, Chitra Awasthi and Rit International is open to this unique idea and we are offering it through www.chuckkle.com.
Easy, Fun, Inexpensive…Give it a shot!

Destination dreamland with chuckkle park

While growing up, playing and watching cartoons one name that we all remember in our collective consciousness is Disney. It seems the undeniable brand power internationally made Disney case study after case study. And I say why not – after all, Mickey Mouse is synonymous to US pop culture and Walt Disney’s marquee signature is universally recognized in any language around the world. But more than that what has made Disney a symbol of children’s amusement is the fact that children across the world identify themselves with Disney and Mickey Mouse.
While working on a number of projects for children in India, I often wonder whether we should have a Disney India. It would be even better if we can conceptualise a brand new amusement park for the Indian children. The breaking news to create a brand-new Disney China outside of Shanghai valued at over $3.5B (USD) has further goaded me to think on these lines now. Since we have made a success of country’s first website for the children, www.chuckkle.com, it won’t be a bad idea to translate it into Chuckkle India Amusement Park.
Still, I would like to make it very clear that Chuckkle India is not a spur-of-the-moment decision to attract media space or bring western media groups over to India. The idea has been percolating over the years to bring a brand-new amusement park for the Indian children and families. Previous attempts in this country were not so successful due to various reasons and I feel Chuckkle India must take those case studies as a learning curve for the future.
A first glance at the idea of an amusement park in India does not reflect the obviously apparent gravity of such a plan. There are numerous theme parks throughout India and one more to that list doesn’t seem to be all that ground-breaking. However, remove the roller coasters, the different attractions, market positioning and the USPs of Chuckkle Park as a whole, and the details and symbolism of Chuckkle India takes front stage of national and worldwide importance.
On the eve of the Commonwealth Games, India has invested billions in infrastructure to develop the city of Delhi-NCR to be a global spectacle. It’s also no mystery that tourism plays a big role in India’s plan to earn foreign currency and extend their image. However, the build-it-and-they-will-come model does not always pan out according to plan. In this case, we have to understand that if we want to play nice and rebrand ourselves to be more open, opening our doors to private participation and exemplify a spirit of a two-way street.
However, I must admit her that the whole concept of Chuckkle India is still in its infancy stage. There will be hiccups along the way and I’m sure there will be areas of disagreement; however, Chuckkle India can be such an important venture for more than just operational reasons to amusement industry. It symbolizes an opportunity for India to demonstrate its ability to exude ‘soft power’ on a global stage. In either case, I see Chuckkle India truly being the place ‘where dreams come true’.

Needed a kids corner

We live in a different world today and hence our world view and approach to deal with situations has to be different. Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with the needs of the children, more often than not we tend to become a regulatory authority than a guiding force. This has been the root cause of the much talked about generation gap. For instance, we all grew up in a cultural context where even watching television was controlled and regulated by the parents and other elders in the family. Today most of the children make their own choice as far as watching TV is concerned.

Similarly, with the advent of the “World of Mouse”, that is Internet; parents are increasingly finding it difficult to cope with this new menace, in their own perception of course. The conventional wisdom suggests measures to control the children. However, what is urgently needed is understanding; as far as website usability for children is concerned. While I won’t deny the fact that the medium, because of its uncontrolled nature, can have a negative influence on the young minds, we have to understand the fact that the outside world where they go and interact can have even more negative influence on their minds.
Millions of children already use the Internet, and millions more are coming online each year. Many websites specifically target children with educational or entertainment content, and even mainstream websites are adding "kids' corner" sections for children -- either as a public service or to build brand loyalty from an early age.
Despite this growth in users and services, very little is known about how children actually use websites or how to design sites that will be easy for them to use. Most website designs for kids are based on pure folklore about how kids supposedly behave -- or, at best, by insights gleaned when designers observe their own children, who are hardly representative of average kids, typical Internet skills, or common knowledge about the Web.
A lot of people keep asking me as to what is the way out? Is there a need to control the children as far as web surfing is concerned? In my opinion, that will be a regressive step which may have far reaching consequences as far as a child’s psychological needs are concerned. A progressive society will never try to curb the inquisitive minds of its growing population. The question that we need to address is that what children actually want and what they get. Only then we will be able to find the gap between needs and stuff on offer.

If we address the issue from this macro perspective it will be easy to identify the gaps and we as a society will be able to provide solutions to our children, instead of curbing their inquisitive minds. Well, I have made a humble attempt with the launch of www.chuckkle.com, India’s first and only website for the children. It is just a few months old and the response and feedback has further strengthened my resolve to take it forward to the next level.

Driven by the destiny

Well, I personally feel there are moments when you plan things out in the first place and then execute it in the process driven manner. However, there are “the moments” when destiny has its own way to drive you to the waves. All great works which have been recognized by the collective consciousness of the masses fall into the second category.
I too had a brush with such a momentum in life when we thought of doing something constructively for shaping the young minds. By no figment of imagination, at that point of time, had we thought of reaching the scale of operations that we have achieved now.
The humble beginning with the launch of country’s first children specific website Chuckkle was well appreciated by the teachers, students, parents and child psychologists. That appreciation drove us to plan something even bigger and the result was the genesis of Chuckkle India quiz.
By the time we reached to the semi finals and grand finale of the quiz, the response further goaded me and my team to plan out a Children Carnival. Not that there were no bottlenecks. The critics were not ready to accept that there is a room for such an event. Many of them even laughed at the idea.
However, it was destined to happen. One thing led to another and finally we have done it. The first ever exclusive Children Carnival of the NCR region is over and that too with élan. It was heartening to see the 1000 odd school children coming out to attend the carnival with such an enthusiasm.
Personally I was thrilled when the media tried to put words into my mouth for an all India Chuckkle Quiz. This is what I call the momentum which has been designed by the destiny. I take this opportunity to thank all the journalist friends and other well wishers who have supported me in making a dream of Children Carnival a reality. Without your support and encouragement we would not have reached thus far.
Hope to see you all being with Rit International and I promise to make the world a lot better for the children. I believe in “one life one mission” and at the moment my only mission is to shape the young minds constructively.

RESOLVE TO FRAME COMPREHENSIVE POLICY FOR CHILDREN

While the country celebrates the Children’s Day each year with élan, the lip service by the policy makers has failed to bring about any substantial change in the lives of millions of children and young adults. On the eve of yet another Children’s Day, let us try to analyse and evaluate where have we gone wrong and how to take the corrective steps to ensure the holistic development of the children.
The programmes that have over the years been launched by the government for the welfare of children failed to yield any meaningful change. Various reasons can be cited for this but one prominent reason of failure has been the lack of coordination among different programmes, and they did not support each other. As a result, the health and general well-being of children and mothers did not show much improvement. For example, the programme of Supplementary Nutrition was not supported by health coverage or immunization.
While supplementary Nutrition was given to the child, no treatment was given if he got diarrhoea. He was not protected against diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, or tetanus, which could be prevented by immunization. Similarly, a programme for health check-up alone would not improve the condition of the child, if he needed additional nutrition and this was not provided.
The National Policy for Children was adopted by the Government of India in 1974. This Policy declares that children are a “Supremely important asset” of the Nation and that their “nurture and solicitude” are the responsibility of the nation. The National Policy for Children states that it shall be the state to provide adequate services for children both before and after birth and during the period of growth to ensure their full physical, mental and social development.
India has a high level policy-making body-The National Children’s Board. The Prime Minister is the President of this Board. The Board provides policy and direction and reviews programmes for children. Still we have not made any significant progress on this front. In the next part of my blog, I will focus on the model of Education Accountability Policy that has been successfully adopted by some other developed countries. In the meantime, let us all make a resolution on the Children’s Day that we will all contribute our level best to force the policy makers evolve a comprehensive policy for the children’s welfare.
ENDS….

KIDS POCKET MONEY NO KIDDING

“They are socially conscious, technologically aware and keyed into current trends”, indicates a new survey on kids conducted by Cartoon Network. As an educationist and child counselor I should have been happy with the progress of kids and young adults between the age of 7-14. The collective consciousness of the society and media seem to be ecstatic with these startling facts that indicate children living in opulence.

But the survey of New Generation 2009 which goes into details about the lifestyles and choices of kids seem to conceal more than it reveals. However, my experience in the field compels me to see the social trend even beyond the spectrum of the survey.

How the collective consciousness of the society is shaping up the child is more important than opulence where 63 per cent of the kids use mobile phones, 31 per cent use mobile phone and 19 per cent claim to have made an online friend with whom they have never met in real life. What actually I find the most disturbing is the fact that kids in India received a whopping total of Rs 664 crore in pocket money and gift money in 2009, an increase of 39 per cent from Rs 478 crore in 2008.

It seems money power has replaced parents’ quality time, love, bonding and empathy. While it indicates maturity of the child when the survey suggests that 62 per cent of the kids save some part of the pocket money they received from their parents, the question is whether this maturity at such an early stage of life is actually healthy for the growth of the child?

What is even more important is the fact that do parents have the time to monitor where the child is spending the money. While the poverty and starvation is bad for the healthy growth of the child, opulence and indulgence without guidance is even worse. Actually all my education management projects like www.ritinternational.in and www.chuckkle.com are attempts to address the given problem here.

Shape young minds constructively

When a friend of mine contacted me for some counseling as to how to communicate with her daughter who has just finished her schools and is set to explore her world of college life, I felt like telling her that it is very tough one as it is very individual to every person. I was actually wondering if anyone has any advice on how to deal emotionally with the young children going away to children. There are various aspects to this question-their course curriculum, choice of college, change in perception and behaviour pattern. All this has a direct link with their emotional needs.

However, the educationist and counselor within me prompted to put myself in their shoes as if it was my children leaving to go to college. As a parent as long as you have done as much as you can to instill values into them, which is all you can do. I understand it may initially be difficult, but start thinking about them as independent individuals. As parents your primary role is to play the role of a guide in chanelising positive communication about the issues that they find it hard to answer. It is like whether it is the lure of better college or the course of choice that matters in the long run. May be we all do it in our own way, but the problem is that we often start playing the role of a regulator than actually that of a friend, philosopher and guide.

This is where we often end up blocking the channels of communication and adding to the emotional vacuum that these young adults often feel. We have to understand that there will be a change in perception and behaviour pattern of these children. Unless and until we are open to let them experiment a bit with their lives, they will not grow as responsible young adults. I think it is high time we educationists come forward and take a challenge to find ways and means for proper counseling of the parents as well. After all, our role is to shape the destinies of our children without being obtrusive or a regulator. Any suggestion or feedback will be highly appreciated.