I Love….Learning - The Month That Was

My kid presented me an ‘all hearts’card on Valentine’s Day. With carefully spray painted red hearts, it opens to aheart-melting message (or should I say ‘validation’?) of ‘Mom Dad, I Love You’.True to its intent, it squeezes out every awwwand oooo from me.

On the other hand, my husbandgifted me a mega chocolate bar that had ‘Happy Birthday’ printed in bold acrossits packaging! So I am not sure if I should be happy that he remembered I was“still” his valentine or that he has forgotten my birth date!

In either case, I genuinely thinkValentine’s Day, heck, the whole ‘love week’ is a bit overrated. And I don’tblame people. Social media and Internet, in general, have blown ‘love’ out ofproportion.

Sample this.

Google throws about 1,91,00,000results on ‘how to propose your valentine’ while the hashtag ‘#valentines’amounts to 11,312,614 mentions on Instagram alone! Oh my word!

All my lamenting about a certain 14^thFebruary would have you judging me as a person who’s a bit love-lost. Or worsestill, a love-lost woman who totally abhors it! Yikes!

But it’s not so. Allow me toexplain.

------------------------------------------------Valentine’s Day Morning-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My kid: Mumma, close your eyes. I made you something.

Me: Not now, baby. I really need to hustle and get to work.

My kid: No no, you have to!

<tugging at my once-new-now-in-tattersnightshirt>

Me: Okay, okay. Make it fast!

<multi-tasking kitchen work andreluctance>

Hubby: What’s with you today? It’s Valentine’s Day!

Me: So?

Hubby: So, nothing! Practice love, not frustration!

And that’s how love week officiallyended for us.

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Valentine’s Day 2020 was not just aboutmushy-mushy news after all.

Elon Musk Bought $10 Million of Tesla Shares on Feb 14 2020, raising his holding to 34.1 million, or 18.5% of the Palo Alto-based company. 

Saudi Arabiacelebrated its first Valentine’s Day, after a breakthrough in 2018, whenformer Makkah CPVPV President Sheikh Ahmed Qasim Al-Ghamdi declared thatValentine’s Day did not contradict Islamic teaching or doctrine.

For R.S.Payne Elementary School, Lynchburg, its sixth ‘I Love Math Day’, which sawstudents participating in math-related activities and fueling their love forthe subject, was a huge success. While in Philadelphia, 65teens gathered at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians to learn aboutsafe sex and healthy relationships, and get tested for HIV.

Now that’s what I am talking about.

As adults, it is our duty to passon healthy “learning” traditions along with values and beliefs to the new generationthat can hold them in good stead for years to come.

The Feast of Saint Valentine ornot, it’s important to cultivate the love of learning in children. You can eveninfuseeducation into your child’s Valentine’s Day celebrations, if you are game!

Let’s take a leaf out of theseschools’ books. Out of the 27+ countries apart from China affected by coronavirus,officially named as Covid-19 by the WHO, manyschools have adopted online learning to help millions of students to “keeplearning even with classes suspended.”

Long live eLearning!

No surprises then that eLearning market is touted to witness steady growth through 2026. However, for some schools in Toronto adopting online learning, eLearning is a bogeyman! It means a lot of monetary investments for hiring more teachers to support students, outfitting classrooms and computer labs, and working with telecom companies to ensure broadband access in rural areas. Ouch!

--------------------------------------------------Valentine’s Day Night----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me: What did you learn at school today?

My kid: ------------------NoResponse <Deaf Ears> -------------------

Me: I am asking you! What. Happened. At. School. Today?

My kid: We watched a movie, then painted, then teacher told us a story with amoral that always listen to your parents.

And that’s how the conversationended. Happy Valentine’s Day to me!

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You see, @hubby and everyone else who thinks expressing love and gratitude to your family and loved ones should be reserved for a single day on the calendar – let’s try to be more present in the moment, every minute, every day! That’s the best gift you can give anyone! Psst! And an occasional bar of chocolate doesn’t hurt anyone either!

Be kind to one another and spreadlove, y’all!

‘Themonth that was’ is a monthly column covering the hot and the happening in theeLearning, L&D and learning technology space presented in a light,easy-to-digest format. While the aim of these posts is to keep the HR and theLearning & Development fraternity abreast with the latest news and views,it is a vent out for the author, Pranjalee Lahri, who deals with aone-and-a-half men pair – her hubby and her 6-year old son – as she moonlightsas a wife and a mother.