#Gratitude #NavratriNewBeginnings
As many of you know, 3 years ago, we started making a daily newspaper for our own children. Within a week, there was another parent on board. Within 2 months, all 7 editorial slots and 7 child cartoonist slots were filled.
It was surprising how help poured forth once we started.
With Covid, things changed dramatically. As parents and as editors, we cared immensely about the children, and the entire editorial group moved to make the paper positive, start family activities, and share the paper freely.
By April, we realised that some children like to read their news online and there is no news portal for children's news. That is how www.mytcp.in was started. With God's blessings, it came to life.
And then, we saw another need in our children. Social distancing was also creating emotional isolation and loneliness. The adults moved to facebook and whatsapp to remain connected with friends and family. Children took to zoom calls with family and friends, or, sometimes, online video gaming sessions or house party. Some kids as young as 8 went to Insta. These were, for the most part, good. But they lacked that thing - depth. The depth that comes from sitting with a friend in class and sharing random stuff. The depth that comes from talking, once in a while, about things that matter to us. The depth that comes from making puns together, or poring over a puzzle, discussing news, or parents. The sheer joy of knowing other like minded children!
That, was the toughest challenge for me in life - to create a solution that is safe for children, engaging, allows them to interact with other children their own age, talk about a variety of topics, and is available when the child needs it.
It is only with some blessing from above that tcponline.in could have been created. The site is live, and I hope that it will help our young readers avoid that isolation in their lives.
I am happy to share that we are now able to offer membership of tcponline.in to all our readers on this blog. If you have a child between 8 and 18 years of age, please go to www.tcponline.in/register and register. We will make a confirmation call to the parent before activating the account of the child.
Yes, I waited for the first day of Navratri to post this message. Because I believe, truly, that everything linked to The Children's Post has been done with some blessing. All we had was good intentions. Everything else came from above. Invoking Ma on this day, to keep guiding us.
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