The youngest trip planner I know - Nishant Sharma || 'Khushi Ke Pal’

I loved this idea of encouraging 'Khushi Ke Pal’ with ‘Khuljyaye Bachpan’ theme by Kellogg's. I can very much relate to it. I am fortunate of have friends having some great examples of such relationships between parents & kids. And I see lot of value in that. Here I will be sharing an example of my nephew, which touched me a lot. Also I will be sharing about another kid I know who has great relationship with her parents and how that has helped her to grow in different ways.

8-years-old Nishant, my nephew, participates equally in all decision making of the family. Be it deciding the schedule of driver (to pick/drop his mom from or taking his daadi to market etc), how plants would look better in the garden, why a particular diet plan is healthy for the family, ensuring that his nana takes his medicines on a regular basis & does appropriate blood tests on time etc.

(Nishant at Bhimtal, Uttrakhand, India)

Nishant loves travelling and that's why it has become mandatory to have a family trip in each season, especially in summers. Apart from travelling, he loves being close to the nature. The young birder likes to be in hills (despite the fact that he gets severe mountain sickness) or around regions that have wildlife.

After doing a lot of research on dogs, 7-year-old Nishu got interested in birds. This happened when he noticed some colorful birds roaming around his garden. He loves to help his mom in the garden and during one of the weekends in winters he noticed some colorful birds he had never seen. The started a dialogue with his mom about birds and how they survive in cities like Delhi. And agenda for next weekend was finalized. Idea was to put some pots filled with water, so that more birds visit them :) ... Of-course, these pots daily filled with water and at time multiple times during summers. All this encouraged Nishu to know more about birds and other related stuff.Birding is essentially an observation of birds as a recreational activity. Watching birds is very addictive. Listening power of birders is amazing and this is very first step of discovering birds around them. For any birder it's important to notice these sounds and guess the birds or at least the type of bird, so that you can act accordingly. Birders are always excited to see new birds, but never lose an opportunity to watch birds doing various activities. It's also important to have the right set of equipment with you to observe these birds without disturbing them.Nishu also loves travelling and especially with everyone in family - His Mom/Dad, Nana/Nani, Dada/Dadi, Masi & Chhote Nana. And his favorite vehicle to travel is Tempo traveller, which has enough place to fit every family member and comfortable enough to have fun while travelling. He always carries his Nikon Coolpix camera, the binocular and telescope. Whenever we start talking about next trip, Jim Corbett is his first preference and second is any hill station. He loves the long-tailed birds like Yellow-Billed Blue Magpie, which are usually found in hilly regions. The above photograph shows Nishu with his Mom & Dad at Okhla Bird Sanctuary in Delhi during winters. Travelling to new places and meeting colorful wild wings are favorite activities of Nishant. Now many of the birds visit his garden, especially in morning when he leaves for the school. Birds are very useful for environmental education and awareness on environmental issues. Birds easily transmit values on respect for nature and the fragility of ecosystems. It's always good to have nature lovers around you who teach you to respect various aspects of preserving nature in most organically. Gradually we have seen that many of Nishu's friends have started following him as Birdera. Some of them have put water pots for birds in their gardens too. It seems that all of them discuss birds in school and many of their paintings show birds in different forms - flying through clouds, drinking water in a river, laying eggs on top of air-conditioner etc. It's very interesting to listen to their tales about birds. Pigeon is one of the common birds they see and draw in their paintings. After an inspiration from Nishu and his friends, I also tried few sketches with birds as one of the main subjects.Nishu loves going to the Zoo as well. He loves meeting most of the animals there but tend to spend more time around birds & notice their actions. With time, we have also started observing birds and now it feels that birds are far more active than most of the animals. And they demonstrate special behavior towards other birds.Nishu has a theory that the more colors you have in the garden, more colorful birds will visit you. This theory worked for him. He is very much into gardening as well and knows how to take care of different types of plants in various seasons. Recently Nishu encouraged his mom and masi to do something special for his friends who also want to have their tiny gardens in their apartments. Here is a link which shares more about 'Pot a Plant' activity on day before Holi Festival.While compiling this post, I realized that Birding is one of the passion that Nisu has and there are various things that relate him to the nature. Thanks Kissan for this brilliant idea to compile a post.The more we travel with Nishu, me and my wife know more about birds and hence it's becoming one of our hobby as well. For last few years, we have started tracking birding events happening in Northern states of India and we try to join different birding activities happening around us. This has helped us appreciate these flying creations of nature and care more about the way things are changing around us.

(Nishant at Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Delhi)

And he believes in idea sharing and rational discussions before arriving upon a decision. This is because of the fact that his parents like to involve him in decision making. They do not impose their decisions on him. We feel great when he encourages his friends as well to weigh in pros and cons before arriving upon a decision. We have have seen changes in the way his friends decide which games to play, and which indoor/outdoor activities to organize.

(Nishant at Deer Park around Hauz Khas Village, Delhi, India)

He always comes up with interesting ideas and we have also started thinking like him :). Our early morning outing to Deer park was another such idea that stemmed from our desire to do something different during summers.

(Nishant having fun at apple orchards around Dhanaulti, Uttrakhand, India)

Every time we plan a trip, he ensures that everyone takes care of their tasks, such as hotel booking, deciding & booking the vehicle, ensuring that vehicle booked is comfortable for everyone (especially for nana/nani, dada/daadi and his bicycle :)) on time. A day before the journey starts, he creates a roster, that has the details about sleeping timing of each traveller. The roster has no time sleep time allocated to Nishant himself (because he has to ensure that everyone is following the roster) and nana (because nana cannot sleep while travelling). And when we start the journey, the first one to sleep is Mr Nishant :).

Many times he has crazy ideas to make our lives interesting :). Now it's also become our habit to create new games with stuff at home and I think we went overboard when we made our own पहेलियाँ and blogged about those. Check out these creative riddles we created on our own.

(Nishant at Binsar, Uttrakhand, India)

I used to think that planning a trip with kids is a huge challenge and many of my traveller friends also agree with this, but I never felt the same when we have to plan something with Nishant. His proactive planning always avoids that stress about planning something specially for a kid (I wonder if I should consider him a kid anymore). In fact, we never have to break our heads to figure out how to keep him engaged and entertained. Because he is involved in most of the planning, he is able to give us ideas in this direction as well.

(Nishant enjoying photography of butterflies at Binsar, Uttrakhand, India)

I have seen another kid whose parents treat her like someone capable of taking a decision. Of course they guide her wherever required, but over the time, she has learned the art of decision making. And now when you talk to her, she will talk like any confident person who understands different aspects of life with great maturity. She very well knows how to deal with different situations & different types of people.

At times I wonder whether these kids are growing up too fast, without really tasting childhood, but when I see them enjoying life without any worries, I am reminded that these kids may be more responsible, but they are still kids and their parents make enough efforts to ensure that the kids are comfortable and not under any undue pressure. At present they show all signs that they will grow up into responsible adults while enjoying life as kids, and I think that is all that matters.