My eight-year-old daughter experiences difficulty with some hand and leg movements. But she is very smart and intelligent. Therefore I was delighted to read your cover story about the growing popularity and relevance of mind sports (PW October). Learning and excelling in mind games such as Scrabble and/or memory sport is a great morale and confidence booster for challenged children who are often frustrated because of their physical limitations.

In India, children with special needs are often excluded from all sports and games. Schools and parents must encourage children with special needs to participate in mind sports to boost their cognitive capabilities and self-worth.

Sharmista Sharma
Mumbai

Fighting math phobia

As a child, I hated maths because my maths teacher was rude and yelled at us when we didn’t understand difficult problems. I scraped through maths in school and happily dropped the subject in college. Therefore I was happy to read the story about how parents can help children overcome maths phobia (PW October). As the writer has reiterated through the story, it’s the duty of teachers to create stress-free learning environments where children can learn maths without fear. Also, maths cannot be learnt by rote. Children need to understand, practice and enjoy maths.

Fortunately, my children have a wonderful maths teacher and I also chip in by using the many excellent maths resources available on the Internet.

Ridhima Sengupta
Kolkata

All parents are not cooking enthusiasts!

My son is a booklover and avid Scrabble fan. Therefore he was overjoyed to read your October cover story on mind sports and discover that there are state, national and international championships in Scrabble. He is determined to improve his skills and enroll in the next state-level Scrabble tournament. He also enjoys reading your Kidzone section.

However, I wonder why you have a regular recipes column. All women don’t necessarily love cooking and all parents are not falling over themselves trying to cook elaborate meals for their offspring.

Sauravi Das
Kolkata

Healthcare is business

I am a regular reader of ParentsWorld and enjoy reading the variety of stories published in the magazine. I especially love reading Dr. Gita Mathai’s health and nutrition columns.

In her October column, Dr. Mathai has highlighted an important 21st-century phenomenon — the disappearance of the family physician and private corporate takeover of India’s healthcare system. In fact, the private healthcare system is a big scandal where doctors and corporate executives are in cahoots with each other to rip off patients by recommending unnecessary diagnostic tests and surgeries. Doctors no longer provide the personal attention and care they once did.

Against this backdrop, it’s important that families invest time and effort in locating a reliable and trustworthy family physician who keeps her patients’ interest above all else.

Sunaina Kumar
Chennai

Using gadgets as baby-sitters is child abuse!

I travel a lot on work and I’m shocked to observe that many parents give their children unlimited access to mobile phones during train and flight journeys, without any care about its adverse effects on children. Mobile phones and other tech gadgets have become the new babysitters.

Of course it takes a lot of effort and patience to constructively engage children in non-digital activities. As a child I recall that when we made long train journeys, we would bond as a family over card and board games and catch up on our reading. I strongly believe that parents using gadgets as baby-sitters is a form of child abuse!

Parents have a responsibility to keep their children safe and healthy. By allowing them access to inappropriate content and video games, they are damaging their children physically and emotionally.

Renu Shastry
Vijayawada