Contributed photos
It’s a piece of mind thing. Just ask any mother. To know that if your child is feeling distressed during the school day teachers have access to the knowledge and resources required to respond to that need.
It’s also important to note that not every child’s needs are the same.
One day Rosey Kaur, a Valleywood resident and owner of Concept 1 Learning Centre, had a call from a teacher she had befriended at an event. One of the teacher’s young students was very upset and in tears. His patka (pronounced “put-ka”) had come off during gym and he was unable to retie it properly.
For Sikh children the patka is an important representation of their faith. They start wearing it around the age of one year and continue to do so until usually sometime in high school when they switch to a turban. The exact timing is normally a family decision.
For school-aged children long hair is tied into a topknot called a joora and then the patka carefully wrapped in a specific way around it.
Rosey was able to assist the teacher via a video call, rewrapping the patka, calming the child, and both were able to happily get on with their day.
The event sparked a thought for Rosey who admits she is always thinking about quality resources for educators. In fact, a branch of Concept 1, called Early Concepts, focuses on creating early-learning materials for children. That day the idea of a Patka Box was born.
To date the value of having Rosey’s Patka Boxes as a resource available for teachers has already been embraced by 15 school boards across Canada with another 20 coming on stream in September.
Each box includes the steps for correctly tying a patka, information about the significance of the patka, a story about a boy and his patka, two patkas so students can see what they feel like, and two crafts.
Rosey says she is very excited and pleased about the level of engagement and acceptance of the idea. “This is an opportunity to have the significance of the patka known and to bring a valuable resource into classrooms” she says.
You can reach Rosey at [email protected] or visit earlyconcepts.ca
The post Meet Rosey Kaur: Caledon Woman Creates Quality Resource for Educators appeared first on Just Sayin’ Caledon.