Dr. Nisha Ojha is a mother, dentist and a parenting blogger managing her full time work life, personal life, blog and everything in between with balance. She helps parents in their parenting journey through her own experiences which she shares on her Instagram account where the blogger has a great and loyal audience base of over 13k followers.
ICY Tales is in conversation with Dr. Nisha Ojha about her career, blog, parenting journey, tips and how she manages to juggle through it all and is still able to maintain a balance.
Q) Tell us something about yourself.
Dr. Nisha Ojha – I am a dentist and a content creator by choice. I am a mom of 2 and a half year old toddler named Kabir. When I became a mother I realized there’s so much to learn in the parenting phases.
So, I started sharing about my parenting journey on Instagram, through parenting tips, tricks and my personal experiences. I also share my skincare journey so that I can encourage moms to take care of their skin in their 30’s. I am managing both my work and home, so my day is all about juggling between these roles.
Q) What inspired you to become a blogger?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – It’s all because of my son. Before that I didn’t have any plan as such. When I became a mother I started researching a lot, related to him, like which milestone is yet to come or is going to come, I wanted to know more about everything.
Slowly I found that reading about all of this is really interesting. Reading about upcoming milestones, then eagerly waiting everyday for that to happen. One day, just as I was reading about all this, I thought why not share all this information and my journey on social media so that other mother’s can relate. Maybe it can be useful for them too. So, that’s how I started my page.
Q) How do you mange your role as a mother and a dentist?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – It’s not easy. In 24 hours performing both the roles as a working woman and a mother is not easy. Juggling between these roles is what my day is all about.
I live in a nuclear set up which makes it a little harder for me, with no other trusted care giver for Kabir. Although I did hired a nanny who takes care of Kabir and is my helping hand whenever I need.
So, I feel if you want to make your day slightly easier managing with toddler, you need to plan your day a prior. Like what has to be cooked for lunch, dinner, my son’s snacks and what activities he will get into the next day.
All these small things keep my day simple, sorted and then things go according to me. So, planning almost everything is my biggest flex which keeps my day simple and sorted.
Q) As working professionals we feel that somewhere we are unable to cater to the holistic development of our kids. How to manage that?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – I would say that the most important thing is the undivided attention you give to your child. That window you can utilize for all the good stuff you want to cater into your child.
Whenever I am with Kabir I always try to make him learn something new and good, through plays, stories, activities, etc. I ask him daily what all the things he did while I was gone so that I never miss a single chance to teach him something new.
I feel activities play an important role in child’s overall development. Accordingly, I try to plan his activities that includes different aspects of life like sensory motor activities, literacy, cognitive, art & crafts, emotions, life skills.
I research well about the activities and on such topics so that I can make him understand these things through activities.
Since I am working, the few hours that I am able to dedicate to him I always plan these activities to play with him; because I can teach him basic life skills like watering plants, stories with emotions etc, which I don’t think anybody else will teach him in my absence.
I am trying my best to make him learn things which will help him in future, both academically and otherwise too.
Q) Do you think hustling while being a parent creates a understanding gap between parent and children?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – Maybe but generally it won’t happen if you are able to compensate the time you are not with your child. I am a working mother and my toddler saw me and my husband working from the very start.
At this tiny age he understands that mommy and daddy both goes to work and we get a good hug from him when we come back.
I feel like kids are the most beautiful and understanding creatures who understands the genuine things magically. As long as you know how to give your child undivided attention on a regular basis to make a connection, the understanding gap, won’t be a trouble in your parenting journey.
Q) Do you think women should stop working once they become a mother?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – No, I don’t think women should put a full stop on her work once she becomes a mother. But yes if she wants a break to take care of herself and her baby then yes she should take a break.
Because there’s a pressure, once I became a mother there were mothers who came back to work one month after postpartum.
So, I feel like some may prefer to take a pause and enjoy that beautiful phase of life. Don’t be guilty of taking a holiday. But quitting completely after becoming a mother is not okay, according to me.
Q) How do we manage the food habits of today’s children?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – I feel that food habits or any other habit starts very early in life. The food options you offer to your child in the start will ultimately become his preference later on in life.
For example, washing hands before and after food, chewing food properly, offering them healthy food, all of this becomes a habit over the years. When my kid was little and he started I was ready stage wise and was very thorough regarding food habits from the day he started taking food.
So, parents need to get involved with the child in every manner and should model those good habits. What I feel my son should follow I model those good habits. Children follow ‘Monkey see, Monkey do’, hence you need to model those habits so that children can see you doing that and then copy you.
Q) How to ensure developing empathy within children?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – Empathy for me is a work in progress. It’s not a one day thing. It’s a work in progress throughout the childhood. I feel that it’s very important to teach your children what empathy is.
It’s very important in building new connections, regulate their emotions and promoting helping behavior. It will ultimately help the child later on in life.
There are practices that I do with Kabir on daily basis so that he can understands and apply the concept of empathy in his life. For this I always try to recognize his emotions especially the negative ones like feeling angry or bad that the other person didn’t give you the toy.
So that whenever he feels the same way or see someone else struggling with the same emotions especially the negative, he already knows how to deal with that and how to console that person.
I talk a lot about emotions to him. We have a dedicated time for bedtime stories one hour prior to sleeping. At that time also I always try to teach him why being empathetic can never go wrong in life.
No matter what the other person is doing being empathetic will never make you have regret in life.
One thing I never do if I want to make sure he is empathetic is never suppress his difficult emotions like when he’s irritated, angry or something negative.
I think suppressing that will entirely go against what I am trying to teach him. So, I always keep in mind all of these things and teach him that being empathetic is the best quality a person can have.
Q) Does good habits affect and impact overall oral health?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – Yes, absolutely. Good dental habits can really impact your oral health positively. Following good oral habits like brushing twice a day, flossing daily, avoiding sugar filled drinks, snacking between the meals.
Maintaining a healthy diet that includes eating raw vegetables and fruits, regular dental check ups at every 6 months. All this will keep you away from complicated dental treatments.
Parents should begin to teach good oral hygiene practice early in child’s life to keep teeth and gums healthy. So that children can avoid undergoing complicated dental treatment.
Q) What advice do you have for working mothers?
Dr. Nisha Ojha – I have two things to say. First is the balance. Balance between the work and family. Do as much as you can without stressing yourself out. The more the balance the less complicated your life will be.
Secondly, you should have a support system. It can be your partner, your parents or a friend. Communicate with them and tell them what you feel because that will relieve your stress.
Lastly, don’t quit your job. If you want to take a break or gap to enjoy motherhood then take it and make a comeback when you feel ready.
Don’t stress yourself to be perfect in everything. Take some help and me time once in a while. Do what you feel works best for you and your child without thinking what others will say.
This was Dr Nisha Ojha, giving some valuable insights related to parenting and how new parents can learn a lot from several sources including her page.
The parenting blogger rightly says that good habits need to be build slowly and steadily from the initial days, so the child can instill them in their life like a good healthy routine.
Last Updated on by Himani Rawat