Kavya's first public speaking competition

Today, Kavya participated in Win With Words competition organized by Mahek's school (Genius Kids). For this competition they had different categories based on kid's age. Kavya was in Category 3 which was for kids 4 to 5 years of age. The kids had to select a topic from the list of 20 topics and talk about it for 1 to 3 minutes.

When Pooja mentioned about this competition, I thought it would be a good idea for Kavya to participate and get some experience of talking on the stage in front of audience. When I asked Kavya if she would like to take part, she was ready. From among the topics provided, she selected 'My favorite recipe' and wanted to talk about cupcakes :). So, I wrote up the content for her and started practicing with her. On the very first day, she learnt half of it and then took about a week to perfect it. We used to practice everyday in the car while going to and coming back from school. Then, whatever she would learn, she would rehearse it with Gaurav in the evening. Finally, she had learnt it all and yesterday was the first time when she went on without any mistake.

To get her excited and also to add the extra touch to the content, I had got an apron and chef's hat from ToysRUs. I also actually made the cupcakes on Thursday with her to get her excited and to take some to the competition for other kids.

Finally, the day of competition arrived today. We all got up really early and got ready. We had to report by 9:45 and the location was at some church in Fremont. There were quite a few kids there - may be around 35-40 (all Indians :) )There were about 15 kids in Kavya's category. Kavya was the 5th one to speak. We all waited for Kavya's turn. When her name was announced, I took her to the stage and she immediately started. No fear, no hesitation and no mistakes.. I was so proud of my little girl !!

While earlier I thought it would be nice even if she just went on the stage and spoke something, now I wanted her to win! (Greedy mom :). So, we patiently waited for the results. Unfortunately, she did not win. I was disappointed.. although Kavya was just fine. She probably did not care or understand. So, we kept our disappointment to ourselves. Oh well - she had already won in our view when she went up there and did not make a single mistake. We treated her to her favorite lollipop and she was a happy kid !

Check out the video: