Boys have sweet tongues …

How do you respond when your man says the sweetest thing? You go Awwwwwww and possibly give a whack and go, “ya right!!”

Now how do you respond when your little man says the sweetest thing? You just go Awwwwwwwwwww!!

On Monday, I went with Nathan (that’s my little man) to Grandma’s house. We were returning her car which we used over the weekend. I was happily listening to my favourite radio station, Class 95 when he said out of the blue:

“Later when you park, remember to change the channel back to Grandma’s radio channel—Gold 905.

It’s her favourite. I want to make it easy for Grandma when she drives her car!”

Now, don’t you just wanna go Awwwwwwwwwwwwww?

 

 

 

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Wave Goodbye!

There’s this thing about waving bye bye to your child.

It starts when the child can barely speak. I’m not sure why this is one of the very first milestones we expect of our kids. Mind you, it’s not just “WAVE at mummy!” it’s a “Wave BYE BYE!” Poor kid, after achieving this, we actually go off! (maybe to work, maybe to run an errand.. but definitely not hang around!)

Now that my kids are up and about and going to school, we hardly get a wave. Thank God I still get to kiss them goodbye, but to get a wave? Here’s what I got today!

I realised when the wave is from a further distance, the enthusiasm increases. e.g. waving from a moving vehicle, or waving beyond a glass panel or door. I hate goodbyes, and I think kids too!

Do your kids still wave goodbye? Or do you?

 

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Six years parenting a boy

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Yes, that’s my boy. At six years old.

He can’t stand taking pictures, would never look at the camera in the eye if possible. He says stuff like, “I don’t know how to smile” when the photographer coaxes him.

He is heavy (I can’t carry him any more) and he is larger than the average pre-schooler (wears size 8 clothes!). 

He likes fishballs, noodles (with a little chilli), spaghetti carbonara, chocolate milk, bak kwa, fries, chicken rice and beef steak.

He is afraid of butterflies, spiders, cockroaches, snails, ants, dogs, cats, (actually any insect or animal!)

As he grows up, I’m not sure what would change from the list above. Lest I forget, this is a glimpse of Nathan. At six years old.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

 

 

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Chewing and biting clothes

I have three kids. They all have a good appetite. But Nathan has a better one than the others. He eats clothes!

Any other kids out there who loves eating tee shirts especially? (And I can’t let him wear this at home, he insists on wearing this to school, cos it’s his favourite!)

 

 

 

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When I grow up …

At the start of the year, I always ask my kids, “What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

Each year, the list has new additions, and sometimes, old dreams as tossed aside. This is the first start of the year this blog is going through, so here’s 2013’s WHAT I WANNA BE WHEN I GROW UP (with reasons stated in italics)

Nicole, 8 year old

• Nurse – To help others and I want to take temperature for the patients
• Teacher – I can teach, use the markers, and choose what books to read
• Hip-hop Dancer – Not ballet, so boring
• Scientist – I want to do experiments

Nathan, 6 year old

• Magician – I get to do magic tricks, and people have to pay me to do, and I get to travel and perform
• Policeman – I want to catch all the bad guys

Nadine, 5 year old

• Ballerina – I want to wear pink and purple

So in 2013, we are getting friends with occupations to speak to them so they can find out more. And in cases like magician, scientist and hip hop dancer, perhaps we will get the introduction kit/class for them.

What do your school going kids wanna be when they grow up?

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: children ambition,kid ambition,grow up occupation

Candlelight Service: How Great Thou Art

Christmas. Time to love & give. Time to celebrate the birth of Christ. Time to be the light of the world.

We had our annual Candlelight Service in church last weekend. It was beautiful as we also celebrated God’s goodness, faithfulness and grace.

Strangely the song I’m reminded of this season ain’t a Christmas carol, but an old hymn:

O Lord my God

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made

I see the stars, I hear the roaring thunder

Thy power throughout

The universe displayed

Then sings my soul

My Saviour, God, to Thee

How Great Thou Art, How Great Thou Art

Thought I’ll leave you with Sandi Patty’s rendition of this hymn. Have a Blessed Christmas this season!

 

Grew up listening to her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy Kids, Happy Parents

Ice cream. It appeals more on a rainy day. It appeals even more after a full and satisfying meal.

We were at Bugis+ (previously known as Illuma) and GELATERIA ITALIA was shouting as us. And, it wasn’t just us who heard the voice! hahaha… So we had a dose (three doses to be exact) of Gelato.

I like to think that calories in Snickers-flavoured Gelato, Deep Chocolate-flavoured Gelato and Hazelnut Cream-flavoured Gelato burns faster than regular plain ones. The deception goes deeper as I figured if I type out every flavour, the calories will all burn off! Ohhh and if we call it gelato, isn’t it healthier?

End result? Happy kids, happy parents!

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Ice cream rain,gelato rain,children gelato,kids gelato

Anyone with kids who are careless, lazy & not paying attention?

When I was a kid, I remember when test papers were returned to us, I would get scolded for being “careless” and “lazy”. As my mum looked at the paper, it’s always a case of “why so forgetful?” “why didn’t you read the question carefully?” “did you pay attention?”. I would check with some of my friends, and realised our parents said the same things!

Now I’m a parent. Guess what? These same words are used! hahaha…

Well, recently I learnt something that totally changed my mind! A child/adult learns through various cognitive skills. These include Comprehension, Memory, Logic, Processing etc. Let me give you an example:

Which picture A-B-C-D best match the top picture?

The skills you use to pick out Picture D has nothing to do with being careless, or being lazy to check or not paying attention. Rather, the cognitive skill used is Visual Discrimination. With this skill, you are able to observe keenly and have attention to details. This is the skill we use when we copy the figures for problem sums in Math papers or transferring the answer for comprehension questions.

Nicole and Nathan did this question. She got the answer wrong despite looking keenly at the pictures. Nathan got the answer in a few seconds. Does this mean Nicole is more careless or less conscientious in her work? No No No! It showed that her Visual Discrimination skill is undeveloped, and Nathan is naturally more inept for this.

What a revelation! It’s not about her study attitude. And looking at this, you may think it’s about those IQ tests. It’s not about IQ. It’s about exposure to a certain skill and developing that skill. So Nicole has to learn how to observe before she can copy that right phrase from the comprehension passage in her test papers. Her super super careless mistakes when doing math was not about her care-less attitude! She just never learnt how to observe well!

So where did we learn this? We were at Thinkersbox, a cognitive skills learning centre. The kids received a short assessment of three basic skills while I went through a brief introductory session on what the centre does. Based on the results, a customised programme will be planned for each kid to hone their strengths & weaknesses.

The programme is 10 month long, and during that period, NO CONTENT will be taught. The trainers will only focus on learning skills. There are 27 skills identified and at the start of the programme, the child will go through a more detailed assessment for these skills. At the end of the programme, another assessment will be done. And from Thinkersbox research and experience in several primary schools over the past few years, there is significant improvement to each child’s learning ability.

Common Scenarios we parents face:

• Child cannot follow the teacher’s instructions despite listening attentively
• Child cannot remember simple information e.g. what he had for lunch, when is spelling test
• Child reads a passage but reads it wrong—names mixed up, info jumbled
• Doing a math sum but copied the number wrongly in the working sheet

These are some signs of undeveloped cognitive skills! It’s not necessarily a learning disability, a bad attitude! Isn’t that good news?

Important question: How much does it cost? The 10-month programme costs $2,000. This is for a weekly 2 hour session, which would work out to $25 per hour. That’s not too bad, if you compare with the various enrichment courses and tuition schools.

Isn’t that great? It was comforting to know that content plays the least important role in our exam-crazed society. Such life-long learning skills make a tremendous difference to that much dreaded PSLE!

If your child is between 5-12year old, click here for more information

I really would recommend you signing up for a complimentary 3 Learning Skills assessment. It’s FREE!

Find out if the results tally with what you’ve been nagging complaining saying about your child.

SPECIALLY for Mumseword readers: if you sign up before December 2012 for the customised programme, you get $100 off the total price. Just mention Mumseword when you sign up to get your discount!

Thinkersbox is located at 420 North Bridge Road, North Bridge Centre #03-02/03, Singapore 188727. (Directly opposite the National Library)

 

DISCLAIMER: Mumseword was invited to Thinkersbox Development Centre, but all opinions are 100% my own.

 

 

Technorati Tags: thinkersbox,cognitive skills children,cognitive skills kid,learning ability child,primary school preparation,careless children,not paying attention child

Guest Post at The Gingerbread Mum

Today, we are guests at The Gingerbread Mum, and I had the opportunity to think about the year 2012 and how thankful I am for what has happened. Adora is doing a daily series showcasing what different parents are thankful for in 2012.

Drop by to read about my year here.

 

 

Technorati Tags: 2012 reflection,grateful 2012,friends family 2012

Playmobil Bazaar in Sentosa

Are you a Playmobil fan? Our kids are! (cos Daddy is a big fan, and he actually reluctantly lovingly passed his decades old Playmobil figurines to Nathan… more about that another time!)

This December holidays, Sentosa has set-up a Playmobil Bazaar at Palawan Beach! From now till 30 Dec, it’s Playmobil galore in this corner of the island! There’s life-size Playmobil knights, princesses, pirates around, together with little stores for craft work, Playmobil display sets and the most fun—Playmobil Fun Pit.

My verdict? The area is a little small, however the lifesize models and the playsets are a great introduction to Playmobil. Having it so near the Port of Lost Wonder (POLW) helps add to the ever Popular Pirates theme!

The Bazaar is free and the venue is great—just at the entrance of POLW! Enjoy!!

DISCLAIMER: Mumseword was invited to the Playmobil Bazaar, but all opinions are 100% my own, kids expressions are 100% as genuine as they get!

 

 

Technorati Tags: Sentosa December holidays,Sentosa Playcation,Sentosa Port of Lost Wonders,Sentosa Playmobil,Playmobil Bazaar,Playmobil Playset,Playmobil Pirate,Playmobil knight

Love Talk with Kids

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Every night, part of my goodnight ritual is to tell the kids “I Love You” The usual response is “I Love You mummy” or “I Love You too mummy”.

Last week, I asked them why? Why do you love Mummy? haha I don’t expect some philosophical answer or a long list of what I did right. It was just one of those, “I just wanna know” questions.  

Here’s their response: (all asked separately!)

Nicole, 7yo – I love you because you buy food for us, and you bring me out

Nathan, 5yo – I don’t know. I love you. Don’t ask me. I don’t know.

Nadine, 4yo – I love you because mumble mumble (she mumbled and I couldn’t hear her answer!)

My conclusion? Girls do talk more. They think more. They can answer questions even if they mumble! For boys, just be happy they said I love you.

 

What do your kids say when you ask the ‘Why Do You Love Mummy’ question?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: love children,love conversation kids,love conversation children,why children love,why kids love

Children. Love. Reading.

I love reading. Since young, when the forms ask for my hobbies, reading would be word I’ll put in. During recess, I’m happy to go to a quiet corner to read. I’m definitely not one of those playing catching in the field, or worse, playing basketball on the courts. Give me a book any day, and I’ll be happy.

Naturally, one of my greatest desires is for ALL my kids to love reading! Problem is, their genes also include a non-reader. You see, Daddy doesn’t read. He thinks it’s a big joke when he found out how I spent my recesses. He’s shocked that I prefer reading to watching that violent war movie on TV. He can’t believe that one simple story has to be told in three thick books. (To be fair, he does read non-fiction, and quite a bit of it too—Newspapers, News Magazines, Christian Books/Magazines. But how can one be called a reader if you don’t read fiction????)

So I do my part. I read to the kids daily regularly. Use every possible voice and pitch I have to be old witches, crying rabbits, hungry giants etc. Daddy reads to them too. It’s fun, but he uses his non-fiction/current affairs reading voice to them. (I don’t think there are talking squirrels and rhyming words in that department)

Imagine my smile when a friend sent me pictures of how enthusiastic my kids were when they stepped in a book fair recently. She said in the end, there were three baskets full. woooohooooo! Looks like my kids love reading too!!! yeah!!!

Yup, I pray that they continue to love reading. And if they love reading Mandarin too, it would be a miracle!

Do your children love reading?

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: children reading,children love books,children love reading,children hobby read,children reading habit,kids reading habit,kids love reading,kids love books

GIVEAWAY: Ashputtel-The Story of Cinderella

We went to the theatre on Saturday to watch <Ashputtel-the story of Cinderella> by I Theatre.  Honestly, I was a little nervous bringing them alone. Actually, I was nervous bringing Nathan! When I told him we’re watching Ashputtel, his first reaction? “HUH? What is that?”

There’s something about boys. They look like they don’t care, but they do very much actually, more so than girls some times!

I said, “it’s about Cinderella… Not the one that we always hear about, it’s a new story about Cinderella.” Sigh. you can imagine his response! “Ewww… Cinderella? I don’t like Cinderella!” But the girls overheard and it was “Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!”

Can you spot the boy? He really didn’t want to be in the photo

So it was, pre-show pictures clearly clearly displayed his excitement for the show. (You can see the girls and THEIR excitement!)

How was the show then?

It was one of the best adaptation of Cinderella I saw! It was simplified to something easy for the kids to digest (imagine Ashputtel had to carry shopping bags for her stepsisters!), the music was easy to hum along, the humour was great (Nicole cackled through some parts!) and although there were not much opportunity for audience interaction, the little that the cast did went extremely well with the kids!

Here are the reviewers’ comments: (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

I will ask Marissa, Sarah, Janelle, Ally, Pei Ling, Denise, Shania, Jewel, Danielle to watch. It is very very very funny. Ashputtel is very pretty, I like her very much. The show is a little bit sad, and it is very very funny. I also like all the songs. And the stepmother is so rude, why is she so  rude?  Nicole Tay, 7 years old

I like it when one sister chopped off her toe and the other chopped off her heel. What is a heel, Mummy? I like the part when the prince asked all of us to help. I don’t have anything else to say. Nathan Tay, 5 years old

I like the birds, I like the dancing, I like Ashputtel. Nadine Tay, 4 years old

Would I recommend this show? Yes! Especially if you have daughters. Every girl should watch this. I didn’t find it childish or kiddy, and the kids didn’t find it adult-like or boring. I guess the classic love story with a Prince (and a good looking one here!) always works! For the boys, Yes, too! You see, officially, Nathan had little comments. Unofficially, he laughed and participated during the show. His morbid comments showed the ‘boyness’ in him to discredit all things girl-related.

Stepsister 1, Stepsister 2, Stepmother, Ashputtel’s Mother/bird, Ashputtel, Handsome Prince, Butler

Ashputtel-The Story of Cinderella is showing at Alliance Francaise Theatre from now till 17 Nov 2012. Tickets are available from SISTIC. You can find more details here.

And for my readers, I have two pairs of tickets to giveaway for the 11 Nov (Sun) 11.30 am show. Woohooo! Wanna win the tickets? Look no further!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLAIMER: This giveaway is in NO way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. Information collected is NOT collected by Facebook. By signing up for this promotion, participants release and indemnify Facebook from all liabilities.

UPDATE

List Randomizer

There were 11 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Dominique Goh
2. Angeline Sim

Congratulations to Dominique Goh & Angeline Sim for winning the two pairs of tickets! i Theatre will be contacting you about your tickets. Enjoy the show!

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Ashputtel,i theatre,cinderella i theatre,cinderella alliance francaise,cinderella 2012,ashputtel 2012,ashputtel sistic

Meanie Mummy

I’m a Meanie Mummy.

Yes, I stick by my guns and there are no favourites in the family. The consequences of misbehaving, whining, and being rude are spelt out clearly in our family. We don’t spare the rod, we don’t mince our words, and we have three different naughty corners in the house for each child.

This is what happens when a child misbehaves:

• The child is immediately pulled aside and given first warning. The warning consists of  a “don’t do that” plus a “if you continue, this will happen”
• If the child continue misbehaving, second warning comes out, usually louder and sterner.
• If it continues, there’s no third warning. Dependant on the nature of the misbehaviour, or what was said in first warning, punishment is rolled out, the child pays the consequence.
• Punishment also includes standing in a corner alone for one cycle to reflect. One cycle is the number of minutes to their age. So Nicole gets 7 min, Nathan 5 min, Nadine 4 min.

Of course all the above are done in the comfort of home, within the sound-proof walls of the house. If the misbehaviour happens when we are out, the warnings are usually quiet, stern, and as I mentioned before here, with my BIG BIG eyes.

I have three kids. So the One-For-All and All-for-One rule is big in our family. That’s really the best way, since much of their misbehaviour are shared by three! Is it inconvenient? Yeah, you bet. If I’m Meanie Mummy, daddy is Dictator Daddy. There’s no good guy and bad guy in parenting. We’re in it together, so the kids know, once they are caught, there’s no way out.

After all that, each child has to say sorry, and tell us why he/she is sorry. If they can’t tell why, it’s the naughty/quiet/reflective corner again for the next cycle.

Then comes the hugs and the kisses. The assurance of love and why we do what we did.

The challenge the Meanie Mummy faces is to think of a punishment that fits the misbehaviour when we are outside. As they grow older, it usually is a consequence—taking away a privilege, or something similar. I’m a big believer of keeping my word to my kids, so they know not to trivalise words.

For example, if a promise was made to buy them ice-cream, but they misbehaved. We will still go for ice-cream, but they don’t get to choose the flavours, or they wont get to order what they want. I get to keep my word, they get to still learn the consequence of misbehaving. But if the misbehaviour is real out of hand, we’ll postpone the ice-cream. They will still get their ice-cream, just not that day.

I can imagine many parents who shudder at what we do, and many who may agree. At the end, it’s always for the best of our kids, in the best possible way we know how. Tiger Mum or not, it’s for them kids, not for us, ya?

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: punishing children,punishment children,children misbehave,misbehave consequence,naughty corner,meanie mummy

Kids judges–For food, what else?

When we go to the food court or market, our kids will have a few standard favourites – Fishball noodles, Spaghetti, Japanese Bento Set (that’s Nicole, don’t ask me how she acquired this expensive taste bud!) and of course Chicken Rice!

We love chicken rice. I mean, our entire family, even our helper, we love it!

Recently, we participated in a Makan King competition to choose the Best Chicken Rice in town! Oooh competition was very keen, there were lots of experts everywhere. Below are the most serious experts at work—mind you, they give their comments freely and don’t mince their words! You hear “My favourite is Stall 6” “My favourite is better than yours!” (photo credit: Moses Chng)

So the race was between Stall #6 and Stall #7. The people’s choice (and Nathan’s) was Tian Tian Chicken Rice from Joo Chiat (Maxwell market was closed for renovation). Sigh… not my choice though..

What would be your favourite Chicken Rice Stall?

Linking up with

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: best chicken rice,makan king,tian tian,favorite chicken rice,children judge