Clothes Folding Demonstration by SyuenSyuen

SyuenSyuen loves to help me with the household chores. Many Asian parents do not allow their children to help them in household chores because they think that this will slow down their work and waste their time. I found that they are impatient or perhaps they are over-protected their children.

Since SyuenSyuen knew how to walk until now (4 years old), I let her help me with the household chores. Of course, it did slow down my work and lots of patience is needed but I think it's all worthwhile. Now, she can demonstrated how to fold her clothes. She started by telling me..

First, take a shirt and put it up in front of you.

Then, put nicely it on the floor.

 

 After that, fold it into half nicely.

Then, fold it 1/3.

This is her final product. :)

Isn't it better if I video it down. Hahaha...what a blur mummy!
To all parents, all you need is a little bit of patience and a little bit of encouragement. :)

Leafy Activity

As usual, SyuenSyuen went out with his uncle for her outdoor activity. This time round, she brought some leaves back. If I'm not wrong I think it is canna's leaf.

She tore the leaf into stripes.

Then, she tried to tie a knot between stripes, with a little help from me.

We tied it so long...that SyuenSyuen began to tie it on the leg of a chair and tied the other end on her dog (soft toy).

Although it is a short activity but she enjoyed tearing and knotting. I tried to teach her weaving but she still confused with the weaving pattern. I guess she needs more practise on weaving.

Violent vs Violent?

When NingNing was born, SyuenSyuen has been behaving badly and I knew that she did so to attract our attention as we are kinda busy with the other little one (NingNing). My hubby and I went through endless of effort to make things better. We did research, asking around for advice and went through all sort of method. We felt blessed as she turns out fine now. Or perhaps, I should say that she is being well-behaved, a very kind hearted girl and always thinking for others. Her nanny, her teachers and even her headmistress praised her. As her parents, we are proud of her.

As for now, we are a little worried about NingNing. Before she turned one year old, we knew that she was different. She is clever or perhaps, we should say that she is mischievous! She always managed to did some action which made us laugh. We are happy to have a little monkey girl at home which really brights up our day.

But, these past few weeks, she has been acting 'violent'. She cried a lot too. She will beat her sister, sometimes without reason! Things get worse when I saw her pulling SyuenSyuen's hair until SyuenSyuen fell down from the chair. SyuenSyuen never fight back! She loves NingNing a lot. What make thing even worst now is that she got into fight. This time she was hurt, with a scar on her nose bridge. She is only 2 years old!! Haizzz.....

I felt so sad on her behavior. We never cane our children because to us, it is violent. We believe that if we cane our children, one day they will become violent. It is because they learn from adults. I really need to work out the way. To us, punishment and caning is just not our style. What I know is that we will still keep to our principle in educating our children.

Here, I would like to share a very good article by Penelope Leach, child pyschologist.

Children have the right to use their bodies to express their feelings, but they don't have the right to hurt someone. Even if you generally let other kinds of misbehavior slide, you need to draw the line at letting your child hit someone in anger.

Of course, this doesn't mean that when your 2-year-old hurts someone, it's okay to hurt him back. If your child hits someone and you spank him or discipline him by force, you'll only teach him that aggression is an acceptable way to express his feelings or to get what he wants. Instead, take your child's hands and say, "No hitting. I know you're angry, but we don't hit people.Hitting hurts."

Some experts suggest that parents offer an angry child a harmless way to "vent" his pent-up fury, such as pummeling a special pillow. This, in my opinion, is a mistake. Anger is a feeling, and feelings don't get "used up." In fact, it's clear from recent research that "harmless violence" is a contradiction in terms. A child who's encouraged to wallop his pillow in anger is more — not less — likely to see walloping a person as an acceptable alternative.

When your child behaves aggressively, be clear with him that it's not his anger you disapprove of, but his violent expression of it. Don't tell him not to get angry or not to show that he's angry. Simply acknowledge his feeling — and perhaps even sympathize with it — but then remind him that it's much more constructive to use his words to tell you why he's upset. This way, the two of you can try to come up with a solution to whatever's vexing him.

The Not-So-Scary Bubbles

I love to play around with my girls. I come up with games and activity every weekend, just to spend some quality time with them and yup, not forgetting my hubby. Sometimes, he joined in the fun though most of the Sunday, he will join his friends for the basketball games.

Well, I bought bubbles for my girls to play, thinking that they will really enjoy the play, seeing all the bubbles, floating in the air and then, disappearing into the thin air. For SyuenSyuen, she used to the game already but still, she enjoys playing the bubbles.

Some parents think that it is dangerous for children to play bubbles including my nanny. She won't allow my children to play with bubbles. She told me that they will accidentally drink it! Haizzz...I was speechless. So, I didn't let my children bring the bubbles to her nanny's house instead we played it at home and sometimes at the field near our house.

Well, I wouldn't say that her nanny is wrong, she has her own intention. She might be right too but not 100% right. I guess it's all about point of view and acceptance. I played bubbles with my girls a few times already. As for NingNing, it is still a very new game to her. At first, I blew the bubbles for them to chase around and then, NingNing wanted to try on her own. I guess due to the bottle-feeding, she knows how to suck but she doesn't know how to blow. And ya, she sucked the bubble-stick! I'm shocked too but I'm well-prepared. I washed her mouth with a bottle of water, holding in my hand (standby).

Children learn well through mistake. After that very one time, she knew that she couldn't put it into her mouth. Then, I taught her how to blow. She learned it in no time at all. Sometimes, she blew it until her mouth looked like a cute little 'piglet' mouth.

Sometimes, she blew it so hard that no bubbles came out.

Sometimes, she blew it so hard that her salive was out too.

Sometimes, she was so focused on her blowing technique, her bubble-stick was out of blowing range.

But, after a few days of playing, she is skillful now.

She even followed SyuenSyuen to blow the bubbles out and caught it back using their bubble-stick. This is the picture taken last year.

Is it wonderful to see them playing happily and creatively at the field and at the porch.

Ya, it is definitely dangerous if there is no adult "overseeing" the children. But, isn't it better that we, adult play with them together rather than "oversee" them? After the play, I will keep the bubbles on top of a closed shelf. I think that it is our responsibility to keep dangerous things (knife, scissors, medicine etc.) at a safe place. Of course, I told them what will happen if we drink the bubble solution. And this time, they learned a safety tip through this game. The bubbles are not-so-scary afterall.

The 'Q's

There are so many 'Q's in this world. Often, parents stressed their children on IQ (Intelligence Quotient). IQ is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. It is known that IQ is important as it is the basic to success. Parents exposed their children and newborns to IQ lessons, even their unborn ones. Therefore, prenatal education become popular these days. Can you imagine that children started to learn when they are just as big as a pea?

Then, out of no way, came the EQ (Emotional Quotient). EQ is an ability, skill or a self-perceived ability to identify, assess and control the emotion of oneself or others. New research found that success = 20% IQ + 80% EQ. Parents become aware of EQ and started to send their children to EQ camp. I was a facilitator for an EQ camp for a few years. I met all kind of children and parents. Okay, I'll leave out the story here.

CQ (Creative Quotient) needless to say is all about creativity. Creativity plays an important part in our life. Being creative helps us to solve multiple problems in any situation.

So, in my mindset, IQ, EQ and CQ are important in educating myself and my children. I started to research on there 'Q's. To my surprise, there are so much more 'Q', there are SQ (Spiritual Quotient), HQ (Health Quotient), FQ (Financial Quotient) and so much more. But, I guess if I would have to catogerize them, it will still in the end goes back to the 3 main 'Q' (IQ, EQ, CQ).

At the beginning of the year 2011, I came across AQ (Adversity Quotient). With God's will, I'm lucky to attend a talk on AQ a few months ago. AQ is the most scientifically robust and widely used method in the world for measuring and strengthening human resilience. So, imagine that your children have IQ, EQ and CQ, meaning that he/she is successful but without the AQ, he/she won't be surviving. This means that AQ is as important as the 3 other 'Q's as AQ is all about how a person gets back on his/her feet after a setback or failure. Don't tell me that your children face no setback or failure before he/she successed.

In conclusion, these main 4 'Q's link. But, remember every children is different. They learn in their own pace. Most important is their interest. Children learn best through games.

Here, I would like to include a picture, can you think of which 'Q' we use to achieve this?? The answer is easy, right? :)

写给老公的一封信

老公，11年了！一路走来真的不简单。

人说dating的日子是甜蜜的，但上帝偏偏想要考验我们。我敢说我们dating的日子是苦的。一人打三分工，面包数一数还能够吃几天，没有逛街，没有看电影，没有庆生，没有礼物，省吃俭用就是为了生活。没有人看到，也没有人知道。彼此只能心痛着对方。

苦的日子真的不好过，我永远都不会忘记那些日子，不会记得“谁”或“为什么”，只记得我们如何牵着对方的手往前走。那个温柔温暖的手，如今还是一样！

也许上帝特地安排我们要经历这一切才能成为夫妻吧！苦的日子不但磨练了我们自己也考验了我们的感情。我们成长了许多，感情也加深了许多。

结婚后，再也看不到苦的日子。幸福和快乐的日子终于来临。我们把所有的精神都放在事业及家庭。辛苦建立属于我们自己的事业，我们自己的家，终于在这几年来有好的成绩，生活也丰富了许多。最值得感恩的是上帝送给我们最珍贵的礼物，送给我们两名可爱又贴心的女儿。我们的一点一滴，不管是苦或甜都是那么的刻骨铭心。

和你一起走的路不管是什么滋味，重要的是能和你一起走。我一直很羡慕老夫老妻。我一直希望。。。我们老了那一天，我们还能够牵着彼此的手，慢慢地在公园里散步！谢谢你，老公。。。你从来没有想过要放弃我们这一段感情。。。谢谢你，对我的照顾及关怀。。。谢谢你，一直那么地包容我。

永远爱你的老婆上。

If I can Choose Again

If I can choose again, I think I will choose to be a housewife. Now that I have a very stable career, not to say success but I'm contented with my work performance, I would like to try something else. I guess human being is like that. When you have something in your hand, you won't cherish it. When you see something which is not in your hand, you want it so much. I think perhaps I already achieved my goal in work now, I wanted something that I haven't achieved. If I have become a housewife, will I ask to become a businesswoman again?? This is so hard. Wouldn't it nice if I can be both. But, deep down in my heart I know that I can only choose one and be the best in it.