Friday, July 31, 2009

On Pushy Parents

E brought an article to my attention the other day which has made me reflect on and evaluate our parenting styles since.

I can't find the article online anymore, but there are many others that has made reference to it as the big debate continues.

Here is the article in the Daily Mail - Pushy Parents Four Times More Important Than Rich Parents In Determining A Child's Success.

The original article that I read argued that having parents (dubbed by some as 'pushy') who take active interest in their children's education right from the time they are little is key to a child's success.

History has given us so many classic examples of highly successful achievers who had/have hardworking and determined parents with great interests and ambitions in their children's abilities and success. All these parents played important roles in helping their children learn and teaching them the right values and attitudes since young.

As I wrote recently, parents cannot determine the genes we gave our children, but we can teach them the right attitudes and work ethics. We can guide them to be effective learners with a passion for learning.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Craft: Making Paper Plate Dinosaurs


ROAR!!!

Tyrannosaurus-rex, diplodocus and stegosaurus all in one afternoon. Boys chose the colors for their extinct reptiles and went to work.



And of course, M has to add his current favourite - the one and only gunsaurus to the pack.




This dinosaur has wings.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

When The Middle Name Is ....

.... spelled 'C-u-t-e'..... 

That's Chipsy. As much as I like to say otherwise, I admit I am in some ways, a little more lenient with him than I was with M at the same age. 

Whenever he does something wrong, he does one of the following: 
- runs to me and tells me 'I love you, mama'. Sometimes, even before I could tell him off
- cries really loud and comes to me 'Mama, help me please... '
- if he gets caught red-handed, he pushes me out of the 'crime scene' and orders me 'you go away'
- if he gets questioned, he pauses to think, then reply 'I don't know' and show us his very cute little expressions

Once, he brought his water bottle to his room and secretly busied himself with watering all his kitchen set toys. When E noticed how wet a big part of his room was and questioned him, Chipsy's calm and cool reply was  'the toys are dirty, so I gave them a bath' and looked at him with big innocent eyes and cute expression. We both didn't have the heart to scold him after. 


Here is he trying to wink at me.


Sometimes E and I will say to each other 'he is lucky he is so cute'. Haha! He gets away with a lot more than he should, though they are all small stuff. I do see him as the baby of the house and very possibly my last baby, so I have an extra soft spot for him. But I will be quick to defend my love for M, in case I am accused of favoring one over the other. I love both just as much and the boys know it. 

Monday, July 27, 2009

Craft: Making a Cake Collage




Boys' joint effort to put together this colorful collage for Grandpa's birthday card.

They chose the colors of each layer that they worked on and happily collaborated to make Grandpa's cake as pretty as possible. It really was sweet!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Simple Pleasures



Breakfast in bed is definitely one of my favorite luxuries. Yet I hardly have time to take such pleasure since the mornings are always busy time.

But whenever I do have the opportunity to partake beautifully prepared breakfast at a leisurely manner, it doesn't fail to start my day on the most positive note.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Our Big Sweetie

On the way to school one morning, E and our 4.5yo boy chatted about bunnies.

E: 'Do you remember our bunny, Toffee? What happened to him?'
M: 'Yes I remember. He died. Now he is with the dinosaurs.'
E: 'Papa is sad that Toffee died.'
M: 'Oh, don't worry papa, you have a baby cheeky!' and he looked up at E and cuddled his leg.

This is just so typical of our sweet little boy.

He has such a big heart, filled with compassion and love. He feels sorry for people he doesn't know when he learns of their unfortunate plight. He gets sad when trees get chopped down as he worries about their feelings and wonder if they can feel pain. He is quick to come and comfort any of us if we get a little bruise or knock.

Whenever his little brother says things like 'I don't want mummy, mummy go away', he would add immediately 'oh but I want mummy, I love mummy'.

He loves it when we call him 'our sweet baby owl'. In response, he hoots in a whisper and looks at us with a demure expression and tender eyes. Aww... he knows exactly what to do to melt our hearts and win us over.




Enjoying his sweet treat after our zoo visit.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Opening Their Eyes



Ever since I pointed out the fungi to the boys one day, a long time ago, they are forever looking out for it wherever we go. 

We would deviate from our route and squat by the roadside to examine them. We often get friendly looks and curious stares from passers-by. There are always a few who can't resist the temptations and peep our way to see what on earth are we looking at.

It is so cute to watch the boys squeal with delight when they spot some before I do. On one of our paths home, we often see these wild ones by the roadside and my 2.5yo is always going 'let's go look for mushrooms today'. :>

And one day after our mushrooms hunting, my boys stumped upon this sight. 



When my boys saw these men lying by the roadside, they went into a fervent questioning mode. 

Are they dead? Why are they sleeping on the dirty floor? Where are their shoes? Why are their clothes so dirty? Do they need sunblock? Why don't they sleep on their beds if they are tired? 

..... blah blah... for another 10 minutes or so, while we stood a distance from these men. 

Monday, July 20, 2009

Gunsaurus



Ever since M started creating tales about this mystical creature that lives on Satarten, which is a planet on the new galaxy - Tenway, we have been fed daily updates of this dinosaur. 

Despite our gentle persuasions that he documents his tall tales in a neat lapbook, we haven't had any success. He still prefers a daily drawing with his one liner spin to the Gunsaurus tale. As days go by, we get to know more about this fearsome, humongous reptile as he attempts to spice up his description with titbits of juicy details. It is as if he is trying to impress his audience (mainly me, his papa and little Chip). :) 

So what can I remember of this Gunsaurus? Let's see... 
- a dinosaur that has guns for arms. the guns are used to shoot aliens and nasty children
- it is made up of steel and uranium
- it likes wood crackers, which is made of tree trunks
- it is 89 metres tall and hunts polar bears whenever it visits Earth
- it likes popcorn pudding! (M's fav dish of sweetcorn pudding and he also loves popcorn, so he figures why not popcorn pudding!)
- it can spit fire like a dragon 
- it can fly as it has wings

and more.. which I can't remember now. 

Here's the skeleton of Gunsaurus. 
This is so cute. :> 

Friday, July 17, 2009

First Movie: Ice Age 3



Chipsy's first movie. We figured he would be able to last through the whole movie since he loves watching Ice Age 1 and 2 so much.. 

The popcorn helped to keep him in his seat for a while. So did the squirrel's numerous appearances. But eventually, enough was enough. So E had to take him out for a few minutes before returning with more snacks. 

The boys crackled and chuckled and roared out loud throughout the film. Watching them laughing so much is simply precious. That alone, is worth every penny and the very reason why we would go to movies with them again. 

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Nature or Nurture?

A lot of friends have asked me over the years, if I think that a child with great potential will show his full potential in any family environment. Since I become a parent, I have also had and heard lots of debates and passionate discussions about this topic.

My consistent view remains that a baby with the greatest potential still needs to have the nurturing environment to bring out the best in him, especially in his formative years which is commonly defined as the first 6 years. 

Without that, it doesn't mean he cannot achieve great things in future. But just think about the advantages he may have in life if his formative years are better. 

Now, what about a child who has the good fortune of a loving and nurturing environment right from the start of his life, even if he has no exceptional potential (read: no special talent)? He probably would have a high chance of being more successful academically and/or in life in future than a guy who comes from a less nurturing environment. 

Of course, we may all define 'successful life' differently, and we also can't deny the sheer willpower of an individual who wants to make a positive change to his life, despite his family environment. But it still doesn't change the fact that a child from a more nurturing environment should have a certain headstart.

Okay, I know I am fast-forwarding to the conclusion already and skipping the entire argument. But the conclusion is the objective of this post.  

If a child who has a great potential in art was not nurtured or given opportunities to better himself when he was younger, will he be able to learn when he is 18? Of course he can, and if he is very determined, he may even be able to achieve to his fullest potential. But if he was nurtured in this area right from a young age, then by the time he is 18, perhaps he could have achieved more. 

As the Chinese saying goes - '望子成 龙'. So one of the ways I express my love is through my efforts to nurture them and bring out their very best. In every way.  

When it comes to my boys' development, I don't hasten them. But I also don't adopt the attitude of 'all kids will learn this and that by the time they are 10'. I believe in the importance of positive stimulations and I am constantly on lookout for strengths and weaknesses to nurture.

As one of my most cherished beliefs goes... 'It doesn't matter whether I can do more or better than the next guy. What matters the most is if I have tried my best and I have reached my fullest potential. Then there are no regrets.'

That is the attitude I like to instill in my boys. Slowly, but surely, they will get it. Nowadays, M will say to me 'I want to do my best in xx' whenever he meets a challenge. I can't be more pleased. 



Monday, July 13, 2009

Craft: Poisonous Frog Puppet


My boys were not contented with an ordinary green frog when I suggested making a frog puppet one day. 

So this was what they made in the end after looking at countless photos of poisonous frogs. 

My 4.5yo set his eyes on a red stripey poisonous frog which we stared at for a long time. Unfortunately, I can't find the file anymore. Chipsy, on the other hand, was especially enchanted with this blue spotty guy.

After they finished their craft, Chipsy was only interested in M's frog, so he could scare his Piggy with it.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Craft: Making Ice Cream Cone Collage


I provided the boys with pre-cut triangles which I cut from scraps of papers left from our other projects. For the 'flavours', they picked colorful papers and simply tear and paste for the collage. The more challenging part of this collage for the 2.5yo is to cover the gaps, which he did after a few reminders. 


By the 4.5yo. Every cone was licked and partially eaten, hence so little ice-cream left in the cones. 

Monday, July 6, 2009

Art Exhibition

I just found out by chance that M's art school has chosen two pieces of his artwork for the Art of Seasons exhibition at the Arts House last weekend. 

According to the school, we were informed via email but like a few parents, I didn't receive it. So it must gone to my junk mail box. What a shame! There was a reception last Saturday and we missed it! 

There are 200 pieces of art work from children aged 3 to 13 and my little boy has two pieces there, chosen out of a few thousands. All selections were made by a third party penal which judged each piece based on a set of criteria. 

Luckily, the exhibition is extended by another day, so we are going to rush down later for my budding artist to check them out himself. 




His colorful owl in the Summer collection. 

And here is the second piece - Donuts.


Sunday, July 5, 2009

Our Current Favorite Commercial

My boys would laugh the moment they see the women walking, in anticipation of the funny moments. They simply can't get enough of this. :> 

We still can't get over how funny it is, especially the 0:26 part of the commercial. Hee hee.. our all time fav. 

Friday, July 3, 2009

Lapbook: The Universe - The New Galaxy

Another book written and illustrated by my 4.5yo. 

Ever since he got interested in the solar system and outer space, he has been talking about this new galaxy which he said is not discovered by the astronomers yet.  He would tell me and E stories about the galaxy, with incredible details from the kind of gases one can find on the atmosphere, core and surface of each planet and how these planets are so different from ours in the Milky Way etc etc...  

So we urged him to write the book and share his 'findings' with other children.  

All parts of content came from him, including the sentence structures, punctuation and spelling of every word. Somehow he has learnt to spell words by himself. There are no spelling tests in school and I have never done any at home either.

I only supplied the materials and stapled the pages together. :> 

Page 1 - Tenway is a new galaxy. This galaxy has seven planets. 
(on the illustration - Satarnten, Nopesoe, Heisoe, Apodo, Foursoe, Mamsoe and Edsoe)

Page 2 - Tenway has the moon in the middle. There is one planet called Satarnten. 
(on the illustration - Satarnten is 89 years old. Nopesoe is 1 year old.)


Page 3 - There are monsters on Satarnten. Satarten is the biggest planet. Gunsaurus lives on Satarnten. (More on Gunsaurus in a separate post coming up)

Page 4 - Nopesoe is the smallest planet. On this planet, there are bunnies. The nopesoenian bunnies eat carrots, plants and flowers.


Page 5 - Apodo has three rings. Apodo is 20 years old. 
(on the illustration, there is Mariner 14, which is a rocket that went to visit Apodo) 

Page 6 - All of the planets in Tenway orbit the moon. 
 

The back cover of the book  lists all the other books of this series. (M was trying to make his book look like the published ones which always has a list of other titles of the series). 

On the list 
- Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, The Moon, Neptune, Pluto, Yarth (new)
- Satarten, The Solar System, Stars, The Sun, Uranus, Saturn, Venus, Apodo



There is no cover page for this book as the boy decided not to make one. Hmm.. 

The final product is so much simpler in terms of content, as compared to the chunks of information he has been feeding us. But for now, this is good enough and we are so proud of our little boy! 

To see all his previous work, click here. 

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Date Nights

There are just no substitutes for them. Frankly, not for me.

Spending quality time with E is simply precious, very special and deeply intimate. It is not about the places we go, food we eat or things we do. It is all about just spending time together. Just the two of us.

For me, I feel most loved when my man chucks everything away and gives me his undivided attention. The simplest gesture of holding hands on a leisurely stroll brings me as much pleasure and scores as many brownie points as any elaborated acts of expression. It is really as simple as that.

Our date night last Saturday was a very fine example. Instead of our usual fancy dinners, we headed to a fabulous place which we used to frequent for hassle-free curries and naan bread. After stuffing ourselves silly, we took a stroll before relaxing in bed to finish our Amelie DVD. We watched that while we were still dating and living in London, so that was kind of a romantic and nostalgic thing to do on a date night. It couldn't have ended any better. :>

Such is bliss!


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