Some Parenting Tips

Attended some parenting talks organised by PLMGS (Primary) during Joann's first week in Primary 1. I found the talks helpful and wish to share some key take-aways from the sessions:

Good Manners

Teaching good manners is a fundamental aspect of parenting as it's every parent's wish for their children to be well-liked by people. However as parents, we must remember that good manners start with parents as our children watch our behaviours and actions.  

Another good point to note, is that we should also learn to praise our children whenever a positive behavior is displayed, rather than overly focusing on correcting their negative behaviors. Let's cultivate good manners in our children by adopting a balanced approach.

Cultivating a Habit of Reading

The speaker stressed on the importance of cultivating the love for reading in young children. Besides the advantage of gaining knowledge from reading, a reading habit creates the opportunities for parents to bond with the children, stretch their imaginations and train their concentration. Here are some tips to make reading more interesting and captivating for the young minds:

(a) Start with a storybook with a topic that interests your child. For Joann, we started with her favorite princess stories. For Jayden, we started off with books on race cars.

(b) Start by talking about the pictures in the storybook, to draw the child's attention. This is why storybooks for children, always come with colorful pictures. Then, read the storybook as well as point to the words so that your child will gradually learn to identify the text.

(c) When reading the storybook to your child, parent should vary his/her voice, preferrably in accordance with the story characters, to make it more interesting.

(d) After reading the book, you can discuss about the story with your child i.e. talk about his favorite character, the most exciting part, etc

(e) Keep the story reading time short and regular. A reading routine like reading before bed-time daily, will go a long way to cultivate a habit in your child. Choose a routine that best fits you and your children. 

 

(f) Remove distractions such as TV, computer games, radio, etc operating in the background, during reading time.

Welcoming CNY 2011!

One more day to CNY! My family is ready to welcome the Lunar New Year! In keeping with the tradition, the family spent some days clearing up our house, getting the new clothes (especially for the children), buying CNY goodies (Bak Kwa and Pineapple Tarts are my favorite!) and decorating the house to give it a festive boost! And of course, not forgetting the important Ang Pows! (a MUST bring item when you leave the house during this festive season especially if you are married)

It's our family tradition to have a set of new bed sheet for everyone. Love the splash of red colors of our new bed sheet!

Princessy bed sheet for Joann!

You guessed it right! Race car prints for Jayden's bed sheet! He simply loves it!

A CNY art piece by Jayden!

This set of cute CNY lions has been on display since X years!

Really looking forward to catch up with my loved ones and relatives during this festive season. A good opportunity to take a break from our busy work and spend time building bonds with our loved ones and friends. As the years go by, I learnt not to take things for granted and treasure the relationships I have with the people I know. Every moment is a moment to cherish.

Have a very blessed CNY and 

a great time with your loved ones!

An Assignment for the Tooth Fairy

Joann dropped her first milk tooth today! The front tooth has been a little bit shaky over the last few weeks and she seemed worried at times. Her tooth finally dropped this morning and she was very excited when we fetched her this evening. Another milestone in her growing up journey :-)

Just for info, the milk teeth is also known as the deciduous teeth, baby teeth or temporary teeth. These are the first set of teeth in the growth development of humans. The milk teeth are usually lost as early as 5 years old and replaced by permanent teeth thereafter. 

I read some interesting articles on tooth traditions around the world:

In North America such as United States and Canada, children will place their tooth under their pillow and the tooth fairy will take their tooth, replacing with money. This tradition is probably the one that we are most familiar with.

In France, Spain and Latin America, it's a little mouse that will replace the tooth with money.

In Central America, the tooth will be gold-plated and make into an earring for the child to wear. Quite a good idea for keeping the tooth as a memento.

In Mongolia, the baby tooth is given to a young dog. The dog is treated like some sort of a guardian angel there. The tooth is mixed with the food given to a dog. It is believed that when the guardian angel eats the tooth, the child will get new strong tooth.

Sounds very interesting, right? Guess these are some of the many ways that parents soothe the hearts of the little ones who lost something personal :-) 

As for Joann, she sealed her milk tooth in a little bag, as a memento for herself :-) 

Making Orange Butter Cake @ Bakerzin Kids

Heard some good reviews on the baking workshops at Bakerzin Kids and decided to sign up the children for the Orange Butter Cake baking session about 1 month ago. The workshops are usually in hot demand and parents have to sign up their kids about 1 month in advance (can do it online).

The baking session is held at a workshop located within the Bakerzin Outlet at UE Square (81, Clemenceau Avenue, #01-15, Singapore 239917). Each baking session lasts about 1.5 hours.

The children were excited when they arrived at the workshop as they were greeted with tables filled with colorful spread of ingredients and kitchen tools. But before they began, they had to put on their chef hat and apron as well as wash their hands (If not, there will be no takers for their cakes :-P).

As the children worked through the baking session, the Chef from Bakerzin patiently gave his instructions and ensure that the children understood the procedures. He was assisted by helpers (in green shirts) who led assistance to children who had difficulty especially if they were first timers.... like Joann and Jayden :-)

The children first, sifted the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, they beat together butter with sugar and orange zest until creamy. Added the eggs, one at a time. Stirred in the vanilla extract. Next, using a spatula, they folded the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stirred in the cream until well-mixed.

 

Now, the children divided the batter evenly among the muffin tins.

 

Once ready, the batter in the muffin tins were placed in the oven for about 20 minutes (preheated to 180 Degree Celsius).

Joann and Jayden were truly enjoying the workshop! Next step, was to prepare the sugar decorations for their orange butter cakes.

The cakes were ready! Final step - decorating the cakes! The smell of baked cakes was making me hungry :-P

 

The cakes are ready! Any takers?

As a whole, the children enjoyed the workshop and have been asking for more since they returned home. Besides the cakes that they made, the children were also given the Bakerzin chef hat, apron, workshop graduation certificate, photographs, receipt sheet and reward cards. You can enjoy a $8 discount when your child brings along the issued apron and hat to the next workshop.

The remaining workshops in January 2011 are almost fully booked. I am waiting for the February schedule to be released at Bakerzin's website. If anyone interested, we could arrange for our children to participate in a workshop together? 

Joann's First Day at PLMGS (Primary)

The day has finally come! Since the start of Dec 10, Aileen and I have been progressively preparing for Joann's entry into primary school - getting her school uniform, textbooks, stationary, school bag, coin pouch ready as well as preparing her psychologically for the big school (as compared to kindergarten). We can see that she is excited about her new school too! 

Meanwhile for Jayden, he is entering K1 in Faithland 1, Living Sanctuary Kindergarten. He is in morning session while his older sister is in afternoon session. He is going to miss her BIG time - no one to play with him in the afternoon like before and his Jie Jie is going to be busier in school :-P

Jayden ready for school!

Joann looks so lovely in her new school uniform... hehe :-)

Look how much she has grown... Still remember the time when she was born...

Ordered this bag (with her name embroidered) from Disney.com like 2 years ago. Finally she is tall enough to carry it.

Joann, together with the other P1 pupils, was led to the main hall after arriving in school. With some free time before the talks organised by the school, I took the opportunity to walk around the school premises.

Useful talks organised by PLMGS (Pri), for parents

Anxious parents waiting for their children's canteen break at 3pm (I'm one of them).

Each P1 girl is accompanied by a P5 girl during this period of orientation. There were so many pupils in the canteen that some parents had trouble locating their children even if there were designated areas for each class. Can you spot Joann?

The best picture of Joann, I took during the canteen break (after some simple editing)... Wishing that I have better zoom len.

Joann preparing to return to classroom after canteen break.

Supportive parents in action!

As a whole, Joann enjoyed her first day in school and made some new friends (she has some friends from LSK with her in the same class too). Praying that she will have an enjoyable 6 years in PLMGS (Primary) :-)