Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I thought I should share this with you.

Earlier this week, I noticed Anya started to have frequent light green discharge on both her eyes.

The discharge kept on ‘appearing’ even after I gently wiped it away.

Anya felt her eyes were a little itchy too (but there’s no redness or swelling of the eyes, nor runny nose).

And so I thought something was definitely wrong. And it could possibly be related to her going swimming with Vai and Daddy the day before.

Anyway, I would never delay seeing a doctor when it comes to eye-related situations, and so the kids and I went to our family doctor soon after and was prescribed ‘Fracitin‘ eye drops for the eye infection.

(btw, our doctor couldn’t pinpoint whether it’s viral or bacterial infection … it’s kinda hard to say, I guess, especially since Vai and Daddy who swam together with her were both totally okay)

That was on Monday evening, and she was better by Tuesday morning.

I’m glad we immediately went to see a doctor and got it treated before it got any worse.

…

Now, I hope to hear stories from you.

– Have you or your little ones experienced similar situations? How was it and how long was the recovery period?
– What medicine / eye drops were given to you at the time? (if you can still recall, that is)

I’d LOVE to hear from you.

I’m sure lots of other readers will benefit from it too. Thanks everyone!

I’ve been asked quite a bit about whether I allow my two young kids play computer games, and my answer to that is, ‘Yes.’

Personally, I’m not against computer games (or the TV, or mobile phone games).

I must say though that I strongly believe any unnecessary (or excessive) exposure to such media can sure have negative impacts on the child.

To me as a parent, it’s more important to know and work out how often they’re allowed to be in front of the computer and the kind of games they play.

Here are some of our computer or games-related arrangements we have in our family:

– We dedicate one particular day in a week (ie. Wednesday) where the kids get to play computer games. Anya, who is 6yo, can play for about an hour. Vai, who is 3 years and 8 months old, can play for about 30mins.

And, the agreement between the kids and I is this: they get to play on the computer only IF they nap after school.

– If we happen to go out and about on a particular Wednesday (eg. a fun play at the beach, or dinner with friends), then there’s no computer games time that week.

Basically I hope to nurture their love for spending time and having fun with family and friends (ie. social interactions with friends and families are always encouraged and portrayed as ‘more fun’, as compared to having one’s attention and focus only on the computer or gadget in one’s hand, regardless of how ‘educational’ the games may be)

– We are against letting our kids play games (or watch TV programmes / movies) that promote violence, anger and hatred (even though it’s done in the name of ‘getting rid of the bad guys’)

We believe games (or movies / TV programmes) with plots based on aggression and violence will put our kids at higher risk of increased aggressive behaviour (ie. regardless of how ‘cute’ the characters are portrayed in them)

Here is our main online games list:

– Dora and Diego Games http://www.nickjr.com/games/index.jhtml

– Cooking Games http://www.oyunlar1.com/cookinggames.asp

– Starfall http://www.starfall.com

– Thomas and Friends http://www.thomasandfriends.com/ca/games.asp

…

It does get a little more tricky when it comes to mobile phones, because they’re easily accessible at any time of the day.

Basically, we apply similar principles to mobile phones (though it’s not a ‘once-a-week’ kind of arrangement).

eg. We let them play with our mobile phone (iphone) when the kids come along to our seminars / meetings and there’s nothing much for them to play with there after a while.

And, we discourage frequent play on our mobile phones (eg. browsing around, playing games or watching a ‘short-movie’), when there are friends and families with whom the kids should play, chat and interact.

…

I realise such exposure to technology (mobile phone, the TV and computers) is getting more and more common these days, which to me means, we as parents need to even be more watchful … especially when it comes to knowing and discerning what is ‘necessary’ for our children, and what is not.

…

Here’re a few related links on the topic:

– Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_video_games_playing_with_violence

– How TV affects your children
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

It was Saturday.

It was 6pm.

And as the kids went out and play, it’s always nice to look around and capture what we see.

[Photos : captured by Wilson]

Here’s one activity idea that works well with young kids:

… creating new shapes using different shaped cut-outs.

Like, your child can always create:

… a car, using two circles and a rectangle
… an umbrella, using a half-circle and a long rectangle

…

What I personally like about this activity :

– It’s very simple to prepare

– You only need a piece of white paper, glue stick and scissors to cut out the coloured paper

– It allows the kids to imagine and create things using existing shapes

– For older kids, they can also create imaginative stories out of what they’ve made

…

This was what Vai created, hehe.

There’s a car, a moon, a tennis racket, a house, a hammer of some sort and a few other things which he explained (but I’ve now forgotten. Oops.)

And this was what Anya created. There’s a moon, a mountain, a church, a girl and a house of ‘love’ (the one on the right, hehe)

She drew a few other things with a pen on the shapes and told me stories of how there’s boy who climbed up the mountain to find his Daddy, etc.

…

It’s always interesting to see how far a child’s imagination can soar.

Both my kids love to doodle on their drawing books.

Sometimes they’d tell me a story based on their doodles.

Sometimes it’s just a picture of ‘something’.

Like in the photo above, I think Vai was doodling … WALL-E?

…

Anyway, this was how I looked like when the kids were still two years old and tried to draw amusing pictures of MOMMY!

– By Anya (2 years and 4 months old)

– By Vai (2 years and 7 months)

The other day when I got some Tulle material to try and make a Tutu for Anya, I walked across a pile of flanel fabric and spotted one roll with cute dinosaur prints on it.

Now usually I would just look and continue on walking, but this time round I somehow thought to myself, ‘Now THAT would make a cute pair of pyjama pants for Vai!’

In the end, I even bought some extra fabric so I could try and make a pair for Anya too (I personally like it when they both wear something similar, hehe).

There’s one thing.

I must say I don’t know what came over me that day, because I have NEVER been into sewing before.

I mean, I love it when I see other moms sewing and making clothes or bags for their own kids. But I have never had the ‘drive’ to go ahead and try making something myself. Until THAT day.

So anyway, this was what I did:

– Used one of the kids’ pyjama pants as a ‘template’

(I chose to try and make pyjama pants as they’re easier to make than the pyjama top AND they’ll be worn at HOME! So even if the pants didn’t turn out well, it’s okay, hehe)

– After I cut the fabric out, I started sewing the pieces together

– Since we don’t have any sewing machine, I brought the sewn-up pants to a neighbourhood seamstress and asked her to just stitch through what I’ve already sewn using her sewing machine (ie. to make all the stitching very strong). Took her less than a minute to do it and it cost me just $2 / pair! *smile*

– Finally, I sewed the waist area and inserted the elastic band

That is it!

Now both kids have a brand new pair of Dino Pyjama Pants each and they are loving them!

Whoopee!

Vai is 3 years and 8 months old today.

And he has shared with us many sweet and funny moments.

Including, many challenging ones as well.

Let me share a little more detail.

In the past three weeks or so, our little guy has been giving us frequent challenging attitudes.

And last week in particular was a tougher one for me because I felt he was being extra difficult even MORE frequently.

…

He’d ignore me when I talked to him.

He’d choose to NOT reply nor respond when I asked him a question.

And when he did answer, his tone of voice was often unfriendly and rude.

He’d whine and request for things that he knew he couldn’t have. And when he didn’t get what he wanted, he’d scream his lungs out and wail to the max.

Like, he would ask for something (eg. sweets), but when he couldn’t have any (because he’s having a bad phlegmy cough, eg.), he’d whine, cry, stomp his feet, and wail. Real loudly. At home AND in public.

…

Early last week, I somehow felt I’ve heard enough screaming, wailing, whining, bickering, and rude replies.

I became a very impatient mommy.

I raised my voice (read: yelled) towards the kids more frequently.

I was grumpy more often.

I got easily irritated at the slightest ‘negative attitude’ from the kids.

I tried to withhold my impatience and anger till my head hurt.

I felt incapable of controlling my emotions.

Sigh.

I knew it’s all just a PHASE that ALL kids will go through.

But knowing how it’s just a ‘phase’ didn’t change the fact that going through it as a parent was hard!

…

And you know what.

Later that week I found out why I was extra intolerant towards the kids.

It’s because I was going through this PMS thing!

I was the one who’s more moody and emotional.

Gee.

Things got better towards the end of the week. Phew. How I thanked God for that.

My ‘PMS phase’ was over and the kids’ ‘challenging phase’ was getting better too.

(Somehow I think it was because I was less moody by then, and therefore I could somewhat tolerate the kids’ negative behaviour better. Hmm)

Anyway.

All this reminded me of a few things:

… as a parent, I need to learn to control myself even MORE than the kids who’re still learning to control themselves

… difficult times and encounters with our kids may possibly be caused by our own emotional roller-coaster

… my journey towards being ‘the kind of Mom God wants me to be’ is still very, VERY long

… I’m SO dependent on God’s grace, mercy and strength to get through every single day

…

Yup. Am learning, still.

Every day.

Here’s one of my latest experiments: Hand-made Tutu that requires NO sewing (well, almost).

And despite its look, it really is simple to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

– Tulle (see picture above)
– Elastic Band
– Scissors, thread and needle

[Note: I got my Bridal Tulle from Spotlight at Plaza Singapura, but then another mommy blogger recommended getting such materials from Arab Street as it’ll be much cheaper there! Thanks for the tips, Pauline!]

What you need to do:

1. Place elastic band around your child’s waist, and leave some extra inches as you need to overlap about 1 inch of the elastic band over the other end and sew this overlapping part together (This is the ONLY sewing you’ll be doing!)

2. Cut out the tulle into strips.

Width
The width should be between 3 – 5 inches. It’s up to you and they don’t have to be exactly the same width.

I kept mine at 3 inches wide so I can have more strips, haha.

Length
Fold the Tulle into two, place it downwards at the child’s waist, and determine how long you’d want the Tutu to be.

For Anya’s Tutu, the total length of the strip was 60 cm.

3. And now, the folding part.

Take one strip of the Tulle, fold it into two, put the loop in front of the elastic band, bring the end over the back of elastic band and into the loop (see illustration).

4. Repeat and do the same for all the tulle strips until the elastic band is all covered

5. Once all tulle pieces are securely tied across the band, spread them out more evenly.

I run my fingers down the strips every time I want to make the Tutu look neater.

THAT’S IT!

Simple to make, yes?

*smile*

Have fun making your own Tutu and watch your child dance and twirl in them!