Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

We had a nice gathering with friends by the beach at Big Splash (East Coast) today.

Nine families altogether.

And when it started to get rather dark, we had fun with fire sparklers too!

Vai was fine with them, but Anya wasn’t too keen on getting anywhere close.

Too bad I didn’t manage to get a shot of people doing a ‘2009’ with their fire sparklers! It would’ve been cool!

Anyway, though we all didn’t have our parents or relatives here in Singapore to spend our Christmas Day with, we had a great time spending our day in the company of friends!

It was all nice.

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How did you spend your Christmas day?

Click HERE to see the larger version

So have you heard about this mobile service that lets you – as a parent – keep in touch with your child, WHILE at the same time determine exactly WHO she can communicate with via her phone?

Well I just found out about it last week!

It’s called KidSAFE, and it was launched by M1 very recently!

Basically, this service lets parents heave a sigh of relief when their kids are not with them, ie. by letting them contact their kids easily, but stopping strangers from calling them.

Now I don’t know about you, but when it comes MY own two kids and their usage of today’s technology (eg. mobile phones and all sorts of other gadgets), I must say I’m rather particular about it.

I’m one who’s not into having my kids spending (more than necessary) time on gadgets, because at their current age, they can be easily, yet unnecessarily, glued to them.

I’ve often seen kids who sit together with their friends and families, side by side, but each of them is well engrossed in whatever they have in their hands. There’s no communication, no interaction with one another. Yes they are physically very close to each other, but they don’t spend time WITH each other.

And I sure want to avoid such a situation from happening in my family.

I’m one who tends to value relationships and family time, and so I naturally try my best to instill such a value in my kids too.

I prefer to see my kids interact, run around silly and SPEND TIME with family and friends who are AROUND them, rather than be engrossed and glued to whatever technology that is on their little hands at a corner somewhere (read : lack of actual social interactions)

Having said that, we do let them play with our mobile phones once in a while though, eg. They’d watch a short episode of ‘Bob the Builder’ on Wilson’s iphone. At times, Anya would use my phone’s ‘notepad’ and just play with numbers and alphabets.

For safety reasons (and unforeseen emergency situations), we’ve also taught Anya how to call us (she knows our numbers by heart) from any home or mobile phones.

I believe each family has its unique situation and needs, and KidSAFE may suit your family, and help you in keeping in touch with your kids, giving you a better peace of mind.

As for us, when Anya and Vai are older and have started going to school, extracurricular classes, and other places ALL BY THEMSELVES, then YES, we definitely will go for KidSAFE mobile service!

As parents we definitely want to be sure that Anya and Vai are okay, that they’ve reached their destination safely, that they can conveniently sms or call Mommy or Daddy when they need help or when something (good or bad) happens.

And rather than going for the usual mobile phone service, we feel KidSAFE will be a much better option for us. And mainly because we can program only selected mobile numbers on our KidSAFE phone, thus eliminating the possibility of strangers contacting our kids.

Really. When we feel that it’s time for our kids to have their own mobile phones, I would imagine that there’ll most probably be only four pre-programmed numbers on their KidSAFE phones.

Home. Mommy’s. Daddy’s. And, sibling’s.

After all, shouldn’t our technology work to our advantage and bring loved ones even closer with each other?

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[More info on KidSAFE]

– KidSAFE service is offered only by M1, but is available to everyone, regardless of their existing provider

– Special offer now : $0 for the KidSAFE phone and free subscription on M1’s Sunshare plan!

– Security measures include : 6-digit parent PIN that’s required when phone book entries or any of the KidSAFE functions need to be amended

– Parents are able to view the last 10 blocked actions (eg. details of mobile phones attempting to sms or call your KidSAFE number, and outgoing calls (and sms) attempts made on the KidSAFE number to unauthorised numbers

For all other details, please do contact M1 directly.

Sometime ago I shared my very first Photography Tips, which was on trying out different camera angles.

And today I’d like to share another one. It’s about positioning our main subject in the frame.

When taking photos, quite a lot of people automatically place the subject in the middle of the picture (see sample photo of Vai above).

But the interesting thing is, when the subject is NOT placed directly in the centre of the frame, the photo can actually be more interesting and dramatic.

Rule of thirds:

I remember hearing the term ‘Rule of thirds‘ for the first time from my husband some eight years ago.

And this was what I learned at the time:

–  Imagine two horizontal lines and two vertical lines dividing the photo into thirds (see image above)

– If your object of interest (eg. a building that stands higher above the rest, or a child’s face in close up shots) is placed on one of the points where the lines intersect, your photo will most likely turn out looking more interesting (read: better and less boring).

Here’re two photos to compare:

[Top photo] Vai is placed right in the middle of the frame

[Above photo] Anya is positioned slightly to the side, ie. off-centre

Verdict : The positioning of the subject makes Vai’s picture looks more plain and less interesting.

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And here are a few more samples from my photography archive:

– When Anya kissed Vai on the cheek : click HERE to view

– Anya having fun with her water pistol and balloon at Vivo City: click HERE to view

– How Vai might look like if he’s grumpy : click HERE to view

– When Vai happily ‘roared’ to the camera : click HERE to view

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Please take note though that when you’re placing your main subject off-centre, you may need to ‘lock your focus‘ first (because otherwise your main subject will be totally out of focus, ie. blurred)

In most cases, you may need to focus on the main subject first, press the shutter button half way down (and keep it that way!), move the camera and position the main subject accordingly, and press the shutter button all the way down.

Now. This is just one of the basic principles that I’ve come across. Perhaps you’ve even applied the principle unconsciously when you take photos.

Anyway, the next time you take photos, why not try positioning the main subject at different places in the frame to see the effects you create. Does your photo tell the story better when the main subject is placed at a certain place in the frame? It’d be interesting to check them out yourself.

Happy experimenting!

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Here’s something which I thought will be fun for the post.

See which of the five shots below that you prefer / tells the story best. Any reason?

Anya and Vai came along to watch Daddy and friends practise and play tennis.

And one of the things they both always looked forward to was when everyone stopped playing and started collecting the balls. They’d IMMEDIATELY get themselves busy.

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We don’t know if they’d grow up sharing their Daddy’s passion for the sport. But then how could one even start to be passionate about something if they have never heard, seen, observed another and be involved?

Start simple, aim big, perhaps?

[Photo]
Anya and Vai keeping themselves well entertained at a friend’s one-month-old baby’s celebration some two weeks ago. Best wishes to the Chia’s family.

I don’t know if you’ve visited Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden this month. They have three christmas trees with recycled ornaments on them! I thought that’s such a good idea!

Kids and parents can make these ornaments at their ‘arts and crafts’ corner and choose where they’d like to place them when they’re done!

Anyway, this was how our recent trip there went.

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After playing at the tree house, we checked out the ‘Music Hut’! Vai kept asking me to sing something while they both tried to make noises from the musical instruments at the same time.

Gee, we were so noisy! Thank goodness there was hardly anyone else around at the time!

And, of course the kids got themselves busy at the sand area too! (we skipped the waterplay this time round)

And just when we’re about to leave, I noticed an ‘arts and crafts’ corner and three christmas trees with all sorts of recycled ornaments made by previous visitors.

They have a little table with tiny chairs (perfect for small kids!), and lots of arts and crafts materials (glitters, scissors, glue, tinsels, crayons, strings, etc). AND, next to it, a table FULL of recyclables! Stuff like, cereal boxes, containers, coloured paper, styrofoam cups, paper plates and egg cartons!

And as I stood there observing the big pile and the arts and crafts table, I was momentary feeling VERY happy! Haha, I know it’s weird, but I really felt a little tingle in my heart!

It’s as if I’ve landed on free Recyclables and Arts&Crafts Land!

Vai, who starts to find cutting paper into little bits very intriguing lately, immediately got himself busy cutting coloured paper and tinsels with his pattern-edged scissors. We spread some glue on the lid of a plastic egg carton and he sprinkled whatever he’s cut onto it. That’s his ornament.

Anya made a little necklace using plastic egg cartons (the bits where the eggs are placed), tinsels, glue and a string. She made a few other little stuff and cut out some snowflake patterns too.

And when they’re done, they went to the less ornamented tree and hung what they just made there.

[Vai’s artwork is the one on the left]

It was close to 3pm when we left, and both kids felt asleep on our bus ride back!

Goodness.

Vai woke up last Saturday morning with a bacterial infection! On his right eyelid! The bump was big and red!

The bacteria involved apparently are called ‘Staphylococcus aureus’, the same one that caused IMPETIGO – a type of skin infection that he got on his face last August!

And, I just learned from the doctor that this condition is called a ‘STYE’.

Click HERE to read more about it on Dr Greene.com!

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Here’s a bit more on what a Stye is :

– A bacterial infection / inflammation of part of the eyelid (that happens more amongst kids than adults)

– Symptoms : swollen eyelid, redness at edge of eyelid, the affected area is painful and tender

– A child who had it before, is prone to having it again (Vai had his very first case of ‘stye’ sometime around May this year. I didn’t know it was called a ‘style’ at the time, though!)

Thank God Vai is still his happy and active self. No change in appetite. No fever. No rubbing of his eyes (so I guess it’s not that itchy?).

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To treat it, the doctor (as well as the many websites I checked) recommended :

– Bathing the eye (with warm water and cotton wool)
This is a bit tough though because Vai doesn’t really let me touch the painful bump, let alone WASH it. So it’s been quite a struggle.

– Warm compresses, a few times a day
I filled up his water bottle with warm water and ask him to put it on his eyelid area (he doesn’t let me hold the bottle, so after explaining to him why he needs to put it on his eyelid, he chooses to do it why holding onto the bottle himself)

Bathing the eye with warm water and warm compresses apparently can help the stye to come to a ‘head’, and the pus to discharge (right now, there’s no ‘head’ on Vai’s bump). Never squeeze the bump / pus though!

– No eye-rubbing and let the child wash his hands regularly

– For Vai’s case, the doctor gave him : oral antibiotics (Augmentin, in liquid form) and eyedrops (Fucithalmic)

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You know, come to think of it, this bacteria somehow are rather fond of Vai, aren’t they?

He had his first encounter with a stye sometime in May, which only totally went away in two months or something! (the bump was reduced to a ‘head’ on the upper eyelid, and it took a long time for it to completely disappear! I was even told that a minor surgery MAY be needed to remove it! Else, he may need to live with the that little dried-up bump on the upper eyelid for HIS WHOLE LIFE)

Then Vai had impetigo in August!

And now, this.

*sigh*

We’re treating the condition, and I hope it’ll go away real soon.