Tree Top Walk

We finally attempted the HSBC tree top walk last week.  The kids were excited initially as we reached the carpark.  Once we studied the map on the distance, they began to have cool feet.  We agreed to conquer the 7.6km route and target to finish before lunch time.


The initiate track is muddy and rough.  I was glad my kids were co-operative and helped each other through the initiate 2.4km till we reached SICC.  From then till the bridge, they started to show fagtiue and started to appreciate our clean environment around our home.  I appreciated the sign post along the way and direct us to the brigde soon. Some of the steep slopes along the way really tired them out.




The whole family energy increased once we reached the bridge.  The sight from the top of tree is spectacular.  As the path is narrow on the brigde, we could not stay too long to take more photos. 

 

After the bridge, the trip back to the carpark was an easier route due to down slopes.  Maybe, the whole family were so hungry, we reached the carpark in much faster pace.  After the trip, I confirmed that my kids are city kids and I have a big gap to bring them into nature appreciation.

Cycling with Kids

Last Friday was our cycling day in East Coast.  I didn't expect the convenient ride from East Coast to Changi Airport Cargo complex.  I would recommend family to attempt this route as it builds great family bonding.  The kids are so determine to reach the final destination at Changi.  We found nice resort chalet in NSRCC and will plan to attempt this route again.

I observed how such activities helped to bring the kids closer to each other.  They take care of each other during the ride and constantly prompting each other on danger or new discoveries.  I am also glad to note how determine they have been.

Though a long tiring 4 hour ride, we all enjoyed in many ways throughout this cycling day.  We are looking forward to the coming tree top walk in coming Friday.

Primary 1 school orientation

It was a well organised event from FuChun Primary School.  I am impressed with the flow of events and the thought of collecting the kids at a common station.  I am pleased that my younger boy, Jerry, is joining his brother and sister in the same school.

During the scene of Jerry marching into the school hall, I can not help to realise how time has flew past.  He indeed grew up and ready to face the new phase of his life. This round of orientation is slightly different from the older kids as Jerry will be under the new scheme of PERI (Primary Education Review and Implementation) holistic assessment program.  In brief, there is no formal Q&A written assessment in each quarter. As for his language subject, there is no formal text book or workbook.  I am still not certain on the effectiveness of the program at this stage.  I am concerned about the knowledge assessment gap between the final PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) and the new PERI holistic assessment.  I will monitor and assist him to bridge the gap as it goes.

With the start of the school holiday now, my wife and I planned a series of program for them.  I am looking forward to our attempt to Tree Top walk soon.

Till then, I shall sign off here.

School holiday is coming

The cycle continues... Exam, school holiday. It's going to be a long 6 weeks holidays for the Kids. This holiday would be slightly different from last years as my Jerry is preparing for P1 next year. We still struggle to accept the fact that he is already a P1 kid. We decided this year holiday to explore Singapore places of interest. I will write about the places we go in this holiday in my next few blogs.

"Trick or Treat" with my kids

 It was a fright night out yesterday.  I am surprised to find out my neighbourhood transformed into a great spot for Halloween celebration.  There were so many people dressed up in various costumes and so many families welcomed all kids with sweets at their doorstep.


We had a great fun and also enjoyed some of the house decoration.

Check out our homemade costumes and my wife's face painting.  My daughter was even scared by her own look.

More scary in real form!

However, there were some cute costumes too.

 Come visit this neighbourhood next year! (Woodgrove.  Around American School Singapore)


 This is a great activity with family and I strongly recommend everyone to come join us next year in this neighbourhood.

Examination period

It is time for me to relax on their study this week.  I believe to stop revising during examination period. My belief ,which I shared with the kids, is that the results range is locked from the amount of preparing time since September.  This week is not a study week.  I allowed my kids to play Phone games, X-box, PSP during this period.  I always tell them that learning at the last minute does not help in the result.  In fact, it may confuse you further.  

Though I am relax, my kids become anxious over this examination week.  Daryl cannot sleep while Nicole seems to catch a cold.  Jerry still does not understand why the two older kids' behaviour.  I am on the contrary busy with my own business plans for November and December.  

One thing which make me smile today:

1) Jerry initiate to practise mathematics time table this morning and in the evening.  I am very happy with his attitude and willingness to learn.

Cyber bullies

Just heard over breakfast from my kids about school is teaching them on "Cyber Bullies"  In my days of schools, there are only school bullies and now "Cyber Bullies"  It is certainly a new ground for me and working with the kids to share more on this area.  I need to understand more about the definition of Cyber bullies before my kids are bullied in the Cyber world.


Though I have been conservative in allowing them to use FaceBook and other online chat rooms,  I began to accept the fact of the importance of such social networking tool and will slowly open up for my kids to leverage the power of this platform.  I am glad to understand that School is playing their part in educating them. I plan to learn more on this arena and share more in future.


It has been a busy busy week to prepare the kids for next week examination.  I am so looking forward to next week and I will have 1 load off my back.

Family time

I am happy today as I am back early to spend time with the kids.  I watched them played their imaginary game with each other and sharing new ideas to enhance their imaginary land.  It is always great to hear their laughter and talking in their strange cartoon slangs...


I agreed with my wife that this happiness from the kids would not be possible if we only had one kid.  Someone advised us before our marriage that 1 kid would be very lonely.  We did not understand at that point but decided to have 2 kids to balance their stress of taking care of their parent.  Our decision of more than one has certainly proven a lot of joy for us and I especially enjoyed my youngest son, Jerry's, companion.  He is always charged up with so much energy and making funny movement to get the family laughing.


Today is a great day on the whole.  I look forward to some of tomorrow meetings and coming back to teach the kids on their Science.  Their school text book for Science is emphasizing too much on experiential learning.  There is lack of content and parent or tutor would need to provide the additional information to their kids.  I am glad to be able to spend time with my kids on Science.  I really wonder how other kids' parent cope in coaching Primary School Science.


If there are tips in coaching Science, I am happy to receive some comments for this post.

Oversea assignment consideration - kids

Today, I just recalled my kids complaint about freedom when they were 7 or 8. I always replied to them that parents lost their freedom once their kid/s arrived into the family.  I encountered another case of parent giving up their oversea assignment as their kids decided to stay in Singapore.  It is hard for the kids to understand how much their parent make scarifies for them.  I also have numerous conversation over dinner with my kids on this oversea assignment.  It never ended well as the kids vote me out.


I envy those family who brought kids for their assignment.  I see their family bonding improved and overall exposure for the kids increased.  It is hard for the kids to see the opportunity for parents.  As like most parent, kids come first.  If they are not happy, my wife and I will not be happy.


Despite my feeling over parental love,  I find the following 3 things that my kids make me smile today:


1) Fetch Jerry from school and heard him screaming inside his school "Daddy!" His teacher commented how he always tell his friend about "my daddy says this and daddy says that". 


2) Played a new game with Daryl in iPhone and shared a lot of fun moment to break the records.


3) Nicole decided to run with me around my neighbourhood.








  

Outsource parenting

Over breakfast this morning, I over heard another table conversation where 2 mothers were commenting about difficulty in looking for P1 tuition center.  I cannot help but ask myself, "Is outsource of parenting in trend now?"   I used to grow up in the environment where kids are responsible for their school work and results.  In the current context, parents are reaching out to professionals for assistance in teaching their kids.  As more parents are busy pursuing their careers, I encountered far too many kids who are lack of parenting love and joined the "Dark side".   I do not agree with parent excuse of busy schedules and assume that kids today will still grow up like kids in the old days.  I must thank my wife for reminding me to spend time with the kids when I was travelling 80% of my time in regional job.  Today, my kids are very attached to me and I am very obligated to spend more time with them.

I have strong belief that kids can be shaped in the first 6 years of their life.  The rest of the time are fine tuning till teenage.  Steal a quote from my wife "Parents write the first 16 chapters of their kid's life and the kids will need to continue to write their chapters in life"  These 16 chapters include family values, the morale value, do and don'ts in life, sibling conflict handling etc.  My grandmother used to tell me that everyone is pure in the infant stage of our life.  The parents play a big role to guide the kids.  With the busy schedule of parents, I am not sure how many parents try to listen to their kids over dinner.

With most corporate promoting work life balance, I wish more parents cherished their time with their kids and spend more time dinning with their kids.  Just a quick observation, watching TV with kids during prime time should not be considered as spending time with kids.

3 things that make me smile today:
1) Jerry approached my wife and opened her palm.  He kissed on the palm and asked her to close palm.  He said to her that she may open her hand and tap on her cheek if she missed him. So sweet!
2) Nicole called me to chat about her school activities like her gossip about teacher romancing in school
3) Daryl is reading better in Mandarin and have more confident in the coming Chinese Oral tomorrow.

School bullies - Part 2

After the episode of school bullies, Daryl learnt when to fight back and how to draw the line of defence.  I am glad to meet up with the teacher as she agreed that giving Daryl the confident that adult will deal with the matter is important.  The teacher punished the bullies and informed Daryl yesterday.


I see that he is more confident in dealing with conflict situation over the weekends and he is more daring in giving advice to his siblings.  After all, it is a good episode to happen to him.

Negative Vampire

In our daily life, there are many negative vampire who drained away our positive energy.  I overheard my kids conversation complaining about the Ben 10 shows which they missed recently due to their preparation of examination.  When one person complaint, the other added on and both of the older kids were filled with negative energy. 


I interrupted them and explained the negative vampire concepts.  Negative vampires drained away positive energy in oneself. They usually complaints, condemn and influence others to move forward. It is like a virus when one negative vampire exist in an environment.  It will spread and everyone will be affected. It is important to either remove negative vampires in our life or walk away from them.  


Though they understand half-heartedly, they began to use the term negative vampire appropriately in their daily conversation.  By knowing how to identify negative vampire in their life, I believe it is the first step to become positive.  


Still 3 more weeks before the examination is over.  It seems like this year preparation is longer than the past.  I have a mix feeling over the arrival of November though the kids are very much looking forward to its arrival.

Bullies in School

I received a disturbing call this afternoon about some boys bullying my boy in school.  Though I tell myself to let the kids handle it, I find that kids these day should understand that bullies in school should be dealt with.  I grew up with protection from my Dad since he had connection with the secret society.  I recalled my call home and how he brought his "friends" down to my school entrance.  

After deeper thoughts, I decided to confront the teachers and the kids on the matter tomorrow.  My objective is to illustrate that kids should be encourage to communicate with parent openly.  By my presence in school, I hope to reward my kids for the truthfulness in sharing the incident to me.  I maybe wrong but I feel the significance to address to the matter immediate is the right thing to do.  

On the hind sight, these kids maybe lonely at home and need attention in school.  They may not aware of this action is nuisance.  Some adults may also think that kids are only playing.  I would say that it is not your kids or their kids do not dare to share such incident to them due to the known fact of their parent indifferent attitude to the matter.

While writing this blog, I began to appreciate my constant reminder to them about school bullies and the process to report such incident.  The last thing I want to face is that they have been bullied in a more serious scenario.  The daily dinner small talk and the daily 1:1 meeting with the kids are working out.  I will continue to encourage open communication at home.   

Before I start my Maths tuition, let me end this Blog with 3 things that make me smile today:

1) Met up with old colleagues and laugh about each other changes

2) Made up my mind to inform the teacher and assure my kid on the resolution

3) Nicole's positive changes in attitude over examination and her willingness to explain her thoughts

 

Oral Exam is coming

It is examination period and most parents are preparing their kids and equipping their kids with most of the examination strategy.  I am not any different and giving the last burst of fire on the Oral.  


I found that pulling out an article on the Chinese newspaper works for my kids.  They become inquisitive over the general issues and we expanded from Oral preparation to debating on the rights and wrong of the approach to issues faced in Singapore education.


My kids are not very into reading newspaper as they felt it is boring or in their language "so lame".  The last few days of oral preparation begin to draw their interest in newspaper reading.  I hope they continue this trend after their Oral preparation and open up their mind about social issues and general matters around the world.


My Jerry, who does not understand much about our discussion on the newspaper article, felt left out and pick up my iPhone to explore games "Plant vs Zombie"  He is good at the game and share his new adventures or achievement.  When I am back at home, I always felt that I have entered into another corporation.  I still have my 1 to 1, managing attention, politics and motivating staff. 


I love to see them discussing issues among themselves over the dinner.  My wife also added yesterday that such scene of kids discussion would not be possible if we decided with 1 kid.  Our decision of 3 kids are purely motivated from our worried for our kids to be burdened in future for handling 2 sets of old aged parent.  The issue will be compounded if our daughter in law or son in law is also single child.  Their annual leave may not be sufficient to cover if we are down with some illness.  Coming from more than 1 kid family, I appreciate the helping hands in my family to take care of my mum.


I hope to give my kids the right family value and constantly communicating with them on the reality of life.  I believe that improving their maturing will improve their academy results. I hope I am on the right track and teenage days would be another test to my strategy to parenting.


It is getting late and would like to conclude my blog with 3 things that make me smile today:
1) Called Nicole to give assessment paper and was surprised by her reply on her initiative of completing the past year assessment paper for English.
2) Daryl read the Chinese paper with better annotation then yesterday and his inquisitive of the Chinese newspaper article illustrated his interest in the Chinese language
3) I learnt some best practices in training professional

Weekend tuition

My usual Saturday rush between tuition center and other curriculum for the kids.  Though it is tiring, I always look forward to hear from the kids about the fun they had in classes.  I was at United Square and believe most of the parent spent at least half a day in that building.  Since the renovation of the food court, it seems to have forced parents to explore new hang out places within the building.  Maybe there is a good business opportunity to allow parents to attend free parenting seminars or some personal development seminars while paying for drinks and cakes.  I was also wondering if herbal tea place would work out in this building.

Tuition for kids have been talking points over the last few weeks.  It is a lucrative business and a number of tutors shared about their earning on the last Sunday paper.  Different family send their kids to tuition for different reasons.  I send my kids to tuition to learn other tuition center learning value and expand their networking circle in the early childhood.  The kids today are well exposed with technology from SMS, Blog to facebook or other social networking tools.  I believe in teaching the kids to fish and they will have a life skill to fish for themselves.  I am happy to see the 3 of them progressing and taking initiative to learn new skill.  

Daryl commented yesterday on learning how to troubleshoot PC or IT problems at home.  He hope to be a IT support manager in our neighborhood.  I am satisfied with his eagerness to learn and openness to share with my wife and I.  I hope his open communication to us remain unchanged when he is in his teen.  I heard so many horrified stories on the limited conversation parents have with teenage kids.  Meanwhile, I can only hope and treasure the moment of his openness in communicating with us.

It's time to end my blog with the 3 things that made me smile today:

1) Jerry read the CD song title using phonics

2) Daryl read newspaper on the latest SamSung product on Galaxy tablet and share his view of the similarity with iPaq

3) Nicole kissed me volunteering when I commented about the tiredness from the driving today

  

Children Day

This is my first Blog and decided to blog to learn this technology for my kids. I have 3 wonderful kids and a lovely wife who constantly energize me everyday. This would be my little appreciation to my kids as I would like to be able to provide guidance to them in future.

Today is children day!  I specially chose today to start this blog as a token of gratitude back to my 3 kids.  They are Daryl, 11, Nicole, 10 and Jerry, 6.  Though the original plan was to proceed to Orchard Central for golf simulation game, their sudden change of plan to save cost melted my heart.  They asked me about the cost for the simulation game and discussed over lunch among themselves on other alternatives.  They decided to cut cost and agreed to proceed to Kids Amaze (Jurong SAFRA), which is one of the largest indoor playground in Singapore equipped with a three-storey vertical maze.  

Their decision to go for alternative and conscious about cost brought great happiness to me.  We spent 4 hours in Kids Amaze and I witnessed their strong bonding among each other.  


To conclude the blog, I shared 3 things that made me smile today.  
1) Kids decided to change venue for Children Day Celebration
2) Kids take care of themselves in the evening while my wife and I have some time on our old
3) Started to blog today