Category Archives: My Daughters

Competitive Moms

Posted by Jewelle Tan on April 9, 2011 None comments

One thing I like about my daughters’ school is the competitive spirit among the mothers.

Not competing in the ways of whose kids were taken for the best school holiday trips or being women, who looked like they are ambassadors of programs like click here or sported the most expensive handbags as they walked their kids to class.

But competitive in making the most of the opportunities offered by the schools for their kids.

Just yesterday,  a fellow mom updated me on where to get the materials for a competition. That reminded me of this competition which I was actually trying to forget. Another mom told me that her daughter has completed hers and advised me to get mine started on hers soon. That reminded me that I should not let my daughter miss out on this activity just because it involves a lot of helping out from my side!

For my other daughter, another set of mothers reminded me how important it is to grab whatever learning opportunities are available. A fellow mom confided how she regretted not pushing her daughter for one activity at the time when she saw that mine was involved in two.

But it was one mom words I bring up to mind whenever I feel overwhelmed with all the demands of getting my two school-going children to be exposed to as many learning experiences – which meant a lot of driving to and fro school, coming in early to get a parking spot  and most times hanging around in school for hours.

“Telan saja” or just accept whatever inconveniences there are, for their sake and for their future.

Short Escapade

Posted by Jewelle Tan on February 8, 2011 2 comments

There was a line in Adam Sandler’s movie “Bedtime stories” where he said that if a hotel is too much like home, one might as well just stayed home.

And I understand that perfectly.

It’s not that we want to escape home – but home comes with many responsibilities and there are times when we just want to forget those responsibilities for a short while.

Apparently, my daughter understands that part of me well too now as she explained why our recent Miri holiday was a good thing – “Mama will get to rest and she can watch TV or read her books. If she wants anything, all she has to do is call Housekeeping“.

!!

But she was right actually – to some extent. There were many things I did not have to do although it also meant that I had to be extra vigilante about making sure that their physical and verbal energy and exuberance do not get us kicked out – and that probably did not happened because both rooms besides us were vacant…

So it was not some fancy Branson getaways in the USA but this short break over the Brunei border was enough to recharge my energy to face all that I need to handle as a mother to 3 handful children.

Impersonating Animals

Posted by Jewelle Tan on January 31, 2011 None comments

Like most parents, one of the first thing we taught the kids was about animals – the names and the animal sounds.

We have several books on animals but all my kids have now passed the phase where they enjoy looking at animal pictures – and have yet to reach the stage where Animal Planet channel is interesting.

But while they have outgrown animal pictures and no longer look for their basket of toy animals, they do have one animal-related game which all of them seem to enjoy.

And although I know how they got this idea, I still don’t understand why this is such a fun game for them. It’s not even a game actually – just role-playing a CAT!

It’s normal in my household to suddenly hear meowing while on all four and to hear another saying “Hello kitty cat”.

I guess we should be thankful that they enjoy impersonating only cats (so far) – instead of say, horses, as neighing would grate on my nerves and galloping without equestrian helmets would invite head bumps in our small living room.

At least I know they will never role-play a fish because as much as they enjoy looking at fish in aquariums, they love eating fish more.

Gadget Generation

Posted by Jewelle Tan on December 15, 2010 2 comments

The familiarity that kids these days have with electronic gadgets is a little scary.

My youngest child, a mere babe of not even two years old, considers my soon-to-be-retired handphone (by the way they seem to enjoy fiddling with it!) as one of her standard toy.

Although we are forced to quiet them down most times, especially at public places, with gadgets like our handphones and an iTouch – we draw the line at getting them a PSP, which courtesy of their cousin who has one is in their radar of cool-things-to-have.

They still enjoy active activities (which involve loud noises, turning a place upside down and sweat – major headaches for us!) and we will encourage these.

We will refrain from giving them more gadgets that will take them away from their (kind of) boisterous activities until this phase is naturally over.

And that means, there is no plan to get them their own laptop or Ordinateurs (which I just learn, is desktop in French) – and definitely not PSP.

Yet.

Storytellers

Posted by Jewelle Tan on November 7, 2010 None comments

Like many parents, we control the kids’ TV time – and we limit their access to electronic games.

By limiting the time they get to watch TV, we get to be more selective of the kind of shows they can enjoy. It has been this way for them since they were born so it is easier for them to accept when their show time is over – although not always without protest.

The same policy goes with electronic game device. At this moment, despite the many educational-driven themes from devices such as the xbox games, Playstation games or even basic computer games, we have no intention (so far) of buying any video game devices.

Instead, we spend more money on reading materials to encourage them to make reading a habit – and we have books everywhere around the house (and cars).

They might be the most “backward” kids in their class in terms of slangs and knowledge of TV shows or games – but judging from their highly animated and very spirited role-playing games, I think they are doing just fine.

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