Butterfly Lodge & Our Butterflies

A couple of weeks ago I brought the boys to Oh' Farms Butterfly Lodge. The main purpose was to purchase caterpillars for the boys to observe how they grow into butterflies, and to visit the Butterfly Lodge since we were already traveling all the way to Yishun.

But the Lodge turned out to be quite a small enclosure. I wouldn't say that the butterflies looked too impressive either. Luckily, while I was planning the outing the previous night, I recalled that another mummy brought her children to Bottle Tree Park on the same day as Butterfly Lodge, and I decided to bring along the boys' wet gear for longkang fishing.

Bottle Tree Park is really very near Oh' Farms! I strongly recommend that you plan these two on the same day if you intend to visit Oh Farms, especially if you don't stay very near the area.

I bought three caterpillar kits ($4 each). Each kit came with two caterpillars in a plastic container, as well as care instructions and leaves to feed the caterpillars. The auntie was also very detailed when she taught me how to take care of the caterpillars.

Hmm, how did our caterpillars turn out?

The very next morning, four had turned into pupa and two were lying motionless on the bottom of the container. I also saw a few ants attacking the motionless caterpillars. I guessed they were dead so I threw them away. Out of the four hanging pupa, one looked rather black..

One week later, two butterflies emerged in one morning. Hubby wanted to release them before we went out in the afternoon, but I thought their wings were not dry yet as they were not flying around in the container and decided to wait till we came back. But when we reached home at 8pm+, one of the butterflies was not moving anymore! It seemed to have died (of hunger??).. nevertheless Jiale and I brought it downstairs to the bushes in case it had just fainted. The other butterfly was released successfully, but before it flew to my leg and stopped there for a while! Couldn't bear to leave us? Hee hee.

A third butterfly appeared the next morning. This time we released it around noon.

One of the normal-looking pupa

One week later, there was still no sign of life from the last (black) pupa. I decided to throw it away since it was probably dead.

Tip for rearing caterpillars:

Our 2nd butterfly

I should have put the containers in plates of water as soon as I brought them home. I think they are susceptible to ant attacks, though I wonder how they survive in the wild then.

Bye bye butterfly

Caterpillars!

Excreting excess dye

The pupa that looked red & raw, before turning black

The survival rate indicated in the care instructions was 50-60%, so I guess our 3 butterflies out of 6 caterpillars wasn't too bad lah.

[Sorry for the messy photos which are not in sequence. I can't get them to align properly, and Didi is up!]

Self-Initiated Learning

A few recent incidents really wow-ed me.. I was floored by how children instinctively and naturally learn.

Incident One
Jiale has got his toy animals and (quite) a few animal books for some time. A few days ago, I saw that he had taken out a toy snake and was reading Snakes Dictionary : )

Incident Two
I have a shelf near our usual bedtime reading area (i.e. living room sofa) where I put the books which I would prefer to read for bedtime. (But he is free to choose any other book from anywhere else for me to read.) All along he has been largely ok with the selection. But recently, he has started to go to Didi's shelves and chosen board books, which are mostly simpler stories with fewer words, and he started reading after me!

Incident Three
I seldom sing nursery rhymes to the boys, because I am not a great fan of singing nor do I have a good voice. Not that I am shy to sing in front of my own children la, just that I don't have the habit of breaking into song that often, lol. But what I do quite often is to insert my own words into the tune of a rhyme while talking to them. Urmm, the most often one is probably 'Didi is a naughty boy, naughty boy, naughty boy..' to the tune of 'London Bridge is Falling Down'. Haha. And nowadays, I notice Jiale has been doing the same thing! He sings (sorta), but the words seem to be all his own!

In general, I am very laid back about Jiale's developmental progress, especially after the first year (cos I became a cooler mum?? Hee hee). And these incidents just affirmed that what I am doing, at least some must be right! : )

Boys 2, Mummy 0

What happened after the short break just now?

We had a great time pretend cooking! Then the boys went for their bath (very dirty by then!), and I let them play with the water table, with bubbles and water beads. Then the trouble began.

The boys would usually play by themselves for about 30 minutes after their bath while I cleaned up and prepared lunch. But Jiale insisted on eating biscuits and I knew Didi would want to eat too when he saw Kor Kor eating... Then what about lunch?? I had already cooked soup and rice! But no choice, Jiale was very insistent and I had not finished preparing lunch, so I gave them biscuits. Then Jiale wanted to play with his Gigo cubes and insisted (yes, this word again) I make a car for him (yes, in addition to the one I made in the morning).

Then when lunch was served, Jiale refused to stop playing and didn't want to eat. He threw a huge tantrum and cried and cried and cried. By then I had realised what was happening - he had incidentally chosen all the more intellectual games/toys to play with this morning (logic game, building blocks, magnetic puzzle) and add on the very fun and simulating pretend cooking.... I had a overtired kid on my hands rolling on the floor. When he finally calmed down (still sobbing), he said he wanted to go to bed instead of having his lunch. My persuasive attempts were futile. So he went off to bed.

After about 5 minutes, he came out and was in a much better mood and wanted to eat his lunch. OK good, but I was already exhausted by his earlier tantrum (not forgetting the massive clean-up). There you go, the boys easily scored another point against mummy.

Play Cooking!

What does a mummy do with expired pasta? Let the boys play cooking with it of course!

Pots, ladles, bowls

Say ahhh...

Posing with his finished dish

Baby Chef at play work

Brothers who cook together stay together!

Let me add some sauce..

Great! More condiments!

Oops, messy!

Might as well make it messier, ya?

Sense of smell - peppercorns, ginger, garlic, rosemary, cloves

Verdict: I think the boys would give me a 'Well done, mummy!' :D

Boys 1, Mummy 0

1st time I'm blogging while the boys are awake, but it's gonna such a long post for FB status that I might as well write a blog post!

Woke up wanting to get ready before Didi started crying, but got hijacked by Jiale who wanted to play with the magnetic puzzle. Then Didi started crying. Couldn't rush Jiale, so once he finished, I rushed to brush teeth and prepare milk for Didi before going in to greet him.

While Didi was having milk, Jiale wanted breakfast. Means once Didi finished his milk, he wanted breakfast too. Jiale went off after he was done eating. While waiting for Didi to finish eating/playing with his food, Jiale wanted me to make a car with his cubes.

When Didi finally finished, I was cleaning him up when Jiale asked me to open the folder which contained GLUE. OK, fine. So, while I was cleaning up the eating area, the temporarily-clean Didi joined Jiale to play with glue. Sigh. So after I finished the cleaning up, I went into the room to clean up the boys and the glue mess.

Then I realised Didi had poo-ed. Stinky. And Jiale wanted me to play the Wisdom Star logic game with him. So, leaving Didi with poo in his diaper, I sat down to play with Jiale. Once he was satisfied, it was time to clean shit.

Phew, finally 'all' done. Yeah, right. Time to prepare for morning sensory play. Dunno why the jello I prepared last night had not hardened!! Wasted my time.

Now I finally get to sit down before they go off to make a mess again. Don't care, I'm going to sit here for at least 20 minutes!!

Teacher Cut Hair Saga

Teacher gave boy warnings to cut his hair, he failed to pass on the message to his mother or to take any other action, teacher cut his hair for him before his PSLE oral exam, mother lodged police report.

I guess no one was perfectly right in this situation.

Teacher - the timing of the haircut might not have been very appropriate, and perhaps she should have made more effort to contact the boy's parents to inform them of the school warning. But then, dish out punishment still need to wait for auspicious time meh? If the wrongdoing happens to be before PSLE, if the punishment happens to be before PSLE, so be it lor. The boy suay lor. Frankly speaking, I think the teacher probably knew she would get into some sort of trouble for cutting the boy's hair, though she might not imagined it would be a police report and this type of mega publicity. Thus I commend her for going ahead with what she 'promised' to do. I hope the boy learnt a valuable lesson called keeping to one's promise.

Boy - He's already 12 years old lor. I think of my nephew who is also 12, and I can't imagine him being immature (or dumb) enough to get into this type of trouble. This boy has attitude problem lah. No prizes for guessing why he has attitude problem. And he's a wimp. Cry because of hair? I think I will give him an extra slap if he's my son. And I really can't wait for him to go to NS *evil laugh*

Mother - she's the champion. I think she is the most wrong of all. Simply because she is the one whom the boy will look to for guidance and as a role model. No matter what the teacher did, she was but just one of many teachers who would pass through the boy's life. But the mother remains a constant. The boy will learn from how she responded in this case. I shudder to think how he will react to future disciplinary attempts from school authorities. I wonder if the mother realises she had sabo-ed her son. Or till now, does she still think she was helping him? Good intentions no doubt, after she's the mother and I believe she wouldn't sabo him intentionally. But but but.

Haii haii haii..

Post National Day Rally

Yep, Singaporeans are complaining again. I really buay tahan!!

Firstly, there is probably going to be nothing at all in the new package that will benefit me - I am a SAHM so no need for maternity leave anymore, no intention to send my kids to preschool, no need for the HDB priority cos we have no plans to move (I think I don't wanna move until my kids are old enough to pack their own stuff!!), paternity leave has not much impact on us cos Hubby does have quite a lot of leave (need to clear!!) and he doesn't take long stretches of leave cos we don't have overseas vacation. Oh, we will benefit from the new Medisave for newborns, just like everyone else : )

Truth to be told, as I was listening to PM Lee, of course I was hoping that there would be something for SAHMs.. but well, nothing. And frankly, I think the government would be nuts to offer incentives for women to become SAHMs! We already need more human beings in the workforce.. how to let go of women who need incentives to become SAHMs?? If indeed more and more women are already willing to become SAHMs without external incentives, I am sure that is already a headache for the government.. good enough that we are not penalized ok. If you remember about positive/negative reinforcement/punishment, the lack of a reward is not a punishment. So, it is definitely not right to say oh since working mothers get more subsidies, it's punishing SAHMs... no no no. If encourage women to become SAHMs + give long maternity leave (16 weeks is already long ok) + give paternity leave... WHO work????

I am fortunate that my hubby is able to support our family of four and I don't die die have to work. But seriously, how many of the people around me who are complaining are those who die die need dual incomes to survive?? Or just need dual incomes to sustain a comfortable lifestyle which they are used to and are not willing to sacrifice for the sake of their children? I am not saying that it is wrong to be a working mother, I am saying it's a choice. It's a personal choice, it's a family choice, it's a lifestyle choice. If after considering all aspects and one/both spouse(s) are not willing to become a single-income family, cannot blame the government right?

Preschools. Haha. There are now 247 PCF kindergartens. BUT so many people choose to enrol their children in more expensive and atas preschools. Whose fault? Whose problem? Yes, yes, some might say the quality is different. So, you choose quality, you pay lor. (This is just like the housing problem.) No money? Then give up the overseas trips, give up enrichment lessons, give up branded clothes & bags & makeup & car & condominium. Tata! Got money liao! 

I also like very much the decision not to nationalise preschools. Because people just wanna enrol at atas schools without paying atas fees. But then, the whole world also want that mah. Then not enough places.. then how? Instead, the government will be bringing in new AOPs (Anchor Operators, ie PCF & NTUC) and upgrading existing AOPs. Yes! More non-atas kindergartens! DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT give in to not-poor parents who only want atas preschools and not willing to pay! Worried about social mobility? Worried about disadvantaged lower-income families? Government will take care of them!

Actually, the abovementioned is just referring to people around me, i.e. definitely not poor people. Not rich maybe, but not poor not poor not poor. So I am very glad that the proposed increased financial support is targeted toward low- and middle-income groups. That's the way to go! Must help those who are really poor and who can't even afford PCF kindergartens even though they are happy to enrol their children there. Ignore those who have money but still want to complain.

[Sidetrack: My 33-month-old son is attending one morning (3 hours) of preschool a week. It is an atas and expensive preschool. One month (i.e. 4 lessons) costs about $300. If we want to enrol him there for daily lessons, it will be a crazy $1500 per month. Since we can't afford it/don't want to spend this kind of money, if/when we do want to send him for daily classes, we will enrol him at PCF instead. A kindergarten which we can afford. It is probably not as good as his current school, it definitely doesn't meet all my criteria for a good school, but it's our choice after considering our limitations. No complaints.]

Money aside, PM has made it clear that there is no need to drill young children (poor kids) academically in preschools. Loud and clear. But will parents listen? Nope. They will just complain they have no choice because the local education system is so competitive and academic-based. I agree, it's competitive and academic-based. To me, that is exactly why there is no need to worry so much during preschool. Because our education system is so effective that the kids will learn what they need to learn for P1 during P1! The parents are the ones spoiling the market and making life difficult for teachers, other parents and policy-makers. Kiasu, and then complain it's other people's fault.

We cannot control the larger system - unless you are willing to be a social activist &/or advocate. But, are you willing to make the sacrifices to do so? No? So you just wanna complain? Let's just do what an individual can control - make a difference with your own children, drop out of the rat race. We have to start somewhere, instead of waiting for some other people/things to change first.

The Mystery of the Missing Frogs

About two weeks ago, we had our first frog! A few days later, a second frog appeared. I was cracking my head about what to feed them, cos from what I read, tadpoles are herbivores while adult frogs need to eat insects. I went to fish shops but was told that they only sold frogs to feed fish.. nothing for frogs : / So I tried to catch ants for the frogs but I wasn't too diligent about it.

A couple of days ago, I realised I couldn't see the two frogs anymore! Was rather perplexed, and today when I changed the water and took a close look, the frogs really weren't in the box anymore! Hmm, the frogs are apparently prone to eating their own kind when desperate hungry, but... they couldn't have eaten each other, right??

There is no way to solve the mystery, but I am guessing out of desperation they had escaped from the two small holes I poked in the lid for ventilation. Urmm, and since they probably slimmed down from the no-choice dieting, it probably wasn't too difficult.

Anyway Jiale and I are really enjoying this froggy journey. We have watched the tiny tadpoles grow into frogs! Hopefully I will be able to persevere until the frogs produce eggs, as we missed out on that stage.

As you can see from the photo above, we have a new froglet! It just emerged from the water this afternoon. And I shall try really hard to feed it well!

Developing Good Habits

Two things about Jiale which I am very proud of - his sleep habits and his walking abilities.

He has been sleeping on his own since five months old. Was in a cot in our bedroom before that, but even then, he never got to sleep on our bed. When he was 14 months old, he started sleeping in a kid's bed (cos he was almost able to climb out of his cot and I got too scared). Now, I am very happy that he knows how to sleep on his own : )

Jiale never asks me to carry him when we are out. He can walk and walk and walk when we are at the zoo or bird park or Changi Boardwalk etc. He seldom even complains at all.

BUT I don't think it's innate abilities. It's habits trained by me. I am 100% sure he will still need me to accompany him to sleep if I had started this habit when he was younger. So, it's just one habit versus another. Same for walking, other than mummy's preferences, the fact is I was pregnant with Didi when Jiale started to walk, so I seldom carried him even at home, asking him to walk instead. Thus, 'forced' by circumstances, he (and me) is very used to walking on his own.

[But I think that before 2 years old, it's difficult for a child to walk fast enough to keep up with an adult's pace, and also difficult for him to have sufficient endurance to walk a lot. Though Jiale didn't ask me to carry when he was younger, I found it hard to expect him to walk, cos he was sooo slooooow. And asking a child to hurry up is simply asking for trouble.]

BUT the same Jiale always asks Daddy to carry! Even from our house to the carpark..... I wouldn't torture any of us by going for a long trek as a family.. Thus you don't see us doing such activities on weekends. I mean, what's the point of going for a nature walk if the boy isn't going to WALK???

[OK, maybe not true, even if he doesn't walk, there are still many things to see. Just that one of my main goals of going on such treks (i.e. torturing myself) is to train Jiale to TAHAN, to train his physique and stamina and endurance.]

Children are very smart - they can adjust to different expectations effortlessly lor. It is really Daddy's fault for spoiling him... and also for being too impatient to wait for Jiale to walk slowly (though it might not be slow for a child). In the beginning, Jiale did try asking me to carry, but I always let him finish his tantrum and he would walk in the end (because I would NEVER give in and carry). Now that Jiale is walking much faster, I am reaping the rewards of my patience and efforts, while Daddy is suffering lor :p I have suggested that Daddy start training Jiale now.. but I guess he can't bear to/can't be bothered to/can't stand the embarrassment, so it's status quo for now.

Other good habits which I have cultivated/am cultivating - always getting off his bike and pushing it across at underpassess and overhead bridges. Doesn't matter whether there are other people around, cannot be lazy for the sake of convenience. And always throwing litter in the bins - Jiale exclaims and points out any litter he sees nowadays. A funny anecdote here - Didi has also been 'brainwashed' simply through Kor Kor's influence and observing us. There was once when we were at the letterbox and suddenly I realised Didi was quietly picking up all the junk mail on the floor and throwing them into the bin! I don't usually ask Jiale to pick up other people's litter cos I don't want him to dirty his hands (and we would be very busy if we always pick up all the litter!). But it was good to see Didi being so proactive, hee hee.

Of course there are also bad habits caused by me.. But that's another (or many other) story.

Change in Routine

Didi's naptime was usually 11.30am, and Jiale's was 12.30pm. But Jiale often woke Didi up with his LOUD whining and crying when it was time for him to go in to his room, so I decided I had to do something about it.

Thus, from today onwards, the boys shall go in for their nap at the same time, at 12nn. Jiale stops crying by the time he's on his bed (it's the getting him away from whatever he is doing that is difficult, he is ok to sleep on his own), so Didi will be still awake (alone in his bedroom) during Jiale's whining.

The good thing is, we have a longer morning together, so we are able to do more things. Since morning is our usual time for sensory/messy play, that means more play! (and also more time for me to clean up, thankfully). This morning, we had fun playing with big bubble wrap and paint. I also read many more books than usual to the boys. Jiale has always had the habit of asking me or Daddy to read to him, while Didi used to be totally not interested in books, he now follows Kor Kor and also brings books for me to read to him : ) And who says sibling rivalry is not good - the boys keep asking for more and more books in an attempt to 'out-read' each other! (They take turns to choose the book for me to read.)

The bad thing is, Didi now has to watch the Letterland CD-ROM together with Jiale. Jiale is allowed to watch two letters a day, IF he remembers to ask for it :P However I would prefer Didi not to start so early, as I am worried he might learn his alphabet ONLY based on the Letterland characters, and not recognize the normal plain alphabet. Not so concerned about the electronic usage here, as it takes no more than ten minutes. Well, as you can see, Didi was very engrossed! His eyes so big right? They got even bigger as he stared at the screen! Aiyoooooo....

And hor, while I have my doubts that this is caused by bringing his naptime 30 minutes earlier, Jiale is still awake now! 1 hour 25 minutes after he goes in to bed. SIGH. I have finally been feeling well enough to bring them out these two days, but on both Sunday & Monday, my plans were fouled because Jiale woke up too late from his nap. Looks like today might also be a no-going-out day : (

But what to do, the siblings have to adjust to each other's routine lor. Sleep is still the singular most important thing to a young child in my opinion.

Housing in SG

Woo, missing in action for about a week, and once I regain some energy, I can't wait to write about.. this? Haha, well, it's August, the month of National Day, Loving Singapore, Our Home, so why not? Furthermore my mummyzhu's happy world is largely thanks to the government! Thus, it's very apt to profess my undying love and admiration for them *nod* I am also very glad that I am not making any revenue from my blog, cos I really don't have to care about readership!

Very randomly, I came across this - a politician's reply to a Singaporean's complaints (what else?) about housing.

Hmm, I live in a nice big (145 sqm) HDB Executive Apartment. Definitely not one of those shrinking/shrunk 90 sqm four-roomed flats. So.. of course I have nothing to complain about, right?? Well, you see..

The flat had two previous owners, it's 3rd hand for us and we signed on the dotted line in early 2008. No cheap heavily subsidised new flat from HDB. We were subject to the merciless market.

The COV quoted was about $45000. (We ended up not having to pay in the end cos the earlier valuation report had expired before we could sign anything, and the new valuation was exactly the asking price.) Anyway, we had decided to buy the flat before knowing we would not have to pay the COV. Seriously, I didn't have the money. Luckily my hubby-to-be had. And I swear that if neither of us had the money, we would have just looked at other flats which we could afford.

Our flat is nowhere near a MRT station or town centre or nice big park or shopping centre or branded school etc. The nearest MRT station is four bus stops away, definitely not within walking distance.

We did consider flats at Marine Parade, but we knew they were out of our range, so we did not even visit any of the for-sale flats there.

In conclusion, I very much agree with what the above link mentions - reality is not a bed of roses. We can't have it all, we have to learn to be satisfied. Want a big flat? Go for older flats. But be prepared to pay $$. Want a new flat? Then be prepared to wait and go through balloting etc. Want a cheap flat? Then there will be more inconvenience in terms of traveling and shopping etc. Want amenities? (e.g. Bedok Central) Then pay $$!

Book: How Children Fail

By John Holt

I took a lot of notes while reading this book. (Couldn't highlight as it was a library book.) Started off quite slowly, felt that it was quite a tedious read, as the format is in notes which the author wrote as he taught in schools or observed other teachers in class. Thus there is no clear points, no conclusion, no summary, etc. Gotta make your own inferences as you go along.

The first chapter was titled 'Strategy'. Mainly about how children try to handle classroom situations. Not that relevant to me as I am not a teacher and my children are not in school yet.

I shall copy here the notes I took from the second chapter onwards, i.e. what I found to be important points.

---

Children have no concept of 'success' until they need to please adults. Children think in terms of effort and adventure. It is only when pleasing adults becomes important that the sharp line between success and failure appears. [pg 67 -70]

"Perhaps they are thrown too early, and too much, into a crowded society with other children, where they have to think, not about the world, but about their position in it." [pg 77] A powerful statement to me

Intelligent = intensely involved with life. Use common sense, to analyze, to check answer. [pg 88]

Children need to be secure. They become fearful when they feel insecure. "The scared fighter might be the best fighter, but the scared learner is always a poor learner."
Be real, not some idealized notion of 'teacher' (or 'parent'!). Children feel secure when they sense you are real. [pg 88-95]

Heavy workloads force children into answer-directed strategies. They are more willing to do thinking to figure things out when workload is light.[forgot to note the pages]

Children don't learn because we teach them, i.e. try to control the contents of their minds. [pg 231]

"Freedom to live and to think about life for its own sake is important and even essential to a child." Should make schoolrooms and schoolwork as interesting and exciting as possible so that children will act intelligently and get into the habit of acting intelligently. [pg 262-265]

Love for learning is destroyed by encouraging and compelling children to work for petty & contemptible rewards such as gold stars, '100', 'As' etc.

---

This book has further firmed my resolutions to homeschool my children until Primary One at least. Waiting for the author's other books 'How Children Learn' and 'Teaching Your Own' - Excited!

Book: Siblings without Rivalry

By Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish

A good book! Can't summarize cos it's all good. BUT just many of the books I have read, it's targeted more toward older kids.. not much I can use now.. : /

BUT unlike the other books, it did touch a little on younger preverbal kids, and what it mentioned was basically along the lines of 'nothing you can do with young kids, just wait for them to grow up'. SIGHHHH...

One of the main reasons I like the book is that the authors use comics to illustrate techniques. Easy to read, easy to understand : )

If you have a child older than four years old, or a very mature three-year-old, grab the book and read it! Strongly recommended!

Bad Habits Caused by Mummy : (

Not too long ago, I had to put Jiale through cold turkey as I wanted to break his TV addiction. The poor boy suffered, for something which was my fault. I should not have started letting him watch TV at all in the first place. I am very happy we are over that now. Sorry, Baobei!

But, lousy mummy here started him on another bad habit. I let him play with my iPhone when he woke up in the morning, as I did not want to wake up as early as him and I did not want him to wake Didi with his whining &/or crying (cos I gotta get up once Didi is up). And slowly but surely, he became used to playing with the iPhone in the mornings and would demand for it once he woke up. (Jiale is the early riser in the family.. he seldom sleeps past 7am. Imagine our suffering.)

It was not long before I realised it was a problem. It was bad for his eyesight, and he even started demanding for more new apps. It also meant that he could have spent that 30 minutes or one hour doing free play (trains etc) instead of staring at the iPhone. But I was still too lazy to do anything about it : (

But five days ago, I finally made up my mind. Cannot let it go on anymore. Even if I had to wake up at 6am+ everyday, so be it.

The next morning, I told Jiale, no iPhone. As expected, he started whining and crying loudly. I kept talking to him and sayang-ing him and trying to distract him. Surprisingly, his tantrum did not last very long. He then wanted me to walk out to the living room with him so that he could play with his trains. I managed to delay a bit by telling him what time I would get up (about 10 minutes later), and he was agreeable.

Same thing happened the next two mornings. By the 4th morning, he came to me and told me, 'no iPhone'. YIPPEE!! I still had to entertain him lah, but at least there were no more demands and complaints! I was very happy that he remembered 'no iPhone' without me having to remind him : )

I am going to continue this cold turkey until he doesn't mention iPhone at all, just like he hardly ever asks for TV nowadays (maybe once in 3 weeks max, and he wanders off to play after watching for about 10 minutes). Now that we are over the early morning hurdle, it's going to be quite easy cos I rarely let him play with my iPhone at other times.

I really regret taking the 'easy' route out and making him suffer. I hope hope hope I never make the same mistake again! Truly, there is always a solution, just that it might require more effort from the parents.

I Love LKY, I Love PAP

I like this so much that I have decided to write a blog post with this included.

[Disclaimer: This is MY blog and I write what I feel and what I think is correct. If you have strong differing opinions about LKY &/or PAP, please do yourself and me a favour and STOP reading NOW. If you insist on reading, it's your own problem, and don't tell me your disagreements. I don't care, I don't want to know.]

I am a 100% supporter of PAP and Lee Kuan Yew. Personally, I will feel I am a failure as a parent if my children do not show 100% appreciation of PAP and Lee Kuan Yew. I won't get angry with them, I will only be angry with myself. I won't show anger towards them, I will only weep alone. And weep I did, when I heard rumours that LKY might be in dire health just before National Day. I was at home with the boys, and I couldn't stop my tears from falling. I was so sad that he might pass on before I have a chance to properly educate my children about all he has done for Singapore, for us. I took out his books and showed his picture to Jiale, and told him this is Lee Kuan Yew, he is the reason why we have all we have today. But Jiale is simply too young to understand more. I know he is very old and if he is in poor health, it might be less suffering for him to let go. But I was so sad that he might pass on before Singaporeans learn to truly appreciate him and be thankful for all he did. Imagine being on his dying bed and knowing that there are people out there who disregard his hard work and think what he did was wrong.

But I say, just look around you, at the flat you are living in (and probably own), look out at the neighbouring blocks, look downstairs at the neighbourhood parks and amenities, open your door and walk out safely - these are all direct results of the hard work of LKY and his teammates. I maintain that if you like the Singapore you see now, that means you like LKY and PAP. It's like you like to eat cake, but you don't like eggs and flour. OK, well, flour doesn't taste good on its own, but without flour, there's gonna be NO CAKE. Some say it's not just LKY/PAP's efforts, the average Singaporean worked hard too. Yep, sure, try making a cake without any flour. You can substitue another ingredient, but then, what you get will not be the same cake ya? It won't be same the Singapore we love!

Charisma. Convictions. Courage. Willingness to take risks. Willingness to put his own career and future and safety on the line FOR THE NATION. Without all these, a bunch of commoners would just be insufficient.

I used to live happily in a world where I thought surely every Singaporean appreciated LKY, surely every non-Singaporean felt jealous as hell we had LKY but they didn't. But over the past years, especially during elections and National Day, I realised that the world might not be as nice as I thought. And recently, I realised that it might have something to do with Facebook and the general eruption of Internet and social media. Facebook made me feel that the majority of Singaporeans were anti-LKY, anti-PAP. But at the recent NDP, I heard the loudest cheers when LKY arrived at the parade. I realised that perhaps in the real world out there, beyond FB, the majority of Singaporeans love and appreciate him. So, I shall stop getting worried and scared by what I see on FB. I shall believe that the non-appreciative posts on FB are from the minority. No idea whether this is true, but I would rather believe something happy than something depressing given that I have no way to verify.

The best thing about the malicious rumour? I see more appreciative Singaporeans speaking up on FB. I hope that it will no longer just be the complaining ones complaining, but also more appreciating ones appreciating! : )