Appreciating your child's teacher

Teacher's Day is around the corner and I am 'celebrating' it in a different way. I take this opportunity to teach my children certain values - talk about teachable moments huh?

For a start, I encouraged them to make their own gifts for their teachers. So I made my way with little Daniyal across the road to to buy bouquet of flowers, a box of Roche and some papers. The total cost for all these is about $20.

When Qila came back from school we started to get busy and make the little bouquet of flower and Roche for the teachers. I actually got the idea from the readily made bouquet of flowers and Roche I saw in the shop. The ones in the shop cost $4 each! We made 8 similar ones - essentially I saved $12. My children also got to experience the joy of making sum thing that they could give their teachers.

When my girl unwittingly exclaim that she would only give the gifts to 4/5 teachers, I was quick to point out that she should not discriminate. Every teacher, I preached deserve the due recognition for the effort they put in. Some may not be as fun and others but they should at least know that their effort is at least remembered. She relented and decided to not discriminate.

I've done my part in protecting my fraternity...to all those who 'teach' (anything at all) happy teacher's day!!

Academic achievement a measure of sucess

My little girl, Qila proclaimed loudly the other day that she scored rather well for her Booklet A Maths and Malay. She was looking for some form of approval from the way she looked at me as she made the annoucement. I nodded and gave her a warm smile exclaiming "Well Done, Qila!". I can't help feeling a little guilty at the fact that I pushed her too hard..sometimes I wonder if it is necessary - but I also do not want her to lose out in the competition for academic excellence!

Of History and Values

I was tasked to attend a story telling seminar today in the Arts House. I initially have no idea where the Arts house was and thus avoided driving there. I arrived early to find that it is located along the Singapore River - the life line of Singapore. The root of its sucessful beginning if you wish. Allow me the pride of being the inhabitant of of this little tiny republic....

My Baby is 6!!

On Thurs night 23 Aug, I recalled how I hurried my husband to send me to the hospital as I was having mild contractions. That was 6 years ago... I recalled praying very hard reciting all the verses that I could think of so that the Almighty would give me strength to pull through. God di not fail me...my beautiful bundle of joy was born on 24 Aug 2001 at 8.30a.m. The pain of the contraction was beyond words and although he is my second, my earlier experience did not prepare me for the worst. I remember asking for epidural but it was administer too late to be effective. My only consolation was that my man was with me through out despite of not getting a good sleep himself.

I remember fondly how I nursed him all the way till h was six. Breastfeeding is a beautiful experienc, really. It completes me ..... I tried breastfeeding with my first one but I did not quite succeed so I merely expressed the milk until she was 1 month old. I had a real breatfeeding experience with my Daniyal... The bonding and the closeness I feel during breastfeeding is simple beautiful.

Now my baby is six and going out to a real school next year! I love him so much!

How important is good primary school education?

I am comforted some what this year at the thought of not having to register my little Daniyal for primary 1 registration. He will be joining his sister in the same primary school. I remember the anxiety of having to ballot for my daughter's place in one of the better schools on the neighbourhood. It was a popular school and as such, balloting was a yearly exercise for that school.

Some parents went one step ahead of me by trying out for elite schools. I admire their determination but really how important is a good primary education for your children? Does putting your children in a good primary school really ensure their success later in their education? What makes a 'good school' anyway? Is it the ability of the school to produce good results? Or do we judge the schools based on its programmes and the ability of the teachers to effectively communicate with the parents? Friends I talked to firmly believe that schools with good results would normally have good teachers and good programmes. I am certainly not in a position to dispute them, really but I also wonder at times does this also necessitates the extra pressure put on the child (and parents) to find a good school 2--30km away from home? I just wonder...really.

I was from a neighbourhood school myself and if I could say so myself, I didn't turn out too bad either. Perhaps, a good home environment is as important as putting your child in a good school as a good home ensures that he/ she would be able to dispel any bad influences. Or is everything taken care of in a "good school"?

Does breastfeeding promote weight loss?

A friend lamented the other day how she seemed to be unable to lose weight even though she has been at it for some time. I offered a listening ear and though I am no expert in health I read that breastfeeding has a lot of benefits for both mothers and babies.

Advocates of breastfeeding state that when practised optimally, breastfeeding is an enjoyable experience, pure and simple and I could not agree more. I remember enjoying the experince - I think 'bonding' with the him : it' really special. I would look forward to curling up with Daniyal the first two and half years of his life to breastfeed. It was a very special time even destressing especially after an insane day at work!

I read that breastfeeding causes the contraction of the uterus. This protects mothers from postpartum hemorrhage. Continued exclusive nursing (ie nursing exclusively on the natural milk without being bottle fed) tends to delay menstruation and ovulation. Studies have also shown that this form of breastfeeding may even be effective in preventing pregnancy in the first six months as long as exclusive nursing is practiced.

Other health benefits include decreased risk of cancer. Mothers who breastfeed for at least 6 months throughout their lifetime have a decreased risk of breast cancer, and similar reduced rates have been shown for ovarian and uterine cancers.

It is also fairly established that the benefit of breastfeeding is more rapid and sustained weight loss. Milk production uses up 200-500 calories a day. To burn off an equivalent number of calories, a bottle-feeding mother would need to swim 30 laps or ride a bicycle for over an hour. It definitely sound like reastfeeding is easier! Due to this perhaps, some breastfeeding mothers always claim that they are hungry and thus, tend to eat more. I am making my own conclusion here but perhaps this couldbe the very cause why some women find it hard to lose weight despite breastfeeding as they eat more! Perhaps it is easier to achieve the pre pregnancy weight if mothers drink more water and eat fruits instead.

The benefits of breastfeeding, in my personal humble opinion, definitely outweigh the 'inconviniences' associated with it. I would not have missed it for the world!

Decorating children's rooms

One of the best way to decorate a kid's room is to align it to certain themes or colours. Be inspired and think creatively. The themes for boys rooms would be as simple as soccer, cars, under the sea or even storyline theme like 'Buzz Lightyear', Spiderman and Superman. While the girls would be more inlcined to choose themes that involves pink colour and disney princesses. Get your child's opinion on how to decorate the room too : you may be pleasantly surprised by what they could come up with! Whatever you decide, remember that there are many accesssories that could be used to spice up the room.

One of the cheaper ways to spruce up any room is the wall decorations. It does not need a full length wall paper to do the trick. Some thing as wall stickers or posters could 'add character'to your children rooms. However, it is good is you could align the fabric, accessories and wall decorations to avaoid your child's roomlooking like a clutter. It may also be useful to select a main print that will set the tone for the whole room.

Having a focalpoint for the room would also reinforce the theme. The focalpoint could be bed or play area or a feature wall. If your child loves cars for instance, you may choose a bedding with car frames and car bed sheets. You may even try to be creative and decorate the couch to look like a car seat! The key to it all is your imagination : the possibilities are limitless!

The feature wall of the room could be a place where your child's artwork, collections, and projects are displayed. Storage is an important consideration when planning for a child's room : children need a lot of room to store clothes, books, toys, games projects, and hobby supplies. The storage area could be designed to fit the theme as well.