Shame [sheym] noun
- an uncomfortable feeling of guilt or of being ashamed because of your own or someone else's bad behaviour
[extracted from Cambridge online dictionary]
Zhirui is indeed a mature toddler. Sounds contradicting? hee.. yes, I mean it, she is a mature toddler. :) For one, she knows the humility (恥).
Since the day Mummy bought her the 'Little Mr and Miss' characters panties, little Zhirui has been pretty keen in wearing them. So much so that she didn't want to wear any shorts/skirt over them. Daddy says she is 'super girl'. :D kakaka..
As we were preparing to leave the house one morning, Zhirui, proudly in her panties, refused to wear her shorts. "Shame shame, liu liu xiao..." But no matter how much we explain what the appropriate 'gai gai' attire should be, she insisted being little super girl.
Then Daddy said," O.. if you don't wear shorts, auntie will laugh at you.." Just at this point in time, a neighbour pass by. Guess she overheard our conversation with ya tou and said, "O.. shame shame.. girl girl didn't wear shorts." Zhirui immediately turned into a cooperative child and wore her shorts.
Two days later, super girl reappeared and stood firm in wearing her panties without shorts. In the midst of the struggle, a familar sound came. It's the opening noise of Auntie Miah's gate. "O! Auntie is coming out! She is going to laugh at Zhirui for not wearing her shorts." Wow, I've never seen such swift trotters. She slotted her legs into the shorts within split seconds and was done before Auntie reached our door.
Haha.. my little ya tou.. you do know how to save your face. Very smart! :P
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Are you smarter than a 5th grader? <百萬小學堂> after thoughts
hmm.. can anyone or has anyone define what a wholesome education is?
I feel that being the parent of a preschooler is a visonary task and definitely more intricate than that of a primary school kid parent.
Why? Because at this age, you are setting the foundation for your child.. Any brick layed now will have effects in her future. As the brain is actively making connections now, it may be possible that inappropriate connections are made due to info she receives from her environment, and this may subsequently shape her character, values and perception. O my.. now you see why my shoulders are always so heavy. :(
The Taiwanese had their version of the US variety show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader". Just watched an episode with SB this morning at 1am. Here are some questions asked in the show.
- How many 'white' and 'black' keys are there on the piano?
- Is the composer of xxx a French?
- What is the element that make up diamond?
As we watched the show, we felt quite (annoyingly) puzzled why a school-going child has to know how many keys there are on a piano. Seems to us that the modern education system is still obsessed with knowledge acquisition. Not doubting the power and usefulness of knowledge, perhaps emphasis can be reduced more.
I remember among my friends, we used lament about this, "Why study so hard to learn integration and differentiation (math)? Don't even need to use it in work now. All the calculations are done by the computer.."
Hmm.. should there be an education revolution? I don't know.. but for sure, I won't demand Zhirui to know how many of keys there are on a piano. keke.. :P
I feel that being the parent of a preschooler is a visonary task and definitely more intricate than that of a primary school kid parent.
Why? Because at this age, you are setting the foundation for your child.. Any brick layed now will have effects in her future. As the brain is actively making connections now, it may be possible that inappropriate connections are made due to info she receives from her environment, and this may subsequently shape her character, values and perception. O my.. now you see why my shoulders are always so heavy. :(
The Taiwanese had their version of the US variety show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader". Just watched an episode with SB this morning at 1am. Here are some questions asked in the show.
- How many 'white' and 'black' keys are there on the piano?
- Is the composer of xxx a French?
- What is the element that make up diamond?
As we watched the show, we felt quite (annoyingly) puzzled why a school-going child has to know how many keys there are on a piano. Seems to us that the modern education system is still obsessed with knowledge acquisition. Not doubting the power and usefulness of knowledge, perhaps emphasis can be reduced more.
I remember among my friends, we used lament about this, "Why study so hard to learn integration and differentiation (math)? Don't even need to use it in work now. All the calculations are done by the computer.."
Hmm.. should there be an education revolution? I don't know.. but for sure, I won't demand Zhirui to know how many of keys there are on a piano. keke.. :P
Monday, April 5, 2010
Ya tou on steep learning curve
Seeing ya tou, i can't help being in awe at how smart young children are! My ya tou is on dangerously steep learning curve now. She acquiring knowledge and skills in speed which is quite beyond our expectation of a one and a half year old child. O well, maybe it's our ignorance. haha..
Erm, apologise if the following is boring. Just jounalising ya tou's development here.
1. same-same concept
Relating similar/same things. I can't quite remember on what context she exhibited this. But definitely she can tell me that the white horse on this book is the similar to the brown horse on that book. "Mummy, same same."
2. consolating
We borrowed this nlb book on emotions (Duck & Goose series). There's a page where the goose is crying. When reading this page, i'll always say, "The goose is sad. Don't cry, you are a brave goose." while stroking the goose. Now, ya tou does the same. She'll consolate and 'sayang' the goose and say, "Don't cry."
3. violin-ing
This is very cute. It all started when Daddy taught her the actions of playing a violin while listening to Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'. Ya tou immediately picked it up. From then, whenever we ask, "how do you play a violin?" or hear classical music, she'll start to play her violin.
4. singing and composing
Ya tou had always love listening to songs and mummy's singing. She can partially sing songs like 'Old Macdonald had a farm', 'Itsy winsey spider', 'Ba ba black sheep', 'Do re me', 'Twinkle twinkle little star', 'Rain rain go away' (funny, she sings this when it rains), 'Xiao mi feng'.. But more splendidly, she composes! We'd heard her composing and singing her own tune. Really! :)
5. independence
A display of self-reliance, ya tou now likes to do things on her own. In the aspects of eating, hands washing, ascending/descending stairs, passing urine, bathing and even wearing panties. OMG! She can even help Mummy run errands these days. :P
6. sentencing
Arising from the motivation for food, comes ya tou's first sentence 'I want biscuit'. She has yet to say, "I want Mummy." which means my appeal is less than that of a little cookie.. what?! hehe.. anyway, good job Zhirui! Recently, she could recite San Zi Jing too. :)
Erm, apologise if the following is boring. Just jounalising ya tou's development here.
1. same-same concept
Relating similar/same things. I can't quite remember on what context she exhibited this. But definitely she can tell me that the white horse on this book is the similar to the brown horse on that book. "Mummy, same same."
2. consolating
We borrowed this nlb book on emotions (Duck & Goose series). There's a page where the goose is crying. When reading this page, i'll always say, "The goose is sad. Don't cry, you are a brave goose." while stroking the goose. Now, ya tou does the same. She'll consolate and 'sayang' the goose and say, "Don't cry."
3. violin-ing
This is very cute. It all started when Daddy taught her the actions of playing a violin while listening to Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'. Ya tou immediately picked it up. From then, whenever we ask, "how do you play a violin?" or hear classical music, she'll start to play her violin.
4. singing and composing
Ya tou had always love listening to songs and mummy's singing. She can partially sing songs like 'Old Macdonald had a farm', 'Itsy winsey spider', 'Ba ba black sheep', 'Do re me', 'Twinkle twinkle little star', 'Rain rain go away' (funny, she sings this when it rains), 'Xiao mi feng'.. But more splendidly, she composes! We'd heard her composing and singing her own tune. Really! :)
5. independence
A display of self-reliance, ya tou now likes to do things on her own. In the aspects of eating, hands washing, ascending/descending stairs, passing urine, bathing and even wearing panties. OMG! She can even help Mummy run errands these days. :P
6. sentencing
Arising from the motivation for food, comes ya tou's first sentence 'I want biscuit'. She has yet to say, "I want Mummy." which means my appeal is less than that of a little cookie.. what?! hehe.. anyway, good job Zhirui! Recently, she could recite San Zi Jing too. :)
Auntie is my best friend
Our family is blessed with a wonderful neighbour, Miah. She helps to inform us when we forgot to take in our laundry during rain, shares her cooking, waters our plants, washes the common corridor, picks up our slippers or potted plants when they got blown off by strong gusts or when the town council does the high-jet water cleaning.
We are even more grateful for her love for ya tou. She dotes on Zhirui as much as we do. Many times, she happily accompanies ya tou when I need to get some grocery or cook meals. The way she offers help is so subtle. When she sees me cooking, she'll come by and call Zhirui and bring her over to her home to play. Ya tou was especially facinated with Miah's guppies when younger. As if a routine, she'd pull the little plastic chair to the side of the fish tank and intently observe the swimming guppies. Now, she loves digging the toy box where Miah stores the toys pre-loved by her two boys. Catch her playing soccer balls and toy guns these days! Piang!! Piang!! O my~! :P
There seems to be a special bond (yuan fen) between Zhirui and her. Zhirui calls, "Auntie!" whenever she comes home or hears the sound of Auntie's gate opening. She is always so enthusiatic when she calls or sees Auntie. Auntie is indeed Zhirui's best friend. :)
These are some photos taken by Miah at her house.
We are even more grateful for her love for ya tou. She dotes on Zhirui as much as we do. Many times, she happily accompanies ya tou when I need to get some grocery or cook meals. The way she offers help is so subtle. When she sees me cooking, she'll come by and call Zhirui and bring her over to her home to play. Ya tou was especially facinated with Miah's guppies when younger. As if a routine, she'd pull the little plastic chair to the side of the fish tank and intently observe the swimming guppies. Now, she loves digging the toy box where Miah stores the toys pre-loved by her two boys. Catch her playing soccer balls and toy guns these days! Piang!! Piang!! O my~! :P
There seems to be a special bond (yuan fen) between Zhirui and her. Zhirui calls, "Auntie!" whenever she comes home or hears the sound of Auntie's gate opening. She is always so enthusiatic when she calls or sees Auntie. Auntie is indeed Zhirui's best friend. :)
These are some photos taken by Miah at her house.
Top: Ya tou visiting Auntie in this year's CNY.
Bottom: Ya tou sitting on the little plastic chair beside the fish tank and playing Piang Piang!!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I'm half-way toilet-trained
Since last month, Ya tou has shown her ability to indicate her urge to pass urine and would request us to bring her to the toilet! That's wonderful as we can now save Earth's resources by using less diapers. I have been feeling pretty guilty all this while for contributing to the world's ever-increasing undegradable rubbish.
Thanks to Zheng tz who patiently trained her. When Ya tou is home, we would let her go bare-bottom (but with shorts/pants on). When she needs the loo, she will tell us "Shh shh" and we will bring her to the toilet. Sometimes, when she's slow in communicating to us, especially during engrossed playing, she'll wet her pants. On certain days, I find her wardrobe running out of shorts!
Last sunday, I went shopping for Ya tou's panties becos her shorts/pants were giving friction to her bottom and causing redness. Hmm.. I've never imagined getting her panties at this young age. haha.. but it feels good cos it shows that Ya tou has grown up! :)
As to passing motion, she is still not ready to do it in the toilet. Nanny tried many ways to teach her but she just prefer doing it on her diapers. We'll leave things to go by nature's course then.
Thanks to Zheng tz who patiently trained her. When Ya tou is home, we would let her go bare-bottom (but with shorts/pants on). When she needs the loo, she will tell us "Shh shh" and we will bring her to the toilet. Sometimes, when she's slow in communicating to us, especially during engrossed playing, she'll wet her pants. On certain days, I find her wardrobe running out of shorts!
Last sunday, I went shopping for Ya tou's panties becos her shorts/pants were giving friction to her bottom and causing redness. Hmm.. I've never imagined getting her panties at this young age. haha.. but it feels good cos it shows that Ya tou has grown up! :)
As to passing motion, she is still not ready to do it in the toilet. Nanny tried many ways to teach her but she just prefer doing it on her diapers. We'll leave things to go by nature's course then.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Childcare centre hunt
I thought I needn't start googling for "childcare centre in Yishun" until another one year after finding Zhirui's present nanny.
But from the look of it, Zhirui's present nanny will not be able to look after her for long.. For reasons:
1) nanny's grandson will be due in Jul/Aug. Which means there will be no room for Zhirui then.
2) nanny's health has been suffering since she took up the task
3) jx is not very pleased that he has to share his Grandmother with Zhirui..
The above factors are not within our control, so it's better to start planning for Ya tou's child care needs.
There are many things going thru my mind. One is, believing that '三岁定终身', should I take no pay leave and stay home to take care/educate Ya tou till she turns three? But knowing myself is not the type who can face the child whole day alone, this option will be very challenging (or killing). Ok, how about going part-time so that I can have a balance?
When I told MP about staying home to teach Zhirui, she discourages becos she feels that we (stay-home mums) won't be able to teach many things at home as compared to in childcare centres. Example is phonics. Huh?? But is phonics more important than the (emotional) well-being of a child (feeling secured and loved when her mother spends time playing with and teaching her child personally)? Hmm.. this seems to be the mentality of many Singaporean parents. They tend to weigh academic acheivement more than anything.
Anyway, if we can find a childcare centre which can provide holistic development, we will consider putting Zhirui into it. So the search was on. Contacted a few centres and viewed them with SB. We liked "My little campus" but the principal could only confirm Ya tou's enrolment for playgroup 2011 next week.
Hopefully there will be a place for Ya tou. Otherwise, we would really need to start our own child care centre (which SB has been contemplating!). :)
But from the look of it, Zhirui's present nanny will not be able to look after her for long.. For reasons:
1) nanny's grandson will be due in Jul/Aug. Which means there will be no room for Zhirui then.
2) nanny's health has been suffering since she took up the task
3) jx is not very pleased that he has to share his Grandmother with Zhirui..
The above factors are not within our control, so it's better to start planning for Ya tou's child care needs.
There are many things going thru my mind. One is, believing that '三岁定终身', should I take no pay leave and stay home to take care/educate Ya tou till she turns three? But knowing myself is not the type who can face the child whole day alone, this option will be very challenging (or killing). Ok, how about going part-time so that I can have a balance?
When I told MP about staying home to teach Zhirui, she discourages becos she feels that we (stay-home mums) won't be able to teach many things at home as compared to in childcare centres. Example is phonics. Huh?? But is phonics more important than the (emotional) well-being of a child (feeling secured and loved when her mother spends time playing with and teaching her child personally)? Hmm.. this seems to be the mentality of many Singaporean parents. They tend to weigh academic acheivement more than anything.
Anyway, if we can find a childcare centre which can provide holistic development, we will consider putting Zhirui into it. So the search was on. Contacted a few centres and viewed them with SB. We liked "My little campus" but the principal could only confirm Ya tou's enrolment for playgroup 2011 next week.
Hopefully there will be a place for Ya tou. Otherwise, we would really need to start our own child care centre (which SB has been contemplating!). :)
Little poet
Ya tou is progressing very fast in picking up her mother tongue. In fact, many people were awed by her accurate pronounciation of Chinese words.
Since young, Ya tou has been surrounded by recitals of chinese classics like 弟子规 (Standards for being a Good Student and Child) , 三字经 (Three-worded classic), 大学 (The Great Learning), 朱子治家格言etc. We believe that drawing on ancient moral teachings to mould Ya tou's character is better than anything.
Seeing Ya tou's great advancement in speech, Daddy started to introduce Tang poems (唐诗) to Zhirui. By 18 months, she could recite Li Bai (李白)'s Thoughts in the Silent Night (静夜思). Now, Daddy is teaching her the "登鹳雀楼" by 王之涣 and 大学.
Really love listening to ya tou's sweet little voice reciting these great poems. :)
Some people might doubt the benefits & relevance of reciting ancient poems, besides the probable improvement to Chinese language. I too, have no real idea how this might be good to Ya tou's character development since she would not quite understand them. But what I do strongly believe is the energy. I believe there is good energy from these scriptures that can influence the reader positively. Something which I can only explained by this Chinese phrase "潛移默化". :)
Since young, Ya tou has been surrounded by recitals of chinese classics like 弟子规 (Standards for being a Good Student and Child) , 三字经 (Three-worded classic), 大学 (The Great Learning), 朱子治家格言etc. We believe that drawing on ancient moral teachings to mould Ya tou's character is better than anything.
Seeing Ya tou's great advancement in speech, Daddy started to introduce Tang poems (唐诗) to Zhirui. By 18 months, she could recite Li Bai (李白)'s Thoughts in the Silent Night (静夜思). Now, Daddy is teaching her the "登鹳雀楼" by 王之涣 and 大学.
Really love listening to ya tou's sweet little voice reciting these great poems. :)
Some people might doubt the benefits & relevance of reciting ancient poems, besides the probable improvement to Chinese language. I too, have no real idea how this might be good to Ya tou's character development since she would not quite understand them. But what I do strongly believe is the energy. I believe there is good energy from these scriptures that can influence the reader positively. Something which I can only explained by this Chinese phrase "潛移默化". :)
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