What Is Nanny 911?

We just got back from my village town yesterday for Chinese New Year celebration. We were there for 6 days.

It is a tradition for us to get together with family members and friends during this festive season.

Yesterday, Sunday January 24th, my wife and I took our kids to a concert by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. It was the second time J and K went to concert.

For some reason, both my children had been sleeping with us ever since they were born.

We were always in the same bedroom. You know how inconvenient it is to have intimate moments with your spouse with children tagging along in the same bedroom. But I have always believed that one day my children will raise their hands and volunteer to move out of our room. This is a common belief for parents who follow attachment parenting. AP practitioners believe that children will never grow too attached and they will become independent when the time comes.

Monday was my daughter’s first day in primary school.

It is a bit of a challenge for J as she is not the most sociable child in the world. And life must be too overwhelming for her as she will be surrounded by more than 350 students of the same age – out of the sudden. Not to mention her seniors in the afternoon session.

We, everyone at PW, would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas 2009 and a Happy New Year.

J has been attending piano classes for a few months now. But before we take the plunge and invest thousands of dollars in a piano, my wife and I want to make sure that she really likes it.

In the meantime, the only piece she uses for practice is a toy keyboard she borrowed from her cousin!

I attended Character First parenting workshop last Saturday and it aimed at parents with children from 3 – 12. The instructor, Joseph Tan, (thanks to his funny and lively presentation or I would have slept through the workshop), called it primary years. It is during this formative period that the children should be given moral drilling and not moral reasoning. Despite this fact, many parents do it the other way. They give moral reasoning first and in teenage years, moral drilling. That explains why the children are rebellious when they reach their teens.

You could argue until the cows come home but to me TV can be an excellent educational tool if you know how to use it right. Of course, parents must play a role in making sure TV brings more good than harm to children.

I am surprised to find out J and K (now 6 and 3 respectively) are not couch potatoes. Meaning to say they don’t glue to the TV for long hours. Maybe due to the fact that we didn’t encourage it when they were young.

This is the 3rd time she did this, if I remember correctly.

I smiled with a great relief when J took over my duty. Just after school today, she volunteered to bathe K. More than happy, I agreed. Later, she took shower by herself. An achievement by itself.