All About Your Child

(Singing to the famous tune)
“This is the way I do worksheets, I do worksheets, I do worksheets.
This is the way I do worksheets, most of the time…”
*laugh*

No, no, no…. That is NOT the song he sang in the video, just that this song came to my mind when I typed the title down. *bleh*

Finally!
Yes!
Finally I managed to catch him on camera without him knowing.

Singing and doing school worksheets/homework at the same time!
Even moving his body a little as he sang…

When he discovered I was filming him, the ‘mobile phone tug of war’ began. *laugh*

So what made him agree to NOT delete the video and allow me to post it on this blog? 2 pieces of GoGos!!!
*faint*

Oh well, its a good trade-off, because its great to record such moments and be able to relive that moment again many years later… provided YouTube does not die on me… *fingers crossed*

So that is how he has been making his worksheet-time enjoyable. What does your child do to make his/her worksheet-time enjoyable?

This is the way I do my Worksheets

Let’s be honest.

We love our children. However, despite so much love for them, there are always some imperfection which give us ‘sore eyes‘.

But the question is, “Do you see the ‘Good’ in every ‘Bad’ that you see in your child?”

I had mentioned in this post “Appetite Stimulant For Your Child?”  that I am unhappy with the rate Keatkeat is growing physically. I just measured my two boys’ height again. Being 18months apart, their height difference is only 2cm now. *pout*

The bad I see:

• Keatkeat is upset, when people ask me, “Are they twins?”
• Keatkeat is sad, when people ask, “Which one is GorGor?” (elder brother)
• Keatkeat is angry, when people point at Binbin and say, “Are you Gorgor?”
• Keatkeat is unhappy to be in the front row for 3 consecutive years in Primary school.

I kept telling him, “Eat more, jump more and stay happy. Eventually you will grow taller, MUCH taller than Binbin. But most importantly, you must be healthy.”

Well, he did all of that. He ate more. He jumped around and stayed happy, but this formula does not seem to be working.

Then I learned from my sister’s MIL that if I want my boys to shoot up in height, I should try her formula; and looking at her 3 tall boys, I think its worth the try. *wink*

She said, “Buy peanut roots. Put it in water with spare ribs. Boil it. Let the children drink them as soup. BUT the most important point to note is, only let them drink it during their PUBERTY period. Not earlier, nor later.”

Alright, puberty period eh? Hhhmmm….4 more years to go… I can wait. So in the meantime, Keatkeat would need to bear with the comments from others.

Because he is unhappy with his height, I am upset too and over time, I start to see it as a flaw and could not find any good in his small built, until last week….

Keatkeat was in a great mood that day when we fetched Binbin home from school. He said to his younger brother, “Binbin, you are tired after school, I ‘ko-ko-meh’ you (piggy back), you want?”

And he piggy back-ed the younger brother WITH HIS SCHOOL BAG as well! *faint*

We decided to take the heavy school bag away and then Binbin wanted to try to piggy back his elder brother. And they kept interchanging. *laugh*

I was too late to take out my camera phone to capture the moment when Keatkeat lifted Binbin first and could only start capturing when Keatkeat was on Binbin’s back.

What a waste! I was amazed at Keatkeat’s strength! With the weight of Binbin AND the weight of the school bag all on his tiny back. *jaws dropped*

Finally! I see the ‘GOOD’ in Keatkeat’s small size: So that they could piggy back each other! *laugh*

If Keatkeat’s built was the same as his peers, they would not have enjoyed this moment:

The ‘Good’ in Every ‘Bad’ that you see in Your Child

Though there are hundreds of cases where parents abused their own children, I still believe that most parents would do anything for their child, so long as the child grows up to be a healthy, happy kid.

Keatkeat has changed alot since last month, December 2010. He is more independent, more considerate and definitely more ‘manageable‘. *laugh* If you have been following my blog, you would know that the challenges I have with Keatkeat had been an uphill struggle.

Lack of concentration, no interest in almost everything, self-centered, petty, know-what-needs-to-be-done-but-choose-not-to-do sort of personality, sore loser, poor health, insensitive…. etc.

Ever since last year end, he had started to show great changes in terms of personality. He had been doing and saying things that are not quite him. In fact, I am extremely glad to say that I am LOVING THE CHANGE I see in him now.

Today, he said, “Mommy, while I do my homework, you sing this!” He passed me a few papers with famous Chinese New Year songs lyrics printed on them and he continued to say, “You don’t need to teach me, I will do my homework on my own. You just sit here and sing.”

*laugh*

I have become an instant living radio!

*laugh*

Oh well, so long as he is willing to do his worksheets and putting a grin on his face as he does his school work, I am EXTREMELY willing to cooperate.

And so I sang.

He sang too, while his hand got busy with the pencil on his worksheet. There were a few occasions whereby he even rocked slightly to the rhythm. Wow!

He was all smiles as he did his homework well and finished in a flash!

Wow! He reminded me so much of my schooling days!

I would turn on the radio, sing and do my homework. Even during examination preparation period, I would do that too! *laugh* Aaawwww…. my boy is so much like me in this aspect!

I remembered my Father often scolded, “How can you concentrate on your school work when you are listening to the radio and singing at the same time?! Do you know what are you reading and writing?”

Oh well, I proved that I KNOW what I was reading and writing even though I was singing and listening to the radio with my good results! *wink*

So to me, even if I had to be a living radio, in order to get Keatkeat to do his homework with happiness beaming all over his face, I am perfectly alright to do it. *Grin*

What Parents Would Do For Their Child

I understand that all parents love their children and would do almost anything to let their children have that extra comfort. My question is, for how long?

There is a line drawn between over-protective and abusive.

I believe in training the child to be responsible for their own things and being independent the moment the child shows signs that he or she is able to handle the responsibilities.

My boys has been fully trained to bathe themselves, brush teeth for themselves, dress themselves when they were as young as three. Now, they wash their own plates and bowls. I continue to believe that it is crucial for the child to learn to be independent when they are ready.

For the whole of last year, I see this family EVERY DAY. An approximately 70 year old granny, a mother who looks like in her late 30s and a daughter whose ‘sides’ were bigger than mine and was slightly shorter than me, i.e. 158cm.

Over hearing their conversation many times and looking at her size, I suspected that she was a Primary 6 student.

Every morning her granny would carry her school bag and walk many steps ahead of the mother and daughter, who would usually be lagging behind holding hands, chit-chatting and laughing away.

Her granny’s hunch was pretty bad already even without any weight on her back.

How could the daughter and the grand-daughter add such unnecessary pressure on her spine?!

Whenever I see them, I would always be struggling within myself and holding myself back from asking, “You are such a big girl already, why are you not carrying your own bag and taking responsibilityof your own things?”

What puzzled me even more was the fact that she loves her granny! I have seen her kissed her granny on different occasions at the school gate before the old lady hand the heavy school bag over to her grand-daughter.

If you love your granny so much, why are you allowing her old body to go through this torture?

Even if your granny insists on carrying your school bag, you should be sensible enough to reject the offer and carry your own bag!

Well, its been two days since school reopened and I have yet to see the trio. If my suspicion was correct, she WAS a Primary 6 pupil and had moved on to Secondary School already, then that explains why I do not see her anymore.

The only time I carried my child’s school bag was when I need him to run faster to beat the traffic lights. Only then will I carry his school bag, dash across the traffic junction while holding his hands and return the heavy school bag to him immediately, when we reach the other end of the road. Other than that, NO way will I carry his bag for him!

These were the presents they received this Christmas 2011:

For KeatKeat – From Bak-Bak and Bak-Leong

The cute baby toy vehicles above was requested by Binbin – From Papa

Yellow Bird for Keatkeat, U-Turn Bird for Binbin – From Me

To BinBin – From Yi-Bak and Yi-Bak-Leong

To BinBin – From Bak-Bak and Bak-Leong

So what did Ah Yee, Yi-Zhang, all the cousins gave to Keatkeat and Binbin?!

More GOGO’S CRAZY BONES to add on to their collection!

This is how much they have in TOTAL on Christmas Day….and its still increasing!

In a way, I love GOGO’S CRAZY BONES, because it fits perfectly into the  reward-cum-punishment system! *laugh*

I had to remember which pieces are their favourites, so that I get to pick them when they break some rules. One piece for one misbehaviour. In a normal day, I can get about 2. Can you imagine on ‘their bad days’?!

*snigger*

They can only redeem ONE back each morning, unless they were able to be perform certain ‘difficult’ task on that day, then they will get more than one back on that day. ***Difficult task could mean Do Not Argue with your brother! *wink*