All About Your Child

Many of you were concerned that I may be too harsh on Keatkeat after seeing the kind of worksheets (yesterday’s post) I give him. I can’t help but laugh a little.

That’s the last thing I’ll do, dear friends. All the mommies around me have been saying that I’m too slack, especially my 2nd sis-in-law, who is always checking if my kids are ‘up to the standard’. 

I’m a very go-by-the-flow kind of Mommy, it’s very unlikely that I’ll introduce something which the kid is not interested in; unless its a must, like knowing the alphabet. Then I will build the interest through songs and games. Seriously, to get a kid to be interested in anything is as easy as breathing. *wink*

A very good example of how ‘slack’ or how ‘go-by-the-flow’ kind of Mommy I am is this great news that I intend to announce to the world.

I DO NOT HAVE DIAPERS KIDDOS IN MY HOUSE ANYMORE!!! Yeah!!!

Where’s the champagne?

I know many of you started potty training your kid as early as 18 months, but I’m really not into the by-when-your-kid-should-be-able-to do this and that kind of Mommy.

Guidelines are great! I love to read them but to follow strictly is ridiculous, ‘cos every kid is different.

It was just 2 weeks ago, that my 3 year old, Binbin, went diaper free at night. We decided to do that after he presented dry diapers every morning for more than 10 days. We knew he was ready.

Like I know what most of you would encounter during the night potty training period:

-wake up in the middle of the night to get the kid to pee

-wake up hoping for a dry mattress but prepared for the worst

-several mornings of washing the wet mattress covers, bolster cases, pajamas, etc

-several mornings of sunning the mattress or dry it with the hair dryer

stories like these are very common.

These mommies see such ‘sufferings’ as part of the potty training process. I see it as a training that could have been delayed. Why do it when the child is not ready?

Of cos, I pay a couple of hundred dollars more on diapers as compared to them, but it definitely save me a lot of ‘sigh’ and unnecessary washings in the mornings.

Ok that’s about my kind of parenting – intro whatever only when the child is ready.

And talking about this, my Keatkeat has proven his mega memory power as early as 2+ years old. So spellings are ‘chicken-feet’ to him – not exaggerating! Guess what was the very first word he spelled? His favourite word in the entire universe – C-A-R!

He could identify 10 different car logos, recognise the direction to any place which he had just been there ONCE, remember what he did at that place and all the nitty-gritty details that one wouldn’t care much about.

His could almost tell the time on the clock as well as the digital time now. It’s wonderful and frustration-free to teach a kid when the kid is interested in the topic, and seriously, there isn’t a topic a kid at this age would not feel interested in, it all depends on how the subject is taught. *wink*

Today is the Last Day of the one month long School Holidays, Yippeee!!!! Finally, my life can be back to the more predictable routine, instead of squeezing my brain for new stuff to do with them day in, day out.

You see, during school holidays, they don’t nap because they wake up really late. Then the question of “Mommy, can you play with me”will come right after they had their morning milk and this will continue to wee hours like 1am! Their energy level is unbelievable!

This mid-year school break WAS really fruitful, especially for my preschool Keatkeat. Finally he is able to spell from 1-20, know the days of the week through the song I created, improve on his motor skills, which is still a little behind his 15 months younger bro in some ways, recognise almost 10 car brand logos, paint at home for the very first time, help to cook too, etc….

So on this last day, I tested him with this…. which my hubby thinks was too CONFUSING for a 4 year old. What do you think? Too confusing? Too tough on him?

But he scored really well, without any prompting or assistance, remember, its a Test. I wasn’t too harsh on him too, I gave him a chance to look through his answers twice before handing the worksheets back to me.

I’m glad I did gave him time to check over, ‘cos that’s when he noticed some mistakes he made, as you can see the signs of stuff being erased and rewritten over.

 Though he may not have scored full-marks for this last one, I’m happy with the results. He used to be much worse off.

My hubby still thinks that it was too tough for him…..hmmmm

It’s funny how the old feeling of giving tuition to other kids, in my younger years, comes right back as I put every red tick on each correct answer and (as usual) give lots of stars…..Keatkeat wanted 39 stars and I granted his wish. *smile*