All About Your Child

I was watching a circus performance on TV and I can’t help but think of Honghong. She passed away at the age of 6 at home.

Her parents brought their 4 children to watch a real-life circus performance, 2 days after the fun-filled day, the accident happened.

According to her other siblings, the 4 children were pretending to be circus performers. Honghong was trying to try out one of the act seen at the performance. The one where the performer held on to a rope using the just his mouth and turned himself round and round in mid-air.

As the performer is so high up in the air, the performer may have looked like he hang the rope over his neck. And that was what Honghong did at home.

According to her younger sister,5, Honghong climbed up her double-deck bed, somehow managed to get the rope tied onto the dangling ceiling lamp. Then put the rope round her neck and let go of her footage on the double-deck bed. That was how she ‘hanged’ herself.

She was the eldest child in the family, an obedient daughter, a caring sister. She died in 1990.

As parents, its important to explain what they see to them, The dangerous acts in circus, death-defying stunts, violence on seen on TV programmes….To children, they may not ‘see’ the danger and would often learn to imitate. To them these acts may seem just as harmless as imitating their parents way of speaking.

The death of Honghong always reminds me of the simplicity of a child’s mind. Do you have similar stories to share?

Finally Binbin, 2, knows how to rinse his mouth. He used to drink the water instead of spitting it out. I’m observing for another week or two. If he is really good at rinsing his mouth, then I can introduce brushing with toothpaste.

I feel a great sense of achievement, not for myself, but for the kids, whenever they progress on to taking care of themselves. One day, I know I will not hear :

“Mummy, I want you to brush my teeth….”

“Mummy, I want you to wear my shirt for me….”

“Mummy, help me wear my shoes…..”

“Mummy, feed me…”

“Mummy, I can’t do this, can you do it for me….”

“Mummy, I want you to play cars with me….” and when this day comes, I will really missed these duties that seem to be sucking energy out of me everyday now.

Remembering the time when I was just rubbing his baby gums with a wet handkerchief. Then went on to rub his first tooth. As more teeth appeared, the very first toothbrush came into action. His expression and the twitching of his eyes during his first brush was so funny. Then he asked to try brushing on his own…..

For Keatkeat, my 4-year-old, have ‘completed’ the cycle. He is now an independent little fellow; able to squeeze his strawberry flavoured toothpaste on his Mickey Mouse toothbrush; rinse his mouth twice before he starts brushing in and out, up and down; when his mouth is full of foam, he rinse his mouth clean; washes his toothbrush and finally putting it back on the rack. What a big boy now!

How often we take these little things for granted? Treasure every moment with your child, for before you know it, they are but memories only.