Classes

Finally, its all taking shape with the classes my children are taking. Since having children, I have always wanted my children to take up piano as well as swimming. As I said in my post on "Purposeful Parenting" , everything has to be intentional and meaningful. To me if not, I would probably end up in circles, wasting time and money. So why piano and swimming?

Well, I believe that in whatever instrument my children end up playing, starts with the basics of piano. I am more of a guitar player and I have understood my guitar better because I have a piano background. As for swimming, obviously I want them to be confident in the water for safety reasons.

My son has mentioned to me that he would like to play drums in future, while my girl, guitar. So they promised me that they will go through the piano lessons first for the basics before they start learning on their own in whatever instrument they like to explore in future.

My children goes for swimming every week and though they have not learnt to swim basic strokes, their confidence in the water has grown exponentially as they paddle about 5 to 10m without a board. To me, its an achievement and a milestone from the time they used to hesitate to go down the adult lap pool and need to hold on to me so tightly. The main thing is that they are enjoying and always looking forward to the next lesson!

As for piano lessons, my friend from church comes to my place every week to teach both my children. I trust her because she is an excellent pianist who plays in the worship team and more importantly, she is an experienced piano teacher and loves the Lord as well. So I mentioned to her that my direction for my children is not necessary on getting their grade certifications but to enjoy learning and playing worship songs.

So far so good and my children seems to like it as well.

Besides these 2 classes, they go for weekly Chinese class down at the RC(Residential Committee) near my block. Their Chinese has improved quite significantly as well since they seldom have any practise at home.

And lastly, one ad-hoc lesson that they have is tennis. My friend from church volunteered to coach all of us tennis as a family! I used to play tennis, going through lessons before but its definitely more fun now with my children and husband!

At the end of it all, I believe in seeing my children enjoy what they do, having fun and at the same time, learning!

Best Mother's Day

This year, celebrating Mother's Day was different. Yes, I had cards and craft work done by my lovely children, flowers given by my son, church as well as church friend which I treasure but on top of that, my hubby cooked for me.

My hubby has never cooked for the family before as he doesn't enjoy it and would rather stick to washing the dishes to help me out in the house.

However, I was so glad to see him step out of his comfort zone into the kitchen arena not to wash the dishes this time, but to do the actual preparation and cooking! I am humbled and deeply touched. I am sure with such actions, it was great role modelling for our children to learn about appreciation and love.

Here's what my hubby cooked for us

Cranberry Spinach Salad with toasted sesame seeds, almonds, poppy seeds and white wine vinegar, cider vinegar and olive oil dressing

Creamed Salmon Pasta

The children enjoyed the pasta so much that they finished eating at top speed and thanked their daddy for cooking!

I am thankful to God for my husband and my children- for their love and appreciation towards one another. May my family continue to grow in Christlikeness and seek to serve God and do His will!

Make it purposeful

I am a very practical person who doesn't like to waste time or resources on anything useless.
I make sure that the time I have is well-spent, the money I have is well-earned etc etc..

So with that background of me, I tend to be intentional and purposeful in the things I do while parenting. To me, parenting is similar to gardening. Read my previous post on "Gardener of Souls".

 

 

 

Anyway, that is why whenever I visit the library with my children, I make sure I know what I am borrowing. I flash out my cell phone, open up the memo app and look through the long list of Alphabets and Dewey Decimal codes for the books which I have researched on to find.

As I am particular in what my children watch on TV, its the same for books.  At this age, it may not be as bad as there will not be as many trashy stuff in children's books. But I am still particular. So usually, when they select their books, I would sieve through them as well as select my own recommended ones.

Here's some of the books from the library that me and my children love (with the Singapore library number)

1) Berenstain Bears series (English and Chinese versions) - JP BER

2) Little Bear Series (English) - JP MIN

 

3) Frog and Toad Series (English) - JP LOB

 

 

4) Usborne Illustrated Stories - They have many series to this.

• Usborne illustrated stories from Shakespeare (JL USB)
• Illustrated classics for children  (JL ILL)
• Usborne illustrated adventure stories  (JL USB)
• Usborne illustrated stories for the holidays (JL USB)

 

and many many more..Go to the National Library Website to search for availability and many more stories from this series!

 





Though my children still loves to look at pictures and have yet to be independent in their reading, I will still continue to make every effort to introduce them classics and wholesome books as well to continue reading to them because I know the benefits of reading.

Truthfully when I was young, I never really read much books. Either I do not have time or I was simply too lazy to carry it through to finish one. But I am glad I enjoy reading now and I wish for my children to pick up the love of reading!

 

 

 

And to add some fun to reading, I just started the Reading Bingo game for my family.. At the end of crossing out all the boxes, there will be a prize!

 

(Just seconds later after putting it up on the wall, my younger daughter quickly went to grab a funny book and laughed each time she read just to make it look funnier! She was happy striking off the "Read a Funny Book" box. Initially, she took "David and Goliath" book and insisted it was a funny book because of how funny the giant looked after David hit him with the stone. After crossing her first box, she wanted to read more to cross out the next one..I can't keep up with her!)