Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I’m a stay-at-home mom of two kids. And I do get asked by people about how it’s like.

Do you get bored? Frustrated?
You don’t have a live-in maid, how do you cope?
How do you juggle everything – the house, cooking, working from home, spending time with kids?
Do you even sleep?

In short. How do you stay sane?

I don’t think there’s any easy answer to them. And I don’t think I can explain it all in one blog post. In fact, I’m still learning to juggle it all as well as I can too. Every day.

But anyway. I thought I’d share some of the things that keep me going. And sane.

Here they are:

– Know (and believe in) the importance of your role as a stay-at-home mom
When we know the grand and invaluable purpose of what and why we do something, we’ll have the willingness and determination to look beyond today’s difficulties and challenges.

I wrote a post on this sometime ago, click HERE to read it.

– Explore and pursue your passion
What are you passionate about? Spend some time each day doing it. Photography. Sewing. Cooking. Reading. Blogging. It refreshes the mind.

– Learn something new
We’re all created with potentials. Talents. And we need to keep on exploring and developing them. Pick up a new language. Go for photography workshops. Learn how to cook certain foods.

– Hang out and befriend other positive-minded moms
Negative-minded friends keep you feeling down with self-pity. Positive ones encourage you to keep on moving forward despite life’s difficulties.

– Relax!
When things don’t quite go according to our plans, don’t get too stressed out about it. Learn to let go and be a little more ‘care free’.

– Shrug and smile
When kids are behaving badly, humour often helps in keeping our mind ‘cool’.

I may not make a joke out of a situation by saying something to the kids (eg. when one child is whining and crying, while the other is kicking a huge fuss about NOT wanting to put on his pants), but sometimes I just shake my head, smile, and just shrug, thinking how one day I’ll look back and remember such moments and laugh at their childishness, hehe.

– Regularly spend good twosome time with your spouse
If you can, do ask someone else (eg. family member) to babysit the kids for a few hours while you and your spouse spend some good two hours or so together. Catch up and talk about random things. Connect. Laugh. Do this regularly, like once a week, or once a fortnight.

For my case, we don’t have any families to help us out in Singapore, so our twosome time is after the kids have gone to bed. We’d chat, catch up, watch a DVD.

– Get out of the house everyday
Go to the nearest library.  Bring the kids out to the playground. Walk to the nearest neighbourhood supermarket. Basically, get outside the four walls of your home! Refresh your eyes and mind.

– Expose the kids to different activities
When kids are engaged in different things and are happy, we are less tense too. Some time ago I wrote a post on activity ideas, click HERE to check it out!

– Multitask
Though not always possible, try to do more than one thing at a time.

Go to the playground and while the kids play, read a book and relax on a nearby bench.

Plonk your dirty laundry into the washing machine, switch it on, boil some chicken soup for dinner (and cook some rice), play some music (CD) and do a little dance and sing-a-long with your kids while you sweep the floor at the same time. That’s five things happening at the same time!

– DVDs for kids
I’m quite particular when it comes to what the kids watch on TV or DVD. They don’t watch shows where there are fighting scenes like, The PowerPuff Girls or Ben 10 (and I do explain to them why).

But I do let them watch age-appropriate shows on TV or DVD, for like 60 – 90 mins, spread throughout the day. And it does give me that extra time to catch up on my work and other stuff.

– Relax over house matters
If you don’t have a live-in maid like me, don’t stress too much over the house being neat, tidy and clean all the time. And don’t push yourself to doing ‘everything’ in a day.

I sweep the floor everyday, and I mop once every three days. But I’m relaxed over stuff like ironing. So when the pile of clean laundry is pretty high, and I’m bogged down by other things, I leave it till later and not worry about it.

…

There are way MORE things that we can do other than what I’ve listed above.

And this is where I hope to hear from parents out there. What keeps YOU going? Please share in the comment section. I’d love to hear from you!

No we’re not prepared for water-play when we went past Vivo City’s outdoor playground on level 2.

But then again, sometimes a little spontaneity does add a little spice to life, doesn’t it?

One meaningful song we sang today at our Good Friday Gospel Rally.

…

I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary
I believe whatever the cost
And when time has surrendered
And earth is no more
I`ll still cling to the old rugged cross

I believe that this life with its great mysteries
Surely someday will come to an end
But faith will conquer the darkness and death
And will lead at last to my friend

I believe that the Christ
Who was slain on the cross
Has the power to change lives today
For He changed me completely
A new life is mine
And that is why by the cross
I will stay

I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary
I believe whatever the cost
And when time has surrendered
And earth is no more
I`ll still cling to the old rugged cross

– Written by William Gaither

When we knew we’re going to Perth, we decided to let the kids experience what it’s like to stay in a farm.

To live away from the buzzing city life for a little while. In a real farm. To have farm animals living (and making noises!) just outside our little cabin. To venture into a totally new experience together as a family.

And so we booked a place at ‘Harvey Hills Farm Stay Chalet‘ for a 2-day-1-night stay.

We drove down the South Western Highway for about 2 – 2.5 hours from Perth City and reached a small town called Harvey. And the farm is just about 8 mins from the city centre.

It was mid March when we went there and the grass was very dry, mostly yellowish brown.

The chalet was nice and simple for two adults and two kids. The weather was nice and cool, but when the sun started to set, it got even cooler. And by the time we went to bed, it was VERY COLD!

[Jilly the kangaroo was cosily basking under the sun when we first saw her just outside our chalet]

We bought stuff to eat and drink from the supermarket at the city centre and Daddy cooked some yummy pasta for dinner and lunch the next day (they have electric pans, plates, bowls, glasses, sink, etc available in each chalet).

The next day, early in the morning (when it was still VERY cold!), we joined the farm owner and fed the farm animals!

Having had lived in a busy city like Singapore, we found staying at an Australian farm a huge contrast to our usual routine here.

But we all did enjoy our little farm experience. And the simplicity of it all.

Hehe. I love how he doodled my hair and two tiny legs.

Vai is now 2 years and 7 months and he likes to doodle. Just like his sister when she was about his age.

When it comes to kids and their eagerness to explore (or in this case, doodle), I personally tend to just let them have fun, encouraging them to doodle more.

Because at this stage, I don’t think we need to dampen their eagerness by giving negative remarks like, ‘Can’t you draw better?’ or ‘That’s NOT the way you draw a face’ (though perhaps it’s said in a ‘joking’ manner)

Because to me, how the object actually ‘looks like’ on his doodling board doesn’t quite matter.

It’s the effort and process I’m more interested in, not the results.

(Even when mommy ends up looking like some sort of a creature from another planet. Hehe.)

This is the week when I reflect on what Good Friday really means to me personally.

…

Everyone goes through some sort of suffering in life. But when we’re near the very end of our life, when our suffering hits its highest point, the kind of words that come out of our mouth will reflect the state of our true nobility and the kind of person we truly are.

Some people curse at others. Some people become easily angry at other people for not ‘serving’ or ‘understanding’ their ‘great suffering’. Some people choose to not dwell in their situation and go out to encourage others (who’re healthier, and in a better situation).

Jesus Christ suffered greatly though He himself didn’t commit any wrong doing.

HE was mocked, flogged, betrayed, unfairly judged, and finally hung on the cross and left to die (which was the worst kind of punishment that could be given to anyone at the time), after HE lived a life that is good and righteous, helped and healed others.

And what struck me the most is that HE chose not to retaliate. And even when he was in excruciating pain of being nailed to the cross, the very first words HE said was, ‘

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’.
(Luke 23:34a)

Jesus Christ went through such humiliation and suffering WILLINGLY, because HE loves me. And you. So that we – whose sins rightfully need to be punished – are redeemed. And saved.

HE died so that we could have life.

What greater love and gift can there be.

…

I personally would like to invite you all to come to the event – Good Friday Rally 2009 – held this Friday, 10 April, at Singapore Expo.

If you’re Indonesians, please do come to the 4pm session.

[There’s a room for moms with babies so you can follow the session too from there. And if you have kids who are in nursery, kindergarten, Primary 1 and Primary 2, there’ll be Sunday School classes, with a Puppet Show too!]

If you speak English and/or Mandarin, you’re most welcome to come to the 7.30pm session.

The main speaker for the sessions are : Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong.

…

I really hope I can see many of you this Friday!

Do drop me an email to let me know if you’re coming, and I’ll meet you there!

PS: The Puppet Show is only for the 4pm session, and it’ll mainly be in Indonesian. I’ll be playing one of the puppets, and I hope to see you and your kids there!

We made this little fish the other day.

I forgot to take photos of the ‘how-to’ though. Urgh.

Anyway, I’ll share the usual ‘what we used’ and ‘what we did’ info, and hopefully it’s descriptive enough so you can also have a go at it yourself.

Here goes.

What we used :

– Tissue Roll Tube

– Crepe Paper (to cover the tube, and for the two side fins)

– Strands of wool

– Paper (for the spiky fin and the eyes. You can cut out little shapes too and stick them onto the body)

– Scissors, glue, markers

What we did :

– Cut out the crepe paper – rectangular shape and needs to be double the length of the toilet roll tube

– Cut out two ‘fin-shaped’ ones too (using a different coloured crepe paper)

– Place the tissue roll tube at the centre of the rectangular crepe paper, roll the tube, cover it with crepe paper and glue the end together

– For the front of the fish : tuck the ‘leftover’ crepe paper into the tube

– For the back of the fish : use strands of wool to tie the crepe paper together so you get a ‘tail’

– Using the paper, cut out circles for the eyes, and other shapes, eg.  the spiky fin and other shapes to decorate the fish’s body

– Glue these onto the fish’s body, and use markers to add colours on the eyes, fins, etc

That’s it!

…

Now our little purple fish sits on the top of our living room cabinet!