Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Anya somehow hasn’t been interested in her usual after-school naps these past few ten days or so.

[In the past, she gets pretty tired and cranky by around seven or so if she fails to nap. But now, she’s all okay though WITHOUT her afternoon rest!]

While this means we both have more time with each other, which is a nice thing to have of course, it usually means shorter afternoon nap time for Vai (he gets woken up by the noise his sister’s making, however soft)

And, if he wakes, he tends to refuse going back to sleep! And this literally means I get close to no break from the moment we all wake up – at around nine, till the time the kids close their eyes at around ten]

You see, when they both nap, I get a bit of time alone, doing some work, catching a quick nap myself at times, reading the newspaper, even clearing whatever chores WITHOUT the presence of these two little ones.

Oh well. Anyway.

When they both are awake later in the afternoon, these are some of the stuff we do:

– playing with each other

– helping me prepare their snacks or dinner

– eating snacks and drinking their milk

– going to the nearby market (Vai in his stroller, Anya on her bicycle – still with training wheels)

– paying a visit to the playground

Today, they had a watercolour-drawing session together.

Anya put on her arts and crafts apron, drew apartments, streets, cars and people on a piece of paper with markers and used a paint brush to add colours to it.

As for Vai, he used a toothbrush to make all sorts of lines and squiggles. On his paper, his feet, hands and at times … on Anya’s drawing paper too!

And so yes, I got to hear Anya’s ‘Vai!!!!’ and ‘Mommyyyyyy!!’ pretty often today.

Oh btw, our drawing sessions are almost always followed by water play sessions in the bathroom (read: getting themselves busy with water, little buckets, spoons, plastic bowls, funnels, etc).

The kids get to enjoy a little more playtime prior to their shower, and Mommy gets a little extra time doing whatever things she needs to do around the house!

Works well for everyone so far!

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Click here to read more about ‘how much sleep does your child need!’

One of those places that will always put a big smile on Vai’s face!

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To read more about playtime for todders, here are some insighful links!

>> Play : Why it’s so important

>> Let’s play! Games for toddlers

>> Physical play

>> Toddler play and learning : in a nutshell

The fact that we believe in God as the Lord of our life does not mean our life will therefore be smooth sailing always, and exempted from life’s difficulties.

[Because it’s when we struggle through life’s problems and troubles that we learn and grow even more as a person]

In God, we receive strengths and blessings. Yes. But it is possible too that life’s struggles are ‘allowed’ to take place in our lives simply because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Now the question is, what’s our real motivation when we come to God?

Do we ask HIM to fulfill all our wants and needs, and to give us our regular requests of good health and material blessings?

Do we ‘command’ God to listen to us, obey our demands and serve our needs?

Do we pray and come to him only when we NEED something from Him?

Let’s look within ourselves, our motivation, and see how we’ve been approaching God so far. And whether we’ve in fact been trying to ‘manipulate’ the Creator Himself, for our own benefits.

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Now that I have my own children, I often can see their needs even before they tell me about them (of course, it’s still within my limited knowledge and capability, being a human and all, and not THE all-knowing God)

And I sure want my kids to come to us and have a close relationship with us, not because they just WANT something from us parents.

But, because they truly love us and trust that as their parents we will surely give to them what they need, and what’s good for them.

East Coast Park.

Kids. Parents. Grandparents.

Kids went around barefooted and the little one jumped on rainwater puddles.

Sands. Sands. Lots of sands.

Seafood dinner.

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It was a tiring yet enjoyable family day out.

A simple yet nice break from our usual week-day routine.

Something we all need to bond with each other and freshen up.

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I personally am amazed every time I see how our little ones learn new things so fast.

Anya, for instance, started learning chinese only in January this year, ie. when she started going to nursery school. And she already knows quite a bit of mandarin by now.

As a parent who tries to learn the language with SO much difficulty, it’s all a nice surprise for us.

[Yes, it’s true … it’s hard to teach new tricks to an old dog, huh!]

Anyway, this is a video clip of her reading one of her chinese books to her grandparents!

Click here to view.

[Added]

Btw, the book is from Anya’s school (they let the kids take it home after they’ve learned the characters), and it’s published by pelangi books.

It’s not everyday that my grandpa can send me to school!

My parents are in town for a few days! And the kids have been enjoying their stay here!

Other than having them around to entertain and play with, my parents have sort of become Anya’s private mandarin teachers too! It’s great!

(Unlike me, my parents can write and speak mandarin real well!)

They occasionally spoke to her in mandarin, teaching her new sentences and words. She practised reading her Chinese characters from her school books too while they listened and told her the correct way to read them if she ever got them wrong.

AND.

Apparently, Anya actually knows A LOT of chinese! I mean, she recognises the chinese characters in her books and reads them pretty well!

My parents were surprised at how much she’s learned over such a short period of time.

And so were WE!

You see, so far we’ve heard Anya sing and say words in chinese. And although I think it’s great that she slowly is learning the language, I often (in the inside) question her knowledge when she tells me something in mandarin that I don’t know.

The thing is, I myself know VERY little of mandarin! And chinese characters look like unknown intermingled lines to me!

It was only when my parents saw how she recognised the chinese characters well that I realised how I’ve actually underestimated her.

And I felt so ashamed for not believing in her.

Anyway.

So this is what I’ve discovered and learned this week. To not underestimate my own child’s capability, simply because I myself am not ‘better’ at it.

Ah. I’m really glad though that I found out about this (ie. my tendency to not believe in my own kid’s capability) NOW, not later.

Because my sceptical attitude (which may come through the comments I make or even my facial expression) may dampen Anya’s spirit to learn new stuff in the long run.

And THAT is surely something I’d want to avoid!

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Yes, Mommy needs to learn to change too.

That’s “I’m ready for school!’ in Indonesian on Anya’s doodle board!

The article – nicely written by Becky – shares some useful tips on how parents can help in better preparing their kids for school.

You see, when it’s time for our little ones to start their formal education, where they’ll be ON THEIR OWN for a few hours, they themselves may not be that keen on the idea. Especially in the first few days!

This naturally makes it less easy for the parents.

Anyway, click HERE to check out the article.

Btw, yes, that’s what Anya does every morning from Monday to Friday.

Getting herself ready for school, leaving home together with me and Vai, and going to class (after all the kisses, hugs and good-byes) *smile*

PS: Feeling blessed too for the opportunity to contribute my photo works to the magazine!