Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I’ve got to say … I’ve never been into cooking that much. I mean, yes I cook, but it’s because I need to cook, not because I LOVE cooking.

I somehow do wish I have the passion for cooking though. It’s always nice to see someone like Jamie Oliver who talks and cooks so passionately.

And he does it so naturally too. Chops and sprinkles a bit of this and that. Tosses it for a while. And you get yourself a really yummy meal.

Hmm. I guess I’m yet to discover that ‘hidden talent’ within me (though it looks like it’s going to remain hidden and undiscovered for quite some time! Hah.)

Anyway.

I tried a different menu today. Chicken with Pasta and Pesto sauce.

And hey hey … it turned out (to my surprise) very yummy! Hehe.

And the nicest thing about it all, the kids loved it!

Anya cleared her plate. Fast.

And Vai. He – who already had his dinner 30 mins earlier – wanted some too. And he ended up eating quite a lot (without the chicken though)

He sure had real fun in getting his hands on the food (read: has always preferred to eat with his hands). AND to me, it’s a good way of exercising his pincer grasp too!

And so it got pretty messy. As expected. Oh, not to mention oily.

Pasta was everywhere. On the floor, his hair, face, clothes and the high chair. BUT most of it successfully went into his tummy!

I’m a happy ‘though-need-to-do-some-serious-mopping’ Mommy!

Here’s a quick session Anya and I had today (during Vai’s brief early afternoon nap).

We made a stick man on a cup!

[oh, just in case you’re wondering about the thingy on Anya’s head, it’s a Tigger headband! She likes to put it around her neck and waist too at times. It’s a necklace and a belt too, she says]

What we used:

>> Styrofoam cup

>> Disposable wooden chopstick (the ones you get from ordering take-aways)

>> white carton (for the head, shirt and bottom)

>> scissors, glue, scotch-tape, crayons / coloured pencils

I poked the chopstick through the foam cup’s base. Then I cut out the white carton and made the head, shirt and pants shapes.

Anya did the drawing, colouring, glueing and pasting.

And there you go.

It’s Daddy, she said!

PS: To make it ‘stand’ on its own, I stuck the chopstick on playdough.

For the very first time, Vai got his hands on simple arts stuff today.

Well okay, poking a lump of clay with coloured matchsticks may not really count as arts and crafts, but hey I’m honestly pretty happy that this 13-month old guy didn’t end up munching them up at all.

I do realise that so far his gross motor skills are developing quite well. I guess it sort of happened naturally for a boy like him.

And so I thought, while accompanying Anya (as she’s finishing up her dinner), it’d be nice to introduce something that requires him to exercise his fine motor skills.

AND, I was frankly surprised to see how ‘engaged’ he was. As his stubby fingers held the coloured matchstick, he poked and observed the hole he just made on the clay. He too held the clay in his hands, pressed and gently squashed it, observing its changing shape.

It was such a new experience for him.

I sat and supervised him throughout the ten-minutes-or-so session (I obviously didn’t want the matchsticks to end up in between his teeth or up his nose or something!)

Oh, btw he did try to bring a matchstick to his mouth. But when I told him not to do it as it’s not supposed to go into his mouth, he (again, surprisingly) obeyed and continued on with the clay play.

It was weird. Well you know, a happy kind of weird feeling.

(And now I know how Vai is – apparently – also into doing things other than climbing, jumping, throwing and walking! Whoopee!)

In the name of ‘love’, parents tend to provide ‘everything’ for their children. Buying for them what they like. Giving to them whatever they ask.

And when the kids are so much older, they’re still supported and provided for, even financially.

When parents continue to treat their children in such a way, these children will most likely grow up having no ‘fighting spirit’ as they’re hardly ever in a difficult situation where they have to struggle and ‘fight’.

[Even mother eagles train their babies to fly by throwing them down from a very high place and catching them just in time before they hit the ground below]

Diamond needs to be polished. Gold must go through extreme heat to be purified. Cloth and materials need to be cut too if we’re to make a beautiful dress.

Each of the above goes through a process that may seem ‘uncomfortable’. Even painful. But through that process and ‘pain’, something more beautiful emerges.

Let us introspect the way we educate and bring up our children.

For their own good.

…

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way
you treat them. Rather, bring them up with
the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Note: The points I share at ‘Sunday’s Food for Thought’ posts make up only about 1% (if not less) of the total sermon delivered by Rev. Stephen Tong.

As much as I love this little guy, I’m secretly thankful to God for giving us only ONE Vai.

Not three *smile*

Lots of people used to tell me how ‘easy’ a kid Anya is. How she’s relatively obedient, eats whatever meals given to her without much fuss, not physically agressive towards others, can fall asleep easily by herself on the bus, mrt, pram, etc.

But the thing is, I only get to really REALISE and UNDERSTAND what people’s been telling me AFTER I had Vai, who is the opposite of his sister in so many ways.

He can hardly sit still. He wakes up easily from sleep. He needs to be carried in a sling (AND at most times, breastfed!) if I want to make him fall asleep when we’re outside.

He’s so much more physically active. He dares to try seemingly ‘dangerous’ acts. He keeps on doing what he did earlier, even after he’s just had a ‘bad’ experience a few seconds ago.

Yes. As their parent, I do get to see how two siblings’ characters can be so different from one another and how unique and special each of them is. I also get to constantly learn how to to tackle and manage challenging situations – that happen within and outside our home.

And if I used to say ‘every child is unique, one approach may apply to one child but not to the other, and we need to address their needs accordingly’, I can now say it more convincingly. I can even throw in a few ‘REAL-LIFE examples’.

Ah. The stuff you continually learn and discover as a parent.

The October issue is out and they have this exclusive article on parents who blog about their kids. And quite a few blogs are featured there. Including mine *smile*

(and oh, you get two complimentary bibs and a sachet of porridge from Nestle when you buy the magazine. Heh.)

An interesting read.

Go and check it out!