teaching kids values

If I could, I would like to be the one spending most time with my kids. It baffles me sometimes what my kids say. I think it must be from the people they interact most with. In the case of L, that will be her nanny. Don't get me wrong, we love L's nanny to bits. She's extremely patient with the kids, and very soft spoken. The only thing I find with old aunties are they like to pass judgmental comments (e.g. saying someone is fat or something is ugly, etc.) and being superficial and judgmental is not what you want your kids to pick up.

Yesterday while having dinner with L, I asked her about school and her new friends. She was telling me about her new class and other random stuff and then she made this comment that made me sit up.

"Some girls are pretty and some girls are ugly"

Not knowing how to react, my first response was "all girls are pretty in their own way darling, there's no such thing as being ugly."

Then I added, "having a pretty face is not enough, you need to have a good heart. That will make you beautiful so everyone can be beautiful!"

I wasn't sure if she was paying attention to what I said because she started rattling on about other things. But I must find other opportunities to reinforce my message to her. Now how do I tell L's nanny to not pass judgmental comments about others in front of the kids? I don't want her to think that I'm accusing her of any wrongdoing. I just want to remind her that we should all be careful of what we say in front of the kids. So how?!!!

H's first day in Year 1

Today marks H's first day in Year 1. I think I'm just excited as he is. He seems to like his brand new school, being all smiley in the morning despite having to wake up at 6:30am. The school set up is definitely way better than his previous school. I especially like the classroom - very spacious and cheery, with full height windows overlooking the garden outside.

Let's hope everything works out well and that he enjoys going to school :-)

View from the canteen. H's classroom is the one on the right (ground floor)

Busy busy year end

I realised I've not been updating my blog. Here's a quick update on what we've been up to:

1. Managing renovations at 2 houses
Finally managed to nail down the contractors for the renovation of our 2 new houses - one for own stay and one for renting out. After weeks of going around hunting for supplies (tiles, paint, light fittings, etc.) we've finally settled everything (or at least I hope we have). Contractors have finally also started work this week, so fingers crossed, we'll be able to get our houses ready by mid-December.

2. Getting organised for our move
Still lots of packing to do. We're doing bit by bit every weekend. Last weekend I cleared up and given away all of L's old baby clothes so the doctor better be right that we're having a baby boy else we'll end up having to go shopping for new baby gal clothes!

Also realised that there may be a rat lurking around my packed boxes in the porch... yikes!!! We found rat droppings in the porch in the last 2 days, and scratch marks on the boxes. How to get rid of the darn rat the natural way? I mean I don't want to kill it, I just want it to leave. I read peppermint is a natural rat repellent but have yet to try it out. So now all new packed boxes are kept in the house, no more putting them outside.   

3. Keeping the kids busy
Feeling extremely guilty for not spending more time with the kids during the school hols. H is going camping with his grandparents and cousin this weekend. He's extremely excited. L wants to go too but I told her she can't since she's actually afraid of getting dirty. She wouldn't step on grass or mud, so how to go camping?!!! When I told her that while taking her for a walk by the poolside, she immediately walked on the grass and said "See, I'm stepping on the grass. Now can I go camping?". "No, you have to walk on the grass barefooted!". I think she's given up hope. Now she's excited that we're taking them to Legoland. She's been talking about it everyday since we told her we'll be going next weekend. So Hubs better make it happen otherwise she will be extremely disappointed!

They've also gone for a couple of field trips with my sis' school which I missed. I will also be missing the Jim West puppet show next week but at least the kids will have fun. The good news is I just got a call from Dumex to inform me that I won 2 tickets to the Hi-5 concert in December. Yippeee... I've never won any contest before so my luck must have changed. L will be thrilled since she loves Hi-5. And since she doesn't get to go camping, I'll be taking her to the concert :-)

Jolly phonics

L, at 3, is not showing much interest in the academic side. I mean, compared to H, he already mastered his phonics and could already spell simple words at 3. I hate to compare and it has not really bothered me since L is really a smart cookie. It's just that she's not interested in learning her A-B-Cs yet. Why am I bringing this up? Daddy made a comment last night about L still not knowing her letters and whether we should be concern. Well no I said, she's only 3. And to be fair, she does know her letters and sounds, it's just that she doesn't like to be asked or tested. Daddy thinks we should bring out the 'Ants on the Apple' book and start singing to her since she loves singing. I guess we haven't really been as diligent with L as we've been with H. We used to sing him 'Ants on the Apple' when he was a baby. Not sure if that was why he picked up phonics so quickly, but I reckon it's more to do with his interest which borderlines obsessiveness. When H is interested in something, he gets really obsessed about it.

Since L loves to sing, I guess one way to get her interested in learning the alphabet and phonics is to play her music. Instead of watching cartoons, perhaps it's worth letting her watch the jolly phonics videos instead. She's already doing jolly phonics in school, so better to be consistent :-)

This should satisfy daddy. I thought moms are supposed to be the kiasu ones. In our case, daddy seems to be more kiasu... hahaha.

Moving... where to?

We've finally gotten the keys to our new house a couple weeks back. The plan was to start engaging contractors, spruce up the place and move there by end of the year. So we thought, until the recent few days, when suddenly there is a change of heart. Should we move to our other house instead when the tenant moves out in December? Now to weigh the pros and cons...

1. House #1
Pros:  It's in the same familiar neighbourhood as our current house. Security is good, environment is good. Best of all, we'll be living directly opposite my mom's, which means easy help :-)

Cons: Insufficient rooms especially with new baby coming on board. Pretty extensive renovation needs to be done and it doesn't help that the contractor we've shortlisted isn't very responsive, which means we may not get the house ready by December. Location wise, it's further from work and the centre of activities.

2. House #2
Pros: Bigger house, sufficient rooms, move in condition so no renovation necessary (minor works can be done in stages after we move in). More central location - closer to work and kids' school and activities.

Cons: Area is still gated and guarded, but security may not be as tight (not sure!). The biggest con of all is that the kids will miss having po-po around all day since we will no longer be in the same neighbourhood.

It seems like we'll be settling for House #2, mainly due to not wanting to deal with the hassle of renovation and of course the timing issue. How the tide has changed from just a few weeks ago. We haven't told the kids yet. They were really excited about moving closer to Po-Po's house. Oh well...