Be A Wise Promoter of Social Justice

I opened an email from a friend who warned about some hanky-panky at a very well-known local water theme park. Together with the warning about a hidden camera in the female changing rooms, were combo photographs of two young ladies stripping bare.
I was naturally outraged. Later I wrote to my friend about the folly [...]

A Child’s Optimism

My four-year old woke up early this morning and asked for a cuddle. Seeing that he was still groggy, I gently rocked him for a bit and laid him back on the bed. Ten minutes later, he bounded up and came into the bathroom. “Are you ready to brush your teeth?” I asked as I [...]

Dealing With Saying Good-bye

Whenever we say good-bye to our loved ones we hardly give it much thought. We take it for granted that we would be reunited again. But for young children, separation distress is huge for them. I have observed it in my own children; even my 11-year old daughter still waves as I reverse the car [...]

Saying Good-bye

Children like many adults have difficulties with saying good-bye. Saying good-bye also means having to deal with “closures” or “endings”. It can be as simple as “TV time is up” or “Let’s go home” after experiencing a fun time at the park.
When mum leaves the house (e.g. out to the shop), the toddler hollers. In [...]

A School with a Heart

As soon as my four-year old settled down to having a piece of banana walnut cake for tea, he said to me, “Mummy, tomorrow night we (switch) off the TV, computer, lights, air-cond and fan at 8.30.”

Living With Kids vs Living Alone

A friend, who now lives in Amsterdam, was in town and the five of us got together for dinner. We hadn’t seen each other for a few years and we spent the evening catching up as well as reminiscing our good old days at university. Two of these friends live alone (not in a [...]

Our Lifelong Teachers

My friend, Sue was aghast when her husband presented their firstborn’s birth certificate after his return from the birth registration department.
“Are you nuts? How can you accept this?” she asked exasperatedly. On the document, it clearly stated the name of their child as: Cassandra Lee May Ling A/P Lee Chu Sing.

Love Thyself

Sometimes it is hard to go against common perceptions. Since the birth of my daughter, I had people saying to me, “Oh, it’s so nice to have a girl because you can doll her up.” And I had comments by relatives about my daughter’s lack of dressing sense – would you believe, at that time [...]

Peace and Love

When the war broke out in Iraq in first quarter of 2003, the pre-school my then 5-year old daughter attended revamped their whole year curriculum. Apart from the mandatory learning as set out by the Ministry of Education, the teachers put together a most meaningful project espousing peace.
Through newspaper cuttings of the children displaced [...]