What Are You Playing With?!

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. - Confucius

I totally agree with the above quote so I always insist that my children get hands on experience as much as possible.

AND

When I ran into my four year old son, JS, playing with my manual breast pump, what did I do?

I had to do what I believe was the best.

Even if it is a sensitive one.

So, for this week's activity, I would like to share with you on experimenting or hands on experience.

Children are curious beings and they constantly seek answers to things that arouse their curiosities. There are times when the topic could be quite sensitive and how would you handle it? I always opt to be scientific. I find it the best way to explain things to a child, especially the sensitive ones.

WEEK 8: EXPERIMENTING / HANDS ON EXPERIENCE

TOPIC: ASSEMBLING EQUIPMENT

So, this was what we did.

First, I asked him what he was playing with. Not with a horror expression, nor with embarrassment.

Just asking a question, cool and calm.

In my heart: I did not now whether to laugh or to be happy about his curiosity.

He told me he was trying to assemble it but couldn't figure out how.

So we gathered all the parts and I gave him verbal instructions on how to assemble it. He already learnt how to assemble Lego cars and a set of fire engine with a burning house using the manuals so he was able to take verbal instructions too.

JS inserting the star valve into the hole at the of the pump body and funnel.

JS fixing the diaphragm and stem piece.

After the star valve, diaphragm and stem piece, he had to fix the pump handle and then test to see whether it could work well. If is was too loose, most probably he had put the star valve in the wrong direction.

Testing out the pump handle.

Then he put on the pump cover, the cup neck and the cup.

Finally, he put the petal massage cushion on.

Putting on the massage petal cushion.

Hmm...

But wait, Mummy. I have some questions...

Of course he had questions, on pumping milk and all. He saw me pumping for his sister. So I had to explain.

As what I mentioned above, I chose to be scientific.

When you explain things from a scientific point of view, it is much easier.

Do you have any thing to add to this? How would you handle sensitive topics or situations when it comes to answering your children's questions?

Comments

Stress Free Mode

Now, as I typed on my laptop, my 5 year-old daughter sits in front of me, doing her own work. She is doing something on her own. Something that no one tells her to do. It is 100% at her own will. She is copying from a storybook. It is a Malay storybook she borrowed from school. And she is trying to read as she copies. She is smiling as she tries to read the words and although she still struggles with many of the words, she is smiling while she tries. Once in a while, she would ask me how to pronounce a certain syllable. And now, she is singing out the words she copies. _________________________________________________ This scene, right in front of me, is the result of an important lesson I learnt a year ago. I learnt that, for effective learning to take place, the learner should be in a "stress free mode". And for them to be in that mode, it most probably has to be something they find interesting or rather, something they w...

The 😱😱😱 Moment When I Lifted The Wok Cover

I couldn't even recall when I cooked this plate of rice. It was a little less than a fortnight ago, few days before Chinese New Year (CNY) but I just couldn't remember if it was on Jan 31 or Feb 1. Hmmm. Was it forgetfulness or negligence? Yes, we were all busy preparing for CNY, buying cookies, new clothes, packing up, making sure we have enough new notes for the "angpow" or red packets, and we still wanted to do CNY scrapbooks (with the children), etc... With so many things to do, was it forgivable? That I left a plate of steamed rice in the wok? I only found the plate of rice in the wok when I was about to prepare lunch, on Feb 10. The rice has been there for about 10 days! 😱😱😱 Fortunately it was in the wok. It was not difficult to clean up. I would be so frustrated if it was in the rice cooker. I hate washing the rice cooker. That's why I have kept it away in the storeroom for years. Fortunately , it was just a plate of rice left there an...

Mongo Plant vs Garlic Plant

A few years ago my son was into growing plants and asked if he could grow some flowers. We did not have any flower seeds at home and I suggested that he plant some mongo seeds instead. The other reason I told him to grow mongo seeds is that they grow very fast and kids are not very patient at waiting for results. So everyday, as we leave the house for school (he was attending kindergarten then) he would look at the plants and say, "Mommy! They are growing!" A few days after we planted the mongo seeds, I suggested that we plant some garlic. This time, unlike the mongo seeds that showed some growth immediately on the following day, the garlics showed none. Two days after we planted the garlics, we went on a short vacation and when we returned, he saw some changes to the garlic plant and shouted, "Mommy, look! The garlics are growing!" Two weeks after that, we found time to do some detailed observations on the plants. We compared the roots and ...

Being Mom

Search This Blog