Being Mom

I am one who doesn't like to spend on toys. I would rather my children make their own because sooner or later, they won't want to play with children's toys anymore. Before my son started formal school, we spent two sessions daily on different activities. Most of our activities involved art and craft. This week, I would love to share with you a 3D garden that we made four years ago. Week 13: ART and CRAFT  TOPIC: 3D Garden Materials: Boxes of different sizes for the garden and flower pots.  Colour papers for grass, sky, and a pond.  Old books or magazines to cut out pictures like flowers, fish and tree. Or you can print out whatever you need.  Cotton for clouds.  Glue and scissors.  Here we go! Get the biggest box, which you want to use for the scene and cut out the left and right sides of the top part. Paste blue colour paper at the top and back (inside) of the box for the sky.  Paste green colour paper at the bottom (in...

Yes, I literally earned my first 10¢. When I was 7 years old. I sold a bookmark to a classmate. I could still remember how it went. I had some bookmarks and I put them in a photo album and showed it to her. I asked her if she wanted to buy and she chose one, which was priced at 10¢. That was how I made my first income. However, I could not remember how many more I sold. One day, not long after I started selling bookmarks in school, we had a pretend play at home. With my mother and my sister. My mother was to wash our hair like a hairdresser at the salon. After she washed my hair, I had to pay her. I could still roughly remember the conversation was about paying her and that we didn't have real money to pay her. That was when I said: But I have real money to pay you! And I told them how I got the money by selling bookmarks. My mom shook her head and said: I don't think you should do that. Please stop doing it. So, I had to stop doing it. That was my first bus...

What to do when you have very little time to cook but you want both meat and veggie in your diet? My "rescue plan" would be steamed fish with okra. Pieces of fish (like the one in the picture) cooks very quickly so it pairs perfectly with okra. It takes about 5-6 minutes to cook. I don't steam okras more than 6 minutes because they would turn yellowish (overcooked). THIS WEEK's SPECIAL: Steamed salmon with okra Ingredients: Salmon steak, okras, salt, ginger, shallots (optional), soy sauce (optional), cooking oil (only if you want to fry some shallots) First, boil some water in a wok or a steamer for steaming. Meanwhile... 1. Cut a few slices of ginger and lay them on top of the plate for steaming.  2. Clean the salmon steak. Sprinkle with some salt and put it on top of the pieces of ginger.  3. Wash and cut the okras. Sprinkle with some salt and arrange them according to your liking, in the same plate with the fish.  4. When the wat...

Traveling with children can be quite challenging. They need activities to keep them busy. From my experiences with my children, they don't really like to eat or shop. They want fun play and they want to explore. So, once in a while, we take them out for little adventures. Last June, we decided to take them to an island. WEEK 12: FUN PLAY TOPIC: A TRIP TO AN ISLAND It was a 3 nights 4 days trip. We stayed at Berjaya Tioman Resorts DAY 1 Lunch: I love burgers so it was a pretty good start for me.  Despite a pretty good lunch, our journey was delayed by about an hour. There were only two ferry trips to the island from Mersing, Johor. We chose the 3pm one instead of the 7am one because we didn't want to wake up at dawn and drive all the way to Mersing. When we reached the island, it was already dinner time. With kids along, we just had a short walk around the resort and went to bed early. DAY 2 We decided to go island hopping and snorkelli...

Count Your Blessings!! 😕 Yes. That is what you should do. When the world seems to be tumbling down... or has tumbled down.💣💔 When the whole world seems to be against you.😢 When all windows seem to have closed.😨 When all doors seem to have closed too.😰 You should start to count your blessings. Be grateful for even the littlest things.  I am writing from experience. So, please believe me. It will change your mindset and eventually, your life. Even if you are broke, or failed an important test, lost a business or terminally ill, there are still a lot of blessings to count. That you are still alive today That you have a roof over your head That you don't have to go hungry  That you still have a job that pays the bill  That you can still see your children today That everyone is safe and sound at home That your little picky eater ate half of his food Little blessings like these can do a lot during times of sorrow.  They can set y...

A tree😍? A house😀? A spider😁? Or a funny face😝? Cooking is one of my favourite thing to do and I secretly dream of having my own restaurant. Yes, I know I am far from a good chef but I enjoy serving my kids "interesting" food.  Food art or food arrangement can play a part in making a food looks yummier. At least, I think so.  Whenever time allows, I would play a bit with food arrangements, especially those for my kids.  This week, I would like to share with you some "interesting" ones.  THIS WEEK's SPECIAL: Food art  MEAL 1 Pictures A and B Ingredients: White rice, store bought unagi and cucumber (you can cut them anyway you like) or any herbs of your choice.  Picture A Picture B MEAL 2 Picture C Ingredients: Bread (slices), cheese (slices), mayonnaise and minced meat (or Nutella or peanut butter). If you want to try the minced meat... Marinate the minced meat with minced garlic, shallots, soy sauce...

" What are A, B, Cs for ?" my little one asked. They make up words. You put them together to make words. So naturally, after they have mastered their alphabets, it's time to introduce words. I would like to share with you two activities that help to introduce words. Here, we emphasised more on the first letter of the words. WEEK 11: Words TOPIC: The first letter of the word ACTIVITY 1 Recognising the first letter of the word Materials: Word cards: You can use readily available flashcards or make your own words flashcards to cover the entire set of alphabet.  You'll need alphabets. Either plastic or wooden or just print them out and cut them out individually. Here, I used wooded alphabets from the art and craft supplies shop.  NOTE: First, demonstrate how the activity is should be done by giving a few examples to the child/student.  Arrange the flashcards at a corner of the "activity area". Then in a box, put all the alphabets ...

KINDERGARTEN HUNTING When choosing a kindergarten for your child, what are your priorities? The type of syllabus? Method of teaching? Vicinity of the school and distance from your house? Facilities provided by the school? In this era where information is just a click away, anyone would have done researches on the various syllabus and methods used in education. Many would have made up their minds on these aspects and looked specifically for such schools. To me, there is no such thing as "one system fits all" kind of education. It all depends on the child. Every method has its pros and cons, be it Montessori, Charlotte Mason, Waldrof, play-based, academic based, etc. Some may just opt for schools nearer to their homes for convenience while others may choose based on recommendations by their trusted relatives and friends. YOUR CHILD'S SECOND HOME Regardless of syllabus, method, facilities and convenience, I would like to share with you some important as...

Cooking with kids is so much fun! 😃 ( Minus the mess afterwards, which can be less messy if the child is old enough to ensure less mess. ) My son loves to cook. When he was around 2, he would be with me in the kitchen as I cook because there is no safer place for him to be. Our kitchen is right at the back of the house and the door would be closed when we cook.  Soon, he developed some interest in cooking and would tell me what he would love to try out and I would see if it could be done.  Here, he was 5 years old and wanted to try to cook his favourite salmon fish. We made some salmon burgers.  THIS WEEK's SPECIAL: Salmon burger First, lets look at the ingredients needed.  Ingredients: Salmon fillet, white pepper powder, salt, corn starch, burger buns, tomatoes, slices of cheese. You can use any other ingredients you like such as pickles, lettuce, fresh cucumbers.  After cleaning the fish, here's what JS did.  1. He sprin...

Flashcards are easily available and affordable education materials. Why make your own?  I have two answers to the question on why I made my children go through the "trouble" of making their own flashcards. They made their own alphabet and number charts too.  Answer 1:   Children learn faster and better if they "do it themselves". Adults too, right? First hand experience is the best teacher, isn't it?                  "I see and I forget. I hear and I remember. I do and I understand." Remember this? Answer 2: It makes learning more interesting if they use materials they made on their own. Just like if they cooked it on their own, they will most likely eat it too! Similar concept.  So, yes. We made our own number flashcards.  WEEK 10: MATHEMATICS TOPIC: NUMBERS AND SEQUENCING Materials needed:  Old mathematic books with attractive printed numbers OR you can also print your ...

Before internet became popular... we played board games, hopscotch, hide-and-seek, we had plenty of pretend play, we had hobbies such as collecting stamps, badges and game cards. Or had pen pals, read books and magazines. Do you miss those times? Honestly, I do. I am a Xennial. I would prefer to be identified as a Xennial rather than a Gen X. It is a term brought about by Dan Woodman, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He believes that those born between 1977 to 1983 should be given a different identity from either the Gen X or the Millennials. Mainly because this group of people grew up during the transition years. To understand more on this topic, you can check an article from this link.  http://mentalfloss.com/article/502250/how-tell-if-youre-xennial STAMP COLLECTING I inherited stamps from my aunties. I had pre WWII stamps. Unfortunately, due to relocations after relocations, I have lost track of where I kept them....