Bersih 3.0

Bersih 3.0 rally was held last Saturday, 28 April 2012. Although it happened two days ago, many are still talking about it and I believe the news will not die out in another one or two months time. 

I was not there because I went to China with my family for a holiday. Many of my friends went there and really enjoyed the participation. They told me it was a peaceful act of calling for a clean governance. And on that day, no one acted harsh. However, newspapers reported otherwise. 

How can we believe the local newspapers today? They are parts of government's agents! 

Which do you believe? Those who actually attended the rally or the news reported in the newspapers?

It's individual choice. I chose to believe my friends. 

God plans the best

Last week I was so tensed and pressured because my son did not perform well during the rehearsal. The bride-to-be was worried how it would turn out on her wedding day. She wanted it to be memorable and beautiful. I think no bride would want her page boys and flower girls to cry or refuse to walk down the aisle when the beautiful wedding music is playing.

I prayed and prayed. I had a range of plans on the day of the wedding - to wake my boy up at 6.30am and let him take a nap at 11am so that by 3.30pm when the wedding starts, he would have had enough of rest and perform.

But on that day, he woke at 8am. I brought him to the market and then to the lake to get a few ride on the horses. I wanted to make him exhausted. Then we went to buy rubber dinosaurs for him to play. By the time we were back, it was already 11.30am. I let him took bath and then fed him and sent him to bed. But he refused to sleep. We had no choice since time was running out. By 2pm, we set to leave the house and he slept in the car. When we reached church around 20minutes later, he woke up, feeling afresh with good mood.

Thank God, the wedding went well, especially the moment we were waiting for...Whatever human planned, it was just a plan. Whatever that God plans will become a fact and turns out to be the most beautiful blessing of all!

Read, read and read

Read, read and read. That's the only thing I can say in getting a knowledgeable child. I read to my child anything we come across, be it a book, magazine, newspaper, pamphlet, flyers, menu, comic, etc. You name it, everything that is pure and good and beneficial, I will want to read to my son and let him know more about that genre. 

Once a person reads a lot, he/she will learn a lot and be more mature in thinking. When they enter preschool, parents would have lesser burden in enforcing reading habit. 

Reading has so many benefits. It helps the child to understand a matter with different perspectives. It also helps the child to write well. 

When I asked my brother, "How can you write so well?" 

He said, "I don't know. It's in me." 

Yes. It's through years of reading. So, parents, let's start reading to your children today! 

Nurturing reading habit

Have you ever read a book to your children? Ok, I'm asking Asian parents. I understand very well that reading to children is in the culture of the Westerners but not as much for the Asians. 

When my friend first told me to read to my foetus, I was like, "Urgh?! Read to him when he was not born yet?" My friend told  me that though foetus could not see what we were reading, he/she could hear us and viola, her sons remembered the stories told to them when they were just foetus. Is that true? 

I tried reading to my son when he was just 5 months old in my tummy and I felt bored. I felt like I was talking to a wall! I would rather spend time watching TV than reading, "A for Apple" to an unborn. So, I gave up and only read once in a long long while. 

When my son was born, I thought he would be too young to understand anything and hence, delayed reading to him again. Once when we went back to my husband's hometown in Johor, my sister-in-law advised me to read to my son as early as possible. She has a very good example - her son, who loves books more than anything else. It was awesome to watch that boy reading book after book. So, without any delay, I started to read to my son when he was four months old. I read to him whenever I was breastfeeding him. It felt good. He listened attentively. I bought simple books with short sentences and big pictures. 

Now, I thank God because my son answers most of the questions asked by his teachers. I thank God that I read to him early. I thank God when teachers came to me and said, "Your son knows a lot! You must have taught him well." I thank God that my son will pick a book and read by himself. I thank God for everything! 

I am one proud mother when my son would pick a book and sit down to read all by himself. 

Teh Tarik Junction: Nurturing reading habit

Teh Tarik Junction: Nurturing reading habit: Have you ever read a book to your children? Ok, I'm asking Asian parents. I understand very well that reading to children is in the culture o...

Appreciate every moment spent with the child

For the past one week, my son stayed at home throughout the day because he could not do any heavy stuffs like jumping in the trampoline in the school. Then, I remembered how I feared him and was so exhausted taking care of him for the past 2 years. With tears, anger, frustration and guilt, I went through the past 2 years and am still keep searching for an answer. 

When he was born, the family was so excited. But this baby was so different. (OK, every baby is different). He wanted people to carry him ALL THE WHILE, even at home. So, even when we were at home, we would have to carry him and walk around the house. How I wish he could learn to crawl and I could let him crawl more and no more carrying. But then, when we were outside, floors are dirty and it's not good to crawl. So, carry him again. And how I wish he could learn to walk and so I can stop carrying him. But when he starts to walk, he is fast and he started to run away dangerously which make us carry him. 

Children grow fast. Appreciate every moment. Although I thought I've spent much time instilling a good reading habit in him, I lost the most important thing - patience and discipline. 

Oh, what ending is it?!?

I just finished watching a Chinese love story involving three parties - two gorgeous guys and one pretty woman. One of the guys is my favourite actor, Louis Koo Tin Lok. As an obedient audience I followed every scene diligently and ahem, as the Director of perfecto, I never guessed the ending of a drama wrongly. But I was wrong this time! Arrgghhh! 

The storyline goes like this, Louis Koo met a woman, Yan Yee and tried all sorts of things to date her. When he got her a date, he ended up in bed with another woman. Years later, they worked in the same office and he wanted to date her again. Later on, she realised that he went to bed with another woman the day of their date. So, she rejected him. She wanted someone loyal, not a playboy which the role Louis Koo played was. 

At that time, she met the guy whom she saw few years back. He was an architect or engineer who drew and was building a skyscrapper building following Yan Yee's shadow. Oh, how romantic! 

Louis Koo found that he had no love for one-night-stand anymore and went to look for Yan Yee. He found her in the restaurant with the other guy and his parents. So, he went to the opposite building and painted  "Marry Me" on a cloth and pull it over like a banner across the building. It was a touching scene. At the same time, the other guy came with a ring, knelt down and display a big 'MARRY ME' through the lightings in the opposite building. Oh, that was even more romantic! How could anyone resist that??? Deep down I wanted the heroin to accept the engineer who was more loyal and honest but I thought she would choose Louis Koo. In fact, I thought the girl would say, "I'm sorry" and left but she didn't. She held her hand forward to the engineer to put in the ring. And Louis Koo waved goodbye and said he's going back to earth to be 'him' again - a playboy in nature. 

Every story has an ending. What others decide, we can't do anything. But we can always decide on the ending we want for ourselves. Isn't life a stage-show? How would you want your story to end?