Recently I was explaining to my 4-year-old son what color blind means. I told him people who are color blind cannot identify certain colors correctly. That was it, and so I thought he understood it very well.

Then one day, when we were walking down a shopping street in sunny Singapore, a Caucasian boy with a pair of beautiful green eyes walked past us. The next moment was the killer.

Never in my wildest dream could I have seen this coming…. my son screamed out, “Papa, that boy is color blind!”

I did not know where to hide my face.

PS: By the way, do you know that while color blindness may be seen as a disability, some studies have shown that certain of these individuals could actually penetrate color camouflages better

I am guilty of often hearing this pleading voice, “Papa, come play with me..”

I was listening to a Joyce Meyer sermon in the car today and the message that screamed aloud was this, “Are today’s children raising themselves up?”

In most of today’s so called “affluent” societies, most families are “Dual Income Families”, where both parents work. Resultingly, the amount of time the children spend with these parents are far shorter compared to those where one of their parent is not working.

And I can’t help but compare the kind of love and attention a stay-at-home mother (SAHM) can give, vis-a-vis those from a caregiver or nanny.  I have heard of cases where children grew up mastering the language of the caregiver instead of those of their parents. How sad.

Granted, if income is tight and both parents need to work, then so be it.

And we are all too aware we would rather that our children grow up in a wholesome environment rather than in one that is “rich” materially, but “poor in the soul”. But most of us seems to end up with our priorties mixed up!

Why?!!?

Ever heard of this conversation between a son and his dad?

Son : Come play with me, Dad
Dad : I need to work son. Who’s gonna pay our bills?

Son ran upstairs to his room and came down very shortly.

Son: How much?
Dad (without looking up and sounding annoyed): What how much?
Son: How much are you paid for your work? Here’s $50. Can you play with me?

I love carrying my 4-year-old son. Even though he is weighing close to 23kg now.

My argument is this. He is growing taller and heavier everyday. There will come a day when I will find it too heavy for me to carry him. So while I can, I will agree to his request to carry. It won’t be for that much longer that we can carry them you know? Just 4 to 5 years of their life! To my son’s credit, he doesn’t ask to be carried that often anyway. (Footywife would probably disagree!)

Secondly, as I carry my son, I find that we are building a special bond as we rub our cheeks together and talk with our faces close together.

On the other hand, some of my friends see it differently. They want their children to learn independence and would therefore make a conscientious effort to resist carrying. I do not disagree with that, just that I think independence can still be taught further down the road.

By the way, my son loves sitting on my shoulder now. I suppose I can stretch doing this a little longer than carrying…..kekeke.

My son started watching a children’s program called “Wonder Pets” recently, which is fine….until he fell in love with the duck character called Ming Ming!

He absolutely adores the character and has been asking my wife for her. No, not the toy Ming Ming. Nor the books on Ming Ming, but “I want Ming Ming“!

It seems like there are times when he cannot tell the difference between an animated characters and real characters. I have even shown him how the program was made (thanks to youtube) but he still wants his Ming Ming.

Worse, there was once he asked me to be Ming Ming! (Well I must admit I like to animate characters to him myself, holding a toy etc, and making it talk to him)

Well I hope the infatuation goes away soon….or else I have to be Ming Ming in the coming days…

The Dad in the Mirror. This is the title of the book I am re-reading. There are so many little gems of fathering advice that I urge all dads to read it.

How often have we heard our children say, “Papa (Mama), I want to be like you”. I am sure most of us have. Of late, I have been hearing this sentence countless times from my 4-year-old son. When I roam around the house without my shirt on, he says he wants to do that. When he sees me sleep with just T-shirt and shorts, he wants to change from his long sleeve pyjamas and shorts too.

Our children yearns for a father figure to lead and to guide them properly. Too often than not, we dads (me included) are totally clueless on how to do so. We father for performance, rather than fathering the heart.

The first gem I got from this book is this, “..when children feel grace and acceptance from their father, their hearts grow strong with a love for GOD and others“. Ponder on this, it is a great piece of advice.

Footyman and his wife is back after a 3 month hiatus

We hope to bring you more interesting posts with regards to our parenting challenges going forward. And we certainly hope we can keep this blog going…..even until our son is of age to have his own children, and learn a trick or two from the posts here!!

In the meantime, theChildIsKing would like to wish everyone a blessed time during the holiday season. ..MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(written by footywife)

Quite some time ago my little son came back from school and told me (while pointing to his chest) “Mama, Ms XXX’s chest is like the backside, got a hole”.

I nearly fell off my chair.

“Oh” I said.  “Did you tell Ms XXX that?”

“No” he replied.

The next day I went to school and stole a glance at Ms XXX.  Couldn’t exactly see the cleavage but the bosom does look ample.  My little son must have caught a glimpse of “stuff not meant for his young eyes” when Ms XXX bent down in class.

I am a sucker for Dream-comes-true stories.

Bring out your tissues and watch Charisse Pempengco sings with her idol Celine Dion at Madison Square.  Charisse is magnificent as is Celion Dion magmanimous. Wonderful.

“Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true”
~ Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)

Recently we were helping our 3.5yr old son with his school homework (yes homework, my goodness!)

We were basically searching for items that start with the letters that were assigned for the given week.

Our little son has caught on a little of this “game” and started suggesting things that starts with the assigned letters. Of course he doesn’t know how to spell words yet. But the way he (and I suppose other kids as well) is learning is interesting and sometimes …cute.

An example is this declaration one day…”I know papa, scissors start with “C”!” (Get it? “C”sers)

We have a long way to go..:)

For the longest time, my wife and I were wondering when our 3-year-old son will start pronouncing the letter “S” (and “F”) correctly.

We both knew these were 2 of the more difficult letters most young kids will master pronouncing correctly last. But we just wondered when…

So imagine our joy when out of the blue one day, my wife noticed he could pronounce it properly in a one of the words he used. Just a few days before, we also noticed he could pronounce “V”an instead of “Ban”.

Now it is a matter of changing the habit. Occasionally he will still say “You TEE”, and we would both jump in “You SEE!”

Here’s a useful article for parents who are stressed out with their kids mis-pronounciation. Do not be so hastened to look for a speech therapist.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Pediatrics-1429/2009/2/Preschooler-t-pronounce-F.htm