I made a terrible error the other day of speaking before I think.

My son was doing some coloring at the dining table and I was sitting beside watching him. Footywife and myself had noticed that over the past few months, his coloring skills had improved tremendously, especially in the area where he was supposed to “color within the line”. We were always lavishing praises on him for coloring well.

However in this instance, he seems to have lost a bit of confidence and did not seem to be in the mood to color well. He said, “I can’t do it”, referring to coloring within the lines.

In my enthusiam to encourage him, I said, “Com’mon, don’t give up”.

He immediately caught on the new phrase and said, “I want to give up“, and instantly stopped.

I just thought, “Fantastic… I had just provided that little bit of catalyst to promote despondence.” Hopefully it doesn’t create a lasting impact on him, but he had certainly learned a new phrase.

I just wished I had watched what I said.

My wife was talking to her sister recently about her 8-year-old daughter, Jeanette and her experiences in primary school.

One of the topic they touched on was money management.

It was recounted that my sister-in-law was trying to teach Jeanette how to count her money and get her change back after paying for  food during recess breaks. To which Jeanette confidently replied, “no need Mama, it is very easy!”

My sister-in-law was probably pleasantly surprised until she continued,”…. just let them count and return you the money!“

Any better advice?!

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

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…

(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.

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

(written by footywife)

“Parina” turns out to be be “Hazina”.

It was her birthday last week and all her classmates including my little son got goody bags.  When I asked whose birthday it was my little son’s good friend Dominic kindly informed me that “it’s Hazina’s birthday!”

Seriously I do not know how “Hazina” ended up as “Parina”.  My little son could pronounce “h” as in “horse” but why not “Hazina”?  Beats me.  The world of the little children is sometimes like an enigma.

(written by footywife)

The other day on our way home I asked my little son who sat beside him during his meal in school.

“Parina” he replied.

“Oh, Farina” I said, certain that he had mispronounced the letter “F”.

“No!  Parina!” he exclaimed.

“Sharina?” I asked.

“NO! PARINA!!” he screamed, looking really annoyed with me.

I was a little uncertain what to say next.  What could “Parina” be in his mis-pronounced world?

“Parina?” I asked hesitantly, pronouncing the name exactly as he did so as not to antagonize him any further.

“NO!!!  PARINA!!!” he burst out, looking at me as if I was a complete idiot.

“Ok, alright” I said, trying not to say the word again.  One must really know when to shut up.

I have yet to find out who this “Parina” really is.

I was on the bed with my cheeky 3 year old son just now and I asked him, ” Would you like to have a little brother or sister to play with?”

He said, “er, yes.”

“So let’s pray!” I encouraged.

Here’s what he prayed, “Dear Lord, please give me a little sister who will grow up into a boy!”

Duh.

Please DON”T say AMEN to that!!