I look at the adult world this way – those who succeed in life are those who dare to take the lead and make decisions. Those who hover around and cannot decide, continue hovering around, without making much progress.

And those who DO make decisions, do MAKE MISTAKES. But they MAKE decisions. And they know what they want in life.

Being decisive is also not being impulsive. The difference is that the former encompasses careful consideration while the latter does not.

Our children are growing all the time. Gradually, life challenges require them to make more and more decisions as they grow. I would like to think that most adults do pretty fine, but sadly some actually never grow up, still depending on their aged parents to help make decisions.

One major reason is due to the “well-intentioned parents” syndrome, where parents like us subconsciously shield our children from making decisions in every aspects of their lives, denying them the opportunity to sharpen themselves.

My encouragement to all parents is this, forget about the consequences of wrong decisions. Let our children make wrong decisions while they are young, so that they won’t grow up frozen, not knowing how to be decisive when it matters.

There is something good about cartoon movie sequels…… the old toys enjoy a revival!

My son absolutely adored the characters (and toys) from the Disney Pixar movie CARS when I first introduced the movie to him about 3 years ago. Needless to say, within a short time we built up a rather huge collection of the characters (above photo probably makes up only a quarter of that collection). He would play with the toys almost everyday.

Alas, and naturally as time passed, new toys and distractions in the form of Beyblades and iPad took over. These car toys were then stored …and forgotten…until the launch of CARS 2!

We then excitedly watched the trailers on Youtube and naturally again, the pleas to get the new characters began. In a few hours time, we will be heading to watch the GALA premiere in Singapore. I can imagine the pleas will become louder and louder after that!

In front of my son, I frowned upon such desires to get all these toys. But privately, I can’t wait to get my hands on the whole new collection!

Fresh Air host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities in the US.

Host families range in size, ethnicity and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget. Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children.

There are no financial requirements for hosting a child. Volunteers may request the age-group and gender of the Fresh Air youngsterthey would like to host.

If you are keen to find out more, click on the banner below! There’s only 1 week left to sign up!

My family does our bedtime prayer almost every night.

One night recently,  as my wife, my son and I lay on our bed, I suggested, “Let’s pray this way tonight – I’ll pray for Jadon, Jadon prays for Mama, and Mama prays for Papa.” “

“No, I want to pray for you”, my son said. (There are certain things where he prefers me, and others where he prefers the mother)

So I said, “Fine, so you’ll pray for me, I pray for Mama, and Mama prays for you.”

“No. I’ll pray for you and you’ll pray for me,” clearly indicating his preference for me this time.

“What about Mama?” I asked.(Mama had been silent all this time, probably wondering if all the effort spent in cooking healthy, nutritious yet yummy food for him was worth the while)

And my son replied, “Erm…we need one more person then.”

There was only three of us in the family.

My wife and I usually pray with our son before he goes to bed. It was a habit we started when he was about 3 years old. (He is now 4 going on 5)

Those days, we simply prayed while he lie on his bed and closed his eyes. As he grew older, he started praying in bits and pieces on his own. He also requested that we pray for this issue and that.   One funny request I recall was to pray that he won’t grow up! (Of course footywife and I never said “AMEN” to that!)

Of late, we just need to start the prayer off with, “Dear Lord…”, and he would continue the rest of the prayers from there.

Few nights ago at bedtime, as per routine, I said, “Let’s pray.”

Guess what? He said matter-of-factly, “No need. I told GOD GOD {sic} last night that whatever I have prayed before, He would remember and I do not need to ever pray them again.”

Now I have dealt with “Blanket Approvals” in the corporate world before, but this is my first spiritual enlightenment about BLANKET PRAYERS!

I was brought to the attention of this non-profit agency recently. What is does is to provide free summer vacations to New York City children from low-income communities, letting them enjoy rustic experiences in the country and suburbs, while enjoying the friendly warmth of host families.

Such a visit can make all the difference in the world to an inner-city child…just take a minute and listen to the experience of Brandon Mendoza below:

I am writing this post to help Fresh Air Fund solicit Host families to bring cheers to our deprived city children. Can you help me spread the word and spread some FRESH AIR? Thanks!

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?!

Yes, if you are a parent or a caregiver, regardless of whether you are a GOOD role model or not, your little ones will follow you. And children learn what they see. So be careful what you do in front of them.

My son, needless to say, is no exception. He likes to imitate the things I do. I think I have mentioned previously that I like to roam around the house without my shirt on, and so he follows.

• When I whistle, he asks me how to do it

• When he sees me work at home sometimes, he says wants to be an “office staff” when he grows up! (So much for my dream about him being a professional footballer!)

• When he eats, he chews them deliciously and noisily…just like me

• When I keep his toys, he continues playing!!! (ok, this one is different)

• When he sees me sweeps his toys using my feet, he does the same

This evening when I came back home from a cell group meeting and wanted to keep my shoes in the shoe cabinet, I saw his school shoes had already occupied “my segment”.

Need I say more?

Children learn by seeing what their role models do and aspire to be like them.

The role models’ behaviours are also their definition of what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. If you realize you are one, keep your chins up and be the proud and responsible caregiver. It is a joy when you see your little ones pick up the “good” stuffs from you

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