There is a saying that literacy starts at home. I agree with that statement. Personally, I believe that children who are exposed to literacy at home are more likely to appreciate books and reading. They will have a more advanced vocabulary than children who are not exposed to these things.

I used to be a major bookworm in my younger days. I prefer reading to watching television. My reading materials were usually fiction novels, romance novels, biographies and self-improvement books. Due to time-constraint, my reading is now very much limited to current news and parenting books.

Nonetheless, parents who like to read do not automatically mean that their children will like reading too. In my household, I’ll encourage my son to hold a book and read rather than watching TV or playing electronic games.

Here are some of the things that I do to encourage Little Edison to read:

• Read to him often

When Little Edison was younger, I bought board books for him. Our reading session involved just “reading” the pictures and narrating what we see in the book. Now, our reading session has advanced to words, sentences and reading a story in its entirety. Reading materials that I choose now are mostly phonics books, short stories and picture dictionary.

• Bring him to the library

It can be as simple as a 20-minutes stop-and-read session in a library, even in the midst of our shopping trip or weekend outing. We also pick up a few books from the library to keep a steady supply of reading materials at home. I blog about Little Edison’s first library experience HERE.

• Start a book collection

This is exactly what I want to do this year – find a tiny corner at our home and establish a mini library to keep his books. I began our book collection by ordering Scholastic Books through his school. They are inexpensive paperback books with a diversified range of reading materials. I also bought some short stories from the book store.

Through reading, I discovered that Little Edison has a preference for books on animals. He is also crazy about cartoon characters such as Dora the Explorer. More often, I’ll choose reading materials that are related to this cartoon character or animals to encourage him to read more.

What do you do to encourage your children to love books and reading? I love to hear from you.

I’m also looking for online stores that sell children books at affordable prices. Please buzz me if you’ve any recommendations. Thanks.

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When I send my boy to school this morning, I saw a nervous couple trying to leave their teary tantrum-filled girl in her class. As soon as the door is closed, I can hear the girl crying aloud. The mother looked so heart-broken. I looked at her and I recalled myself being in the same situation a year ago. I can really understand how she feels.

When Little Edison started his first year of preschool in January last year, he cried almost every morning. Prior to preschool, he has never been left alone with strangers. The stress of being left alone at school has also manifested into crying, demanding and clingy behaviors at home. I felt terribly guilty about his overwrought emotions and behaviours ever since he started preschool. He used to be a cheerful and happy boy at home.

With our help and support, he managed to overcome his separation anxiety (in about a month or so). Today, I’m going to share with you my 6-point plan. Hopefully, this plan will also help some of the parents who are dealing with this issue since the school started last week.

6-Point Plan to Deal with Separation Anxiety:

1. Speak to your child about school in an upbeat and positive manner. Encourage them to tell you what they like and dislike about school. Constantly highlight the fun times they had at school, the names of their teachers as well as classmates.

2. Keep goodbyes short. This is VERY important. Sometimes, parents accidentally reward the initial crying and then it becomes a habit. For example, if a parent prolongs the goodbye because the child is crying or offers some rewards to encourage them to stop crying, then they learn that by crying, mommy/daddy will stay a little longer, or that mommy/daddy will bring a treat later. So, a quick kiss and goodbye is important.

3. Trust and have faith in the preschool teachers. Crying children is nothing new to them. If they can’t get your child to calm down, they’ll be in touch with you. Trust in their experience and know that they will have your child’s best interest at heart.

4. Experiment with changing the person who drops them off or having a different teacher to receive them at school and see if it makes a difference.

5. Find out what the school routine is like so that you can tell them in a more concrete way when you are picking them up. For example, tell them, “I will pick you after you finish singing and dancing” if music and movement is their last activity before dismissal.

6. Do set some limits at home (e.g. no hitting others) and also encourage independence (e.g. eat by themselves). This is necessary at this stage of their lives to foster good behaviours. If you let your guilt take-over, you might over-indulge and cause his behaviour to worsen.

However, should your child be the rare one who does continue crying, then it would be beneficial for you to talk to the teachers or principal. If you find that your child is truly not ready, do not hesitate to cut back their hours at school or hold off school. Gradually increase your child’s exposure to other children and adults in various settings before trying school again.

Good luck and all the best, mommies!

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Teaching our preschooler about money can be very easy and fun. At a tender age of three, a relaxed approach is usually the most successful. We use money practically everyday; therefore there are plenty of opportunities for us to teach them about money.

My first attempt to get Little Edison familiar with money was in February this year, right after the Chinese New Year. He tore open his ang pows and I explained to him where the money comes from, what the money is for and how he should use the money. He probably didn’t understand what I was talking about but I just wanted to give him an early concept about money.

Recently, I’ve been teaching him what a dollar looks like and how to recognize the different coins. Now, he can recognize 50, 10, 5 and 2 dollar notes. Coins are a little more tricky. After a few practices, he can recognize one dollar coin, 50, 20, 10 and 5 cents by looking at the numbers and sizes.

Little Edison is also very curious about credit cards and ATMs. Every time I withdraw money from the ATM or pay for purchases via credit card, he will quietly observe what I’m doing. I explain to him that ATM is not a free money machine – Mommy and Daddy work hard to earn money for our savings and future. He nods his head and looks like he understands.

Teaching our preschooler about money isn’t difficult at all. Take the time to begin explaining money to them and I believe this will guide us to the path on raising children who will make wise financial decisions in the future.

If you’ve any creative ideas on teaching children about money, please share with me. I love to hear them.

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Recently, I came across a few articles about spoiled children. I was brought up to believe that spoiled children will grow up to be self-centered adults. When I was young, my parents often dismissed some of my requests for things on the basis that they didn’t want to spoil me. I felt sad when I couldn’t have the things that my friends had. It may be a trivial matter now, but it was a big deal to me at that time.

Now that I’m a mother, I want the best for my son. I don’t want to deny his requests on the basis of the same parenting theory. Childhood is the most unforgettable years in our life. That is why I feel that all children deserve a happy childhood – a childhood that is filled with love, encouragement and happy memories.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that we should let our children have whatever they want. It’s just that I don’t want to deny him things for no real reason.

Do you think that by indulging our children, we will end up spoiling them? Many parents in Singapore pile up toys, clothes, activities and enrichment classes for their children. Is this considered as over-indulgence?

I begin to wonder what the true definition of a spoiled child is. In my opinion, I think that a spoiled child does NOT mean a child who is given too much but a child who does not accept not getting their way. We won’t spoil them with love and material things but children needs appropriate limits and we have to enforce them.

Mommies, do you think that over-indulgence will leads to spoiled children? I love to hear your thoughts.

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I was reading the Sept issue of Mother & Baby magazine last night, and I came across an article about families who embraced five or more children. Quoted by a mother of five in the article, she said “You’ll not regret having a big brood, but you’ll regret having only one child.”

I wasn’t pleased with her statement. First of all, regret is a strong word. Secondly, I can’t fully comprehend why she has to impose what she thinks onto others, just because we don’t fit into her mould.

Having children is a personal option. I can never understand why some people feel the need to comment on couples who stop at one or choose not to have kids. Having a child is not a necessity. Although the purpose of life is to raise offspring to adulthood, it does not mean that everyone has to do so.

Frankly, having children is no fun at all. They are expensive, tend to break things and always around to dominate our lives. Giving birth is also very painful, not to mention the nine months of pregnancy and the whole host of discomforts – morning sickness, abdominal pain and breast engorgement.

During the first year, we have to wake periodically throughout the night to feed, burp and change the diaper. We’re forced to learn how to function with minimal sleep. Temper and tantrums coming up next in the second year. Going out with kids in tow is just as difficult too. Even when we want to steal a few hours for ourselves, we have to ensure that our kids are well taken care of by their babysitters.

Being a parent is as close to a 24/7 job. Life will revolve around the child. It’s a lot of hard works, only punctuated by occasional happy and proud moments. It’s the LOVE for the child that makes all these efforts well worth.

For the mother of five I mentioned above, she is also a working mom. She is fortunate to have her mother, mother-in-law and two foreign maids to take care of her five children. Not every one is as fortunate as her to have so many extra pairs of hands.

Take me for example; my mother is not staying in Singapore. My mother-in-law is not in her pinkest of health, I can’t possibly burden her with another baby. She is currently taking care of Little Edison, with the help of my maid. At this point of my life, I’m still not ready to give up my career. As a matter of fact, baby #2 is still not in my plan yet – although I do crave for a baby girl occasionally.

I’m happy to have Little Edison in my life. When I close my eyes, I can imagine how perfect this family size is. I want to enjoy everything about him, have the time and ability to be the best mother for him, have my own career and financially secured.

I just hope I won’t hear comments like “you’ll regret having only one child” anymore.

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