Lesson Description:

What will the ArtzPlorer do?

Collage, from the French coller, to glue is a 2-D artwork created by sticking materials such as paper scraps, photographs and cloth on to a flat surface.

Children will work with a wide variety of materials such as felts, papers, cloth, sponge, metal, rubber, plastic, wood, etc. They will assemble various bits and pieces to form their robot.

What will the ArtzPlorer learn?

English: Focus - Action words (Verbs), Body Parts

• English: “What can your robot do?” Children share what his/her robot can do, using action words (verbs). Children are also encourage to use adverbs of manner. Eg : Clean quickly, Walk quietly, etc (Verbs & Adverbs are taught from P1 right through to P6)

Science:  Focus - A robot is a machine. Types of Materials.  

• Science:  Children are encourage to describe what materials they used to create their robot. Eg : A plastic button for nose, a wooden stick for legs, cloth for plants, etc (Materials is a P3/P4 Science topic)

Music and Movement: Focus - Higher Order Thinking skills

• Music & Movement : The robot song, “I’ve got a robot in my house” is a catchy and enjoyable song which children and even the adults enjoy.

Learning Points from Song :

A Robot may look like you and me (Human)

A Robot can work

But a robot is not a Living Thing

A Robot is a Machine.

Higher Order Thinking : Why did the boy says that “To me, he’s a human, not a machine”?

                                Source : http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-robot.htm

Books that the ArtsPlorer read

-          Robots, Kingfisher Young Knowledge Series (Non-Fiction)

NLB Call Number : English 629.8 GIF

http://vistaweb.nlb.gov.sg/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+22452+3002+12500251+2+0

Take a peek inside the book at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0753461250/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

-          Hello, Robots (Fiction)

NLB Call Number : English STA

http://vistaweb.nlb.gov.sg/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+13775+3002+12550548+1+1

Take a peek inside the book at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B000C4SIJE/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

The Boy

Everyone laughed at me! Purple is a girl’s colour. Why did you buy a Purple water bottle for me!? The girls asked me why I carry a ‘girl-colour’ water bottle. The boys call me ‘Purple’. You should have ask me what colour I want. Like maybe Blue or Red, or even Green. I don’t like Purple.

The Mother

C’MON LAH! Ever since when Purple is a girl’s colour. You’ve always like purple! It’s your favourite!

The Boy

Purple was my favourite when I was 3 years old!

The Mother

That bottle cost a good $16 OK! I would think twice buying something so pricey for myself!

PLEASE LAH! Don’t be so trivial. The people in Mymmar who was hit my the cyclone are really suffering, without a roof over their heads, with no food, no water and you are whining about a PURPLE WATER BOTTLE!!!!!!

The boy

*Think*

*THink*

*THINK*

Ahhh … they all so poor thing! Why not I donate the PURPLE water bottle to them! Then you but another water bottle for me!?

The Mother

*Fuming*

The Father …

Yes!

A BRAND NEW RED BOTTLE

 for The Boy

who now hates

Purple!

The night is still young but like any other nights, I am dead beat. Because, like any other days, today is Mother’s day.

I got up just before the alarm sounded and stole a minute to snuggle close to the man who went to Oman this morning for a business trip and left me with THREE boys.

As usual, the day started with screaming and yelling for the older boys to get ready for Chinese enrichment classes.

Brush Teeth. Drink Milk. Breakfast. Where are your Chinese files? Pencil box? Water bottles? Learn Ting Xia already or not? Why so last minute!? Don’t fight - It does not matter who gets into the car first! Please lah! Belt up!

After classes, had to rush the boys for their swimming lessons.

Where’s your float!? What! Forgot the goggles again!? Slap on the sun block! Don’t throw your clothes on the ground!

Then it was lunch.

Finish your food without whining! No drinks before food. Where are your table manners? Why fight again!! Does it matter who gets to sit with mommy!?

Thank goodness none of the boys wanted to follow me for grocery shopping. But the moment I reached home, they bugged me to bring them to the library. So off we went to the library.

You mean you din’t bring your library card!? No need to fight! Each one borrow 2 books using my card okie! Stop running! Stop Lah! Give me a break lah! 

 Followed by dinner at the food court.

Stop fighting! Share the egg! Enough already - No more noodles already. NO DESSERT for the last time!

Then just before bedtime …

Huh!? Homework!? You mean you have to hand this up tomorrow!? What! Must be at least 10 sentences! Now only you tell me!?

And Baby … why you need to be carried all the time! No more nan-nan! Sleep lah! PLEASE …. ALL SLEEP!!!

This is Mother’s Day. In fact, everyday is Mother’s Day. Where the mother is central figure in the children’s life.

Somebody ought to declare an ‘un-Mother’s Day’ where the Mother does not need to be Mother for a day!

Then again, this was what Hang wrote. Brought tears to my eyes.

Ahhh… its time to rest and brace myself for a another day.

Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow is but another Mother’s day.

OK, so Hang won some art competitions last year, including securing a merit for the prestigious Istana Art Competition. But, in my opinion, he is no artist in any sense. An artist is not necessary one who draws well, lest winning competitions.

In my definition, an artist is someone who explores the world around him and communicates his thoughts and feelings using a variety of mediums. Thus, the art is a personalised interpretation of the artist’s environment.  Sounds ‘Chim’ huh ?

Translating this into my teaching of art, I would not ask children to copy from pictures - which is what Hang has been doing for the past year during art classes. At the end of the session, everyone’s work looked somewhat similar, lacking individuality and creativity. 

Last everning, I wanted the boys to draw a lion in wilderness. So, instead of giving them step-by-step instruction, I asked them to draw based on their observation and imagination. I used a stuffed toy and they  ran their hands through the lion’s body, face, tail and mane. Then we discussed about shapes, sizes, texture (i.e long tail, round face, etc) before drawing.

I love how they boys drew the wilderness based on their imagination, since both have never enter a jungle. Hang used long, bold strokes of yellow and green. To him, the jungle is probably a vast bright plain.

As for Xiang, in his own words, he drew zee zee zaa zaa.  He probably felt that the jungle is a somewhat chaotic, gloomy and scary place. This could be the mental picture formed from the one and only book on jungle he had read.

So the true art lies behind the masterpieces that your children create. Aptly, its the process and not the product.  

Recommended reading : How to Teach Drawing to Children by Marvin Bartel 

2 months to go: Party or not?

Hang asked for a birthday party. We had lavished him with elaborated celebrations for the past years. Should we this year?

Hang confided in us that he might lose his friends if they knew he does not have teeth! After some deliberation, TH and I decided to throw him one more party. It would be good to know his friends, their parents and to take the opportunity to create awareness of his medical condition.

Hang turns Four

Belated 5th Birthday

Our prince is Six

1 month to go: Venue?

Deciding on the venue was difficult, as I wanted somewhere cozy and homely for guests to mingle yet a big space for children to play and nice home-made style food. Thus, public places were ruled out while the condo function room meant catered food.

After scouting for almost a month, I decided on Little Part 1 café, where my family often dines. I have always liked their business philosophy - a ‘Third Place’ between office and home for socializing and hanging out. We booked the whole restaurant for our private  function.

The restaurant has a back yard so the kids played treasure hunt and blew bubbles there. The food presentation was pleasing with plates, ceramic bowls and glasses instead of rectangular silver trays. The tags were hand written, adding a certain warmth. They topped up as soon as the food ran low ensuring a continuous flow of fresh, piping hot sumptuous treats.  

The two young lady owners accommodated to our every need, taking care of every detail to ensure the function runs smoothly. So thumbs up for service as well.

3 weeks to go : Theme and Games

I convinced Hang on the theme ‘Pirate’ as I needed something easy to work with. I started surfing the net for ideas on games, invitations, cakes, etc

*****

Some Sites

Pirates Birthday Party Ideas 

Pirate Theme Cup Cakes

Pirate Treasure Hunt Clues

Instructions for Pirate Hats

*****

Was considering a magic show but that would not go well with the theme! Instead, we played Treasure Hunt, Passing the Treasure and Pirate’s Bingo.  

Found this puzzle book which has 5 mini pirate puzzles. I divided each set into 4 smaller packets and wrapped them in different colours for the treasure hunt.

Realize how disappointed children were when they unwrapped the parcel and did not win anything? That was why I made these bookmarks and stuck them to every layer of the ‘treasure’. There were quizzes about pirates and they doubled up as little prizes for the children.      

2 weeks to go : Loot Bags

We used to get stuff from Concourse but the shops were relocated for a condo project. We went to Teka Mall and there was just one miserable shop there. After asking around, we found out way to Middle Road (115 Middle Road). There were 3 shops there offering quite a good variety of stuff.

Sweets were never my choice for party packs but I simply could not resist the skeleton gums! I favoured stuff that children could use such as bookmarks, pencils, erasers. I found these cube puzzles which really put your motor skills to good test. We grew up with such toys, didn’t we!? 

Folded pirate hats, stuck a moustache, pierced a golden ear ring with an eye patch and VIOLA! I personalised each pack with the guests name too. *Hubby shake head!*

12 days to go : Invites

Printed the invitations on paper, stained them with coffee and burnt the sides to create the ancient treasure maps look-alike invites. Gosh! I forgot to include the map and other information like date, time, etc! When doing the new batch of invite, I was not too happy with the font from the computer, so the perfectionist me dug out my calligraphy pen (last use since A-levels) and wrote the wordings and drew the map!

Wanted to drop the invitations into bottles with a little sand and seashells - but I could not find any bottles, not to mention the shells!  Also the children might break and cut themselves. So I rolled the invites, cut stripes of red cloth and tied the invites into scrolls.

10 days to go :  The Cake

I ordered cup cakes from a friend who refused to even charge me for the cost of the ingredients! (Thank-you so much) She makes super duper delicious cakes! Visit her blog, “The Sweet Life”. She placed all the cakes into a pirate boat - an impressive centerpiece which drew compliments from our guests.

We had wanted to take a family photo after the birthday boy blew the candles but the children could not wait a second longer. They grabbed a piece each (some coming back for more!) and sunk their teeth into the irresistible masterpieces, each beautifully handcrafted.

1 Days to go: Last minute stuff

Yes! I drew this.

It was originally a poster for an Innovation training I conducted in my previous school. The poster was tucked away collecting dust at one corner of my cubicle. What a waste! So, I brought it home, cut the pictures out, stuck them on a black background and added some details.

It was placed at the entrance of the café.

Plenty of nifty gritty last minute stuff - and I slumped into bed close to mid-night - dead tired.  

On the Actual Day

3pm : Arrival of Guests. Activity : Blow bubbles at the backyard.  

3:30pm : Game - Treasure hunt and

4:00pm : Food Glorious Food

4:15pm : Game - Passing the Treasure & Pirate Bingo

4:45pm : Show and Tell

5:00pm : Cake Cutting

5:30pm : Saying Goodbye

To me, the highlight of the party was when Hang did a show and tell of himself. I helped him assembled a scrapbook with photographs which starts with - I have HED - I cant sweat - So I can’t stay in the sun for too long - My grandfather shaves my head every week so that I stay cool - I do not have a full set of teeth - I wear dentures - Than you for being my friend and coming to my party.

He took out his dentures and showed his friends. And they assured him that they will still be his friends even though he does not have teeth!

Gifts

We discussed with Hang who agreed that he is already blessed with too many toys. Thus, we asked guests not to bring presents but pledge a donation to NFED, the foundation which supports Hang’s medical condition. A total of $240 was donated to NFED online.

*****

Thank You

Hwee Yin for the cake

Vernon for being our photographer

Parents and Friends for your company

*****

 Click on our FACEBOOK album for more photos.

Simply love the free templates offered by ShabbyPrincess to create this calender desktops. I’ve been diligently creating one every month. Here’s an album of my work.

This month, I edited the design a little. I find that the original background paper is too bright resulting in some of my desktop icons getting ‘lost’. I prefer a plain, dark background. I’ve also added some text, ‘Xiang is learning to write. He is practising his pincer grip using fat crayons’.   

Yes. I am teaching Xiang writing. I’ve seen many students with poor handwriting, often a result of the incorrect way of gripping the pencil. I’ve searched the web for the correct way to hold a pencil with almost a nil return.

Hang’s form teacher commented that he has beautiful handwriting which I must give full credit to his pre-school teachers. I recalled his Montessori teachers telling us that the correct way to grip a pencil is using the pincer grip - gripping between the thumb and index finger, with the pencil resting on the third finger, and held at a slant. And this grip is best practised with fat crayons.

 So, Xiang and I have been having fun practising writing strokes (curvy snakes, slant rain drops, lines on rails, etc).

On 14th of February.
The man came home later than expected, carrying with him a big plastic bag and a cheeky smile. It was more than a dozen stalks of  mismatched yellow and pink roses, overshadowed by a really huge bunch of baby’s breathe slipped into a floral wrapper, secured sloppily with sticky tape.

“Surprise! I made a detour to Far East to get these roses OKIE! DIY one. I somemore share with a doctor who was also getting roses for his wife. We buy everything. He half, I half and then just buy own packaging and wrap the flowers ourselves.”

The flowers have long wilted.
But the sweet scent lingers,
eternally in her memory.

*****

Dear hubby,

On my birthday, after all the guests had left, I wrote a thank you speech in my heart but failed to deliver to you as I fell right asleep the moment I slipped into bed. On Valentine’s Day, again, I wanted to tell you how much I love you. I slipped into slumber before you got into bed. So, tonight, I simply have to type out this entry before the Zzz Monster attackes.

All these years, we attended friend’s weddings, we saw marriages failed, we have been through good times, we have been through tough times, but what kept us together, bind in love, is simply our commitment to make this marriage works. 

So, my dear, thank you for waking up every morning just to wake me up, for driving me to schoool when its faster to reach my destination if I were to walk, for being my personal chauffer with great patience, for buying breakfasts, for scrubbing my back, for and for the many countless little things that I might have simply taken for granted in our daily lives.

A toast to more good years ahead.

Loves, Wifey.

Read more from Hang’s Blog

Let Hang tried some past year papers. Some questions are really challenging. He managed Sample Q1 and Q2 but got the last two wrong.

Din’t know that P1 Math so difficult one!

Super Stress

[I mean, ME!]

Samples Q1:

Jane is standing in a line. She is the 5th from the left and the second from the right. How many children are there in the line?
Answer : 6

Sample Q2:

Look at the pattern below. Which number is directly below 10?

2  
4   6
8  10   12

Answer : 16

Sample Question 3:

Peter is thinking of a 2-digit number. The digit in the tens place is 1 less than 2. The digit in the ones place is 1 more than the digit in the tens place. What is the number?
Answer : 12

Sample Question 4:

David made some paper aeroplanes. He gave 6 paper aeroplanes to Tom. He has 5 paper planes left. How many paper planes did David make at first?
Answer : 6 + 5 = 11

I found myself in the midst of war fighting a losing battle against time, against my own energy level. I am so exhausted, so deranged. I know not what I am fighting for. 

*****

It has been months since Xuan joined us but I have yet to get everyone into a routine so that we can all function optimally as a family.

I am so tired after work, I nap but many times, I over indulged in long siesta leaving no time for the younger boys. I only have a couple of hours with Hang in the evening to coach him in his studies but often, the younger boys pried me away from him as they clamour for my attention. I am one mom who is tormented by guilt when I do not spend quality time with my children.  

Preparing the family meals are mammoth tasks. We have explored the option of catering but I see the need to pack every meal with nutrients. I want the boys to have fresh steam fish at least twice a week. But most of the days, I just cook what I could lay my hands on from the fridge without thinking about balance and variety.

There should also be time for family games and outings where we could interact as a family unit. But weekends come and go without doing much that is worth mentioning.

I felt a great sense of urgency to put our lives into perspective, to nurture our boys during these formative years, to build firm foundation and strong ties for our family, to spend some couple time with hubby and to have some personal space but time and tide are against me.

*****

At this moment, I am battling the urge for the Big Os! I have been binging on these to satisfy me and alleviate my stress. Next I will be battlingthe kilos that I’ve put on.

*****

And yet another battle has just begun at the break of dawn.

 Xiang and baby Xuan are battling against stomach flu. Xiang almost vomit his gut out! And if their conditions do not improve in the next twenty-four hours, they will have to be admitted.

Fight. 

Pray.

Details at http://cakesnblooms.wordpress.com/

Hang started primary one. We were delighted to see how well he eased into the school environment. He adores his teachers, makes many new friends, learns many new things and especially enjoys the new found power of spending money. Just before school started, he told us, “No need to give me too much pocket money - just ten dollars a day will do!” [Faint!]

We had been worried about teasing for the longest time. True enough on the first days of school, a few children called him names. “I know they laugh at me because I have no hair but I just ignored them!,” he reported confidently. I had to turn my face away so that he could not see the tears of pride and joy in my eyes. He made us so proud. [In fact, my eyes are swelling with tears, as I type this. And again when I reread this before posting] But we were concern when we learn that one of the boys hurt his arm on purpose. We told him that he has to be firm and stands up for himself if the teasing continues. Though difficult, we have to learn to trust that he will be able to handle the situations ahead. But of course the second day of school, we had his doting Kong Kong marching to school and told the form teacher, “Excuse me, I am not trying to complain but one of the boys twisted my grandson’s arm ….”

Something else which pleases us greatly is he has morphed into a bookworm. He reads independently and has been devouring books. He especially enjoys adventures such as Geronimo Stiltons but he reads an amusing variety such as Asthma, How to live on Mars, Crime and finger prints, Doremon comics, Flood etc.  

With Hang, we could give ourselves a pat on our back thus far. We are reaping the seeds that we have sown. Of course we will continue to invest our time and energy and shower him with love, care, attention and reassurance.

Xiang has been picking up Mandarin in school though he speaks with an ‘ang moh’ slang. So far, we have been satisfied with his learning development. However, the social domain remains a concern.

I have to admit, I’ve always a soft spot for Xiang. Definitely not because I favour him. Contrary to parenting a special child, with Xiang I could be less tense, more relax and enjoy motherhood.

But Xiang is getting out of hand lately. He has adopted some favourite rude words such as ‘silly cow’, ‘dog shit’, ‘stupid’. His typical good day at school would be one where, “I did not push my friends. I did not kick my friends.”

He needed guidance. That is the reason why I have chosen to teach in the morning session. With the older one in school, I have the luxury of spending a good part of the afternoon with Xiang.

I am confident he will grow up just fine like his big brother. He just needs a little time, packed with attention.

As I am writing an update on our little baby, he is sleeping soundly right next beside me. It is impossible to put into words the joy of parenting and we are really glad God has bestowed us with yet another opportunity to savour this experience once again with our bonus baby.

Xuan is coming to 10 months old. He is still rather small remaining in the 10^th percentile. I quit worrying. Developmental wise, he is quite behind his brothers (I realised this when I look at the archive videos of his older brothers) but I kept reminding myself that every child is different.

Xuan has yet to cut any teeth. He crawls real fast. He could also wave ‘bye bye’. He gets excited when he knew that we are bringing him out and starts flapping his little hands to wave goodbye. He smiles all the time. Very cute. Very adorable.

But he’s a little chilli padi! He clamours for attention. His survival instinct is rather attune as he wails at the top of his lungs when his brothers disturbs him.

He’s a loud noisy little baby - screaming, shouting babbling all the time. With this little chilli padi, Xiang is merely second in rank for mischief.  

The boys have been performing the lion dance with our blankets, bolsters and pillows. So we decided to get this lion head for them to have some fun.

This is our X.I.A.N.G!   

He is so funny.

Xiang completed his N1 last December. We decided to start him formally on the Montessori education this year. He goes to school, just like Gor Gor. He takes the school bus, just like Gor Gor. He attends art lessons, Chinese enrichment and swimming classes with his Gor Gor.  Our Xiang is a big boy now.

Xiang is rather obstinate which is worrying. He constantly needs to be reminded to behave. This year, I am teaching in the morning session. This means I do not get to see much of Hang, as he is in the afternoon session. Its a delibrate choice because Xiang needs my attention. I felt guilty as I’ve neglected Xiang all this time as our focus was on our special child, Hang. I need to spend more time and expend more energy coaching and guiding Xiang and hopefully, he will grow to be a confident and lovable boy, just like his Gor Gor.

I am in deep grief
as I bid my Ji Chek
whom loved me so dearly
even before I understood what love is 
- Goodbye -

*****

- Who would have thought this to be the last family portrait? Taken Dec 2005 -

Friday, my aunt (Gu Gu) from Penang called close to midnight. Through her frantic sobs, ‘They says he cannot be save already,’ I made out that my Uncle had been knocked down by a motorcyclist. Nah! She is just exaggerating, I thought in denial. My dad and I frantically tried to contact his wife and daughter. The dreaded call finally came half an hour later to confirm our worst fears - my beloved uncle has passed away. Nah! That can’t be. It is just a dream, and I clung on to that delusion as I crept into bed.

My uncle was working in a departmental store. He had done the closing and was heading home. As usual, he had asked his wife and daughter, who were also working together, to wait for him at the bus stop while he tie the loose ends before catching up with them. As he was crossing the road, an 18 years motor cyclist knocked him down. The impact was so great, his legs broke and he bled profusely from multiple injuries. One of the food vendors whom witnessed the accident ran to the bus stop to inform his wife and daughter. Unfortunately when they saw him, we was barely breathing and was pronounced dead when they reached the hospital.     

I just came home from my uncle’s (Ji Chek, as how I address him in Hokkien) funeral, hauling a heavy heart, laden with all kinds of emotions, from sadness, exhaustion, guilt, anger to relieve and feeling comforted. Grief over the lost of my Uncle. Sad that his family, especially his wife whom he loved so dearly, whom had never spent a day of her live without him since they got married, lost her soul mate. Guilt of not saying proper thank-yous for cycling all the way to the market to get me my favourite fried cempedak, for never forgetting my lor bak whenever I visit, for taking the trouble to go down town and spending money to buy biscuits from Him Heang whenever we go home. Angry at that irresponsible driver, whom must have been speeding. Exhausted, as we were so short handed at the funeral. But seek solace that he did not suffer, as he passed on.  

My uncle was a humble man and the wake was simple. But the funeral was really grand. Relatives, friends and people from everywhere - newspaper man, neighbours, the lady that delivers the family tingkat, the hawkers that he patronised regularly, suppliers that he had worked with, promoters under his charge and close to a hundred colleagues (and bosses) took time off during the extremely busy festive sales season [New Year's eve], to  send him on his last journey.

*****

Your smile, your warmth, your love and your sincerity will live in our hearts forever.

yiHang has been bugging me to help him set up his very own blog. “Because Kong Kong also have blog already,” was his reason! I taught him how to download photographs from the camera, upload selected ones and publish to his entries. I was pleasantly surprised that he has been diligently writing and updating. He would type in the content and I would edit his spelling and help him improve on sentence construction. I hope this is a good start to picking up the love for writing.

I told him to “Just choose 2-3 photographs that you like, and write 2-3 sentences.” And everyday, he would check the number of hits and see if he has any comments. I’ve promised to help him ‘advertise’ his blog, so please do give our kid blogger your support at www.yihhang.wordpress.com and leave him some comments. *wink*

And yes! My dad caught the bug too. But of course, the wise old man had written so many articles for publication, just cutting and pasting all his masterpieces for archiving will take him months. I bought him his domain, www.sbchua.com. So please also give our ‘Kong Kong’ blogger your support too.

It has been most tiring with one falling sick after another.

Two days after Xiang recovered, our baby, Xuan caught the bug. Fever soared to almost 40 degrees and the whole cycle of monitoring, sponging, feeding medicine, keeping vigil through the nights repeated. Usually, we would set the alarm and wake up in the nights to check the temperature, but there was one night we were too tired and only woke up when  Xuan suddenly cried very loudly. Oh my gosh! He was as hot as a piece of coal ! Suppository never fails to bring the fever down but it must be really painful because every time I insert it for our baby, he struggles and cries.

Last Saturday was Hang’s Christmas concert. For the past four years, I never miss his performances. We were looking forward to see his role as the inn keeper in the nativity. I was all dressed up but the very last minute, with a heavy heart, I announced to hubby, “Go ahead without me. Xuan is sick and he needs me more. Tell Hang I am sorry.”

Just when we thought the battle was finally over when Xuan recovered, Hang caught the bug. I ran out of leave and had to steal time home to see them during lunch hours.

We are exhausted. But soon this will blow over.
Soon.

Meal time is war time everyday, with the boys whining, fighting, spilling drinks, etc. Its the time of the day we want to get over and done with, thus we would feed them quickly, sometimes bribed them with sweets and other times threatened with punishments.

- My mum can whipped up a banquet in an afternoon -

When I was young, family dinners, especially on weekends, were grand occasions where my parents along with grandma, uncles, aunts, whom lived under the same roof, tucked into the sumptious home-cooked food served on a big round table for eight. We chatted, laughed, discussed and argued about anything under the sun. As a child, amidst all the interesting juicy gossips about neighbours and relatives, I picked up life lessons, traditions and values. We did not realise it then, but our family were bonding at dinner time in a way that wasn’t possible during the course of an average day.

I wanted to introduce the family dinner hour. Since last week, I make it a point to set a side time to have dinner with the boys. Everyone helps to lay the table and light the candles. The boys feed themselves (never mind the mess!) and while we leisurely tuck into our food, we take turns to relate the days happenings.  

Hang talks briefly about school while Xiang reports his behaviour. Everyday for the past week, Xiang would say, ‘Today, I  kick/never kick my friends. So I sit/ never sit on the Naughty Chair’.

We need more practise. I tried to model to the boys by sharing enthusiastically about work, the problems I face, the things that makes me happy and makes me sad. I am confident that soon, dinner time will be a lively hour where we learn about each other and from each other.

Yesterday, Xiang ran to me and enthusiastically requested, “Lets have dinner and talk about work and school, okie!?” 

Lets say, it’s a start.