Mothering Corner

One of a child I know almost had an accident last night. She was running with a pencil in her hand but she tripped and fell to the floor. Her naturally reflex was to support her body with her hands, but she almost puked the pencil into her eye. Gosh, it was a scary sight and her parents were so shocked to see that.

I keep telling my kids not to run around with a sharp object in their hands, even if it’s one of those round pointed promotional pens. It’s best to be safe than sorry. I remembered that that was a news about a girl accidentally killed herself when she tripped with a chopstick in her hand. So, anything can happen in just a split of second.

I hate food bribery, but by all means, it works sometimes. My kids are feeding on junks more than usual since the day we started bring them to work. Like most children, they can easily get bored with the little office space and will surely mess things around. Thus, everyone likes to feed them food so that they can be quiet for a while.

I know that I should offer them healthy snacks, but they have long been corrupted won’t take it. So, it’s best to keep them busy instead of offering them more junks which are totally useless.

Another thing is, their grandparents like to offer them food so that they will behave as well. Food bribery is getting harder if it’s done by older generation as I don’t have any control about that. Gosh….I think I just have to find a balance point when it comes to food bribery. As long as they eat well at normal meal times, I better stop being so paranoid about it.

When my kids are babies, it’s so easy to feed them. They would just eat anything I prepared and they hardly split out the food or run away from the table. Wait a minute, they were babies, they couldn’t run nor walk yet! LOL!

But now, meal times can be pretty challenging. Like most kids, they don’t like all types of vegetables, so it’s trial and error to me when I cook for them. Broccoli is their best choice, but I prefer to add more variety instead of feeding one type of veggie.

Thus, one of my ways of introducing the vegetables is by preparing vegetable soups. Like most Chinese, we believe that soups are great for health as most of the nutrients are dissolved in the water in boiling process. The veggie or meat might be tasteless when the soup is ready if you boil it for long hours, so if you want to keep the veggie crunchy and fresh, don’t boil it for too long. My kids love to take the soup too, so even if they don’t take the veggie occasionally, I’m not too worried about it. They take fruits everyday and fruits are a good source of fiber and other nutrients.

Some Celery and corn from my vegetable soup

If possible, steamed veggie is the best to ensure that most of the nutrients are not lost. For a busy mother like me, I would just place a bowl of broccoli, cube potatoes and carrots on the top shelve of the rice cooker when I’m cooking the rice. By the time the rice is ready, the veggies are well steamed too. Pretty simple huh?

My kids travel a lot with us, and my little girl started flying when she was 4 months old. It was easier traveling with a young baby since she slept most of the time and I didn’t have to pack a lot because she was breastfed exclusively. It was a bliss flying with her until she turned 1 and a half. During her first trip to Bangkok, she made a big fuss on the plane when we were flying back. I know that lots of passengers were pretty annoyed by the 2 hours flight with a crying and fussy toddler, but I couldn’t do much. She just didn’t want to settle down even if she was really sleepy.

But for our recent flight, she behaved well. We brought along some color pencils and books for her and she did some scribbling. Besides that, she brought along her doll and she played with her for a while.

She cried for milk but after that she took a nap. Thus, my 2 year old did well on the plane and I was so proud of her. I guess we just need to prepare well for our journey then. We will be flying more often for the next 6 months.

My hubby and I are quite different in our ways of watching over the kids. I’m the more protective one and he’s the one who gives more freedom to the kids. That’s why my kids prefer to go shopping with their daddy now because he’s not as paranoid as me.

Nonetheless, I still have fear of losing my kids in shopping malls or crowded places since they don’t always hold our hands at all time. I wanted to get the kid safety harness previously, but I got lots of protest from people around me who thought that it’s weird to do so in public as we hardly see parents using the safety harness here.

Thus, I’m glad another option to keep my kids located within a short distance. It’s the “Mommy I’m Here” Child Locator, and maybe it helps?

Has anyone used it? I am thinking of getting the locators, if hubby agrees with me.

I’ve been pretty busy with the house in  Bangkok and I’ve just got another batch of furniture for my kids’ room. They are going to share a room together, and I plan to train them to sleep on their own now. They have always been co-sleeping with us, so it’s going to be a huge step for all of us. I think I will just read them their bedtime stories and wait until they have fallen asleep before returning to my own room. I know that my little gal won’t go to sleep if I’m not around. However, time will come when they have to learn how to fall asleep by themselves.

I want them to have separate rooms later, but so far, the house is too small for that. We need to reserve a room as our home office and the kids’ study area, so for the time being, they will have to share the space. They are still young, so I don’t think that’s any problem about it. I shared the same room with my brother until about 10, if I’m not mistaken.

Anyway, I hope that they will like this idea and learn to sleep in separate room once we bring them here. I think they will get used to it sooner or later, so wish me luck.

I prefer my kids to be buckled up in car seats when we are on the road because they will be more obedient and won’t distract hubby from driving safely. That’s why I plan to send their car seats all the way here to Bangkok and they will still continue to use them until they are older for safely belts.

If you have been to Bangkok, it’s not surprising to see the passengers riding on the back of the pick up truck or riding on motorcycles without their helmets. It’s only illegal to ride without a helmet, but passengers can sit at the rear of the pick up trucks for traveling. Will they fall out from the truck if there’s an accident? Sometimes, you can see lots of people squeezing themselves in a sedan and I always wonder if the passengers will get hurt badly if someone hit the rear spoilers?

I’m not trying to be paranoid. I can accept the ways of how the locals travel on the road but I prefer my kids to be safely buckled up. When it comes to my  kids’ safety, I want to be strict about it.

I don’t have a smooth marriage like a fairy tale. Hubby and I had our bad moments too and I thought I would just walk out from the marriage with my kids. But still, that didn’t happen and we worked things out. We fight like most couples too, but both of us know that it’s bad to do it in front of the kids and we avoid doing this as much as we can. Nowadays, we have a short couple time almost every night when we can just talk or watch the TV. If there’s an issue to be solved, we will talk about it when the kids have fallen asleep.

I think it’s important for the kids to see how loving the parents are instead of fighting endlessly. I’ve just talked to a man who’s been fighting with his wife for some time. Their twins are just one, but he knows that they can feel the tension in the air when the parents fight.

I found some useful tips about how to avoid fighting in front of your kids by Dr. Phil and eHow. Let’s remember this:

Think of your kids. Remember how much you love them, and how painful it is for them to see the two people they love the most angry with each other.

I really hope that he will solve things out with his wife. Gee…

I know that I should be busy with packing up instead of shopping for toys, but I want to get something special for the kids when we are away for 2 weeks. I won’t get a lot, but it’s enough to keep them occupied and interested while staying with my parents. Besides that, I prefer to show them how to play with the toys first, and if they want to pack the toys along to Penang, I will be more than glad.

I found that these guidelines are great for new parents who are unsure of the safety measures when it comes to buying toys for their children. Just take a look at the list and see if the toys at home are safe for your kids or not. I know that I don’t conform to all of them since we have older kids at home, but I will try myself to ensure that the toys my kids are playing with are safe. As for chemical substance, it’s kind of hard to determine. We can’t just send the toys to clinical laboratory service and check them out right? So, if you have lots of China made toys at home, just make sure that your kids won’t put them in the mouth or chew on them. I’m not being biased, some most China made toys are more suitable for older children, that’s why I tell my parents I will prepare their toys as they can’t see what’s the different among all these toys in the market.

Anyway, I won’t be buying anymore after this major purchase. I don’t want to have more than 5 carton boxes of toys being sent to Bangkok!

I was talking to some mothers just now and our topics of discussion lingered about what should our children learned. I operated a learning center before, so I’ve seen a number of parents who are eager to expose their children for their own good or just being kiasu. Frankly, there’s nothing wrong with enrolling your children in all those mental arithmetic, drawing, dancing, drama or anything extra classes as long as you can afford it and your children enjoy the classes. My boy just told me recently that he wanted to learn violin, but he’s too young for it. I might let him try later when he’s older, provided that he’s still interested. Of course, I will tell him that he can’t just quit easily because nothing comes easy at first. He has to be serious about music class as mommy and daddy are paying for the fees and musical instrument, so he better knows what’s lying ahead for him.

However, not every parent will talk to their children about the extra classes. Some will just enroll their kids because they feel that it’s needed. I’ve seen children being forced to do something that they clearly don’t enjoy, and I really wonder why the parents are still forcing. If my boy wants to quit violin later, I will ask him if he still remembers how much he’s interested at first, but he has really lost the passion, I don’t mind him quiting the class. Of course, he can’t just try and quit on everything, so communication is very important before my kids can join any extra classes.

I know that most parents have expectations. I have mine too, but I can’t imply them on my children. I want the best for my kids too, but if they are not enjoying it, what’s the point of forcing them? Will they thank me later if I do? LOL!