Reflection

Picked my son home on Thursday afternoon and he was grumbling in the car. He said that he was seated right in front of the teacher and not making any noise in class, and the teacher, being in a bad mood shouted at some of the noisier ones at the back telling them to quieten down. But they just ignored her. Feeling frustrated, she told them all to write a reflection on their bad behavoir and to have it on her table 1st thing the next morning or they would all be given pink slips.

In their school, 3 pink slips = 1 detention class, or 1 pink slip would wipe out 3 blue slips. Blue slips are slips given for good behavoir or good deeds done by the child. My son being a generally good boy has been amassing his blue slips and is waiting to redeem his reward. (10 blue slips = an extra hour at the computer lab, or 3 blue slips = a toy) To him, these rewards mean a great big deal.

He was a bit upset with the teacher coz apparently she threatened that if they did not write that reflection to her satisfaction, a pink slip would be given.

I then told him that if he did not do anything wrong, he should write that in his reflection and say that he still did not understand why he was being threatened and punished for others' misbehavoir.

But he told me that he did not want to risk getting a pink slip at all !! He also refused to let me see what he had written. After he went to bed that night, I took out his reflection sheet and read it. In it he apologised for mis-behaving and being noisy in class. I think he really wrote what the teacher wanted to see.

I have met two of his teachers recently, and they both had commented that my son was a very well-behaved child in school, participates actively and is generally very helpful, and that was also written in his report book. In addition, he has been selected to be a discipline monitor next term! What more, his blue slips collected is testament to it!

On friday night, the teacher sent out an email to all parents saying that we must have heard about the reflection she wanted the children to write. She said that she was shocked that the children admitted to playing in class, day-dreaming and talking to their peers when she was teaching! She also complained about the drop in discipline in general. I believe the children wrote what they thought she wanted to see!!

I really dont understand this teacher. According to my child, there are basically two or three really naughty boys in the class (which is to be expected). Her inability to control them has resulted in the whole class being punished. He had complained previously that she doesnt do much teaching in class, prefering to spend the time shouting at the naughtier boys, and punishing the whole class as a result. (If you dont keep quiet, I will not teach. And some of the naughtier ones think: Hey! that's great, no lessons, and so they continue to make more noise, and she doesnt teach!) She is always sending notes home (via email) for the parents to teach their children, coz all the time in class is lost with her inability to control a few boys!

I dont mean to criticise her, but I think she has to learn some management skills. Just punish those naughty ones, and carry on teaching the rest!! But I have a feeling that she is one of those "All talk and no action" sort. She has big plans for what she wants to do, but doesnt know how. So she delegates the teaching to the parents, covering her own (pardon my use of the word) ass, by telling the parent to go thru the work with their children! She was also conveniently not present at the parent-teachers meeting!!

My son has to learn to stand up to his teachers, especially this one!

Sorry for the rant - but I had to get that out of my system!!

Healing time

Little D was so excited about the cake I baked last week that in her excitement, she forgot that the baking tray was hot and touched it just as I took it out of the oven. Ouch! We applied honey on it immediately, as MIL said that it was the best cure for burns.

A little while later a little blister appeared on her delicate pointer. She immediately asked for a band-aid. MIL got her one with tigger and pooh on it. And, you know what? She loved the band-aid, and it sure made it less painful for her.

A few days later, I was relieved to see that the blister had healed. But a small tiny mark remained on her finger. But Little D still insisted that she needed a band-aid for her "wound". Now, after a week, the mark has disappeared, but the funny thing is : she can still see it and insists on a band-aid for it!


I have since learnt the following about wounds:

* The fancier the band-aid, the longer it takes a wound to heal.

* When you let them see the whole box of cartoon band-aids, numerous imaginery wounds appear all over them! Even bruises need band-aids!

* With a plain band-aid, wounds heal fast super.



Moral of the story: If you want to save money, buy plain band-aids!
But to make it less painful for the child, just draw a smiley face/cartoon on it!

TGIF or TGIM?

One common phrase that many people use is: TGIF or Thank God it's Friday.It is usually used by those who are working or studying, and they just cant wait for the weekend to let down their hair and relax or party!! After a week of waking up early in the mornings, fighting the morning traffic, hard work, politicking in the office, long hours, facing the horrible boss, homework, deadline, its time for them to let down their hair, have a good time and do their own stuff.

But TGIM? - Thank God its Monday? Most people have the Monday blues, and dont look forward to Mondays. Many a times, the "dreading" starts as early as on Sunday. I remember many years ago, my hubby used to dread Mondays, coz it meant Board meetings where he had to present his papers. So every Sunday, it would be "Oh NO! Tomorrow is Monday and I have to face that dreaded Board!!" So Mondays for many, are not looked forward to. It marks the start of that work week!

For a SAHM, I always look in anticipation to fridays. After a week of shuttling the children around, shouting at them to do their home work, a partially existent spouse (physically present, but mentally still at work) weekends are truly family bonding times. We have fun playing together, going out for meals, without the stress of the school and work week. So I am one who usually exclaims "TGIF!!"

But there are some people that actually look forward to work, and thus Mondays. For them, weekends are a waste of time. No deadlines to meet, no business meetings to attend. They live and breathe work. They are not close to their families, and hence have nothing to look forward to over the weekends. For them, its usually TGIM ~ they cant wait to get back to the office!

As for me, with children at home, there are many times when Mondays come and I exclaim "TGIM!!" Why? with all that arguing and fighting over who gets to watch which TV channel, who gets to sit where, who gets to choose where to go for lunch, I am actually glad that I get the peace and quiet again after a busy, noisy weekend!! With Mondays, I get to enjoy the tranquility all by myself at home. I can channel surf all I want and have no one breathing down my back saying "It's my turn to use the Computer, Mum!" I can bake, cook, etc, at my own pace (until its time to pick the kids!!).

So am I lucky or what? I actually look forward to 2 days in a week! What about you - are you a TGIF or TGIM person? or are you both, like me?? :D

Time Flies When you are having fun

Cant believe it ... its the end of week 9 of term 2 for the children. Next week will be the last school week for the 1st semester. That means half a school year has gone by.

2009 is really whizzing by me. Many say that: When time flies, it means that you are having fun. Sure doesnt seem like it, but if they say so than it must be. Guess I must be having loads of fun. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you had fun this past half year!!

Look Around

THE FOUR BLESSED LOOKS

Look back and 'Thank' God.
Look forward and 'Trust' God.
Look around and 'Serve' God!.
Look within and 'Find' God!'

'I asked God, 'How do I get the best out of life?' God said, 'Face your past without regrets. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear!''

'Without God, our week is: Mourn-day, Tears-day, Waste-day, Thirst-day, Fight-day, Shatter-day and Sin-day. So, allow Him to be with you every day!'

'Life is short, so forgive quickly. Believe slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And have a wonderful journey!!


Please have a great week!!

Soft skills

He came out of school carrying it in his hand, and I was a little surprised.

"What's that for?" I asked my son N, thinking that it was a present for me.

"We did it during art today," he replied.

You mean Mr See (his art teacher) taught you how to do it? I asked quite surprised.

"No, we had some other people come in to do it with us," was his reply.

And what was that my son made in school yesterday?



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A floral arrangement.

Not bad for starters, I thought!

Then his Grandma gave him some expert advice, and he made some changes to it. And this is his final masterpiece:

Ta da!



And the best part: They are having 5 floral arrangement lessons in school in total, I guess I will be having table displays for 5 weeks!

A gift that keeps giving?

A family that we did not know gave us this plant during our housewarming.



A family member had cross-bred it. It was in bloom when they gave it to us. Two years later, we were rewarded with blooms again. This is the third time in 5 years that the plant has flowered for us.



I guess it is a gift that keeps giving ... every time it blooms.
Hope you liked it!!

When the going gets tough ...

You know its the children's exam week when the mother is all frazzled with messy hair and is blogging to destress.

But do you know that when the going gets tough, what the tough really do? They get baking!! Somehow the kneading of the dough helps in the destressing and the best part: you get to enjoy the efforts of your "work out"!!

Here's something I baked this morning to destress:


Doggie biscuits.

My recipe is as follows:

180gm plain flour
50gm icing sugar
125gm butter
25gm milo
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tbsp cold water
Koko krunch

Sift Flour and icing sugar together. Then rub in the butter until it resembles bread crumbs. Add in milo, vanilla essence and cold water, and knead until dough forms (make sure you dont over knead or the biscuits will be hard).
Roll into balls and embed 2 pieces of cereal as the ears. Break up a Koko krunch into tiny bits and use one as the nose. Use choc rice for the eyes (I had none, so my dogs have no eyes!)
Bake at 160C for 20 mins.

Enjoy!!

Time to change my hobby

Yesterday MIL was reading a book for little D, and it had the word hobby in it. Little D wanted to know what a hobby was and MIL explained that it was something a person does during his free time which he enjoys.

MIL asked D what her hobby was (to test her understanding of the word), and she answered : Drawing

Then she asked : What is Mummy's hobby?

Lil D answered: Scolding Kor Kor!


Oh! oh! Looks like I better change that "hobby" of mine. Lil D thinks I enjoy doing it!!

American Carrot cake

Inspired by iml's recent baking spree and motivated by my greed, I decided to give Aunty Yochana's american carrot cake recipe a try.


Here's how it came out:


with the cream cheese icing:



I must say, I thought it tasted really good, and the recipe was easy to follow.

I gave some to my friend JJ for her comments - and she gave me 2 thumbs up for it.

Thanks to Aunty Yochana for sharing this wonderful recipe!!

One in a million

His older sister has 3 exams on Tuesday - Literature, Biology and Geography, (which I think is terrible - imagine, 3 mugging papers in one morning!!) and was busy studying on saturday afternoon. My son, N, who was getting himself a snack (of blueberries and raspberries) did the sweetest thing. He washed extra, and brought a bowl up to his sister's room for her to snack on whilst she studied!!

Later that evening, when we were watching TV, lil D asked for ice cream. Not moving, as I was waiting for a commercial break, this brother went to the fridge, got a bowl, scooped up Lil D's favourite ice cream flavour, washed some fruits, and added it to the ice cream and gave it to her!!

What more can you ask for??

Much as he tests and drives me up the wall ever so often, I think as a brother, he is one in a million!!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Someone sent me this for Mother's day. Have a read, and a good laugh!! I am quite sure my kids were responsible for some of the answers!!

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Glass House

Glass walls are increasingly becoming a feature in most newly built houses. It gives the illusion of a bigger space, and it brings the outdoors in.

One of the "perks" of living in a glass house is that you get to enjoy a thunderstorm in all its glory!



Last night (or rather early this morning) was a dark and stormy night (ok, morning). I have 2 walls in my bedroom that are made of glass from floor to ceiling. So I got to "enjoy" that thunderstorm.

With every flash of lightning, my whole room lit up, even with the blinds fully drawn. The sound of the thunder was magnified, probably by the light effects.

I decided to check on little D.

At first, I couldnt see her on her bed. Then I noticed a "lump" at the corner. The poor dear was all curled up, with her bolster covering her eyes, all wrapped up from head to toes in her quilt - like a cocoon. She was terrified of the storm, but chose to block it out, instead of waking me up from my slumber. What a sweetie!!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mums!!

I received my Mother's day card from Little D early. She couldnt wait to give it to me!




Here's wishing all Mums a Happy Mother's day.

And the Quote of the Day for Mother's day is:

Man's best friend

It has always been said that a dog is a man's best friend.

My kids have time and again pestered me for a pet dog, but my reply to them have always been a "No". I have enough work looking after 3 kids, and I dont need a pet to add to my list of things to do.

A friend of mine who recently got a pet dog told me to reconsider. She told me that after her family adopted a dog, her youngest, who was rather reserved, really opened up. I have also read numerous stories about the benefits of having a dog. So it really got me considering whether I should actually get my kids a dog. After all, the dog could also double up as a guard dog for the home.

But do you know what would really make me change my mind? I am very sure you would change your mind about getting your kids a dog too! A dog like this:



It then wouldnt only be a man's best friend, but also a woman's!!

Focus on Hygiene

With the current Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak, we have been focusing on hygiene at home again.

Previously, I always held the notion that its ok to contract a little germs coz thats the way to build immunity.

With my oldest, milk bottles were sterilised until she was way past one, her plates, forks and spoons were rinsed in hot water before use. If something she was eating fell on the floor, into the bin it went. Cleanlinest was of utmost importance.

When my second child came along, our hygiene standards dropped a notch. He was allowed to behave the way little boys LOVED to behave - rolling on the floor in restaurants, dig in dirt, lick his dirty fingers, eat his dropped biscuit (tho' the 10 second rule applied).

And when my third child came along, .... urm ... I am embarrased to say, we were even more relaxed!! Even that 10 second rule didnt quite matter anymore.

The funny thing is : comparing my 3 kids - the youngest fell sick the least!! I remember numerous trips to the paediatrician for my oldest. The long waits due to her fevers, numerous colds and flus, and of course diarrhoea. And we were such regulars at the clinic - not a month went by without at least a visit!

But with this flu outbreak, we are not taking any chances. The kids are reminded to wash their hands with soap more frequently, not to rub their eyes, and to practise more consideration especially when sneezing or coughing. The previous SARS outbreak has struck fear in our hearts. We are not taking any chances!! Are you??

Labour Day Long weekend

Just had the Labour Day long weekend here. Thot it was the best time for the kids to hit the books, especially with the exams starting this week.

But you know, kids cant stay at their books for very long. Every so often, they will say that they are bored or they had finished studying , which I am very sure they had NOT!!

So for R&R we baked cookies!! Milo cookies, the recipe coutesy of my friend R.
And they decided that they had to add M&Ms to the cookies to make it more delicious!!

MILO COOKIES
Ingredients: 125g butter
125g sugar
125g brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
215g self-raising flour,sifted)
125g Milo,sifted )-----> after sifting these 2 together in a bowl,
stir them to get it well- mixed before folding-in

Method : 1) Preheat oven to 180degC.
2) Beat butter, sugars until creamy.
3) Then beat in egg n vanilla essence.
4) Then fold in sifted flour and Milo .
5) Roll heaped teaspoons of mixture into balls,onto greased baking tray.
You may flatten with a moistened fork, if you wish. Then add any other goodies like M&Ms , if you like.
6) Bake in oven for 12mins to 15 mins until light golden .


I must say, the cookies proved to be a good snack for them in between their studies!!