TV & Movie Watching in Public Schools!!!!!

I have been real busy juggling people, places and events. The best news is that the LAST of all of Letitia's Primary ONE assessments have finished and she gets to spend the rest of the 2 weeks, doing absolutely nothing..... in school!

Yesterday, Letitia came home with some shocking and totally annoying NEWS! She spend the entire afternoon of 6 hours in school watching movies, kids cartoons & PG programmes brought to school by her peers!! AAAARGH!

Okay, let me clarify myself. I AM NOT A ADVOCATE OF TV WATCHING FOR KIDS!! I do not need to explain my reasons but I am sure many already know that it is the ONE most brain cell reducing, numbing, unhealthy type choice of entertainment for children. One hour a day is to my standards BAD, as I have learnt that I need to use 5 hours to get my children's focus and attention back to normal as a result. Now, can you imagine the damage of 5-6hours?? I am not even talking about the 'content' of the programmes!!!!!
Do these 'educators' know that even PG is NOT suitable for 7 year olds? Do they realise that the word PG means exactly that? Parental guidance required!!!! Meaning, duh! Child has to be near parents to have explaination or situations clarified etc.

I stormed into school today to ask for 'what the plans are?' for the rest of the term and was informed promptly that, "We are letting the kids unwind after that have worked so hard for their exams! We want them to relax and veg out!!". Veg-out alright, to the extend that their brain matters DO become vegetable matter!!

I have since told the teacher, if there's nothing planned for the day. I will take her out of school. Even a visit to the ZOO has to be better than drowning in media watching.


Now, I have to clean up the mess created by "Meet the Robinsons", "Flushed Away" and Pink Panther. Who thinks I am over-rated, can come and answer these questions like, "Why did the mother leave the baby at the door? Why didn't she show her face?", "Why did the green guy become SOOO angry at the Lewis (fuzzy blond inventor kid)??, weren't they best friends??"..then there's Pink Panther and his clever antics of 'stealing, cheating & making the little man suffer!"....

Am seriously reconsidering homeschooling AGAIN!! Not Happy....AT ALL!!!!

Aunty Meng's visit

Didn't realised that it has been THAT long since I wrote...we've been HUGELY (excuse the bad English) busy! We are having our famous Ms ENGLAND, Aunty Meng here for the next 4 weeks. Took the chance to roll in some touristy things and tried out, LilliPUTT. Had a frustrating ball and a long day....but loved everybit of it. It's always nice to do something out of the ordinary.

Not much we can offer our tourist except the plain enjoyment of food. Here's the Ms England and Ms Kuching, enjoying fish head steam boat, fish slice ho-fun, oatmeal prawns, sweet sour pork and some garlice bean sprouts (Aunty Meng is into sprouts!!)
A walk along East Coast beach, near "BIG Splash"
Lots of thoughts, lots of news, lots of happenings BUT not enough time to write them down. Take care everyone!

Thoughts of Being a SAHM!

Today, I had the pleasure of going to buy food at the nearby foodcourts while little M was taking her nap... I ordered a nice tall milk tea and sat observing the happenings of the local scene.

I guess, being a mom, my thoughts and eyes were drawn to the families and it's relationships. I saw in the eatery, many older men, mostly retired, then older women, obviously lugging bags of today's groceries as well as the spiffy looking working generation. The families were young moms with their kindy-aged or primary aged kids eating their lunch after and before school.

I also saw amongst the food stall owners, many having their little ones with them while juggling the food business. These kids were in their 'playground' and everyone in the food court treated them like they knew them....of course they did!

I was struck with the reality of how BLESSED I was. The fact that I am staying at home, with the girls and being a major part of their lives. My girls will never remember a day of their lives in which I had to go to work. I DID, except they were too young. Alex had to juggle a lot more then, and he even came home earlier than I did (good old Aussie times!).

We made the 'bite the bullet' decision about 6 years ago when we both decided to answer the call to parent our kids, 100% if not at least 50%. This meant that we (one of us!) had to give up a lucrative future/job and it's many 'lures' to the world of 'it's not enough!'. I was the appointed one (though I had the bigger bonus), and I struggle with the idea for at least a year. Said struggling, I never fought the fact or reality as I did not really had a moment spare to think further. Sure I miss the work environment, sure I miss the income but I truly was contented with my new role as a teacher, provider, comforter, housekeeper, etc. The whole year was a journey into motherhood that I HAD ALLOWED GOD TO HELP ME WITH. Because my decision was one I did to honour HIM, he came in with the goods, the attitudes, the right people with the right influence and most of all, the right experiences to draw me closer to HIS heart.

This is not for everyone...not everyone will see our thoughts as wise. We lived with so much less, we scrimp and we save, we calculated and then, calculated again. Our bank accounts were always at it's minimal yet we were never in need. Our hearts were no longer set at the 'things we like to have' but instead filled with the 'moments we can share!'.

Today, I recommit my life as a mom, a wife and a keeper of the home. I am YET to get my first COACH handbag, but that can wait......am counting on the fact that the streets are laid with them in heaven!!!

Talk later

Children's Day 2008

I remember last year after mother's day when Letitia mentioned that, "There's Mother's day, Father's day, how come there's NO Daughter's day?!". Later in the year, 1st October presented itself with Children's day and all school kids were given a 'special day' by their teachers and school. Letitia was homeschooled then but Mathena had a ball in Kindy.

This year, Children's day fell on a Hari Raya Holiday which allowed us (as parents) to spend some special time with the girls. We needed some time out, out of the routine, out of the day to day and time together just being a family. We went bowling!This was the girls VERY FIRST time bowling. Apart from playing games in our mobile phones, they have both never seen, touched or seen a bowling alley. They had to have the aisles 'protected' with the bumpers and have to book 'extra light' balls, which were STILL too heavy for Mathena.
To our pleasure, the did not complain at how hard it was, how heavy the ball was, and how slow the ball moved. The girls just had BOWL of a time! SO did we!


Mathena will stand with hands on hips almost all the time after her turn to wait for the results of her bowl. She had to roll the ball from the floor and use heaps of 'uurgh!' to push! We love her for it as she showed heaps of spunk in trying something new!