January 2017

Leaving Homework To The Last Minute

There’s nothing worse than leaving something till the last minute, and for Jay, my son, he invariably leaves his homework until he’s run out of time. No matter how much we remind him, or tell him to do it, he always puts it off until he has no choice.

So what can be done about it? That’s a really good question, but what’s the answer?

We’ve tried talking to him, explaining how it’s better to get it done early and then he doesn’t have to worry about it, and he can play without it, or his parents, nagging him. We’ve tried giving rewards for completing it early, like going out to a special place or getting to play certain games. But nothing seems to work. It’s always just before bedtime, the night before it’s due, and he finally gets around to doing it. read more

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Back To School For Jay

Recently Jay went back to school, on the 2nd of January, to start grade 3. For those not in the know, the school year starts in January here in Singapore. Which means that the long summer holidays, although it’s always summer here, are in November and December.

As a side note, Singapore has two seasons, hot and dry, and hot and wet. I haven’t seen a winter in 18 years now. The closest I came was summer in Canada, where even their August weather is colder than anything I’ve experienced in a long time. And yes, I did get some odd looks for wearing jumpers while I was there. read more

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Should We Punish Creative Behaviour

I think this is a question most parents will end up asking themselves at one point or another. When should we put a limit on our children’s creativity? And has it been destructive enough to require punishment?

Maybe a little background is in order. A few years ago Jay got angry at SO and basically threw a tantrum. The specifics aren’t important, and in any case, I don’t remember them. The next day, SO came home from work to find “I love (heart) you mummy!!!!” written on our couch (as seen in the above picture), as an apology. We didn’t end up punishing him for it, although he did get a talking to not to do it again. But should we have? It was a creative way of saying sorry, but at the same time it was also destructive. read more

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Christmas In Singapore

Because of work and other life commitments, we decided to stay in Singapore this year for Christmas. This made it Jay’s third Christmas that he didn’t spend in Australia. This was a big deal, because it means it’s just the 3 of us spending the day together. Although this year, one of his cousins from Jakarta was staying with us, and even though he’s in his twenties, it still gave Jay someone else to play with.

Of course, in Australia we usually just spend Christmas day with my parents and my brother, so there’s no other kids for him to play with there either. But we do usually see some of my cousins while we’re there, and Jay gets to play with their kids. read more

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