Ger is on hols till end of the year. While we have already planned the usual camps for them (they had just came back from their scuba/ archery/ bowling camps), I hope we won’t tear out too much of our hair out the rest of the time. LOL. I don’t believe in spoonfeeding entertainment or activities to fill out her day (after all she is quite independent and already has a plan of what she is going to do). She remembered that the quota of borrowed books is doubled to …

We went to Gean’s K1 concert last Friday. She was dancing as a watermelon to ‘The Fruit of the Spirit’. Like her sister, she took to the stage beautifully and was quite the trooper.
Ger very gamely took the video of her sister dancing which was very sweet but really, her video cannot make it. She was trying to take the footage of everybody and in certain sequences, her sister was cut out! We are so buying the official DVD. LOL

Suddenly I feel that my baby is growing up so quickly …

I am not fascinated with grades per se.
Yes, that is, if he is as nonchalant with grades as he expressed in the Human Capital Summit recently.
No, I am not a negligent mum. I just dislike the idea of grades being all indicative of a child’s understanding and intelligence. Unconventional perhaps, but not that radical.
So far, Germaine has not had any tuition, despite her weak grades in Mathematics. She doesn’t like the idea and prefers being taught by us - conveniently ignoring the fact my blood pressure shoots up every time …

The recent media coverage on Generation Y set me thinking. Is there much difference in the values and urban culture between the Generation Y and Generation X (like myself)?
I have been independent since 16. I will shamefully admit that I experimented with Sonia Rykiel, Thomas Chantal and Jean Paul Gaultier in secondary school (ah lian!) but I never had the cheek to ask my parents to fund my frivolousities. After I moved out and rented my own pad, I was flying solo all the way. Whenever I hear of people …

I will admit that I was rather outraged when I first read the report. Being pregnant or even having a hard time of it is no excuse for abusing a helpless child entrusted in your help. From a mother’s point of view, I am horrified that a fellow mother can do this to another young child. From one who had experienced a difficult pregnancy, I cannot condone the excuse of one’s action under the guise of a difficult pregnancy.
I have never had a miscarriage so I won’t purport to speak …

There is simply no excuse for abandoning your children alone at home while you go partying. No excuse at all.
Partying mom gets 6-year sentence
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2008/9/4
SAITAMA–A mother who abandoned her children so she could party with her boyfriend was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for neglect resulting in the death of one of her 2-year-old twins.
She left the twins in the care of their 6-year-old brother.
Megumi Shimamura, 30, of Misato, Saitama Prefecture, had even blamed her son for the death of his younger brother during her 11-day …

and there are parents. I thought I have seen the worst of child abuse cases in the form of neglect or violence but this … is appalling.
Why give birth to a child if you are not prepared to give him or her the best you can? And what if your “best” is hardly acceptable?
Would the child have been more “fortunate” if she was aborted from the beginning? Would this make a classic case for a pro choice argument?
The many grey shades in life. They sadden me.
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That’s a nice poof of smoke! A good healthy dose of toxic second hand smoke for your child!

Look at how intently the kid is, looking at the mother smoking merrily away.

Starting young, thanks to mama.
I hate it when parents smoke in front or near their children. I hate it even more when mothers do it ala Britney, or worse, smoke when they are pregnant (some “warped” idea that a mother is the caregiver or nurturer and therefore should know better)
My dad was a smoker too, but he will go out …

So we packed the kids off to swim/soccer camp. June and December are months where the equivalent amount of a third world country’s GDP is spent on camps, holiday activities and what nots for the children. This June we are not going away on a long holiday… as… we will be moving to a new place.
The.packing.and.moving.is.stressing.me.out.
I don’t know about you, but I hate moving. Sure, I love the moving to a bigger and nicer place part, but I dread the packing, wrapping, labelling, unpacking and sorting. It’s only with the …

MB wrote a laudable post on disciplining our children which includes a link to an article about Beyond Parental Control Orders.
Seriously. If you are going to run to the authorities or an external third party every single time your child does something not right, you might as well not have children. Seriously. Tie your tubes, go on permanent birth control, whatever.
I am reminded of the comment I left on Pat Law’s blog (incidentally, a very interesting read). People have kids for the sake of having kids. The very motivator of having …