Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Yesterday I asked Cayen ... can you tell me some tips on what to do if you feel very angry and want to calm down? Can you help me draw it out ? And this is what he drew .. if you can spot the messages amongst the abstract representation , this is what they are: - count numbers  - talk to someone  - sit at the table alone for a while - think about things - read books - draw  I thought it's quite interesting how he still remembered all these cool-down tips that I have shared with him these over a few books during the peak of his fights in school last year.  Conclusion: don't underestimate the power of reading and kids' memory. Teaching coping strategies can help our kids better  navigate through the terrible twos and threes for all types of issues from fighting/hitting, impulsiveness, telling the truth , separation anxiety etc. 

Being a typical kiasu mum, I am very careful with the food I eat and what I use for both my pregnancies. My mantra is "rather safe than sorry". Also, some of these things below are not that intuitive at all hence, I am writing down to share with all of you as you may not google as much as I do over everything.  Please note that I am not a doctor, so when in doubt, ask your doctor.  I am ordering this in order of common knowledge to the uncommon ones. Starting with the common knowledge ...  1. Don't eat raw foods   This means no salads, sashimi , half cooked beef steaks (sobs!) and runny eggs. Also, I am also careful of fresh juices and certain types of cheese if they are unpasteurised.  This is to avoid  risk of contamination with coliform bacteria, toxoplasmosis, and salmonella. Sources:  http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/foods-to-avoid-during-pregnancy/ http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-drink-unp...

Last night, he ran a high fever of 39+ degree so today he was home all day. Day started well as he was doing painting and other games but evening was a disaster. When I asked him to wash his hands, he filled up this container and put soap in instead of just doing a quick wash. As I was asking him to wash up and not to  waste water, he purposely splashed the water every where. I forcefully turned off the tap and tried to carry him away but he got really upset.  I guess he had no appetite as he want feeling well or perhaps as he had some tea time snacks or both. He wasn't in a mood to eat. He took a few mouthfuls and when he saw me drinking a  packet of green tea, he tried to drink but there wasn't any left I told him. He didn't believe, so he jumped up, took a chair , climbed up to try to reach for scissors on the table top. He told me he wanted to cut the packet to see if indeed there was anything left.  Instead of snatching the scissors from him, I told...

Why I like to use storybooks as a tool to promote good behaviour because they work far better than nagging when it comes to pointing the point across. Also, kids tend to be more receptive to listening to stories as opposed to being told what to do. They also understand it more when examples are given in the story.  As such , apart from reading parenting books, I have also bought and read a lot of children books that impact certain skills - both English and Chinese. And I will try reviewing and sharing them here in this blog.  It's an interesting book with colour pencils as characters where each colour has a certain trait / personality and Brown was initially disliked. The story went on where he uncovered why people didn't like him and how he changed and how he made friends eventually.  I like the simple but interesting story and so did Cayen.    By the way, I tried to make the book more interesting by asking him to relate which of his classmate rel...

Before the arrival of the baby, I had anticipated that his dysfunctional behaviour will re-emerge and (indeed it did) - he would scratch and bite if he doesn't get his way. I think it's because he doesn't know how to manage his emotions very well as yet, so I figure using stories will help since he loves story telling.  Hence, I had gone to Amazon to buy some books that would teach him these concepts since we might not be present when he gets into such conflicts with other kids in school. Also, he's more receptive and attentive during bedtime reading so I suppose those are our best chance to reinforce those concepts instead of pure nagging.  Hence, I had bought a bunch of   books from Amazon and have read half of it so far - he was quite taken with all of them and even asked me why I didn't buy the whole series that he saw on the back of the book i.e. Germs are not for sharing , Tails are not for pulling. I pretended to lament that there's no need to buy since h...