Category Archives: Parenting Views

My views on education, mutilingual parenting and other parenting topics
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Writer’s Workshop : Challenges as a Parent

November 17, 2011 – 11:34 pm

Parenting is not always a bed of roses. It’s one of the most complicated ongoing challenge which I am handling. It all started about 7 years 9 months ago when Monkey boy was born.

It has been an uphill battle tackling discipline issues with the kids as they grow. As early as they learn how to scream and cry they have been exerting their “rights” as a mini me. It can be really contradictory dealing with the kids. On the one hand you want them to learn to be independent. On the other hand we would like for them to be obedient and follow instructions.

Being a parent is really like walking along the tight rope at a circus. It’s a balancing act knowing when to let loose or pull in the reins on the kids. Each kids temperament and personality differs drastically from each other. It’s really boils down to experience gathered through the years to know how to deal with problems and challenges that are thrown my way.

Each parent’s experience with their kids are different and there is no right and wrong way of parenting. I really hate it when elderly relatives/perfect strangers try to interfere or try to drop their “pearls of wisdom” especially when you are trying your best in a given situation. I seriously don’t care how they feel about the way I take care of my kids and won’t mince my words when telling them to back off. If I need your opinions or suggestions I will seek them or else just keep your opinions to yourself.

I’ve learn that it’s a real myth that the terrible two’s is the hardest to deal with. It doesn’t get easier as the child grows up. Add a few more children to the equation and it throws new challenges to deal with as the kids tackle sibling rivalry and jealousy issues. It’s already getting exceeding difficult to give equal time and focus on each child to teach him to behave himself . I don’t want to keep on playing referee too.

Tags alpha thursday, mama kat's writers workshop, parenting challenges | Comments (10)

Guest Post : The Dust of Your Rabbi

August 29, 2011 – 4:05 am

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There is an old Jewish saying, “May you be covered by the dust of your Rabbi.” What it means is: “May you follow so closely behind your Rabbi in his travels that the dust he kicks up covers you.” Now, they weren’t literally wishing you were dirty, but that you imitated your Rabbi, his habits, thoughts, and actions as closely as you could.

So how does this apply to raising children in a Godly way? We’ve all heard before that leading by example is key. But what leaves a lasting imprint is the motivation behind your actions. Rabbinical students desired to be like their Rabbi to the extent that one day they might be seen as the same as their Rabbi. So we must follow after Jesus with our whole hearts.

Only by living daily with Jesus, talking with Him often, soaking in His Word, living out the life He would lead if He were me, can we hope to root our children firmly in the foundation of Christ. In other words, we must live daily rooted in Christ ourselves, until our children know that we do as we say, that we live as we say.

Our pastor recently said studies have shown as much as 89% of college students who professed faith in Jesus prior to heading off to college left the faith later. Now, I wonder at the variables with that percentage. Even so, there are still a lot of young adults leaving the faith. Why? Our pastor’s theory (and that of many others) is that these college students were brought up to follow the rules of religion. They followed well as long as the rule-makers and rule-enforcers (Mom and Dad) were around, but once in the “freedom” of college, they fall away.

Again, in order to instill a deep faith in Jesus that cannot be shaken, we need to get to the HEART of the matter. We need to love Jesus, and follow behind him second (follow the rules He lays out because we love Him; not follow the rules so we can earn His favor–we can’t).

How can I deepen my child’s faith?

- Read the Bible with them often.
Ask questions about what they read–not just who or what questions. Ask the why and how questions to get them thinking.

- Pray over them and allow them to see you praying
Live out scripture to the best of your abilities–follow your Rabbi, Jesus, and get His dust all over you!

- Question your children about their faith.
Why do you believe this? Do you really think it happened this way? How can God…? Most of all, this is not a five-minute process. It takes a lifetime with your children, disciplining them to follow their Rabbi, too.

Authors Bio : Jenny is a Christian, wife of 13 years, mom to two boys, and a teacher. She lives in Texas, but isn’t a native Texan. Her blog, Full Cart Full Wallet, started as a way to journal her savings as she learned to coupon. It has now become a way to share savings, coupons, deals, and coupon matchups with others. Her goal: leave the store with a cart full of groceries, and a wallet full of money!

Tags Teaching about God | Comment (1)

Preparing your Pre-Schooler- Bilingual Writing

July 22, 2011 – 1:05 pm

Doggy Boy at a cupcake decoration birthday party

Last month I posted about Oral Preparations for my eldest (Monkey Boy). This month my focus is more on my middle child(Doggy Boy).

My little boy is 4 and in Kindergarten One this year. He is very keen in academic learning but one thing he has been rather resistant to is writing. He is okay with learning new words in both English and Mandarin but when it comes to writing he will drag his feet and find all excuses just to get away from doing it.

In approximately 1.5 years time he will be entering elementary school like his elder brother and I will have to get him accustomed to writing and doing other written exercises. I know at this age boys have rather limited attention span and that they are rather more focus on fun and play then academics.

To get him sufficiently prepared for school we have started on some simple writing exercises at home during the week.

Practice books for Doggy Boy

I chose these books for him as they seem manageable with him only needing to sit down for a maximum of 5-10 minutes to complete an exercise. We do a page a day and alternate between English and Chinese. As Chinese writing is different from writing in English I want him to get accustomed to writing the different strokes that make up a Chinese character. I got him a few Character tracing books so that he learns how to write the different characters using the proper sequences in strokes.

It is important for him to write the strokes properly as if a certain stroke is too long or too short or written in the wrong direction you may end up with a different character ( word) then you originally want to write. It is the same case as in English where by a poorly written “h” can be mistaken for a “n” if the line is not written long enough.

Here are some photos of his written work.

English Exercises which he has done

Chinese Writing Exercises

Chinese Writing book with Tracing

Since starting Doggy Boy on these books his behaviour towards writing has improved a lot. He initially started out bawling and very reluctant to even write a single alphabet/character and could easily take up to an hour just to finish a page as he would sneak off to play or be doodling around when I took my eyes off him to attend to his siblings. Now he takes about 5 minutes and would consciously sit down to complete the page.

I will be moving on to getting him to do simple comprehension activities and starting him on basic essay writing once he completes this series of books.