Some parents are bad parents because 1. Low IQ and EQ, they can’t help being this way 2. Acquired toxic behavior from upbringing with culture clash with younger generation, 3. Projection (they think they are useless therefore project it onto the child) 4. They are bullies (bully nice people and offspring) 5. A negative mindset 6. Do not know what it’s a good parent or their own responsibility


If my parents said I’m useless I’ll tell them "how can you say this about me? Are you my parent? How can a parent say such a thing about their child?" I find reminding badly behaving people of their role and responsibilty helps. Are there good things about your parents you are not seeing because you are angry now though?

Whatever the reasons, since you are unable to hold a full time job. I think you should try to find a way to co exist with them while taking care of your own mental health. I find it worrisome to hear of the falls. What is the reason for that? Please get it checked and look for second or third opinion.

Looks like your parents caused some PTSD. Try to avoid them as much as possible if you can’t communicate with them at all. Or get into some courses or hobbies to keep your mind off it. It’s good you came here to seek advice to process the situation but eventually you should settle the practical things like finance and health and move on.

I’m sorry to hear of your situation. But no matter what happens, you must always believe and love yourself. You are your own best supporter. Take care. Giving u some motherly hugs

BigDady\" post_id=\"2050420\" time=\"1638499477\" user_id=\"196178:

Hi all. My teenage kid has just been diagnosed with severe scoliosis, initially of about 30+ deg and after half a year it is more than 40deg now. He has not been adjusting well to the hard and stiff boston brace made in KKH and used it just a few hours each time. Doc recommended surgery but I am really apprehensive of such an invasive surgery for my kid so young. Reading all the articles online does not reassure me especially with the numerous prolonged negative effects of such a major surgery. Lately, I also read about Chiropractics that could help with scoliosis and have three practitioners in mind after some research.
1) Dr Will (Precision Spine)
2) Dr Albert (All Well Scoliosis Centre)
3) Dr Kevin (ScolioLife)

Does anyone have any advice and actual experience to share with the aforementioned doctors in terms of the effectiveness, duration, and cost of treatment?

Suggest you join the scoliosis support group Singapore on Facebook for questions on surgery, etc. There is an upcoming online talk organised by the group on 12 Dec.

As for chiropractor, I don't think they work from what I heard from my colleague who has scoliosis and from what I read. Only works to reduce pain temporarily.

Please look into Schroft therapy and get a C2 certified therapist. This exercise is specially designed for scoliosis and has been around a long time. This will not reduce the curve but will improve appearance, posture and reduce pain if any. It builds the back muscle and also lung capacity. It has worked very well for my daughter.

I think this petition won’t achieve anything. The majority do not support it as I see from the forums.


As for this developmental pediatrician, Lim Hong Huay (Dr), who wrote in the forum letter that "A child may be the next Einstein and yet have difficulty with languages. By giving him a poorer PSLE score, we are consigning the child to poorer prospects before full maturity".

Einstein was multilingual. He is German so he knows German, English and one more language I think. It’s a myth that special needs community like to perpetual that he’s autistic. I think he just can’t be bothered with the social norms. He had many relationships. For someone as insanely clever as Einstein it’s hard to imagine he would fail at languages.

I think this petition won’t achieve anything. The majority do not support it as I see from the forums.


As for this developmental pediatrician, Lim Hong Huay (Dr), who wrote in the forum letter that "A child may be the next Einstein and yet have difficulty with languages. By giving him a poorer PSLE score, we are consigning the child to poorer prospects before full maturity".

Einstein was multilingual. He is German so he knows German, English and one more language I think. It’s a myth that special needs community like to perpetual that he’s autistic. I think he just can’t be bothered with the social norms. He had many relationships. For someone as insanely clever as Einstein it’s hard to imagine he would fail at languages.

Also after getting in via DSA, the commitment is for four years. Will be expected to join competitions, keep up standard, etc. I wouldn’t call it a good deal unless there’s real interest and talent.

DSA is tough if you are talking about top schools. The school will check the students past few years result, must write short essay for some sch, must attend selection tests and interviews. So it’s a lot of effort plus must have talent like win national medals etc. A top school can receive a thousand applications and you have to be the most talented among them and this is on top of preparing for PSLE. If no real talent, better just study hard for psle.

Correction: Local parents and kids went through the baptism of fire called psle…

Also I do not assume automatically parents going through sers are cheating. Since the process for re-entry is such, some parents are simply following procedures but now that more people know about it, I wonder if some are gaming it. Know of a parent going it through twice already, hmmm. I mean, isn’t it quite tempting? Chillax overseas for one or two years and just go tiger mom on two subjects… come to think of it, English almost no need to teach… so it’s just math!

I do know that there is a huge gap between international schools and Singapore schools. So please do not imply that I’m ignorant or close-minded simply because I have a different point of view.


In fact we agree on a number of factors such as the huge gap between Singapore and international schools. As I have mentioned, Singapore students are ranked 1st or 2nd in international rankings such as PISA. As you have mentioned, and I agree, our system is more rigorous and we want to help returnees ease into the system.

Therefore, we would want to ensure that they can handle such rigour. Which is why we are concerned that spers only require testing two subjects.

To check if a student can handle the rigour is to put them through a similar exam or something that requires similar effort like what local kids went through, no? To do only two subjects is only doing half load of psle plus the competition is way less intense. And we have witnessed returnees in top schools. So without a rigourous selection test, how can we be sure that returnees won’t find it hard to ease into the school? It doesn’t have to be exactly like psle, maybe sers plus some sort of dsa-like tests, interviews and whatnot? Like I said, something of more strenuous effort than two subjects on a forgiving bell curve.

Although a small number, if we also include mtl exemptions for various special reasons, the number adds up. You must understand that local kids and parents went through the rite of passage called PSLE, it is tough and to see kids getting in so easily (ease them into local schools), it is quite a shock and offends our sense of fairness.

I think generally educators and Singaporeans are kind hearted towards the disadvantaged but looks like for a long time, we have confused supporting the disadvantaged (for various things) with giving them an unfair advantage via affirmative action. The pendulum has swung too far to the other side. I feel like the normal kid is the new disadvantaged. Must work harder for fewer slots.