tankee:

I am the one who amended the topic subject and added the chinese text.

That's a good one!

ksi:

When this was tested in the exam, no one in the entire cohort used this term except a China Chinese girl. Sad?? Some food for thought.

What is this exam? can elaborate?

smurf:

Yesterday I was reading di zi GUI to ds1 who is going to be 6. There is a paragraph which teaches ru ze xiao, sorry I dunno how to type Chinese.

入则孝. Just curious:-) How did you managed to type 弟子规 for the subject?

smurf:

Basically it means when parents call us, we must response immediately and not dilly dally to answer them, if parents want us to do something, we must do it fast, cannot be lazy, when parents scold us, we must not talk back, etc.

I'm not sure about other kids, but I sure am having a lot of problems with regards to this! It takes forever to get my kids to take action, and more often than not, it would depend on their \"mood\". If they are in the mood, the results are usually very good (they react right away, especially if we are playing some game with them, like saying 'let's see who can keep the toys first ...') But if they are not in the 'mood', then it can get really exasperating. You talk to them nicely, they don't act. Then when you start nagging or shouting at them, they react (either grudgingly, or worse, by kicking up a scene by crying etc).

smurf:

Then ds1 asked me, then why u scold me? Do u know you dun have manners when u scold me? I dunno how to answer him. How to teach him, I also dunno.

Kids today are very smart aren't they? They are very quick to apply knowledge! If you look on the bright side, this response is actually quite good cos it shows your son knows how to apply knowledge, rather than simply accept at face value just because dad/mum say so. It's like them questioning us how come we can punish or beat them but they cannot beat us in turn, or the big one cannot beat the younger one, or how come we can watch adult/violent movies whereas they cannot, or how come I can drink coffee but they can't .. the list goes on and on...

For me, I usually resort to using the 'bcos I'm your parent\" or \"bcos I'm an adult\". Works most of the time

24hr-mum:

come to think of it last time our parents also let us watch anythg. that is how we learn mandarin n lots of idioms. whc is why i m considering let them watch ch 8 shows


not educational in content but a lot chinese vocab to be picked up

I'm usually wary about making such conclusions (i.e. it works for us in the past, so why not now), because the world today and 30 years ago is just too different. For instance, TV programmes 30 years ago are totally unlike what you see today - even the cartoons aren't that violent in the past (the worst you can probably see back then are shows like Ultraman).

But of course, having said that, there certainly are TV programmes that are beneficial for preschool kids. Just that for me, most if not all the benefits that you can get from watching TV can be obtained through other means without the negative effects of TV, e.g. spending time and interacting with the kids. Many studies have been done on the effects that TV had on young kids.

I suspect (I may be wrong of course) that a large part of the reason why parents allow their kids to watch TV is because it is a way to give themselves some time while keeping the kids pre-occupied.

My kids rarely, if ever at all, watches TV shows at home, except for the occasional VCD/DVD materials such as Hi 5 and educational videos. About the only time they get to watch TV (free-to-air channels) is during those times they are at my parent place.


But guess my case is more on the extreme side. And then, it’s partly because we ourselves hardly have the time to turn on the TV when we are at home anyway!

My kids went to Blossom Creative. Main reason for choosing there in the first place is the non air-con environment. We also liked the fact that they have some animals (2 rabbits and a number of tortoises), as my kids enjoy feeding them, especially the rabbits.


Have you taken a look at their website? It's updated quite frequently with their recent events. From there, you can more or less have a pretty good idea of the kind of activities the school have for the kids.
http://www.blossomedugroup.com.sg/

Another thing that is quite unique about the school is Blossom's e-Profiling portal, an online system through which parents obtain quarterly feedback on their child's development.

Hi Parents,


I thought it would be interesting to know what would be the foremost thing parents today would want for their kids, if they could only choose one item.

In those good old days of the past, it was fairly straightforward. Upbringing usually comprises play, play and more play, and one or two years of kindergarten, whereby the emphasis is more on learning how to write 123/ABC and read basic words than on learning how to add 10-digit numbers.

Today, things are a lot more complicated, and there seem to be so many things that parents need to do for their kids, that there just doesn’t seem enough time to do it all.

If you could choose just ONE item, what would you choose? Of course, you could also suggest something that is outside the list, such as "Survival skills"?

[quote]If not consider install aircon in the room & 24 hour on the aircon?[/quote]
Ai yo, that would be pretty heavy on the PS bill!

Anyway, in the end, I managed to find a place in my living room to put the piano. Got a YUS5, i does sounded a bit loud in my not-so-big living room, especially since it is placed at the \"intersection\" of all bedrooms, but still, it sounded great

peanut_butter:

pingering:

Would the heat be harmful to the piano?

Is the room 'wet'? My sound board gave way after 10 years of sitting in a humid and warm room, away from the sun.

Don't think so, it's much too hot to be wet I would think, though there's a toilet on the other side of the wall that I intend to place the piano. Not sure about the humidity in that room though. The windows are closed almost throughout the entire week, and usually we would turn on the air-con when we do use that room at night.

Guess we will definitely have to turn on the air-con at night if we do place the piano there! Especially if it's a YUS5, since I have heard it's very loud. Some have said it's much too loud for such a small room ... But my living room has no suitable space ... hai.

Ya, guess it all boils down to the budget. By all means go ahead and get what you like as long as your budget allows it.


I should probably go and check out other brands before making up my mind. It’s a big buy (whether U1 or YUS5)! Planning to drop by Millenia Walk Robert Piano to look see. Does anyone have any recommendation on where else I could check out?

btw, is there anywhere I can check out both Yamaha models and other brands? (new, not second hand…)