Category: Mummy Diaries

Life of being a mummy, all mummies should read!

Ending October 2017 with …

It has been a quick 9 months since the start of our preparation and now it is awaiting the fruits of labour. Ask me what my thoughts are. I would say having no expectation on the results is keeping our family cool and calm about the whole PSLE thing. In fact, I have totally no idea what Missy will fare. I am only happy that she has done her best and improves by a great leap in her academic understanding. So, what’s next will be carefully choosing a school that is suitable for her. A school that will leave good memories to grow and learn happily.

It has been a while since I updated what was going on with us. PSLE of course, what else ya? So very happy that PSLE is finally over!! YEAH!!!

On Post-PSLE…

It has been a quick 9 months since the start of our preparation and now it is awaiting the fruits of labour. Ask me what my thoughts are. I would say having no expectation on the results is keeping our family cool and calm about the whole PSLE thing. In fact, I have totally no idea what Missy will fare. I am only happy that she has done her best and improves by a great leap in her academic understanding. So, what’s next will be carefully choosing a school that is suitable for her. A school that will leave good memories to grow and learn happily.

Choosing a Secondary School at this point is hard as we have no idea on what cut-off point to filter. So, focusing on niche CCA, interest, location, subjects and even Mission statement seem to be the practical thing to do for now.

Life after PSLE has been a relax one for Missy and me. So relax that I hardly focus on Master 10’s revision. I am happy that he was quite independent in his revision while I was away for business trip for 2 weeks. It will be good to leave the responsibility of revision in his own hands with minimal help from me. I am looking forward to see how his solo efforts will work out. It will be an insight into how attentive he is in class. You’ll bet that I will be similarly cool about Master 10’s academic and certainly continue our NO TUITION route. If it works out for Missy, it will work out for every of our children 🙂

Someone new in my company had asked me how did I do it with my insistence on the NO TUITION route since almost everyone around us are sending their kids to tuition. So, I answered her with the below:

No Expectations on marks (even if exam results are in the 50s range)

Believe in raising HAPPY kids

These 2 mottos will guide me through raising our kids happily and having laughters and smiles in our house 🙂

On Away from Kids…

This is my 2nd business trip this year and longest so far. It is still hard for me to leave the kids with their unhappy faces and cries. It made me weep secretly too. I am that emotional. I made it a point to leave after the PSLE Science paper even if it meant to travel solo to a country I have never been to which otherwise I would have company. We celebrated with me waiting outside school and bringing Missy to Mac Donald’s for breakfast. After that, we went home to bake her favourite New York Cheesecake. We went for a Teppanyaki lunch together with the Dad and Master 10 before a Mummy-Daughter shopping trip. We went back home for dinner, cut the Cheesecake before I leave for the 2-week travel. Missy still had her last Higher Chinese paper the next day. I need not have to worry about her needing my help in that. She is probably better than me in answering complicated Comprehension questions. Furthermore, it is not such a core subject and I am just glad that it did not need to compete for attention.

We are left with 1 last paper HCL tomorrow but our celebrations start today! Hurray!! PSLE is … quite OVER! Haha! First thing Missy asked to celebrate is to bake her favourite cheesecake. I am stoked by their love for my cheesecake ❤ We are going for a special lunch too and ending with a short shopping trip! Missy decided that she had studied enough for HCL paper and I think she is gonna hoard the TV tonight. As long as she is confident, I let her decide: revise or not 🙂 I don’t know what results she is gonna get. But I am already rewarding her for her terrific attitude and hard work put in for the past 9 months. You deserve your celebrations my dear! Come what may, we know you have done your best and let’s look forward to the next stage of growing up, forging friendships and learning fun! 🍦🍸🎈🎊 #kidsrsimple #kidsrsimplepsle #notuition #laidbackmum #psle #psleisover #sgmum

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I guess the difference between a Mum’s biz travel and a Dad’s biz travel is that the Mum is expected to face-call daily no matter if she is attending to business halfway or shopping at outlets. I enjoy seeing their happy faces or even crying faces in the background. I felt closer to home and felt at ease knowing that they were fine at home. Still, boys and girls behave differently. My girl was all excited to talk to me while my elder son was cool about it and showed no expression. Maybe it was better for him not to see my face so as to freeze whatever mixed emotions he had. The youngest one was still a bit confused about the number of nights he had to sleep before I was home. Very sweet of them to send night kisses and voice recordings to me. The longer I stayed overseas, the longing for home got stronger. I guess 2 biz trips in a year is enough for me.

Another difference is that Mum will have to plan everything in advance before her trip to ensure things run smoothly at home. That includes writing out a time-table on what time each kid comes back from school, what events happen at what dates, planning on marketing allowance, piano fees, bills to pay in advance, to planning playdates and informing other parents to contact the spouse for special events pick-up and arrangement. Whoa! These are things that the Dad will not know or pay attention to details. I need to ensure minimal disruption to compensate for my absence. Things still need to run at clockwork at home.

On family ties…

A friend of mine shared with me that the family will meet up at the grandparents house every Saturday. The cousins will be there too. Her daughter told me excitedly that she never misses the weekly gathering because it is so much fun to play, chat and catch up with the cousins. Another friend also shared with me that she will meet up with the siblings at the parents’ house even though each of them are married with kids. The only time any of them is absent will be because he or she is out for business trip. How lucky these families are!

While my family meets up with the grandparents and cousins frequently, we do not designate a weekly gathering. It is usually impromptu, or for celebrations. I really wish to plan out a fixed weekend to gather and bond. It may take some conscious coordination since almost all kids have weekend commitments to attend to. But I am sure we can work out something! It is never too late to start one.

On myself…

After PSLE is over, I am dreading what comes next. I will be helperless in November! It has been 3 years of quality time at home and now that I will be back to doing house chores, it will be challenging for me not to let a messy and dirty house affect my mood when I come home from work. That is the biggest challenge. I will certainly update on my blog on these challenges and how we are coping. Wish us luck!!!

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So, I am ending October with a happy shout that… PSLE IS FINALLY OVER!!! Back to many relax evenings free of revision and more bonding time with the kids!!! YEAH!!!!

How did your October go?

Ending July 2017 with …

We have crossed a good half of the year for 2017! Very soon, it will be the end of the year. I am kind of glad that I did not set out any resolutions for 2017 to beat myself for not achieving much at this mid-year check. I guess life goes on and we just busy ourselves along. What’s important is really whether we are happy with our life now and are we contented? At this mid-year check on myself, I should really be counting my blessings more than harping on meeting any goals. Don’t you think so?

We have crossed a good half of the year for 2017! Very soon, it will be the end of the year. I am kind of glad that I did not set out any resolutions for 2017 to beat myself for not achieving much at this mid-year check. I guess life goes on and we just busy ourselves along. What’s important is really whether we are happy with our life now and are we contented? At this mid-year check on myself, I should really be counting my blessings more than harping on meeting any goals. Don’t you think so?

I have many blessings to count and I am saying that because life is kind of mundane and mundane in itself is a bliss. At down times, I choose to find consolation in any small things that I should be contented with and be thankful for things that we often take for granted. At happy times, these feelings go into my emotional bank to be retrieved at times of need. Life is short, so why not make everyday count? It will be good if my kids know how to stand strong and be contented with their lives and be happy. Resilience, perhaps, is more important than any academic achievement that the kids should achieve.

So much for a philosophical wrap up for July. Now, here’s what we have been up to.

Preparation for Prelims …

I am thankful for an understanding boss and hence am able to give much support to Missy for Prelims preparation. Sometimes when I am home, Missy is busy doing her homework or doing self-revision. On many afternoons, my role is really to be THERE for her. I am a walking dictionary, prompter to academic questions, and my teacher role is getting smaller to much of my satisfaction. That shows that she is improving and taking good charge of her learning such that my involvement has switched focus on supporting her other needs. I chat with her, entertain her performance of hand-stand, stunts when she takes study breaks, prepare snacks for afternoon tea-breaks and encourage her when she loses steam.

Prelims is over. I am exceptionally anxious to see if our hard work for the past months will be paid off. I really hope to see more than a small improvement so that Missy’s confidence will be boosted.

On Health …

We had been hit by a bout of flu that went round the family in July. What was worse than this was that I sprained my ankle badly on a morning jog. I fell down a flight of steps. Ever since then, my ankle has been healing ever so slowly. I envy those who can run and hop and jump with their good legs. 1 month after I sprained the ankle, I still cannot run for the bus. I cannot continue my Pilates and Zumba clases. I cannot run about with the kids. Another recent disappointment is that I have to give up any long distance runs for the time being. How can I even take for granted my good pair of legs before this? I am frustrated with the stupidity of not warming up before a run. This teaches me a painful lesson.

Perhaps there are still good things that comes out of this episode. I learnt to walk slower. I start to consciously take care of my body and avoid taking short cuts or compromise my posture, anything that will hurt my body. Hopefully I can be up and about in 3 months time.

On Reading …

I am reading slowly but not stopping. To inculcate a reading culture in our home, I removed decorative pieces from 2 shelves of the TV console to make way for books. The books are refreshed every now and then to entice the kids to pick up a book and read. We frequent the neighbourhood library, bought new books and brought the kids to sgbookdeals to grab 49 books for $50 in a box. I purposely leave books strewn about on the tables and bathroom for any chance that the kids will pick them up. I ask the kids to bring a book along to read while on public transport or waiting for meals. I have a book list chart for them to fill up completed titles. We have reading hours and bedtime reading if time permits. It takes time to build up a reading culture at home, and it is never too late to start now.

So, I am ending July 2017 with… contentment

Contentment

July was not an exciting month partly because we spent much time for Prelims Preparation (Click here if you wish to know more on how we prepared for our Prelims). However on weekends, we still bring the kids out to breathe fresh air, dispense their energy and for family bonding. Examinations will not stop these play times. I am totally thankful that so far, our no-tuition way works out for us so that we have more time to relax and indulge in more important things than academic. I hope August will be a healthier month for us and better luck to accompany us from now 🙂

How did your July go?

Ending June 2017 with…

I missed my “Ending May with…” last month due to high workload at work and examination preparation with the kids. I went on a business travel on the first day of school holidays to many heartaches. Blogging had to take a back seat. Well, as a FTWM, I guess I learnt to juggle comfortably with multiple roles daily in work, blog, kids, home and self-care. Each is important to me in different ways and perhaps all these put together make my life more fulfilling and endurable when life has a purpose. However, not all days are rosy and I do drop the balls every now and then. On times like this, family and friends are my main emotional support and encouragement. I am just too blessed to have them with me.

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I missed my “Ending May with…” last month due to high workload at work and examination preparation with the kids. I went on a business travel on the first day of school holidays to many heartaches. Blogging had to take a back seat. Well, as a FTWM, I guess I learnt to juggle comfortably with multiple roles daily in work, blog, kids, home and self-care. Each is important to me in different ways and perhaps all these put together make my life more fulfilling and endurable when life has a purpose. However, not all days are rosy and I do drop the balls every now and then. On times like this, family and friends are my main emotional support and encouragement. I am just too blessed to have them with me.

Missy 12 and revision

This topic continues… Missy 12 received many positive feedback on her attitude towards learning from her teachers during the Parent-Teacher meeting. Every one of her teachers praised her discipline and eagerness towards academic and leadership. They all agree that she should do alright in PSLE. I agree too. We do not have expectations to start with, hence, any improvement from now to Prelims and improvement from Prelims to PSLE, I am happy. I just have a wish that she enters the school of her choice which she very much wants to go.

Our revision in June is not as intensive as what her friends are going through. Ask her if she is stressed, she still says “No” which I am relieved. However, come July, I am pretty sure her school will load lots to prepare for Prelim in first week August and she will start feeling stressful, especially she has a piano exam in July too. But we will manage.

We still continue our night revision, although they are no longer just #30minrevision. During school holidays, we can do longer hours. We drafted a revision schedule on what topic to study and papers to do from now till Prelim. We do not want to overload and get Missy 12 burnt out before Prelim and PSLE, hence, it is important to moderate the intensity and duration appropriately. The main subjects to focus on are Math, Science and English. Math and Science take up much more time. Through Marshall Cavendish Science Workshop which I am attending right now (will be blogging on that soon!), we learnt about journaling and that got Missy very motivated to study Science. I am so thankful to the trainer.

Separation Anxiety strikes again

Oh, sometimes I think I suffer Separation Anxiety more than the children do. It struck twice for these 2 months. First one was when I was leaving for the airport for my business trip. The kids saw me off to the car and could not control their tears. I was holding back furiously too. But the moment the car turned out of sight, I started to tear. And I teared again when I entered the Departure Hall and waved to Kel. You must be rolling your eyes now. But I am that emotional.

The second time was when Master 10 went off for his 3D2N camp. I knew the camp would be fun and he would certainly enjoy very much with the company of his friends. Perhaps he is now much mature and grown up, I did not sense any separation anxiety in him. I missed him so much and found out that the mummies in the same chatgroup all missed their kids too. Some even drove to the camp site to peek and each day we tested our instinct and eyesight by spotting our kids in the shared camp photos updated on website. I often wondered how I can take it when Master 10 goes to Army 8 years later.

Fun Times

Mums hardly rest, do they? Even while I was busy preparing for my business trip, I needed to plan to ensure the household can run smoothly without my presence. I planned for activities prior to my trip and ensured my hub made them happen. I packed for Cold Storage Kids Run, Dads and Child Camp, scribbled fetch timings to and from school for school holiday activities, standby piano fees for teachers, assigned home revision for Missy 12, planned marketing, planned playdates, staycation, etc, etc, etc. And I was only away for 10 days.

So off the hub and Master 10 went to the Dads camp which was really a bonding session for them. The camp was fun except for the very warm night in the tent under the Singapore Flyer. It was more of an Army camp and they ate ration packs, went for rifle shooting, survival skills and lots more. Master 10 enjoyed the overnight camp.

We went for Safra Open House and tried on Canopy Walk and zip line which both became good training for our Bedok Forest Adventure Kids Course and Master 10’s school camp which had the similar obstacle course.

There were a lot more outings to the ice-skating rink at Jcube, Museum hopping, Amazonia indoor playground, BASF Lab, Forest Adventure, a staycation, Concert, a play and numerous playdates. We still have weekly bonding session with the grandparents for breakfast and frequent family home-cooked dinners at home. It was a good June holidays.

Mummy learns…

I have not given up on my appetite for reading. I am catching up on books and although a little slow, at least I am now reading my 5th book for this year, To Kill A Mocking Bird. A fantastic book that I had lots to learn from the characters and the author’s beautiful English language. I must remind myself to introduce this book to my kids to learn precious values like Respect, Standing strong by values in averse situation, Righteousness, and much more.

I am also attending classes too. I had attended a cooking class, attended Marshall Cavendish PSLE Science Workshop for Parents for 2 Saturdays in my quest for knowledge on coaching my Missy. I went for a Will-Writing seminar which was really entertaining and informative. I find gaining knowledge never stops at any age. It gives me the ability to tell stories and impart wisdom to my children.

[Not sponsored] A very entertaining talk on Will Writing! If you are married with kids and leave without a will, your parents run in the risk of getting nought from you and you shall be giving your spouse’s remarried partner 50% of your wealth! If you and spouse leave without a will, your kids may suffer at the hands of the guardians that are not chosen by you. So.. to have a will or not? I think the ans is obvious 🙂 And best thing is: it doesn’t cost much to have a will done! This talk is into its 4th session in 4 months and always sold out! You may like to go to @soulwealthygroup fb page to read up more on will writing. Btw, this is not a sponsored post, just sharing good knowledge! If you wish to have a will done or simply to find out more, PM me and I can share my trusted contact with you 🙂 . #kidsrsimple @financialliance #soulwealthygroup #willwriting #financial #seminar #financialplanning #sgmum #sgblog #sgblogger

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So, I am ending June 2017 with… lots of play before the big exams arrive!!! 

Seriously I am not so looking forward to the next 3 months due to the exam preparation. Even though compared to many, many out there, we are really taking it in our stride, and not competing with anyone else in revision speed or trying hard to make my money spent on assessment books worth. Much conscious effort is being made to moderate study stress and how much Missy can absorb or cope everyday. I don’t think she feel that her mummy is actually more stress than her because I make a good effort to shield my anxiety from her. Where does my anxiety come from? Frankly speaking, I blame myself partly for not catching her when she lagged behind in P3 and P4. Hence, I put lots of effort trying to bring her up to standard and my wish is that she does well enough to enter her dream school. I hope come end of the year, I can proudly say that she made it. But if she doesn’t, she still gets the BEST EFFORT AWARD from me, from her Daddy, and from our whole family.

How did your June go? 🙂

Ending April 2017 with…

If you would have seen our weekends and weeknights 2 years ago and compare it to our current schedule, you would have noticed a great difference in our time spent as a family. It was all play and hardly any work on weekends and weeknights back then. We had fun planning for outdoor play and playing games at home. Those were the good old days.

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If you would have seen our weekends and weeknights 2 years ago and compare it to our current schedule, you would have noticed a great difference in our time spent as a family. It was all play and hardly any work on weekends and weeknights back then. We had fun planning for outdoor play and playing games at home. Those were the good old days.

Right now, we have a boring schedule. Weekends are ferrying kids to their 1,2 non-academic classes and that’s half a day gone. Afternoon we have 2 hours revision and it will be dinner time. After dinner, it will be rest and relax time. On weeknights, I try to get home before 630pm, eat dinner with the kids and by 730pm, we are back to studying. I cater first 30 minutes to Missy 12 and next 30 minutes to Master 10. At times when Master 10 does not need any of my help, I will spend slightly more time with Missy 12. Then plus some supervision of piano playing, I finally have time for Master 5. Poor Master 5! He has to play by himself as we will have to keep him out of the study room for an hour. I will try to compensate him by reading him 3 books every night after 9pm. Hence, it is not that bad except that his older siblings used to have more fun on weeknights with art and crafts, silly games and many fun play than he does now. I can’t wait for the exams to be over to resume our play.

Missy 12 and Our Revision

I guess by now, everyone kind of knows our revision schedule has been religiously stuck to 30 min a day on weeknight and 2 hours on weekends. I am heartened that the revision has been going on very well and better than we expected. Considering we have only started such #30minrevision from January this year, I think we have made very good progress. We are certainly looking forward to how Missy 12 fares in her SA1. However, I am mentally prepared if her results showed that she needed more time to improve. I still feel that we have time to catch her weaknesses and focus more on them. It helps when I do not place expectations and target marks on her. I am not expecting big leaps of improvement. And it really helps that I know she has tried her best and that is all that matters. Still, I hope that our efforts will pay off and any slight improvement will be a boost of confidence to Missy 12 and me.

On Life as a FTWM – Time Spent at Home is PRECIOUS!

My current job allows me to work from home occasionally. I love this flexibility and makes full use of it to cook a simple love lunch for my kiddos. Each time I stay home to work, I will try to cook something different for them. I made Bentos, Baked Rice and Baked Pasta, Fried Udon, Carbonara, etc. The kids love to see me at home, even though I can nag at them to bathe, hang their towels, do their homework. I prepare tea break in the afternoon and listen to their day in school. We can have early dinner and the evening schedule is brought forward because I am at home. We sleep earlier too. I hope I can work from home come nearer the PSLE. What I used to jokingly said to a colleague that she took leave to make soup for the kids’ exams, I think it is my turn now to stay home to make soup for them as a morale booster. For mummies who have been through or those who are like me prepping for PSLE, do you and will you take a few months leave to stay home during PSLE period?

Activities in the midst of exams

As I have stated in my Life goes on in PSLE year, we still continue our usual schedule and have fun, albeit less of leisure activities. We checked out Safra Yishun new pool and for that day, we skipped a day of revision. We went for the Income Eco Run to soak in some early fresh air and sun. We also had fun creating Terrariums from Masons Home Deco and we skipped that night’s revision too. We played board games on rainy days and had movie nights. We do skip some other events due to the proximity of the exam dates like the Home Team event, Imaginarium opening day, and some other invites. Thus, before the exams are over, I am already planning the places to bring the kids to visit. I know that before long, Missy 12 will have to be back to her revision again to prepare for her prelims in July.

On Myself and self-care

I fell sick after 2 consecutive nights of waking up at 3am to work. Age is catching up and I need my 8 hours of sleep daily to function well. Because of that, I was down with flu for 2 weeks! This is what happened with low immunity. I have been trying to consciously eat healthily and read labels. I consume portions just enough for me and not force myself to eat the leftovers of the kids’ plates for fear of wasting food. I am trying to go the natural way of remedy via Essential Oils. My blogger friend, Serene from Xavvylicious is like a doctor who teaches us ways to recover naturally via Young Living EOs. Amazing results I have seen after trying on myself and my kids! As a result, we avoided taking medication and use the EOs to maintain good health in the long run.

I still have lots to improve on healthy living. For example, taking my eyes off the screen more often and cutting down social media screen time to save my eyes from fatigue. I need to exercise more too. I also need to be less serious at home, and get into the fun mood with the kids rather than focusing on whether they have done this, completed that. I probably have to relax more so that I can laugh more. Laughing more is the pill to youth. Sometimes I envy my helper who can laugh and get silly with the kids so easily. No stress, no worries.

On a Happier Note…

As I am writing this, the SA1 will officially end tomorrow. I need a good break from revision and I bet Missy 12 needs that too. So, we are going to rest and relax and go for playdates. I am going to date each kid to 1-1 date too. I can finally read more regularly with more time on hand, at least for a few weeks. Just thinking of the relax days ahead makes me very happy! Haha! I think you could really tell how stressful I feel being a PSLE mum who insists on no tuition, has no expectations and heavily burdened with responsibility to help her child meet her own target. Yes, I am really serious in shielding my child from all the academic stress and taking the stress solely upon myself. Stressful as it is now, I feel it is totally worth it as long as the enormous stress is not on the young child.

So, I am ending April 2017 with… away with the academic stress!!! Looking forward to a happy month in May!

How did your April go? 🙂

 

Ending March 2017 with …

March is really a full fledged revision month. In my kids’ Primary School life, I have never revised more intensively as now. We are finally staying on track with our nightly #30minrevision and our 2 hours revision on Saturday and Sunday. You would have think that this is not much but to us, this is a big jump from our previous effort on revision which is half-hearted mainly on my part. So, now, this mummy is finally getting the hang of revision with the kids and we are actually enjoying it!

March is really a full fledged revision month. In my kids’ Primary School life, I have never revised more intensively than now. We are finally staying on track with our nightly #30minrevision and our 2 hours revision on Saturday and Sunday. You would have think that this is not much but to us, this is a big jump from our previous effort on revision which is half-hearted mainly on my part. So, now, this mummy is finally getting the hang of revision with the kids and we are actually enjoying it! Yes, enjoying it because we are seeing good progress through daily work!

On PSLE Kid

Missy 12 had told me that she feels more confident in English! Whoa! I am seeing our combined efforts paid off here. Even though we have yet to see actual results represented in formal tests, I am heartened that she gains confidence with our home revision. Confidence is the start to success. I believe with confidence, she will find the subjects that she used to struggle with become subjects that she is starting to like. She then went on to feedback that we have insufficient time spent on revising Science and Math. In fact, from now till her SA1 (Semestral Assessment 1), it will only be left with 4 blocks of 2 hours revision for each subject since we have only 4 weekends left. Indeed, time is insufficient, but that is the limitation of a FTWM. I cannot revise during weekday afternoons. Time is never enough. I will have to squeeze in time somewhere, maybe increasing weekend revision hours to 3 blocks of 1 hour on each Saturday and Sunday.

1-1 Time

I realised that spending 1-1 time with each kid ranks rather high on my priority list. I try to squeeze out time for that. So, every child’s dental or doctor visit, piano exam, school excursions, etc is a precious 1-1 time. I take full day leave, bring the kid out and enjoy the time spent together. I had one with Master 10. We went to his favourite restaurant, brought him to play Animal Kaiser in Time Zone Arcade, bought 3 Geronimo Stilton hard cover books which he had been asking for a long time and shopped together. He told me that he enjoyed shopping with me and that made me ponder if that was really true or he simply wanted to spend time with me, no matter what we were doing. It was a very sweet date for the both of us.

I also resumed our jogging date with each kid. Last Sunday, both sons joined me to have a morning jog at the nearby park. It was kind of funny as both ran at different speeds and I was in the middle, encouraging the slower one to catch up with his elder brother. We went for breakfast together, just the 3 of us. I like it and I think I shall make this happen more often.

On my relationship with Hub

We have not been seeing much of each other during weekdays as the hub works late into the night. Even if he comes home early, I would be busy with each kid. When it comes to bedtime, I would fall asleep with Master 5 and miss the chance to chat with my hub. I have not been working hard on couple relationship since the start of this year and writing this down in this post will help remind me to work out something! In fact, we are going to watch A-Mei’s concert come June. Errmmm, yes, that is the only plan for couple date for now. Hubby, if you are reading this, I love you and stay tune… LOL!

Struggles I face as a FTWM

Missy 12 has been given a phone lately with rules attached. I have decided that instead of unleashing the devil with no limits after her PSLE, it would be better to start giving the phone to her during weekends and occasional special days when she would need one and let her get used to weekdays without phone. She has shown good discipline with her phone usage and even asked me to state curfew hours of no phone usage. Her request impressed me very much.

So, there was a particular weekday when she had a phone and hence could see messages from her friends. She told me that one of her friends had sent a good night message to her and already slept at 7pm, the time when we were about to eat dinner. I thought about it and envied that this friend’s mum is a stay-at-home-mom and that explains that she could revise with her child in the afternoon, have an early dinner and let her child sleep early everyday. I can only revise with my kids after 8pm and delay their sleep time till 930pm. There is not a better arrangement for FTWM and FTWM’s kids will always sleep late. How sad it is, I thought to myself.

As a FTWM, there are many things that we cannot do during weekdays as we are working. But as far as I can take a day off, I will do so for school events, competitions, birthday celebrations, etc just to not deprive my kids of their mummy’s involvement. I want to be there with them at celebratory moments, school fun and many more!

So, last week, I took a day off to be a parent volunteer (I was the only parent) to bring Master 10’s class to visit an old folk’s home. I did that 2 years back with Missy’s class too and will certainly do it again for Master 5’s school excursion in future. It was a fruitful afternoon and I really enjoyed chatting with Master 10’s classmates and helped the shy children to approach the elderly.

On days of working from home or days off, I make it a point to prepare lunches for my kids and eat with them at the same table, and listen to them rattling off the day’s events. I really treasure such times with them just as what my mum did when I came home from school everyday. Seeing them eat up my prepared lunches makes me a satisfied mum. I am determined to do things a stay-at-home-mom will do when I am off work.

I hope my children will remember all these small little things that really matter lots to me.

I guess no matter if you are a FTWM or SAHM, you will find yourself nagging non-stop at the children. Despite my effort of trying very hard not to nag too much and let go, I am not very successful in this area. I am not sure why. I return home with a goal of enjoying some peaceful moments with the kids but it always ended up with some scoldings, nagging and breaking up fights and such. I guess this is the phase that will pass when kids are older, I am not sure. But I am going to try again and again and perhaps put up a reward chart for our family to create a better atmosphere in the house. Hmm.. sounds like a feasible idea, let me think of how to achieve that!

On a happier note…

We went for a staycation at Village Hotel Changi again! I shall be sharing our happy times in the hotel. We have also had some family bonding time with my parents at Upper Peirce Reservoir, sighting monkeys along the roads and running in the vast greenery. We also took my in-laws to JB to celebrate my MIL’s birthday with a sumptuous dinner on a school day. We hosted an impromptu dinner in our house for our parents and brother-in-law’s family. We really love hosting dinners as we enjoy having our parents over to bond with our kids and cousins to play together. I think we are doing it every month for the past few months and will be organising another big one for Master 10’s birthday.

So, we are ending March 2017 with… academic progress and at the same time, balancing academic and play. I hope April will be a fulfilling month!

How did your March go? 🙂