A few mornings ago, my toddler hugged my leg tightly when I was leaving for work. We were looking at 2 beautiful yellow birds chirping on the neighbour’s flowers. The birds flew away and came back a few times. We watched happily and the toddler could speak in clear sentences to me about the birds were chirping away. I put him down so that he could wear his little slippers to walk about. While he was wearing his slippers, I told him I had to leave for work. So, I began to walk away. He took some time to put on his slippers and with the half dragging of the slippers and half hopping over, he caught up with me who had deliberately walked slowly for him to catch up. He hugged on tightly and chanted “Mama.. Mama..” Argh…. to hell with work. I can’t be bothered if I was late anymore. But I knew I had to leave and briefly stopped and kissed him again. The helper took him away to watch the birds once more. At this moment, I envied the helper. Continue reading “Work and family – are we placing the right priorities?”
Tag: Kids
Cold Storage Kids Run 2015 – Our First Kids Run
Media Invite
I am so excited because for the very first time, my 3 kids are I are going for our first Kids Run!
Last November, I ran my first 5km fun run in the GE Women’s Run 2014 and totally fell in love with it. XX and YH saw how I enjoyed it and told me they would love to join me as well. So this year, we are taking part in the Cold Storage Kids Run 2015 as a family, joining 3 categories altogether!
Cold Storage Kids Run has been held consecutively for the 8th year and response has been always overwhelming. The idea is to promote healthy living and get the kids off technology to have some outdoor exercise. This year, it is held at
The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay on 17 May 2015
As long as you have children from age 6 months to 12 years old, you can take part in any of the 13 categories! Continue reading “Cold Storage Kids Run 2015 – Our First Kids Run”
Doctor for a day @ Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital
Doctor for a day was back again recently! You can imagine my anxiety and fast fingers to register both my elder kids for the event before the time slot keeps changing to “sold out” within seconds! This event has been a highly sought after kids fun event since 2012.
What exactly is this and why is it so popular?
It is a day for children age 5-10 to encounter what goes on for doctors in a day in a REAL Hospital setting! Just reading on the program line up will get parents like me to register without much thought because we know our kids will enjoy themselves very much!
There are 6 stations for these little “doctors” to attend to.
1st station: The Doctor’s Room – where the kids learn about some basics of hygiene in the hospital. They learn about the 7 steps of handwashing, why the need to wear a mask and shower cap. Continue reading “Doctor for a day @ Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital”
Cafe Melba – a great place for mums gathering while kids play
Happy 2015!
We found a great gathering place to start a brand new year!
When my Secondary school friend watsapp the 4 of us on where would be a good place for a long overdue meet up with kids tag along, my first thoughts went to Cool de Sac, Rochester Playhouse, and Food for Thought. However, I had brought the kids to these places several times and would love to try out a new place, well recommended by some bloggers, called Cafe Melba. And so we went to Cafe Melba on the first morning of 2015 and upon setting foot in this cafe, this quickly become a top mums gathering place on my kids-friendly restaurant list.
Cafe Melba is tucked inside Goodman Arts Centre on Goodman Road among many rich and awesomely huge bungalows. We took a wrong turn and were pleasantly surprised to see many glamorous houses on Wilkinson Road! I never knew, beside Bukit Timah, there is also another rich man’s lane in the eastern side of Singapore. Continue reading “Cafe Melba – a great place for mums gathering while kids play”
A working mum’s woes
I had started my new job in October this year.
I got accepted in a totally new arena and was never so happy in my whole career life to finally do something I like. I was even mentally prepared to do my best and work late because I am determined to excel in my work.
Then work started, and all my predictions came true.
It is a challenging job. It is a work late job. I work more than 10 hours most days, sometimes 12 hours. I resist bringing work home so far. And work began to eat into my time with my kids and family. When I said I was determined to put in effort and time, I really did. I employed a domestic helper (finally!) so that I can concentrate on spending time with my children after I get home from work and have the sanity to handle the pressure at work.
With lesser time with the family and great work stress, I find myself getting tired easily and lesser patience with the children who yearn ever more attention from me. I feel my guilt surfacing almost everyday whenever I lose my cool, and make the kids upset. Such a situation leaves me a total wreck and more guilty and the vicious cycle repeats. There are a few times a thought of regret leaving my cushion job (not high pay though) haunts me and that made me feel worse. Maybe a woman is suited to stay at home, or otherwise not be too career focused. My girl starts to ask me why I had to change my job. The feeling hurts.
This morning, my baby wanted me to sit beside him while he ate his puffs. He knew I was about to leave for work and insisted that I stayed with him longer. I was running late but I obliged and stayed with him for another 10 seconds, what seemed like 10 minutes. Then, I stood up, kissed him and told him Mummy had to leave for work. He then sat still, eyes glued to the Baby TV which I had switched on for him on purpose, and did not turn around to see me leave. Just before I left the house, I stood at the door telling him all the sweet nothings about how much I love him and saying goodbye to a back facing baby. All this while, he did not turn around. After a few seconds later when I was walking towards the lift, I heard him let out a loud wail and started crying “Papa! Papa! Papa!” to his sleeping dad. My heart flew to him literally but I stood rooted to the ground. I knew if I had gone back to him, it would be worse for him and me to experience the separation twice. Continue reading “A working mum’s woes”