Where do you think they got the inspiration for the exterior of The Esplanade?

A home decor piece from Ikea I think.

What a basket idea.

After the talk, I went to City Hall to shop for awhile.  I noticed a few people staring at me strangely.   

Okay, I was in glasses that day but I didn’t look at all dorky.  Being naturally confident, I thought of a few positives. Maybe they liked my attire.  Maybe they liked my hair.  Or maybe they thought I was chio.

So I went about normally, eating my food, window shopping and buying stuff, trying to appear nonchalant to the stares.  When I was taking the train back home, it was the same.  A few people were staring at me.  This time I thought they could be looking at my book.

It was only when I finally got home to change did I realise that I’ve been walking around town, eating my burger, talking to the sales assistants, paying for my stuff and reading my book with a bright orange spot sticker on my top.  It was given to me when I went for the talk and I forgot to remove it afterwards. 

Suddenly I felt like Adrian Mole, the protagonist of the book I was reading on the train. 

Many years ago, I was laughing like crazy when I read about him walking around, taking a train, and talking to many people on his way to work, with eye white on his goatee.  Remnant from his breakfast.  He only realised it when he looked at himself in the mirror and felt suitably embarrassed.  It’s one of my best memories of Adrian!

Surely my orange sticker wasn’t so bad compared to his egg white?  But I hope none of those who were staring at me and staring at my book also read about Adrian’s egg white and actually remembered it as clearly as me!

Yesterday, while the two boys went cycling on their own, I attended a talk about The Shichida Method of brain development for children.  While the main objective of the talk was enrollment, the content was rather inspiring and the course emphasis which focused on parent-child relationship as well as personality development really appealed to me.

And you know what?  I actually walked away from the talk with excitement and having a renewed confidence of coaching Gavin.   There was no trial lesson.  Just information and testimonies but many things that were said hit me right.  

I admit I have problems teaching him despite what I do for a living.  I was talking to my colleague the other day and we both agreed that it’s hard to teach our own kids.  We lose our patience fast.  (Maybe it’ll be a different story if our kids pay us :p)  At the same time, it is not possible to leave him to learn from school alone. 

I agree that parents play the MOST important role when it comes to a kid’s education.  More so when they’re young, like Gavin now.  I’m also well aware that if I constantly lose my patience with him, it will inevitably create negative feelings in him and probably impede his learning abilities in the long run.  

I’ve seen that happening in one of my nephews and I don’t want that to happen to mine.  And so I’ve been taking it slow, trying not to force him to learn writing for example, and do the things he enjoy.  However, I want to improve my way of teaching and I think I might be able to find my answer in this programme.

I like the fact that Shichida method does not focus on academic abilities.  And while the method is to develop the child’s brain, the most important takeaway is that a parent’s love can influence the child and bring out his innate abilities, with less stress and more joy.  Something I strongly believe in as well.

According to Professor Makoto Shichida who developed the training programme, when the right brain is developed well together with the left brain, the heart will be raised to a high level of potential.  That is when a child is able to exceed parents’ expectations and show his or her strengths.   After succeeding to activate the right brain abilities, children can learn quite easily in any school.

I’ve reserved a place for him starting in April and I’m committed to do the entire works with him, even attending a Parents’ Education Course as part of the programme.  Irony isn’t it?  But I believe I need to be taught how to teach my child; to find out how to encourage and motivate him the right way.  Part of my problem in teaching him right now is actually my conventional mindset towards education and I’ll probably be able to benefit lots from the course.

The only concern I have right now is the fees.  It isn’t cheap.  One term of 12 weeks is $745, not including the enrollment fee, deposit and parents’ course.  And it’s only a duration of 75 mins every week as the crux of the programme is to learn the activities, how to coach him, and practise that at home.  

Add that to his school fees which is 1k every term, we’ll really become VERY poor.  It’ll be nice if money isn’t a consideration but unfortunately, it is.  So somethings got to give.

Either I continue to homeschool him until end of the year, or I put him in a cheaper Kindy with a less than desirable environment.

Frankly, I’m not very impressed with what he covered in school last year.  Which is why I’m not very concerned even though he hasn’t started K1 this year.   Whatever they’ve cover in school can be taught at home.  My main objective of sending him to a school is to learn the social interactions.   Hence, homeschooling will not meet this objective.

I do need to give a bit more thoughts to this and be able to strike a balance.   Yet, there are questions.  Do I want to follow the convention or can I trust my instinct of educating him on my own?  What about his social skills?  Perhaps enroll him in some playgroups? Where?

But one thing is for certain.  I definitely want to give him a headstart. 

Love is a treasure for which we can never pay.  The only way we keep it is to give it away.

This is the meaningful message behind the movie “The Ultimate Gift”,  a movie based on the book of the same name  that has been an underground hit around the world and sold 4 million copies. 

Starring Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Drew Fuller and Brian Dennehy which will be first released March 9 in Canada and United States; and already more than 300 pre-screenings have already resulted in over $5 million in donations to charity.

This is the official site of the movie “The Ultimate Gift” and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others.   Check out the movie trailer as well as the power of the movie and the message. 

And here’s a synopsis:

When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with twelve tasks – or “gifts” – designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.

Sounds like a story that will inspire us to look inside ourselves to discover our own unique values and treasures.  Heh.  I’m going to check out the book first!

The man was busy the entire day and I thought we wouldn’t even have dinner together.  But dinner was clearly on his mind the whole time.  A Chinese dinner of Peking duck specifically. 

We’ve passed by this eatery several times but it was only recently that we noticed that they’re serving Peking duck.  It’s downright Chinese alright…with a strange English name Bringing In Wine, a somewhat tacky decor, a rather familiar looking menu, to the unmistaken Beijing accent and boisterous Chinese nationals singing to the karaoke.  It was almost as if we were smack right within a restaurant in China.

Gavin didn’t like the restaurant that much initially but he warmed up to it, especially after food was served.  See what he’s eating?  The skin roll with cucumber only!

Bringing In Wine Restaurant & Bar is located at 943/945 Upper Serangoon Road.  Price is reasonable, food is above average and service is definitely much better than what you’ll get in mainland China.

By the way, this dinner has some significance for us.  Because Beijing was where it all started.  Climbing the Great Wall, clubbing at Hardrock and not forgetting how he managed to lug back 5 Peking ducks then!