Tip 51: The no nonsense monkey up above

The title of this post is not crude nor irreverent. I placed a cuddly stuffed monkey to hang high up just below my aircond in my bedroom. Haruka has other stuffed toys too that she plays often such as a cute dog, a cuddly kitten, green frog, fish, elephant, bear, rabbit and a few others I could not remember. But this monkey hangs up there and sometimes, I would carry Haruka up to see it closer. Whenever Haruka cries, I will say the monkey is looking at you and laughing at you. Then, I would say, Shame, Shame, Haruka-chan (baby Haruka). Sometimes, she would stop for a moment and look at the monkey as I point at it. I would do a shame gesture with fingers brushing both the monkeys cheek and then later both my cheeks and looking at Haruka with a sneer.

Babies after 3-4 months can understand many simple conversations and role play. Role plays are useful to instil creativity and help the baby be interested in communications. Besides acting like a clown, daddy can relate different behaviors to the baby by talking to stuffed toys. Daddy can talk to the baby and the toys and encourage an environment of talking instead of crying. Its fun to talk. All other children are talking too. Haruka is beginning to look around when she plays at a playcenter near our home where Tomomi would take her a few times a week when the weather is good. Haruka is hearing what children are saying and how they cry and most of the time, she is learning the bad habits. Where I stay, Shinjuku ward, Tokyo, there is a volunteer playcenter by the government that is full of toys with a large play area and they only charge 1000 yen (USD$10) membership a year. This is one way the government is supportive of families with young children who have little room to play in their small apartments. The Shinjuku ward happens to be one of the most generous in the whole of Japan in its initiative to encourage childbirth. Among other intiatives is its monthly cash deposit of 10,000 yen (USD$100) for 15 years into my bank account for every child born and registered in this ward on top of tax rebates that I get. These incentives may actually work to spur the growth rate in Japan and with exports increasing due to good trade relations with China, India and Asia, Japan's economy may actually be in the positive for the next 5-10 years before emerging economies improve their education and technology and begin to replace Japan and USA and we will see more innovative and technology centers sprouting around the world. So I need to buck up and teach creativity to my children so they can lead change. Creativity starts from play.