Tip 247: Playing in multiracial playground

I blogged about how this world is intrinsically global. It was created to be a global world, then through disobedience and pride of man, God allowed discord through the desire to create different languages during the era of the Tower of Babel. Yet, through education and experiences of cooperation between cultures and nations, we are moving towards overcoming hurdles that set us apart. Similarly, daddies ought to encourage their children to develop a sense of acceptance of other races even at a young age.














It can be amusing to watch on TV or listen to the conversations of foreigners who speak different languages. Yet, it is a different reality altogether to live and play together with a foreign person of a different skin color who speaks a foreign language. The more exposure, the more understanding of the differences between each other. Then, the child learns to accept or reconcile any wrong perceptions held earlier.














I blogged previously about being careful with our body language when we meet a person of a different race. We just need to frown or be startled and our little children will sense that vibe in us. Before long, they would also internalize the same body language and inhibitions when meeting people of different color and languages. We often do not blame ourselves for this subtle habits, but it actually sow seeds of discord.














I was at a new playground and Haruka was eager to check out the new slides. An Indian mother was close to me and felt uneasy if a young father like me might feel uneasy with her presence. I smiled and invited her to sit next to me in case she wanted to. Later, as her Indian children played, Haruka smiled at them and watched from a distance. Then, she approached nearer and began to play ball with the Indian children. These were strangers from another housing neighbourhood, yet Haruka has possibly gotten the silent encouragement from daddy to be friendly and enjoy the moment.














(Photos show Sayaka at 5 months old and 2 weeks old when my mum visited).

Tip 246: How much attention is enough?

The older generation used to say that giving too much attention to a baby spoils the child. The older generation had less time for their children as they had more children in the family and more manual tasks to do each day to be constantly bothered about giving attention to their children. Yet, children's development in this generation have accelerated and their intelligence increasing due to enhanced motivation and availability of learning aids at a young age. Should we then make a conscious effort to start our babies earlier than usual in their learning? More importantly, should we be giving attention even when the child is yet to learn?














I was spending some time with 4 month old Sayaka by smiling and making funny faces at her. She would smile or giggle whenever she sees me. Due to the constant attention she enjoys receiving, she is alert and constantly scans around to look for company. She is able to turn her head around with her strong neck (due to my rough handling of her in her young age, but she does has a strong bone structure as well). Plus, she now rolls over on her chest and kicks the surface to maneuver around in different directions. I thought of trying out the song and tickle routine of round and round the garden. To my amazement, she giggled when I tickled her. She also anticipated the tickling after I tried the routine a few times. I checked my previous blog entry and realized I only started doing this to Haruka at 6 months old, while the children's guidebook recommends introducing this after age 1 year old. Sayaka does make noise and cry when she does not sense anyone around her. Sometimes, I leave her alone and after a while, she sleeps while sucking her thumb. A baby does crave for attention when it is given to her. Yet she needs to learn how to amuse herself or be contented with looking around her surroundings. I believe there is a time for everything and we need to expose the child to different situations. Constant attention may need to be reduced when the child is beginning to be too demanding. Like the Central Bank who needs to constantly adjust interest rates based on the economic situation of the country, a daddy needs to adjust between excessive attention and just the right amount of motivation to stir curiosity in the child. If the Central Bank increases the interest rates by too large a quantum or too frequently than necessary, the market overheats. Hence daddy needs to be constantly present to assess the situation to ensure a well balanced and sustainable child. Intelligence and talent isn't everything.














(Photos show Sayaka at 4 months old).

Tip 245: Reading aids for 3 year olds

I was sitting at home with 3 years old Haruka watching kid's TV programme. Singapore does have a good kids channel called Okto with many imported and local kid's programme. Then, I began to watch Haruka got excited with the interesting programme. She repeated the ABCs when prompted by the cartoon to do so. The cartoon character was spelling words and I was impressed that Haruka could now utter the alphabets and then pronounce the words. That's the power of media in assisting kids to learn at a younger age. The cartoon has youthful voice, is full of zest and is so entertaining to learn with. The pause to prompt for the child's response is well timed making it almost a two-way communication. Definitely beats learning from a dull parent or teacher.














I previously blogged about the benefits of watching TV (particularly Barney programmes). I am again convinced that programmes that are well done and resonate well with the kids can assist in learning and in developing the kid's intelligence.














Hence, parents need to select good TV programmes for the kids as well as ensure the kids have time for other activities. These programmes can illustrate learning concepts easily. Now, Haruka understands that each letter has a sound and together the letters construct a word. I can now teach her reading and practice with her since she understands well how to do it after watching that programme.














Some may argue that it raises the expectation of the child to yearn for high quality teaching aids and the child may be disinterested when being taught by common people. I believe it is not easy to learn new concepts for the first time. Once the child builds a strong foundation, the child gains confidence and has more interest to learn from even dull lecturers. But, if a teacher does not communicate the lessons well and the child constantly lags behind, it can affect the desire to learn. When the child has mastered learning, the parents can encourage the child to build other critical skills such as keeping a long attention span and persistence on monotonous tasks. Yet, future societies for the next generation may see more animated tasks at work and leisure places and parents may not need to worry too much.
















There are so many reading and learning aids these days from TV programmes to computer and phone touch screen applications and games. I still believe there is a need for the traditional method of reading from a book and parents may want to encourage interest in both. It is no different than having a variety of food dish menu each day. You do not cook your child's favourite dish every single day, else the child may not learn to like other dishes and food variety. Parents ought to also prevent kids from being addicted to these highly entertaining learning aids.














(Photos show the Art Science Museum in a building representing 10 fingers, the Welcoming Hand of Singapore. I attended an art exhibition of Salvador Dali and is impressed that this structure does inspire creativity. Hurry this exhibition ends on 30 October 2011).