Tip 133: Photos for the sake of blogging

I came across a blogpost with the title, "What do you do for the sake of blogging?" It is very amusing to read the many responses of bloggers from all walks of life, being gung-ho to snap photos for their blog. Nowadays, everyone have a digital camera by their side and whenever there is a good story idea, the camera is out. It can be a food review, a humorous signboard, an event or a beautiful scenery. Photos do make the blog more interesting. The urge to want to post photos on the blog also improves the photo taking experience to churn out more quality photos that can be reviewed by our children and loved ones. Ultimately, a good blog, full of photos of your family experiences with your children is a nice present to pass to your children. It can also be a treasured memory held by daddy as he looks back at his life as a daddy, the many places he has been with his family, the ups and downs, his thoughts and his efforts. I did not have many photos of my childhood, but I am now attempting to do more for my children. Glad that there are readers to my blog who are encouraging me along the way.

As you may notice, I have taken many photos of Haruka and us as a family during our weekend trips. I have videos too, but have not posted them. What you may not know is the time spent to call out to Haruka to get her attention. She is now a little more understanding as she have seen the photos on the camera and video and know the tiresome efforts of daddy to produce something good for her entertainment. So, after 1 minute calling her name, sometimes Haruka does entertain me by looking straight at the camera. Also, daddy is always eyeing for a good shot. I would place Haruka on different edges or corners to capture the best scenes knowing she is now sitting straight up and would hold still. Haruka is a very sensible girl who understands danger more than daddy. Of course, mummy would scream at such sights. Then, there is the longer time spent in a particular location for too many photo taking that mummy begins to get hungry and impatient. So, daddy will need to have the skill to quickly snap photos and still be able to complete as many trips to different locations, while ensuring mummy and baby has enough rest and food. But, the proof of the pudding is in a blog where one can review photos and understand the joys and efforts of daddy. Its hard to express these in words all in 1 day. Yet, you can possibly scroll down the whole blog of years of blogging in 1 day.

Do share with me what you have done for the sake of blogging. Oh yes, I did not mention the time when I snapped photos in a British museum in between guard patrols. Photos of that out soon.

(Photos show the Chi Lin Nunnery next to the Nan Lian Garden. The temples are constructed by binding wood frames together without nails based on Tang Dynasty design. Photo of food is from a Taiwanese restaurant along Jordan road showing an oyster noodle and dessert of ice with yam and sweet potato balls).

Tip 132: A gift ready always

An encounter today made me reflect on the usage of money as a form of exchange. We have been taught either in economics courses or even in basic school education that money is far more superior than barter trade. Modernity that we enjoy today can only be achieved with the convenience, efficiency and power of money creation. Yet, has money reduced human communication and devalued the personal touch and contributions of people?

I was heading to Chun Yeung street near to Java Street market (closest MTR station is North Point) to get a working trouser cuff sewed. This area has very traditional chinese vendors and stalls. I approached a lady who sits at a booth with a sewing machine to check if she could sew the ends of the pants since the thread came out. She said HKD$20. I said I was quoted by another stall the other day for HKD$10 for 1 cuff. She said alright, she would do it for HKD$10 if it is only 1 cuff. I actually bought too many apples earlier and had a bag of apples with me. So I thought of returning the gesture of giving her the bag of apples since its too many for me anyway. Plus, charging only HKD$10 means she is being kind to charge the local price to me. I said thanks so much, let me treat you to some apples. She said no need. After 5 minutes she completed sewing the cuff of my trousers so nicely. Then, she said in Cantonese, "wow, are you treating me?". I said, "Yes, but I am going to pay you HKD$10 as well and you can treat your friend". (A friend with a child was standing next to us chatting with her earlier). She suddenly felt so touched by my gesture and probably thought the gesture was timely to offer her friend a gift she did not had the time to buy. She refused my payment and said, "Please keep it for the order next time". I insisted and left half of the money and made a friend.

It does seem unnecessary to be getting into conversations when you are paying a paid transaction. At least, the Japanese would prefer to keep a distance as someone is expected to do a job and the price has been named. Its inappropriate to be giving a gift to someone else if you do not know that person, or have spent enough time with the person to understand what type of present is most suitable for the recipient of the present. But, its this distance that is making our society less personal than it should. These then have ill effects to accountability and making decisions to cater for the needs of the people around us. In other words, it renders members of the society to be more selfish and self-sufficient. By simply going an extra mile to get a gift handy always and strike a conversation out of the ordinary, we attempt to make this place a better place. And who knows what you could get in return.

Do you pack extra small gifts in your bag in case there is an occasion for giving? I know a pastor would have balloons ready to make balloon sculpture that could lighten up other peoples' lives. Come to think of it, these are almost cost-free ways to build bridges with others and connect with the society. I can't make a balloon sculpture, but that did not stop me from my nice encounter.

(Photos show Nan Lian Garden next to the Diamond Hill station, is one of the best Chinese gardens in Hong Kong built in the classical style of the Tang Dynasty. A gold pagoda is featured almost like the gold pavilion temple of Kyoto, Japan together with many bonsai plants and age old rocks.

Tip 131: Smiling when the bowl is empty

Its such a joy to teach a young toddler and observe how she learns. A baby or toddler has the enthusiasm and desire to learn everything taught to her without question. With you or without you, the baby will be learning from the moment she is born and starts to take in her new surroundings. Every sight and sound will be part of her learning processs. I was just making a casual remark when Haruka finished a bowl of food. I said with a smile and by making the sign language of finish and saying, "Nai, Nai" (None in Japanese). I was impressed to observe later that Haruka does the same expressions everytime something is finished, instead of being unhappy about it, she has that positive outlook that she understands the concept and wants to let others know. My candid reaction and good mood earlier has done wonders to Haruka, as she repeats now this practice of smiling and expressing happiness when something is empty.












I reflected on this and recalled the tale of Goldlocks and the three bears. The story goes like this: The Bear family is just waking up. Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table. He looks into his small bowl. It's empty! "Who's been eating my porridge?" he squeaks. Papa Bear arrives at the table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl. It too is empty! "Who's been eating my porridge?" he roars.












I am glad now that my initial response was never close to the roar of Papa Bear. Haruka may later understand the concept of work and the need to replenish resources, but I hope she starts off with a positive outlook that there is still the ability to be thankful in every circumstances. Truly, even the ability to recognize the phenomenon that the bowl is empty and that there is an opportunity to fill it later is cause for joy. My previous post shared about the need to affirm good behavior in a baby to help the baby define happiness. Even in her yearnings, the baby can develop a sense of humor and embrace her surroundings better. All this is only made possible through lots of communication and teaching positive values through daddy and mummy's living examples. Truly, later Haruka will begin to choose to think for herself how she prefers to behave, but at least she has learnt one possible way to behave and think. She knows that there is now an option to smile, be contented and be patient till the next bowl of food arrives. Lets see how long this continues, and I will share on this as it helps me to reflect as well the beautiful lessons in life.












I know that by age 2-3, the toddler has more tantrums and may not easily smile because daddy is smiling. What are ways to calm her tantrums?












(Photos show more of Ocean Park including the dolphin show, the sea lions, the aviary, the scene from the cable car - all for a low discounted admission fee of HKD178/USD$23 per adult. Also, at Plaza Hollywood near to Diamond Hill station, Haruka posed with a fan of mine, the funny Maria Cordero or also known as Fat Mama Maria, who sings and stars in many Hong Kong films).

Tip 130: Affirming goodness in a baby

"There are three ingredients to the good life; learning, earning and yearning", according to Christopher Morley (1890-1957). In my opinion, the baby first came out into this world with only the experience of yearning. Though Haruka stopped her crying after her first 5 minutes and as I carry her, she began to look around the delivery room, as though seeking to experience learning. The baby yearns to have her hunger met and as she finds comfort in her mother's breast, she begin to yearn for warmth, comfort, familiarity, security and later the joy of communication and love. Though, yearning to communicate effectively requires learning the body language of the parents and familiar people around. The day would come as well, when the baby earns the approval and love by meeting the expectations of those he/she meets. Even when the baby does not have the right of a 16 year old to receive legitimate wages, the baby is pleased to have earned what he/she has wanted. That's the good life every baby would want. Parents can guide the baby to learn what is good, and to be on the path to earn the parent's affirmation when meeting their expectations. This begin to seem too theoretical and complicated. The bottomline is for parents to spend time to affirm their baby when the baby is good and teach him/her how to be good. And the baby listens mostly to the parents whom he/she yearns most for affection. Your affirmation and teaching means a lot to the babies since they do not enjoy crying if they can have a good life without crying. Get it? :)

As shared in my previous posts, early communication with the baby is key. If the baby knows there is a chance to communicate, then the baby need not cry or at least would cry only after failing to communicate. After lots of eye contact and body language, Haruka began to understand the concept of Yes and No. Then, I progressed to asking her if she was "happy happy" by emphasizing my smiles and she understood. She would nod Yes or No nowadays if I would ask her that. Knowing that I value her happiness, Haruka began to understand that daddy needs to be happy as well. So I began to affirm her good character by saying orikou (clever child in Japanese) and later calling her "good baby" and "clever" (in English) and now "kuai" (obedient in Cantonese). She hears that from others anyway, so when daddy repeats it she understands better what these common phrases mean. Besides just focusing on the actions of Haruka, I also point to other babies. When other babies are not crying, I affirm them and point to Haruka that the other babies are "good baby". When other babies are walking, I affirm them so Haruka would began to realize that a good baby would spend more effort and energy walking longer distances instead of having her daddy carry a 9 kg baby daily. I even began to affirm animals that Haruka adore. "Look the dog is sleeping, so you should sleep". "Look the panda is eating a lot, and is big. Do you want to touch the button at the lift? You need to eat more like the panda so you can be tall". "You are good baby today. You are not crying. Call "mama" or "papa" instead of crying when waking up". Haruka begins to learn all this and tries to earn my affection or a nice trip outside the home or a hidden sweet that mummy would not give. She is beginning to enjoy the good life by being good. Of course, there will be another chapter where babies become impatient to want to have the good life prematurely like all of us would and that calls for another blogpost.

What are other ways to affirm your baby? For those who do not have children, have you ever considered spending a little time affirming babies when they are good even if they are strangers? It may matter less to the baby compared to their parents' affirmation, but still it means something. And that means you are one step closer to making this world a better place to create more "good life".

(Photos shows Ocean Park Hong Kong which has a higher visitor count than Hong Kong Disneyland and it truly does show a beautiful part of Hong Kong, plus 2 lovely pandas that Haruka adore).

Tip 129: Parent pandemic preparation

The recently announced Swine flu pandemic has seen governments making many proactive preparations to control it. Some governments from developed countries even have drew out action plans years earlier and prepared a good stock pile of medicine as they had forecasted the possibility of a flu pandemic taking place in the near future. As much as the role of a state leader has grown more challenging, so is the burden of a parent. That is because equipped with knowledge in this information age, parents can do their bit to undertake safety precautions. Yeap, the long list of tasks and responsibilities of a parent have grown to not just merely provide for basic food and shelter to our kids. From providing education and the need to revere God to giving constant loving attention, from giving exposure to arts and music to encouraging the love of sports and other hobbies, the list goes on and on. But what can the parent do in regards to recent developments in pandemic? There are actually many practical steps down to rationing one's annual leave to cater for possible children sickness to be able to give the appropriate attention necessary. There will come a time when strict regulations would require children who are sick to be not admitted to nurseries and schools and the parents would have to take leave to care for them (and not trust entirely on their maids either). As population and globalization increase, the world grows weary about maintaining control and there will be more strict regulations that would ultimately affect the parent. Better be prepared than getting stressed out with little resources when the time comes for them.















I still remember an advice a teacher gave to me noticing my gungho attitude to want to seize every opportunity out there. She said,"Health is your best weapon to achieve success". As much as hard work and long hours may sometimes be necessary to get results, there needs to be a sustainable plan to ensure health is taken care of. Sustainability will be a theme that is highlighted more as developed countries push developing countries to adopt safer, ethical, cleaner and pollutant free methods even when developing countries are eager to deliver consistent high growth rates. Hence, as much as a trip by flight is necessary and paid for, there will be global regulations towards only admitting passengers who are in good health. This would mean the parent would need to ensure sufficient sleep and good health care habits for the whole family before important flights. As much as many circumstances are out of our control, safety precautions to avoid falling ill can be taken. For instance, I am beginning to be more mindful these days about Haruka putting her hands into her mouth. Since she now understands when I tell her not to do something, I try to spend more time to remind her. It helps since I carry her when we walk around most places. So I could easily reach out to remove her hands from her mouth and if necessary pull out a sanitized tissue to wipe her. It would be good if Haruka could one day learn how to wash her hands on her own and that would be another lesson daddy needs to teach her. Daddies also need to be checking at the nurseries, playcenters and Sunday Schools, if the teachers are enforcing stricter rules on admitting sick children to the group as there needs to be awareness that such safety and health precautions are more necessary than missing a few days of school. It probably is so much more simpler as a cave man daddy who only need to be concerned about hunting and bringing food back home each day. Now dad needs to also be ready with a sanitized tissue and be expecting it on others, something that's not part of his male instinct probably. Better be prepared, then be inconvenienced or worse, sorry for not taking the necessary precautions.















This may be not known to some, but in 1957-58, the Asian flu pandemic caused 2 million deaths globally and in 1968-69, the Hong Kong flu killed 1 million people globally. This is enough warning to have that sanitized tissue. Any daddy carrying it please leave a comment.















(Photos show more photos of Haruka's first Macau trip to Largo do Senado, the replica buildings near Sands and Babylon casino and finally the Venice like canals that even have gondola rides with gondoliers singing O Sole Mio (My Sun in Neapolitan/Southern Italian language) at the Venetian Macau which is the world's largest single casino resort and Asia's largest single structure hotel building).