Back up Plan

Kinda craving for movie nowadays, and caught this recently. I love romance comedy, stuff that is not real, but makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Didnt expect anything about this movie as it was a little last minute. BUT it turned out really funny! I laughed so loud.

Alex O'Loughlin was no hunk, but I liked that he was playful and exciting.

Enjoyed having this fabulous me-time. I discovered I could make things happen if I wanted to and it is freedom without always expecting others to do something nice for us. And being a mum doesnt mean I can't watch a romantic movie spontaneously, receive flowers, go shopping, go for spa, eat at cosy places, hang out with friends, chit chats, all without my husband & kids! Yep... Happy loving me day! *wide grin* So bye bye old me, welcome, spunky new me!

It must go on

Havent we all found ourselves stuck in a situation and for the good of it, told ourselves "It must go on?" I have found our family in the midst of a mini crisis and yet again "home learning must go on!". This is one of the "down side" to home learning. We were mindful of this when we stepped onto the water of homeschooling our little ones. Fortunately, our take on learning is not confined to a classroom or even a set of curriculum, worksheets or lesson drills! (Not that we do any of these on better days, but can you imagine if it did!) Proves that home learning can be more resistant than thought eh?

So we say, "what the heck, no helper? Laugh and let live! Face the giant squarely in the eye, learn to breathe and relax even when hair chokes up the toilet sink, piles of laundry to be done almost everyday and that I'm up everyday at 6.30am... ZzzzZZZZZZZZZzzz, Oops, did I just doze off... haha ... ok I woke up in time to finish this post.

Well, this is a short one for obvious reasons. What are we learning tomorrow? My eldest boy has additional responsibility as a little housework helper role next to mummy. We can be joyful, even in this time of lack. What a great lesson indeed. Thank You God! :)

Just for the fun of it, these are a list of things we laugh about in our first week of going maid-less.
1) a bowl broke while we were washing it, probably out of touch!
2) forgotten to put detergent into the washing machine - Wash again!
3) forgotten to put meat into baby's porridge - Heck, declare vegeterian for that day
4) What's that poo-poo smell we still smell after we wash our tot? - Poo-poo still in the potty!
5) meat dish overturned and everything was ON THE FLOOR - er... let's say we think the floor is clean, so scope everything up and eat it!
6) Mould, mould everywhere, on baby's t-shirt, on tot's t-shirt - ok bleach it, we gain some extra white t-shirts.
7) What's for lunch? too tired to cook, just go out and buy.
8) what's for lunch again? Hmmm... let's just go swensons. Opps we missed the 1-for-1 deal. Forget it, just pig out!

What a ride! :0)

What Faith Can Do! - Kutless

I was reminded of a dream I had since I was about 8 or 10yr old. It remained in me but I never really lived it. God brought about a breakthrough in my twenties. Yet again, I was reminded of this dream again and again. And I yearn for God to help me breakthrough to yet another level. I'm dedicating 2010 as a year of worship unto the highest, most loving abba father.

Intro:
D for two measures

Verse 1:
D
Everybody falls sometimes
Dmaj7
Gotta find the strength to rise
Bm A G
From the ashes and make a new beginning
D
Anyone can feel the ache
Dmaj7
You think it’s more than you can take
Bm A G
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Bm
Don’t you give up now
A
The sun will soon be shining
Bm
You gotta face the clouds
G A
To find the silver lining

Chorus:
D A
I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Bm
Hope that doesn’t ever end
A G A Bm A
Even when the sky is fall…..ing
D A
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Bm
Silent prayers get answered
A G
Broken hearts become brand new
D Dmaj7
That’s what faith can do

Verse 2:
D
It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Dmaj7
Impossible is not a word
Bm A G
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
D
Everybody’s scared to death
Dmaj7
When they decide to take that step
Bm A
Out on the water
G
It’ll be alright
Bm
Life is so much more
A
Than what your eyes are seeing
Bm
You will find your way
G A
If you keep believing

Chorus:
D A
I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Bm
Hope that doesn’t ever end
A G A Bm A
Even when the sky is fall…...ing
D A
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Bm
Silent prayers get answered
A G
Broken hearts become brand new
Em
That’s what faith can do

Bridge:
Em
Overcome the odds
Bm
You do have a chance
Em
(That’s what faith can do)
G
When the world says you can’t
A D A
It’ll tell you that you can!

Chorus:
D A
I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Bm
Hope that doesn’t ever end
A G A Bm A
Even when the sky is fall…...ing
D A
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Bm
Silent prayers get answered
A G
Broken hearts become brand new
Em G
That’s what faith can do
Bm A G
That's what faith can do!

Outro:
D
Even if you fall sometimes
Dmaj7 G
You will have the strength to rise

http://www.guitaretab.com/k/kutless/197349.html

Preschool Social Skills

© 2006-2009 Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved

Preschool social skills depend on three abilities:
• emotional self-control
• empathy
• verbal communication

Many parents and educators assume that children need to spend lots of time with peers to develop strong preschool social skills.
They don't.
Playdates and preschool attendance can add stimulation—-and fun—-to your child’s daily life. But socialization-—the process of learning how to get along with others-—is not the same thing as socializing. Frequent socializing with peers does not necessarily lead to better social skills.

In fact, the opposite may be true. Too much time with peers can make kids behave badly. It’s the sulky elephant in the room that no one likes to talk about. Even upscale preschools are likely to make kids behave worse. As recent scientific studies confirm, preschool attendance can increase childhood stress and retard social development. For details, see this article on the effects of peers on preschool social skills.

Why parents are better than peers

Loving, sensitive parents are ideal social tutors. Unlike preschool peers, parents draw on extensive emotional resources when they interact with children. Parents can
• understand the causes and effects of emotions
• see things from a child’s perspective
• interpret the emotions of others
• match social interactions to a child’s developmental level
• describe emotions verbally
• regulate their own emotions
• appreciate the long-term consequences of social acts
No wonder the core preschool social skills—-empathy, emotional self-control, and communication—-are best nurtured by you.
Here are some of the most important ways that you can foster preschool social skills.

How to nurture preschool social skills

Teach your child about emotions

Emotional competence is the key to strong preschool social skills (Denham 1997). For example, the better children understand emotions, the more they are liked by peers (Denham et al 1990; McDowell et al 2000).
To teach emotional competence, talk to your child about his feelings. Talk about your own (e.g., “When you don’t pay attention to me, it makes me feel frustrated and sad”). Discuss what kinds of situations make us feel bad, and what things make us feel good. When parents explain emotions and their causes, kids learn how to better regulate their own feelings. In one study, parents who used “more frequent, more sophisticated” language about emotions had kids who could better cope with anger and disappointment (Denham et al 1992).

Maintain an intimate, loving relationship to your child

The evidence is overwhelming. Social development builds on a child’s primary relationship—-the bond with his parent or guardian (Sroufe and Fleeson 1986).
When kids see, on a daily basis, that they can rely on you for support, they are emotionally secure. They adapt more easily to new social situations. They also develop their capacity for empathy-—a key ingredient for preschool social skills. In studies conducted at the University of Wisconsin, four year olds with secure attachment relationships showed higher levels of empathy than did peers with insecure attachments (Elicker et al 1992).
Other studies show that sensitive communication promotes social competence. When parents and children are responsive to each other’s cues, kids develop strong social skills (Harrist et al 1994; Pettit and Harrist 1993). One study asked preschoolers to predict how own parents would respond to them in various situations. The kids that expected their parents to be comforting were rated by teachers as more skilled with peers, more empathic, and more cooperative (Denham 1997).

Display positive, warm emotions at home

It’s not necessary to be in a constant state of good cheer. Sometimes parents experience setbacks or loss, and these can be opportunities for children to learn how we deal with disappointments (see above). But the key is demonstrating a positive, "can-do" attitude towards setbacks, rather than anger or despair. A growing body of research suggests that kids suffer when their parents--particularly their mothers--show frequent displays of negative emotion. The more kids see their mothers display negative emotions, the less likely they are to view their mothers as people who can comfort and counsel them (Denham 1997). Moreover, the kids with the most developed preschool social skills are the ones who experience more positive emotions at home (Denham et al 1997).

Talk with your child about his social world

Discuss your child’s experiences with peers in the same pleasant, conversational way that you discuss other everyday events. Such talk helps in several ways. It keeps you informed and sensitive to what is going on with your child. It shows your child that you are really interested in his social life. And it gives you opportunities to discuss social tactics with peers (see next item). Kids who talk frequently about their peer relationships develop stronger preschool social skills (Laird et al 1994).

Encourage an upbeat, problem-solving attitude

When your child has social problems with peers, encourage a positive, constructive attitude. Let your child know that everybody gets rebuffed and rejected sometimes. In one study, about half of all preschooler social overtures were rejected by peers (Corsaro 1981).
Kids with the strongest social skills treat rebuffs as temporary setbacks that can be improved. You can encourage this attitude by suggesting socially “generous” reasons for social rejection (like “Maybe he’s just shy,” or “maybe he just wants to play by himself for a while.”). In addition, help him brainstorm solutions, and encourage him to predict how different social tactics might work. Such thought experiments help kids consider what other kids are feeling and strengthen preschool social skills (Zahn-Waxler et al 1979).
These “what if” scenarios also allow your child to explore ways he can be adapt and “fit in.” Kids with strong preschool social skills are responsive to the play of others, and they know how to mesh their behavior with the behavior of potential playmates (Mize 1995). For instance, if Jane and Emily are playing firefighter and they won’t let Lucy join in because “there isn’t enough room in the fire engine,” Lucy might suggest playing a different role in the game. (“Help! My house is on fire and I’m stuck on the roof!”)

Be calm and supportive when your child is upset

When parents respond to strong emotions in soothing ways, kids are less likely to direct negative emotions at peers (Denham 1989; Denham and Grout 1993). Moreover, parents who respond supportively show their children how to behave towards others who are in distress. Young children who respond appropriately to the emotional needs of others are better liked by peers (Sroufe et al 1984) and rated as more socially competent by teachers (Denham et al 1990).

Don’t dismiss or play down your child’s negative emotions

When a child launches into a seemingly irrational crying jag, it’s natural to want to shut him up. But simply telling a child to be quiet doesn’t help him learn. By taking the time to talk about his feelings, you help your child become more reflective, self-controlled and socially competent (Denham et al 1997). This may be especially important for younger children, who need more emotional coaching and who are more likely to “turn off” if their parents dismiss their feelings.

Don't offer material rewards for helpful, "prosocial" behavior

Research on toddlers and primary school children strongly suggests that we undermine our kids' impulses to be helpful when we offer them tangible rewards for being kind. For details, see this article on the perils of rewarding prosocial behavior.

Be a role model

During everyday social interactions, take advantage of the opportunity to discuss social behavior (“I thanked our mail carrier for bringing us the package. She works hard and I want her to know that I appreciate it.”) If your child sees you or other adults slipping up, talk about it afterwards (“Whoops. I forget to tell Daddy ‘thank you’ for bring me the book.”)

Avoid bad social influences

Playing with the wrong crowd can impair preschool social skills. In one study, researchers monitored the informal playgroups that 3-4 year old children form during free play periods at preschool. They found that some kids played in groups characterized by negative emotions and antisocial practices (like making upset peers feel even worse). Kids who played in negative groups were rated as less socially competent by their teachers and parents. And the ill effects were long lasting. Kids who played in negative groups at the beginning of the study were more likely to receive poor ratings a year later (Denham et al 2001).

Practice inductive discipline

How you discipline your child has important effects on her preschool social skills. Inductive discipline emphasizes explaining the reasons for rules and the consequences of bad behavior. When parents practice inductive discipline, as opposed to discipline styles that emphasize punishment and arbitrary parental control, preschoolers show more self-control and cooperation with peers (Hart et al 1992). Such kids are also more popular.

Participate in pretend play with your child

During preschool years, pretend play is one of the most important ways that children forge friendships (Gottman 1983; Dunn and Cutting 1999). Preschoolers who pretend together are less likely than other kids to quarrel or have communication problems (Dunn and Cutting 1999). If you participate in pretend play with your child, you may give preschool social skills a boost. When parents pretend with kids, pretend play becomes more complex and lasts longer (Fiese 1990).
When you play with your child, don’t criticize his ideas or try to “run the show.” Research indicates that kids with strong preschool social skills have parents who play with them in a cheerful, collaborative, way (MacDonald 1987).

Watch for peer rejection and bullying

Both have long-lasting effects. In one study, children who were rejected by peers at an early age showed higher rates of antisocial behavior four years later (Dodge et al 2003). By contrast, peer acceptance seems to innoculate children against developing behavioral and emotional problems (Criss et al 2002).
If your child is the victim of peer rejection, help her cultivate a friendship with at least one peer. Studies show that a single peer friendship can protect preschoolers from continued aggression and rejection (Criss et al 2002; Hodges et al 1999).
In addition, take stock of your child’s preschool social skills. In some cases, rejected children need help developing prosocial behaviors, like helping, sharing and showing concern for others (Vitaro et al 1990). Preschoolers like peers who show positive affect (Sroufe et al 1984), helpfulness (Cote et al 2002), and spontaneous sharing (Eisenberg et al 1999). They also like peers who respond appropriately to conversation (Kemple et al 1992).
If your child is the victim of a bully, use the same approach described for peer rejection. In addition, coach her on how to stand up for herself. Encourage assertive behavior, not aggression. Teach her to face her bully with helpful verbal formulas like “Don’t do that to me. That isn’t nice and I don’t like it.”
But don't stop there. Bullying is a social problem that should concern everyone at school. Discuss your concerns with your child's teacher.
If you suspect that your preschooler is a bully, he may need help learning to understand and control his impulses. Encourage him to discuss his feelings and help him think of constructive ways to deal with them. Above all, make it clear that bullying will not be tolerated.

Choose TV programs that promote preschooler social skills

Preview what your child watches. Many preschooler-oriented shows promote positive social behavior, and they can have a beneficial effect on preschool social skills. For instance, after watching excerpts from Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, preschool children increased positive interactions with playmates (Coates et al 1976).
However, some seem to condone impolite behavior. For instance, the characters on "Dora the Explorer" seem to use only one vocal register—-shouting-—for all occasions. And I recently saw an episode of "Mickey Mouse Club" in which Donald accidentally knocked Daisy down. Daisy responds belligerently. "Hey, Donald. What's the big idea?!"
Also, be careful about programs aimed at older kids. Many of these programs encourage glamorize child characters who are sarcastic, shallow, driven by consumerism, and inappropriately sexual. Such programs have doubtful value for adults, let alone young children.

Realize that sharing is difficult

Parents often think of sharing as one of the most important preschool social skills. But sharing can be difficult--even for adults. It’s much tougher for young children, who have difficulty thinking beyond the immediate future. They may have trouble understanding that they will get their toy back. And, to be fair, sometimes the kids they share with don’t give their toys back!
Most young children don’t share very well, and kids are LESS—-not more-—likely to share after the toddler stage (Hay et al 1991). So be patient, and when you encourage sharing, try to make it as comfortable as possible. For example, don’t insist that your child share his newest toys or most loved toys. Before friends visit, put these away to avoid conflicts.

Don’t take it personally

Despite the popular Hollywood image of kids as world-weary cynics who know better than their parents, young children are naive.
For instance, they don't possess a sophisticated "theory of mind." Experiments suggest that kids under the age of 4 haven't yet mastered the notion that different people may believe different things--even things that are objectively false (Gopnik et al 1999).
So it's not surprising that children also have trouble grasping the concept of a "lie" (Mascaro and Sperber 1999).
For instance, young children tend to characterize all false statements--even statements that a speaker believes to be true--as lies (Berthoud-Papandropoulou and Kilcher 2003).
And while they understand that lying is bad, they lack an older child's ability to anticipate how their words will make other people feel. The impact of lying--and the morality of lies--is something they must learn.
If your preschooler says something rude or hurtful, don’t take it personally. But don't ignore it either. Take the opportunity to explain how words can hurt our feelings. When your child gains insight into the power of words, he will improve his preschool social skills.

References: Preschool social skills

A great deal of research has been conducted on preschool social skills. In addition to the scholarly references cited in this article, any introductory textbook on cognitive development should help you gain insight into your child's preschool social skills. Online, Jacquelyn Mize and Ellen Abell, professors of child development at Auburn University, offer a research-based guide to teaching preschool social skills in “Encouraging social skills in young children: Tips teachers can share with parents.”
You will also find advice about preschool social skills in chapters 7-8 of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards (2004) by K. Hirsh-Pasek, R. Michnick Golinkoff, and D. Eyer.
If you found this article on preschool social skills helpful, check out other offerings at ParentingScience.com.

Easter reflection

In anticipating the coming of Easter, a thought crossed my mind. Why was Christmas so much more celebrated than Easter and all over the world? Hardly anyone mentions the coming of Easter Day except for the Good Friday public holiday here in our country. We hear of people making plans to do something on the public holiday, like any other public holiday.

Then I decided that this Easter, and every other Easter onwards, I don't want to simply treat this as just one of the holidays. I wanted for our family to look at Easter and understand the significance and importantly, the power of the cross - the one that Jesus bore. In the beginning of this week, I started worshipping on my keybaord with my family with these songs, "Above all" and "Power of your love". In the days that followed, we saw how God used those moments to prepare our hearts.

Today I received two not so good news. One was a hope that was dashed, the other made me feel alone. Both the incidents left me dry. I felt that I was taken a ride for. I felt we were misunderstood and misjudged. We had real needs. Both incidents had to do with money. I felt broke and truly broken. How could this happened?

Then I remembered. Jesus in his love for men obeyed God up to the point of the cross. The journey to the cross is one of humiliation, torture and absolute pain. But he bore it, because he knows that this is the only way men can be saved. Jesus was broken for us. When he died, he took our brokeness and pin it to the cross with him. When he arose, he mended everything so we are made whole. To be specific, the Bible tells me more.

God reminded me that I am a CHILD OF GOD. 1 John 3:1-3 says "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

The Bible gateway explains:

The satisfaction the believer has about Christ, and eternal life through him.

Little does the world know of the happiness of the real followers of Christ. little does the world think that these poor, humble, despised ones, are favourites of God, and will dwell in heaven. let the followers of Christ be content with hard fare here, since they are in a land of strangers, where their lord was so badly treated before them. The sons of god must walk by faith, and live by HOPE. They may well wait in faith, HOPE and earnest desire, for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. The sons of God will be known, and be made manifest by likeness to their head. They shall be transformed into the same image, by their view of him.

If Christmas is a season of LOVE. Easter is a season of HOPE. They are interlinked. Because Jesus LOVES us, he has given us HOPE. Have a blessed Easter everyone.


Easter Comments
Myspace 2.0 Layouts

Milestones of faith - Family Traditions (J Otis Ledbetter & Tim Smith)

I came across this excellent milestone in the building of our childrens' faith journey.

Age	Focus	Milestone
Infancy	Love	Caress and care for your baby
Toddler	Prayer	Model prayer for your child
Preschooler	Sunday School	Discuss and participate with your child
Early Elementary	Worship	Model, worship, then discuss together
Middle Elementary	Their own Bible	Memorise books, read stories together
Later Elementary	First Communion	Model personal commitment to Christ, baptism
Middle School	Confirmation or Bar Mitzavah	Accepted into the community of faith
High School	Witness and Service	Learn how to share Christ, do ministry
College Age	Vocation and Calling	Determin gifts, interest, and aptitude

Mar 5, 2010- Straits Times

Educational DVDs don't help tots

NEW YORK - PUTTING children in front of educational DVDs does not help boost their language skills, according to a US study that focused on one product, the Baby Wordsworth from the Walt Disney Company's Baby Einstein series.

While The Baby Einstein Co does not make educational claims, it notes on its webpage that the Baby Wordsworth DVD is a 'playful introduction to words and sign language'. A study by researchers at the University of California, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, put the DVD to the test with one and two-year-olds.

For six weeks, 88 children were randomly assigned to either watching the DVD a few times a week or not at all. Researchers then tested the language skills in each group based on how many words the children knew according to their parents and how well they did in a lab test.

At the end of the period, toddlers who had watched the DVD fared no better than those who hadn't.

Children in both groups understood about 20 of the 30 words highlighted in the DVD, on average, and spoke 10. Their general language development showed no difference, either.

The researchers also asked parents about their childrens'television viewing before entering the study. The earlier a child started watching Baby Einstein DVDs, it turned out, the smaller his or her vocabulary was. -- REUTERS

Source:http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_498272.html

Delight Learning

"A child can take his dreams and go anywhere ... if you allow him."
KB had us read him his favourite "The Big Truck book, The Big train Book and The Big rescue book" All 3 books in one compilation. Caution for those of us thinking of buying such a book! Reading time takes forever! So our bedtime reading is limited to only 1 other book because reading time takes 30mins and it does not sound anything like a bed time book already. (sometimes he goes into dramatization and his full load of questions.)

Educators say we should not overload information at toddler's age because they should be focusing on skills set that will lay the foundation for latter academic pursuits. There are yet some educators who will pursue, at length, flashcards methodologies that cited the capabilities of young childrens'/babies rapid eye movement and keen minds soak up various information. I was impressed surely with very young kids being able to recite a list of composers, types of cars, "tang shi" etc. But came to realised that unless a child enjoys and take delight in doing so, it is at best only head knowledge and a very spectacular performance.

Every child delights in something. Most boys like transportations. And they will push the toy truck, or fire engine. They will park it beside their bed. They bring the buses to the interchange. They stack chairs to make stairs to their buses, or seats for the passengers. They build a carpark with our furnitures. Some days they are bus drivers, other days they are pilots or firefighters, ,or construction workers. What I do with KB, if we spot an excavator, we will stand and watch all the work the excavator is doing.

Today, I see my son, nearly three, naming construction vehicles of kinds. He does not do route memorisation, nor does anyone pushes that information to him. He probes, he asks, he observes, then he proceeded to name them, part by part, one vehicle after another. His eyes are bright, his speaks clearly and quickly. The boy has taken his dream and taken flight.

What we do at home

Finally, a post on what we do. We hope that this would help those who are teaching at home and most importantly investing in both qualitative and quantitative time that meant so so much to our children.

"Children who are doing meaningful things are joyful kids" And I'm not talking about child labour! ;)

"Children who bond with parents are secure children" And I certainly advocate quantity as we as quality time spent.



KB is nearly 3. PB is just 13 mths old. What do we do with them at home. We take a non-academic, gentle, child-led approach. Toddlers are encouraged to do lots of hands-on and movement in all that he does. Habit training, Outdoor, books, music (worship) and conversations make up our daily staple. We don't do everything everyday, many days we do nothing but PLAY!
We tumble, we roll, we hug and kiss ALOT. :)

We spend lots of time together. Many times parents learn by observing. So we know and follow the child's next step. Too soon and it leads to frustration, too late and the child misses the opportunity. Observation is key to a child's pace of learning. Below are my own discovery and experience. Note that children are gifted differently and that affects the speed or skills they master at various stage.

Baby up till 12 months
*Sing - We sing all the time
*worship God extravagantly - We play the keyboard, the CD, and sing
*dance with baby - We dance to the music, let baby hold a rattler, a shaker, a bell, a hand tambourine, anything that makes a sound!
*read baby Bible - Baby books are simple and vivid
*read aloud-books - Read anything that rhymes
*converse - we talk about anything under the sun
*explore nature - Look at birds, cats,
*explore textured surface - I take my sequin t-shirt for him,let him touch sand, grass, hairy surface (yeah, daddy's legs!), cold ice, taste sour lemons, books with textures.
*Play - a major part of development. We do focus play in playpen, free play within the house. Set up knick knacks, plastic bottles that WILL NOT BREAK.
*Habit training - We train following instructions like "come here", "No", "Wait"
praise - We praise extravagantly for listening. we clap and verbalise "good boy!" or "Good job!"(Look for the post on :"Training active kids" under Below one)

1-2year old
*Habit training - This is our key focus for 1yr old. If we had started early, many by this time can already comply to simple instructions. babies are exploring AND testing boundaries. We train and train everyday to obey simple instructions. Instructions include "Come down", "No touching", "Come to mummy", "kiss mummy!" (hahah!) etc.
*Routine - we continue with routine, adding play with mummy/siblings time, and self exploration within boundaries.
*Responsibility - help to be put in the wardrobe for daddy, help mummy put clothes peg into the tub, put back his toys after play, put his soiled clothes in the pail etc
*Independence - Playpen time emphasize focus skills and problem solving
*Nature - Strolls in parks, gardens, etc (you'll soon realise what your child is excited by!)
*Hands-on - textured (walk on sand, grass etc), sounds, colours, smells, taste - make it varied. Babies love variety.
*Language - Read rhyming books, read in all languages, read alot, we read only wholesome literature*Sing - Worship and songs about God, it soothes, it lifts our spirits, it calms (ourselves included!)
*Large motor - crawl, cruise, walking, running, pushing etc (allow them space for movement and they will do alot on their own! Time to babyproof the house and practicing listening to instructions for baby!)
*Play! - Child's play isnt it?

3 years old
*Bible theme - we do a Bible knowledge every 2-3 wks. We use Focus on the family - parents guide to spiritual growth of children" with Heritage Builders, Family Night.
*Habit training - We train one habit at the time starting from chores around the house, obedience, boundaries, manners, respect etc.
*Responsibility (increased)- make bed, take diapers out, clean up after meal, set up table for guests, mealtimes etc.
*Lifestyle impartation - We allow ourselves to be transformed day by day by the one who call us sons and daughters, so that we can parent better. That includes cutting down TV time even for ourseleves (but we make it up by going for movie dates! Ha!)
*Nature - Explore nature freely.
*Large Motor - Outdoor leaping, running, jumping, throwing, kicking, splashing etc.
*Fine motor - Lacing, puzzles, pasting, cutting, arranging, cleaning etc.
*Language - Read alouds
*Bilingual expression - we start all languages by a prayer. Mealtime prayers, bedtime prayers, poetry, books and daily conversations.
*Arts - Free expression using all mediums; crayons, chalk, water color, anything!
We look at good art works, we go for quality plays & performances, we create crafts and we adhere to 90% of a child's own work policy - its not the product but the process that matters.
*Socialisation - we believe in socialising the child with all levels of people in the society. i.e: Child pays cashier, ask hawker for spoon/bowl/straw, child plays with a small group of peers under supervision (as much as possible), child plays with small group of preschoolers, child play with one or two playmates.
*Math - we count everything, sequencing, patterns, matching, building
*Imagination - Dramatic play and imagination play are part of free play. Sometimes we create the story, other times, we are characters in the child's stories.
*Creativity - It exist in all forms but more evidently in play. -We choose divergent toys, but one or two battery-operated ones are fine.
*Independence - Child plays by himself.
* Play! - need I say more?

Are we pushing academic learning too much too soon for our preschool kid?

Finally! A book that talks about REAL learning for our precious preschool kids.

In a city state where almost every parents are rushing to sign up our kiddos to the best kindergartens or enrichment in town, this will a refreshing and needful guide to how children could enjoy learning rather than cramming academia at a tender age.

She advocates key training areas that includes nurturing a "close, personal relationship within their family and most of all, with the Lord Jesus Christ. "
In this book, she tackles something that busy folks that lead hectic lives tend to overlook. Time with children doing meaningful activities that help nurture that spark.
It is often with the hurried lifestyle, coupled with the pressure that every other kids are doing this and that that we lost focus of what the child really needs and neglect the most important areas.

If you are thinking about homeschooling your preschool kids, this is the book that covers just about what you need for understanding a child's readiness to learn. "A child learns best in natural ways and at his/her own pace."

And because this book was written by a trained professional in secular Child Development and been a prechool teacher (for eight years), we could glean wisdom which we otherwise could not. Still, she chose to homeschool.

This book is a real gem for parents who care for the best, and only the best for their child!

Check it out! Homepreschool and beyond

Read also findings on The truth on early Academics (Full article available!)

About the author: Susan is an anthor who has has earned both Associate and Bachelor degrees in Child Development, and was a preschool teacher for eight years before the birth of her first child. She has four children of her own, one has graduated from homeschool and moved on to college, one is in High School, and her youngest two are enjoying their early elementary years.

Susan served as the Early Learning Columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine from 2007-2009. She continues to serve the homeschool community as a mentor, first contact for new homeschoolers, author and conference speaker.
http://susanlemons.wordpress.com/

Family Fun - Jan, 2010

Praise the Lord!

Masters, Ministerial Studies, Assembly of God Bible College (AGBC), Dec, 2009

We love the land of big hairdos, Bak so & Bajaj (Part II)

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We love the Land of big hairdos, "Bak so" and "Bajaj"! (Part I)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Too early, too late? Little David or Goliath?

There is a certain frenzy by educational merchandisers touting parents with the advertising jingle "Teach your child to speak early..." and the likes.

I don't need anything early, I just need it timely.

The world shouts, if you get in first, you'll get the job. If you are faster, you will survive. I don't remember reading any of those concepts in the word of God. Rather there are countless incidents where the smaller tribe gains victory over the bigger one and the famous little shepherd boy named David who slained the Goliath, a giant over 6 feet tall with only 5 stones!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say faster is bad. Rather I would not make my goal to do anything just to go first. To try to get ahead is synonym with fear, the fear of losing out. It is the opposite of trusting someone greater who knows us and knows our children, knit our children in the mothers' womb and holds their future.

There is always an optimal learning time for a child. If we get it at the right time, the child will be so motivated, he will naturally learn it well and learn it quickly. If we aim for speed, at the wrong timing, a child will be demotivated and at worse turn away from the subject.

Too early for a 2-yr old to learn about engineering? Well, not if we are following the lead of our child. My boy loves transportation vehicles. I know lots of boys do. It was especially an interest of topic with daddy being overseas and we talk about how daddy travels. So to start, we watched videos of how planes take off, the interior and different airline commercials online. We began to observe the parts of an aeroplane, its wheels, cockpit, the wings etc. Next week, we are scheduled to take a plane and the timing is just perfect for a little hands-on learning.

In educating our children, are we aiming to churn out little David or Goliath? Its time to fix our eyes upon the one who holds the future of our little ones. Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Why must I be so broke at year end?

Sigh... I have spent $600 on medical fees alone. That includes 2 boxes of Seretide accuhaler priced at $295.60 for 2 tubes, and singulair tablets at $103.04 per box! My Flow volume spirometry test at $63.00 and consultation at $55.00 plus other cough related medications. Why is Singapore's medical fees really so out of reach by ordinary folks like me? Is good health-care suppose to be only the elite top 20% of the polulation?

Then there is the halogen oven that is on sale at $70 that I have been eyeing forever - I dream of baking and roasting and more. But more important I wanted to let my kiddo finally have a hand at real cooking. There is the Nike sale going at 20-50%. And I am still waiting for the insurance, CPF board and the hospital to finally send me the final invoice so they could debit the $6K bill into our account.

No, in case you are wondering. I don't get a bonus, and I still wanna give to those less priviledged.

This Christmas, Jesus came so that we might live. But then I guess I could take comfort that I am rich in heaven though a church mouse on earth. ;P Anyone wants to join me?

Against School?

AGAINST SCHOOL

How public education cripples

our kids, and why

By John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto is a former New York State and New York City Teacher of the

Year and the author, most recently, of The Underground History of American

Education. He was a participant in the Harper's Magazine forum "School on a Hill,"

which appeared in the September 2003 issue.

I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.

Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers' lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked why they feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn't get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades? If even that. Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children. Who, then, is to blame?

We all are. My grandfather taught me that. One afternoon when I was seven I complained to him of boredom, and he batted me hard on the head. He told me that I was never to use that term in his presence again, that if I was bored it was my fault and no one else's. The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn't know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible. Certainty not to be trusted. That episode cured me of boredom forever, and here and there over the years I was able to pass on the lesson to some remarkable student. For the most part, however, I found it futile to challenge the official notion that boredom and childishness were the natural state of affairs in the classroom. Often I had to defy custom, and even bend the law, to help kids break out of this trap.

The empire struck back, of course; childish adults regularly conflate opposition with disloyalty. I once returned from a medical leave to discover t~at all evidence of my having been granted the leave had been purposely destroyed, that my job had been terminated, and that I no longer possessed even a teaching license. After nine months of tormented effort I was able to retrieve the license when a school secretary testified to witnessing the plot unfold. In the meantime my family suffered more than I care to remember. By the time I finally retired in 1991, 1 had more than enough reason to think of our schools-with their long-term, cell-block-style, forced confinement of both students and teachers-as virtual factories of childishness. Yet I honestly could not see why they had to be that way. My own experience had revealed to me what many other teachers must learn along the way, too, yet keep to themselves for fear of reprisal: if we wanted to we could easily and inexpensively jettison the old, stupid structures and help kids take an education rather than merely receive a schooling. We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness-curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insightsimply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids to truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then.

But we don't do that. And the more I asked why not, and persisted in thinking about the "problem" of schooling as an engineer might, the more I missed the point: What if there is no "problem" with our schools? What if they are the way they are, so expensively flying in the face of common sense and long experience in how children learn things, not because they are doing something wrong but because they are doing something right? Is it possible that George W. Bush accidentally spoke the truth when he said we would "leave no child behind"? Could it be that our schools are designed to make sure not one of them ever really grows up?

Do we really need school? I don't mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don't hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest. Even if they hadn't, a considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve-year wringer our kids currently go through, and they turned out all right. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever "graduated" from a secondary school. Throughout most of American history, kids generally didn't go to high school, yet the unschooled rose to be admirals, like Farragut; inventors, like Edison; captains of industry like Carnegie and Rockefeller; writers, like Melville and Twain and Conrad; and even scholars, like Margaret Mead. In fact, until pretty recently people who reached the age of thirteen weren't looked upon as children at all. Ariel Durant, who co-wrote an enormous, and very good, multivolume history of the world with her husband, Will, was happily married at fifteen, and who could reasonably claim that Ariel Durant was an uneducated person? Unschooled, perhaps, but not uneducated.

We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of "success" as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, "schooling," but historically that isn't true in either an intellectual or a financial sense. And plenty of people throughout the world today find a way to educate themselves without resorting to a system of compulsory secondary schools that all too often resemble prisons. Why, then, do Americans confuse education with just such a system? What exactly is the purpose of our public schools?

Mass schooling of a compulsory nature really got its teeth into the United States between 1905 and 1915, though it was conceived of much earlier and pushed for throughout most of the nineteenth century. The reason given for this enormous upheaval of family life and cultural traditions was, roughly speaking, threefold:

1) To make good people. 2) To make good citizens. 3) To make each person his or her personal best. These goals are still trotted out today on a regular basis, and most of us accept them in one form or another as a decent definition of public education's mission, however short schools actually fall in achieving them. But we are dead wrong. Compounding our error is the fact that the national literature holds numerous and surprisingly consistent statements of compulsory schooling's true purpose. We have, for example, the great H. L. Mencken, who wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not

to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States... and that is its aim everywhere else.

Because of Mencken's reputation as a satirist, we might be tempted to dismiss this passage as a bit of hyperbolic sarcasm. His article, however, goes on to trace the template for our own educational system back to the now vanished, though never to be forgotten, military state of Prussia. And although he was certainly aware of the irony that we had recently been at war with Germany, the heir to Prussian thought and culture, Mencken was being perfectly serious here. Our educational system really is Prussian in origin, and that really is cause for concern.

The odd fact of a Prussian provenance for our schools pops up again and again once you know to look for it. William James alluded to it many times at the turn of the century. Orestes Brownson, the hero of Christopher Lasch's 1991 book, The True and Only Heaven, was publicly denouncing the Prussianization of American schools back in the 1840s. Horace Mann's "Seventh Annual Report" to the Massachusetts State Board of Education in 1843 is essentially a paean to the land of Frederick the Great and a call for its schooling to be brought here. That Prussian culture loomed large in America is hardly surprising, given our early association with that utopian state. A Prussian served as Washington's aide during the Revolutionary War, and so many German-speaking people had settled here by 1795 that Congress considered publishing a German-language edition of the federal laws. But what shocks is that we should so eagerly have adopted one of the very worst aspects of Prussian culture: an educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens 11 in order to render the populace "manageable."

It was from James Bryant Conant-president of Harvard for twenty years, WWI poison-gas specialist, WWII executive on the atomic-bomb project, high commissioner of the American zone in Germany after WWII, and truly one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century-that I first got wind of the real purposes of American schooling. Without Conant, we would probably not have the same style and degree of standardized testing that we enjoy today, nor would we be blessed with gargantuan high schools that warehouse 2,000 to 4,000 students at a time, like the famous Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado. Shortly after I retired from teaching I picked up Conant's 1959 book-length essay, The Child the Parent and the State, and was more than a little intrigued to see him mention in passing that the modem schools we attend were the result of a "revolution" engineered between 1905 and 1930. A revolution? He declines to elaborate, but he does direct the curious and the uninformed to Alexander Inglis's 1918 book, Principles of Secondary Education, in which "one saw this revolution through the eyes of a revolutionary."

Inglis, for whom a lecture in education at Harvard is named, makes it perfectly clear that compulsory schooling on this continent was intended to be just what it had been for Prussia in the 1820s: a fifth column into the burgeoning democratic movement that threatened to give the peasants and the proletarians a voice at the bargaining table. Modern, industrialized, compulsory schooling was to make a sort of surgical incision into the prospective unity of these underclasses. Divide children by subject, by age-grading, by constant rankings on tests, and by many other more subtle means, and it was unlikely that the ignorant mass of mankind, separated in childhood, would ever re-integrate into a dangerous whole.

Inglis breaks down the purpose - the actual purpose - of modem schooling into six basic functions, any one of which is enough to curl the hair of those innocent enough to believe the three traditional goals listed earlier:

1) The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.

2) The integrating function. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.

3) The diagnostic and directive function. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one.

4) The differentiating function. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best.
5) The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain.
6) The propaedeutic function. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.

That, unfortunately, is the purpose of mandatory public education in this country. And lest you take Inglis for an isolated crank with a rather too cynical take on the educational enterprise, you should know that he was hardly alone in championing these ideas. Conant himself, building on the ideas of Horace Mann and others, campaigned tirelessly for an American school system designed along the same lines. Men like George Peabody, who funded the cause of mandatory schooling throughout the South, surely understood that the Prussian system was useful in creating not only a harmless electorate and a servile labor force but also a virtual herd of mindless consumers. In time a great number of industrial titans came to recognize the enormous profits to be had by cultivating and tending just such a herd via public education, among them Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.

Tre you have it. Now you know. We don't need Karl Marx's conception of a grand warfare between the classes to see that it is in the interest of complex management, economic or political, to dumb people down, to demoralize them, to divide them from one another, and to discard them if they don't conform. Class may frame the proposition, as when Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, said the following to the New York City School Teachers Association in 1909: "We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." But the motives behind the disgusting decisions that bring about these ends need not be class-based at all. They can stem purely from fear, or from the by now familiar belief that "efficiency" is the paramount virtue, rather than love, lib, erty, laughter, or hope. Above all, they can stem from simple greed.

There were vast fortunes to be made, after all, in an economy based on mass production and organized to favor the large corporation rather than the small business or the family farm. But mass production required mass consumption, and at the turn of the twentieth century most Americans considered it both unnatural and unwise to buy things they didn't actually need. Mandatory schooling was a godsend on that count. School didn't have to train kids in any direct sense to think they should consume nonstop, because it did something even better: it encouraged them not to think at all. And that left them sitting ducks for another great invention of the modem era - marketing.

Now, you needn't have studied marketing to know that there are two groups of people who can always be convinced to consume more than they need to: addicts and children. School has done a pretty good job of turning our children into addicts, but it has done a spectacular job of turning our children into children. Again, this is no accident. Theorists from Plato to Rousseau to our own Dr. Inglis knew that if children could be cloistered with other children, stripped of responsibility and independence, encouraged to develop only the trivializing emotions of greed, envy, jealousy, and fear, they would grow older but never truly grow up. In the 1934 edition of his once well-known book Public Education in the United States, Ellwood P. Cubberley detailed and praised the way the strategy of successive school enlargements had extended childhood by two to six years, and forced schooling was at that point still quite new. This same Cubberley - who was dean of Stanford's School of Education, a textbook editor at Houghton Mifflin, and Conant's friend and correspondent at Harvard - had written the following in the 1922 edition of his book Public School Administration: "Our schools are ... factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned .... And it is the business of the school to build its pupils according to the specifications laid down."

It's perfectly obvious from our society today what those specifications were. Maturity has by now been banished from nearly every aspect of our lives. Easy divorce laws have removed the need to work at relationships; easy credit has removed the need for fiscal self-control; easy entertainment has removed the need to learn to entertain oneself; easy answers have removed the need to ask questions. We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults. We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair. We drive SUVs and believe the lie that they constitute a kind of life insurance, even when we're upside-down in them. And, worst of all, we don't bat an eye when Ari Fleischer tells us to "be careful what you say," even if we remember having been told somewhere back in school that America is the land of the free. We simply buy that one too. Our schooling, as intended, has seen to it.

Now for the good news. Once you understand the logic behind modern schooling, its tricks and traps are fairly easy to avoid. School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers. School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independently. Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for boredom; help your own to develop an inner life so that they'll never be bored. Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology - all the stuff schoolteachers know well enough to avoid. Challenge your kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues. Well-schooled people are conditioned to dread being alone, and they seek constant companionship through the TV, the computer, the cell phone, and through shallow friendships quickly acquired and quickly abandoned. Your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.

First, though, we must wake up to what our schools really are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands. Mandatory education serves children only incidentally; its real purpose is to turn them into servants. Don't let your own have their childhoods extended, not even for a day. If David Farragut could take command of a captured British warship as a pre-teen, if Thomas Edison could publish a broadsheet at the age of twelve, if Ben Franklin could apprentice himself to a printer at the same age (then put himself through a course of study that would choke a Yale senior today), there's no telling what your own kids could do. After a long life, and thirty years in the public school trenches, I've concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress our genius only because we haven't yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/hp/frames.htm

Yr 2009 - We are thankful

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Another year that wouldnt have gone without a trace of of God's gentle embrace.

The birth of Elias just three days short of yr2009 was a joy, for us and also for our eldest son, Theo. He immediately assumed the role of a big brother. It is joy for us to see his servanthood spirit. Looking on at the way they snuggle up each other is joy so immense no words can describe.

It is also a year of 'the last lap'. Despite our newborn, David had to persevere and fight through work pressure, ministry role and numerous obligatory business trips to wrap up his ministerial studies. He aced it through with grace. He was ever selfless in serving our family, from spending time with the boys, to cooking up a feast. I thank God for his unwavering spirit.

Each child are special thus making each challenge unique. From refusal to nurse to refusal of bottle. We don't have all the answers in the countless situations, but we have a God who love. Through harrowing are some of the events, but God was the one who held the fort for us, fought our battles and gave us courage to go on. He is the one who lightened our footsteps and gave us songs to sing.

God chose to test our family in a rare holiday trip. We realised that it is in true repentance and submission that he will grant rest. He took and he gave and we were so grateful.

There are many others whom we do not have space to show photos of, especially of family members we often take for granted for.

For my mum who often took time out to babysit our children so we can go for a date, or attend to ministry. For her selfless care in our children's nutritional needs and lending her car so the children can have a comfortable ride home, even if it was only 5mins away!
For my brother, who equally took time to babysit and be an musical inspiration to Theo.

For my friend & mentor, Melodi - God orchestrated this friendship and I am so grateful of her time and wisdom. God answered my desire to be a better helpmeet, a wise mother and a godly homemaker.
For David's mentor, Pastor S - He is an answer to his cry to be used as a man of God & bring him glory.

For our dear Sis Kian - You ignited a love for history in me never found before. I want to travel with you to Jerusalem or the Red Sea, just name the date!

For Fey, Grace, Lynette & many more - You were the faithful hands that held mine.

For our superb confinement lady - so good, it was peace through the 1-month confinement.

Healing

This story has got to be one of the greatest in history. Mark 5: 25-34

Sickness is something we have come to be accustomed with since we live in a fallen world. We know that when our child becomes ill, parents suffer sleepless nights. This also usually becomes a time of challenge but also a time of test for the family.

We know young children are prone to falling ill, and we have two of them. At 20months apart, we find outselves having to separate them once one of our boys fall ill, to no avail! It is also quite usual when all family members fall ill, one after another.

Last month, my checkup led to doctor's diagnosis that I have asthma. My husband has childhood asthma. My elder son has constipation and does not like to poo. It has been almost 2years now that he has this issue. My younger son had bronchitis when he was only 9months old. I am praying for healing for my family. I am praying according to the woman's faith in this story.

25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." ²⁹Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

³¹"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "

³²But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."