Are we over-rewarding the kids?

We give prizes for kids when they perform excellent in exam, finish their homework or helping with the household chores. I think modern parents are so addicted to this rewarding method and so am I. The situation can be sometimes out of control that the kids threaten back that he/she wouldn’t do what we want them to do if their demands are not fulfilled.  The questions rose: are we over-rewarding the kids?

After some reading, there are few things I need to be careful when I reward them next time.

1)      Reward based on good behavior not on good result

Children that have grown based on expecting reward can feel disappointed when it does not come. I once heard a story about a primary school student who expressed deep disappointment when he scored only 7A over 8 subjects. It was like the end of the world for him. When being asked further, it was the reward that he doesn’t get that upset him but not his feeling on the grade. Could you imagine whether he will still study hard when the rewards go away?

A long term more effective way is to reward the good studying habit rather than the result or score. This is of course more difficult to measure or monitor compared to reward based on their exam report, but it is more important that we instill their good habit or behavior since kids to ensure perseverance.

2)      Reduce the reward frequency

We need to increase the value of the reward to suit their ever increasing desire if we reward too much. After they have all sorts of toys, books, are them still be interested if you reward them with small items like sticker, coloring books or pretty pencil box? No, they will ask for more and I guess they will certainly ask for an expensive ipad or even smart phone one day.

Instead of rewarding, we need to help them focus on the self-satisfaction derived from the achievement they have made. It is the self-enjoyment that fuel further learning.

No more rewarding on finishing homework, but to reward based on self-discipline.

Hope I can reward her of taking good care of his brother one day.

Kinder graduation

There is going to be another 15 years I shall witness my daughter’s real university graduation….provided that she works hard enough. Now, it is a kinder version of her graduation; we are proud of her to see how she has developed the various skills like reading, writing, coloring, self-confidence, interpersonal skills and brave to perform in front of the public.  

She is still a very shy girl; she almost cried during her 4 years old dancing performance and was very stressful during the 5 years old performance, but this time I can see she was more relaxed and had fun. Thank you for all the teachers who have guided her and given her the opportunities to present in front of public.  

http://youtu.be/20HjbxSMLg0

A Big Big Happy Birthday To My Son and Daughter

  

Time flies and this November is my son’s TWO years old birthday and my daughter’s SIX years old birthday. As usual we throw a party for them to invite all the family members to celebrate together. Except this time my daughter invited her own friend…yes, she has her own friends now which I am happy for her that she began to socialize.

Can't wait to go to see his birthday cake

As for my little son, the highlight is while we sang the “Happy Birthday” song in front of the birthday cake. He was so excited about this moment; sing the song, blow the candle, and then cut the cake. Before everyone began singing, he was the first one to sing out loud “Happy birthday to you” and made everyone laughing. Then, he followed everyone to sing the whole “Happy Birthday” song and impatiently waiting for our instruction to blow the candle.

 

Happy Birthday, my dear son and daughter, May You Two Grow Up Happily and Healthily!

Sing Out Loud "Happy Birthday To Me"!





Feel funny after seeing everyone laughed at his own singing!



Having fun at Dino Trek

If your children love dinosaurs, why don’t bring them to the Dino Trek at the Bukit Mertajam’s Jusco Mall, Penang. We just brought our kids there last weekend and they were having great fun there. The admission fee for children is only RM 3.00 per person and for adult, if I remember correctly is RM 8.00 per person.

The owner, PETRONAS might invest much in this Dino Trek to make the dinosaurs so real and “alive”. I love the dinosaur’s egg parts which the eggs hatch and dinosaur babies came out. They looked so cute and they said the dinosaurs parent also take good care of their babies.   

My little son was a bit scared at first because of the giant size of the dinosaurs. But he and his sister enjoyed most at the dinosaur’s fossil finding sump. The big sister said it is like playing sand at the beach but with “air-conditioner on”; didn’t understand much about fossil finding actually.

There are also some games there for bigger kids, like gun shooting dinosaurs, running with dinosaurs and educational stuffs about dinosaurs.  

The giant dinosaur...it moves lively.

My favorite part :the dinosaur eggs and babies.

Jin Hui actions...shooting dinosaurs

The kids favorite...fossil finding or playing sand?

Show Me Victory Sign!

One day, we taught Hong Jin to show the “Victory” sign with his finger while we took his picture. He first learned seriously, see how he looked at his finger and puzzled how to show only the index finger and middle finger but to hide the others. He laughed finally after multiple tries and he just able to show ALL FIVE fingers instead of TWO fingers.

I think we need to teach him more about this, may be this is what terms as “eye-hand coordination” which is an important skill development as toddler. He also cannot do the “THUMBS UP” sign. Haha, he will show the index finger, but not the thumbs. Never mind, my little son, you will learn one day.

1. How to hide the fingers?



2. Never mind, I am just too little to know.



3. See, at least I can show FIVE fingers!

Both Kids Are Sick With Food Poisoning

Last Saturday morning, my daughter was down with high fever and vomiting after every eating/drinking. The doctor diagnosed her with food poisoning and gave her the medicine for fever, vomiting and reduce air in the stomach, luckily there is no need of antibiotic because it is caused by virus most probably. The situation seems okay in the evening and she asked for many foods to eat after a day of fasting because of the feel of vomiting. Her serious high fever come back again in the first night and finally recovered on the second day’s evening.

And yesterday, my son also began to show the same symptom, perhaps being spread from his sister. He has mild fever, tired and also vomited everything he ate/drank (about 4 times in a night). So, I have no choice to give him some of the anti-vomiting medicine that the doctor subscribed to his sister but at lower dosage. The funny thing is this little fella likes to drink medicine, he kept asking for more medicine ..."I want, I want". Unlike his sister, we need to pursuade with both soft and hard methods to have her drink the medicine. After like 20 minutes, I gave him about 4 ounces of milk (he drinks 6 ounces normally) and he vomited lightly after that. I felt more relief because he can begin to take some fluids after the medicine.  We need to keep close monitor of his situation then.

Important thing to remember when kids have this situation is to keep them hydrated with plenty of fluids especially if with diarrhea and introduce drinks/food slowly so that their stomach can adjust to the food intake. If they have high fever, put a wet towel on their forehead to quickly dissipate the heat.

Homemade Sushi

After the long raya and merdeka holiday, I feel fresh and much energetic, so decided to try making sushi at home . Recently my husband is so addicted to sushi, especially the eel sushi, plus my daughter loves the maki sushi too(She doesn’t like the eel sushi, but only likes the sushi with cucumber filling; the cheapest sushi). We can easily find all ingredients necessary to make sushi in local supermarket except the eel that I have to order it from a friend whose mum is operating a small sushi shop.   The whole piece of eel (cost about RM 30) is already cooked and we just need to put in a microwave to warm it up.

Here is the picture of sushi I made: Unagi Nigiri and Maki Sushi with cucumber and egg. Not bad from the look, right? That is one thing good about home-made sushi : we can cut the eel bigger and have a mouthful of eel, compared to the little thin piece of eel when we eat at outside Japanese food shop.

At first, my daughter refused to eat the maki sushi, may be the flavor is too plain. I have done a trick by spreading the eel source (taste sweet) on top of the maki sushi, and guess what, she finished all the maki sushi I made for her.