Archives for July 2013

Words of Wisdom about Children

Children, I think is one of God’s ways to remind parents that He is present in our childrens’ moments of love and joy.

Looking at how children marvel at their discoveries, how they see the world brings back memories of the time when I was a child. The world is still a marvelous place for them to discover its beauty and mystery, and for giving life to their wondrous imagination.

Children has a natural affinity and connection with spiritual things, and often they have a more sophisticated grasp of spirituality with their simple faith and their ability to not ‘over-think’.  Often children are able to differentiate what it means to be religious (i.e., to go to a place of worship) regularly, versus “believing and trusting wholeheartedly in God that watches over me”. Something that many adults might have trouble with separating this difference.

There are many things children are able to teach us about faith in God, here are some of the ways :

Children are examples of humble faith in God

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.’

– Matthew 18:2-5

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‘Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

– Matthew 18:10

Jesus blesses little children

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them,“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

– Mark 10:13-16

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Jesus has a passion that no child will be lost

“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

– Matthew 18:12-14

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Children can and will praise and worship God

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignantand said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have perfected praise’?”

– Matthew 21:15-16

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Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. – Psalms 8:2

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How to train and discipline children

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Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. – Ephesians 6 : 1-4

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Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart – Proverbs 29:17

Most of all, children are indeed a blessing from God.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

– Psalm 127:3

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Words from the bible will always be able to provide plenty of wisdom for any parent to use in confidence in raising children.

 

All photos featured on this post are taken from a recent June holidays excursion to Sentosa that K had with Pauline‘s kids, T & J.

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Wordful Wednesday – Lego Quiz

This must be a result of doing assessment books the last 2 weeks.

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And how did I score?

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I kept to his rule of ‘No Copying’, but wasn’t too successful with ‘No Talking’. Apparently, according to his marking sheet, I flaunted the rule 4 times -_-

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Prelude to Primary 1

Am I nervous about K starting primary 1 next year?

I used to be 1 year ago. But not anymore, and the irony is that he will stop going to formal school for the next 5 months before starting Primary 1 in January 2014. In fact, I am relieved that he is not going to his dad’s alumni primary school, a top Chinese primary school located in Marine Parade, and we will be applying for a ‘regular’ primary school in Bukit Batok neighborhood in less than 3 weeks.

Probably I might get criticized by other parents, who might be feeling a little jittery about their child starting primary school in less than 6 months. Think that I am seriously lacking in the brains department, when I forgo my chance to be secured a place for K in a popular primary school. “And this crazy woman takes the opposite path to go for a regular school? Plus, what about this drastic move of no formal schooling in the next 5 months before starting Primary school”?

Instead of being all nervous about which school to go to and fret about what to do, I took a brief time to make the most logical decision. Taking into account the recent upheavals that our family have experienced, these arrangements could likely last us for the next 6 years of K’s primary school years. I didn’t want to subject K the pain of having to adjust to a new school, getting used to a formal routine and new friends, and then having an all new routine again with primary school. Some things needed to stay consistent amid these changes, and the most consistent and comforting factor in this equation was my presence.

So really primary school is a small issue, when we have so many other more important things to be concerned about. See the big picture! Don’t be paralyzed by the details, I always will tell myself.

Our regular routine now looks something like on a weekday; Breakfast – Watch TV – Learning for 45 mins – Lunch – Play – Nap – Play or Read – Some more TV – Bath – Dinner – Play or Learn (usually he will end up playing again) – Readaloud and Devotion – Bedtime : Talk non-stop to Mommy, then slowly drift to sleep.

Whenever he is doing any of these things; Watch TV, Eat, Play and Learn, Sleep, I will be on my laptop getting my work done. I find it rather strange how I am more efficient and can get my work done effectively during these times. When previously, I used to have at least 8-9 hours to work when he used to be in Child-Care and I was not as efficient or effective getting things done.

I break the monotony of his weekday by attending BrainFit 1 hour sessions twice a week for the next 8-10 weeks, Chinese class for 1.5 hours once a week and Art-class 1 hour a week. and play or outings for the rest of the day on Fridays after art class. K is thrilled anyhow, that he doesn’t have to mug for spelling tests and 听写 twice a week, until he enters primary school next year.

Our routine only includes 45 minutes of learning 4x a week, doing a couple of pages of worksheets for English and Math.

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He reads chapter books regularly and enjoys the humor and comic genre, some of his favorites include the series of ‘Diary of the Wimpy Kid’ and the ‘Horrible Histories’ series of books, as he is one History buff.

I teach him some Chinese Word Recognition (Hanyu Pinyin later) with more attempts to speak Mandarin at home, and have additional help through external Chinese classes 1.5 hours weekly. Then we revise what he learns from class, at least 3x a week in that 45 minutes of learning at home.

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We are doing well with our new routine for the past two weeks. In case you are wondering, we moved to my mom’s home in the last week of June 2013 and we have just started with 2 weeks of this new routine. K is settling well, generally the both of us have learnt through the last couple of years, to embrace changes as they come.

On a side note, close friends have likely got used to me being a little unconventional the past few years and they will likely not be surprised if they knew what I am up to lately.

I didn’t divulge my trials on this blog to get pity or empathy, although, I truly appreciate the care and encouragement given by many friends. I tend to share quite openly what I experience in life in this space, and I am well aware that there are countless others with worse situations or trials.

I have always been a ‘fighter’ and for this point in life, my unwavering faith in Christ has never been stronger.

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