Electronic Game Devises

Kids nowadays are so lucky to have so much variety of toys to play with but again not all toys are benefiting to the kids. For one that hubby and me are particulary against  are the electronic game devises like those gameboy and PS Portable which can be so addictive.

Hubby finds it so annoying to see someone all head buried into the gaming devises during a gathering , to him it’s very rude and ill mannered and a act of anti social.

It’s not uncommon to see young boys caring a gameboy and PS Portable around everywhere they go, be it at a family gathering or a dinner occation at the restaurant. All they do is to isolated themself, sit in the corner and all hooked up with the games or sit around at the dinning table physically there but the mind and hands  on the game  and ignorant to what’s going on around them, all in the world of their own, as if the gathering is too boring for them to attend and participate. I have even observed teenagers, young kids who are busying playing games on their handphone or these games devices during dinner at eating outlets that when the food is served, there are still into the games and the parents have to serve them food.

In this world, in the community, no one can live in isolation. We need to interact with people all the time especially when one is out in the working world, you need to communicate with your boss, your management, your downlines, clients and customers whether you like it or not. Interaction and communication skills have to be developed, trained and build up since young. The young generation now are mainly very rude, ill-mannered, self centered and most of all dont know how to socialize, because they are not taught how to behave and socialize with others, they are not taught how to carry themself out to initiate a talk.

Family gathering should be a fun time where everyone sit around, chit chat and catch up…and not for one to sit at the corner and busy with gameboys. Meal time is for everyone to gather around and enjoy food. The young should learn the courtesy to serve the elderly but how many families actually enforced and practise these values. Burying ones head into the game devises doesn’t seem to be a big deal to the some parents.

It’s ok if one is alone in a public transport and emerged in the game. But when one is expected to be part of a circle, you cannot just merely make your physical pressence felt. It’s just too rude, you need to participate. It’s also as a respect to the host.

It’s just as bad as when a group of friends gathered together for a chat and one of the bad apple just sit down there, fingers never leave the handphone’s keypad, eyes never strayed from the handphone screen as if so busy with so many calls and sms-es… how would the host and the group friends feel?? It’s direspect to the host and making the host and friends feel that the outing is just too boring to catch that bad apple’s attention.

We vowed never to buy any game devises for our kids. We dont want to bring them up to be anti social and get all hooked up and addicted to this unhealthy devise.

Sensitivity To Order II

Maria Montessori discovered that children are at their height of sensitivy to order at the age of 1 to 2. She stated that a child shows the need for order in several ways:

1.  He shows a positive way in seeing familiar things
2. Children insistence on putting things back in their place
3. Crying or throwing tantrums to unfamiliar places or people

She cited on example:

“I found myself one day with a group of people going through Nero’s grotto at Naples. With us was a young mother with a child — about one and a half years old – too small to be able to walk the whole length of the way. In fact after some time the child grew tired and his mother picked him up, but she had overestimated her strenght. She was hot and stopped to take of her coat to carry it on her arm, and with this impediment once more picked up the child, who began to cry, his screams growing louder and louder.

His mother strove in vain to quiet him, she was plainly tired out and began to grow cross. Indeed the noise was getting on the nerves of all, and naturally others offered to carry him. He was passed from arm to arm, struggling and screaming, and everyone talked to him and scolded him, but he only grew worse.

I thought of the enigma of infancy, of how reactions must always have a cause: and going up to the mother I said, “Will you aloow me to help put on your coat?” She looked at me in amazement, for she was still hot; but in her confusion she consented and allowed me to help her on with it.

At once the baby quieted down, his tears and struggles stopped, and he said “Mamma, coat on.” It was as if he wanted to say, “Yes, Mamma, a coat is meant to be worn”, as though he thought of it, ” At last you have understood me” and stretching out his arms to his mother he came back to her all smiles. The expedition ended in complete tranquillity. A coat is meant to be worn, and not to hang like a rag over one arm; and this disorder in his mother’s person had affected the child as a jarring distrubance”

I can totally relate to the above incident that Maria Montessori had encountered. A few weeks ago, we were having dinner at BSC and the restaurant was quite cold and since I was having a flu, I brought along a sweater. The moment I put it on, WH made a great fuss and tried pulling my cardigan. Remember what I have read in the book, I know he’s showing his sensitivity to order and I quickly took off my cardigan and he was all smile and happy , though the grandparents and aunty kept telling him that he should let mummy put on the cardigan.

The same thing happened again last weekend. SIL and me were out shopping for cloths, while I was changing in the fitting room, each new piece of cloth I tried on, WH is wailing and crying out so loud and he gave me such a pitiful look with so much tears flowing. ( I felt a little embarrased !) SIL was jokingly saying that he’s such a “jakun” and “sakai” , of course I knew the reason of him behaving so,  all I could do was to cut short the fitting time and quickly choose 2 pieces of new cloth and quickly put on my cloth. After that he was all quiet and happy, running around in the shop.  If I have not known about Montessori philosophy, if I have not known about the sensitivity to order, I guess I would be loosing my patient and get very irritated by his behaviour. I’m so glad that I have the knowledge and be able to understand what’s in his little mind.

Not only these 2 incidents , I also realize that he’s able to keep his all the things back to the original place and also the sequence on how he arranged his toy cars. (earlier posts- here, here)

Montessori noted that :

the child has a twofold sense of order. First is external, his relationship with the environment and second is internal; an awareness of the different parts of his own body and their relative. The need for order is evident in the child from about 1.5 years. During this period, the child manipulates his environment and moves objects from one place to another.

Order consists of recognising the place each object in relation to his environment. It is not objects in place that he is identifying through his sensitivity to order but the relationship between objects in the environment.

The child’s need for order is different from that of an adult. Order provides an adult with a certain amount of external pleasure. But for the child, he needs order in the environment because he is constructing himself out of the element of the environment.

So mothers with young babies out there, if your child started to fuss and cry for no apparent reason, please do not blame the child and get irritated, but first check out what is new in the environment or was there any changes …maybe it’s your new hairstyle, a new perfume or a new dress that has cause a little disturbance in your little ones…..we adult have to be sensitive to our child’s cues as well.

Christmas Feast

SIL#2’s a Catholic, so we celebrated Christmas with her and invited JS’s godparents for a feast on Xmas eve at SIL’s house. JS’s godparents didn’t manage to make it to her birthday dinner and hence we invited them to come along for Chritmas.

We had a feast and most food are prepared by SIL#2 and JS’s godmother (JS’s godmum was SIL#1 primary school classmate, she was also JS’s babysitter for 1 1/2 years before I started working from home and subsequently a SAHM. She’s an excellent cook.. it’s another long story how grateful I was been having her as JS’s executive babysitter)

  The kids cant wait to open up the prezzies… hubby allowed them to go for the first round of unwrapping present in the morning.

JS with grandfather and godbrother

 Baked potato, sausage, Baguette for garlic bread

 The yummy turkey, served with cranberry sauce.

Grilled lamb chop

 Chicken pie & warm salad

Didn’t manage to take the pic of the seafood pasta, the baked mushroom and cold salad. There were so much to eat plus dessert, wine and champange.

The “makan” family

 one lovely tree to compliment to the christmas mood.

Kids busy with another round of unwrapping prezzies…I guess they each received about 7 gifts. They are having such a jolly good time.

JS catching up with her Kai Ma

More Xmas Craft

The last batch of crafts we did before we headed home on Saturday afternoon.

My New Toy

Finally got my new camera as Xmas gift.   We had settled for Sony N2 because of value of money. For the same price, sony is offering 10 mega pixels while Canon only 6 megapixels.  We have got a free pouch, a free screen protector, 1Gb memory card , a mini tripod, 20% of print at fotokem lifelong and 120 free prints at fotokem. So it’s good bargain for the price they advertise and with all these bundle in (maybe can get better offer at Sg Wang…but too lazy to travel down town)

With the old camera, I didn’t really explore all the function, merely use it very basic function. Now the new one is with more function and it’s time to really play with it.