I Raised a Doctor and a Lawyer, But I Lost 2 Sons.

Recently, I watched the Talking Point trailer and I felt sad. Is doing well academically the only thing we want our children to achieve? I failed English and Mathematics countless times in Primary School. Did have tuition for a very short time. But I was still failing and so, my parents decided to leave me to cope with my own studies. I didn't do well in PSLE either. My parents never reprimanded me for not doing well. All they gave were encouragement and said that I just have to try my best. In the end, I turned out perfectly fine - went to university, got an MOE teaching scholarship and became a teacher. I contributed to society much like everyone else. 

Of course, I hope all my children do well academically. But that's not my priority. My priority is for them to be happy, that they enjoy learning and have the right attitude in life. A positive and right attitude is what will help them succeed in life. 

I want them to play as much as they can, while they can. As a stay at home mum, I do not send my kids for tuition class. Instead, I send them to playgrounds, science centre, farms, parks and anywhere fun. This is what I stay at home to do. in fact, we play so hard nowadays and that I hardly have time to blog. 

Anyway, I want to share a real life story that I've heard. A story that might help us to reflect as parents. 


A mother was determined to raise 2 successful sons. She tried her best to help her 2 sons reach their full potential. Always supervising their work, employing tuition teachers to coach them in their work, sending them for enrichment programme and etc. She did everything she could to ensure the success of her children. She was very strict with them and had very high expectations. When her sons failed to meet her expectation, she punished them and took away their privileges. She always justified to others that "it was for their own good". So she continued to push and push and push her sons to reach their potential. 

Finally, one of her sons became a lawyer and another became a doctor.

But it isn't a happy ending. Now she talks of how she raised a doctor and a lawyer, but lost 2 sons.


She was too focused on their academic success and she lost the opportunity to build a relationship with her sons. Her sons became a doctor and lawyer, but yet seldom come back to visit her. Yes, earning big bucks but are so busy that they don't even give a ring. 

Nothing can ever reverse the lost time. 


Here is another video that I first watched a long time ago. But I will never forget this.

What do we really want as parents?

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Scholastic- Lego Nexo Knight

Scholastic

Lego Nexo Knight

About the Book

Lego Nexo Knight is an awesome activity book that is packed with fun games and puzzle. Set in the futuristic, high-tech world of the Kingdom of Knighton, LEGO(R) NEXO Knights(TM) follows five young knights in their quest to battle Jestro, his sidekick, the Book of Monsters, and their Lava Monster Army. Heroic knight, Clay Moorington, leads the band of knights, including alpha superstar Lance Richmond, hipster Aaron Fox, Macy Halbert, a princess who would rather be a knight, and Axl, the giant. Together, under the tutelage of Knights' Academy mentor and Great Digital Wizard, Merlok 2.0, they join forces to defeat the enemy. 

Suitable for boys age 6 to 8.

What I like about the book

This book kept my boy busy for a long time. The thing first that attracted his attention was this Aaron's squirebot minifigure. 

Emmanuel spent some time putting it together. Building the squirebot is a 3D puzzle by itself. Of course, the squirebot ended up joining the rest of Emmanuel's lego forces at home. 

There are many other activities such as designing your very own knight's shield and getting through a maze. 

The activities in this book is enough to keep my boy entertained for a long time. However, at his age, I would still prefer him to do more reading. And yes.. this book provides many interesting stories. There are several comic stories for some light reading.

 Moreover, prose which teaches important values like teamwork is also included. 

So, if you are looking for a range of activities to entertain your boy this coming school holiday, you can consider getting one of these Scholastic activity books. For sure, I'm gonna get one of these books to engage my boy during our flight when going on our family vacation. 

Get yours today at major bookstores. 

Other Scholastic Book Review

• The Eating Monster

• May I Please Have a Cookie?

Follow me on my facebook page Raising Our Successful Children for more book reviews. 

Disclaimer:

This book - Lego Nexo Knight is complimentary to us for the purpose of this review. However, all opinions are mine. 

Scholastic - May I Please Have A Cookie?

Scholastic

 May I Please Have A Cookie?

By Jennifer E.Morris

About the Story

In this Level 1 Scholastic Reader, Alfie learns that the best way to get a delicious cookie is to say please!

Alfie loves his mommy's cookies, and he wants one more than anything! But grabbing for one, fishing for one, and dressing up as a cookie inspector don't seem to work. His mommy says there is a better way. What is it?

Beginning readers will learn proper manners with Alfie as his mommy teaches him to say the magic words.

What I like about the book

It teaches manners.

I like this book because it serves as a platform to teach the importance of manners. There are only 3 key magic phrases that I want my 4 year old child, Faith to learn - "Please", "May I" and "Thank you". Also, for nearly 2 weeks, we focused on the use of these phrases. I would nod my head and smile at her every time she uses one of these phrases. 

There is also an on going discussion about the importance of manners. I keep asking my 3 children:

"What are some other magic words?"

"How would you feel if someone is asking you for something and yet, they do not use these words to ask politely?"

"How would these words affect the outcome of your request?" (I'll refer to the story plot to help them answer this question. E.g. Did Alfie get his cookie by grabbing it? Did he get the cookie by fishing for one or dressing up as a cookie?)

"Why do you think it's important to use words like 'Please', 'May I' or 'Thank you'? 

So, this is a perfect opportunity to teach the kids that some times, they just have to ask nicely and politely. It can be as simple as that. 

I love the characters.  

I'm sure most mothers can identify with the Mum in the story. Like the mum, I will insist that the children say "Please" when making a request. Should the magic word not appear, their request will not be granted. Also, I'm pretty sure all children will have this "Alfie moment" where they try all sorts of ways to get what they want, but simply forget to say "Please". When I first read this book to Faith, she couldn't stop laughing at Alfie. Especially when Alfie dresses up to be a cookie inspector. So, both mother and child can easily identify with the two characters in the story. 

It's so simple to read. 

Moreover, this level 1 reader is made up of few words and simple sentences. Hence, it is very easy for Faith to learn to read. After reading it for about a month now, Faith can read it on her own too. In addition, the book is filled with sight words. 

Literature Based Learning Activities

Here are the Literature Based Learning activities that we have done based on the book. 

1) Experiential Learning: Baking Cookies

    [ Learning measurement & training fine motor skills ] 

Our very first activity for this book is actually baking cookies. We got a really simple recipe from allrecipes.com and we started work. 

Baking not only enhances fine motor skills, but she also picks up other skills like how to measure the flour/sugar in terms of cups and also the baking soda/vanilla extract in terms of teaspoons.  

Faith enjoys the whisking part, though I didn't enjoy the cleaning up part very much. I had sugar and flour all over the floor by the time she is done. But it's okay, a vacuum cleaner can clean that up easily. 

Faith is so satisfied with her product. 

After leaving the dough in the fridge for about half a day, it's finally time for the cookies to take shape. 

Rolling the dough evenly isn't easy, but she did it after several tries. 

Cutting out the shapes. 

 It's ready to go into the oven. 

It is done!! 

"May We Please Have a Cookie?" my kids asked. 

2) Art & Craft 

   [Training fine motor skills.] 

I cut out some circles ( the size of our 5 cent coin) and Faith was responsible for adding the "dark and white chocolate chips" onto it. We spent a huge amount of time doing this activity as Faith found this task difficult. The "cookies" and the "chocolate chips" kept sticking onto her fingers because of the glue. Hence, this activity really trained her patience too. In the end, she learnt that it would make it easier for her to drop the "chocolate chips" from a height. By using this way, her fingers would not come into contact with the glue on the "cookie". 

Faith pretended that she was a cookie monster. 

3) Learning the Key Magic Words/Phrases. 

   {English}

We formed words using the little "cookies" we did from activity 2. This activity is for Faith to learn the spelling of these words as well. 

Writing Practice

I creating this writing worksheet for Faith to practise writing the key words. 

You can create your own writing worksheet too. 

4) Counting Cookies

   {Mathematics: Numbers 1 - 20}

I found this laminated set of cookies and decided to test if Faith could count up to 20 accurately. The 11, 12, 13 and 19 to 20 are always the tricky numbers. So, I gave her a marker and asked her to write numbers 1 to 10 on the cookies. To my great surprise, she actually counted and wrote the numbers 1 to 20 all on her own. I knew she could definitely count up to 20, but I seriously didn't know she could write it out as well. I just sat there with my jaws opening wider and wider as she wrote out the numbers one by one. 

So, I was reminded once again, "never underestimate a child". I think I must really give credit to her school and her teachers for teaching her so well. I really didn't have much time this year to really sit down and teach Faith at home as I'm too busy with Emmanuel who started primary 1 this year. Faith keeps surprising me everyday with what she can do. 

More counting and writing practice. 

Download this counting and writing worksheet here. 

5) Simple Word Problem Sum 

Download this simple word problem sum worksheet here. 

6) Using the Computer. { IT Skills} 

I found this cookie game that allows the child to decorate the cookie by dragging the candies onto it. 

This is quite interesting and it's simple enough for young children. Hence, through this activity, Faith learnt how to use a mouse on the computer. She had fun decorating her cookie and seeing it being "eaten up". 

Click to play this cookie game. 

I hope you like the Literature Based Learning Activities for "May I Please Have a Cookie?". Click here for more Literature Based Learning. 

Previously featured Scholastic Book - The Eating Monster.

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Look out for our next Scholastic book.