I just turned 43 and honestly, I approached it with some reservations. You see, my Dad passed away at 44 years old (when I was only 13) and that has impacted my life tremendously. Since the day I passed my 40th, I’ve been very keenly aware of my own mortality and along with that, the compulsion to leave a legacy, to make a difference, has been increasing.On my birthday last week, Angie arranged a surprise visit to one of the world’s most iconic photographers, Annie Leibovitz’s exhibition. As … [Read more...]
5 No-Tears Ways To Help Kids Love Chinese
Dana speaks Mandarin fluently and we've often been asked by friends and readers how we enthuse her in learning Chinese. It's no secret really, we do it these 5 ways:1. Through TravelsOne of the key uses of language is for communication. Travelling helps children see the language come alive and when you are in a foreign country, they see first hand how useful the language is. For this reason alone, we've brought Dana to Taiwan twice for language immersion. She saw how we interacted … [Read more...]
Abrakadoodle Marine Parade – where Art is more than meets the eye…
It was a regular yet irregular weekday afternoon - while I was at work and the wife was held up in office too (it was both our hectic season). When she finally stepped home, she was pleasantly surprised to see Dana quietly drawing at the dining table - she was midway through her personal rendition of Piere Auguste Renoir's 'Auvers sur Oise', tracing the lines which would eventually be the rolling landscape dotted with lush green trees accentuated by white fluffy clouds … [Read more...]
Larger than Life Legacies – Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction
There it was… right before me… the skeletal cast of a full Apatosaurus (from the Brontosaurus family) peering down at me. I stood, quiet…in a mix of awe, thankfulness and, well…you know that sort of feeling when one of your bucket list items is fulfilled? Yes….THAT feeling. That encounter was in March 2012 in the great south entrance hall of the American Natural History Museum in New York where I transited en-route after a conference trip. Finally, at age 41, I came ‘face to face’ with a … [Read more...]
5 Reasons Why we like the Holiday Programme at Kids Gallery Singapore
Kids Gallery Singapore opened its doors on November 2010. It was originally founded in Hong Kong in 1996 as a unique concept in arts enrichment education for children. Today, Kids' Gallery operates centres in Hong Kong, and partners in Singapore, China and India. In a short span of 3 years, Kids Gallery Singapore catapulted itself to become a leading Kids Arts School which offers a comprehensive Creative and Language Arts Curriculum aimed at arousing a deep interest and developing … [Read more...]
Why we love Art at HeART Studio
Among all the enrichment lessons Dana attends, she enjoys Art the most. It's not uncommon to see her doodling on the whiteboard easel and on drawing paper. My office wall also boasts a growing collection of her drawings. Being the outdoorsy, adventurous girl that she is, it came as a pleasant surprise she loves art so much she repeatedly ask for art lessons. Not wanting to dampen her enthusiasm, we decided to re-shuffle our schedules and recently enrolled her at HeART Studio.Why … [Read more...]
Weekend Wandering: Dentist for a Day!
I stared into the blinding light, trying to make sense of my surrounding. My eyes quickly focused on a masked face which was approaching me, eagerly... but before I could react, I heard a muffled voice speak through the surgical mask, " Hi Daddy..." her eyes squinted with a wide smile beneath the mask. I smiled in return and replied, " Hi Dana!" but before I could continue, she commanded, " Open your mouth..." I sheepishly obliged as she proceeded to examine my teeth with a mouth mirror … [Read more...]
Daddy & Dana Duet – Caribbean Carnival
Singapore is a developed and affluent nation. With that comes abundant opportunities and resources for our children to acquire skills and knowledge that many kids in other parts of the world have little access to.Parents here are therefore confronted with a unique 'first-world' problem associated with outsourcing. We shuttle our children from one enrichment to another, complete one accessment book after another, hothouse the kids from … [Read more...]
ArtScience Museum Presents 50 Best National Geographic Photos
That familiar Yellow Frame at The ArtScience Museum!Growing up in those pre-iPad days, I remembered my Mum used to 'feed' us with books and magazines. Ever so often, she would trot my siblings and I down to the Indian Book Seller to get us stashes of second hand books and magazines. One of the 'books' which never fails to draw my attention was one with a yellow frame on its cover. That book would always pique my interest with its stunning and thought-provoking … [Read more...]
12 Tips to maximise your day at Kidzania Kuala Lumpur!
During the September school vacation, we specially booked a flight and made a short 3D2N trip to Kuala Lumpur just to bring Dana to Kidzania! KidZania originated in Mexico and currently has 8 other KidZania worldwide in Santa Fe, Monterrey, Tokyo, Koshien, Jakarta, Lisbon, Dubai and Seoul. Unlike traditional theme parks, there are no arcade games and no rides. Instead, KidZania is a safe and interactive edutainment (education & entertainment) park where children can lead … [Read more...]
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