Family portrait is missing the photographer?

Is your family portraits always missing the photographer Mummy or Daddy?
Trust us, it is always worth the effort to make the family portrait complete :)


Daddy is constantly exposing (literally) the kids to camera and posing,
it is no wonder SengkangBabies are now adapt at striking poses !


Look at our first photo, Daddy swear he did not teach Boon Xin how to camwhore!
Our little vainpot :p


Photo below :Boon Yee set the timer on his Pink camera, and ask everybody to sit down.
Boon Xin will coordinate counting down 5,4,3,2,1 Cheese ! Super cute,
and sometimes Parents "entertain the kids by "pretending" to pose for our little photographers haha.


If tripod is not available, just place the camera on a flat surface on timer. After a few times,
your kids will automatically smile when the camera is "Flashing".

Family photos are always more memorable when everyone is in the picture. Have Fun !


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Learning to Ride a Bicycle

It is about time for our kids to ride.


Like swimming, Daddy view biking as a fundamental life skill. Imagine, if our kids cannot swim or ride, how much fun will they be missing !



Step 1.
Mount bike, kids must be able to tip toe on bike.
If bike frame is too short, kid will struggle to peddle.

Step 1a. Get a helmet. Our kids are not as rugged as yesterday's kids, and we parents do not want them to get unnecessary bumps keke



Step 2. Look infront. (Easier than done) Look front again.



Step 3. Peddle ! Kids always forget to peddle due to fear of falling.
Without motion, how can a bike balance?




Step 4. Let kids know it is ok to fall down. It is more important to know why and how they fell. Falling down is part and parcel of learning.



Step 5. Learn how to brake, park and bell along the way.



Learning to ride a bike is like going through our life cycle.
Everybody has to learn from scratch, make mistakes, learn from experience, and make our lives better.
Then go back to Step 1 again :p



Have Fun, face the pressure, be strong :)


Do pop by our Fanpage for more fun bike photos...

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Daiso cute Kids and Uncle with shades

Our little mafia !

Despicable me?

$2 spec makes Xin so cute. (disclaimer, wearing specs is not cool ok, fight myopia)

Tony Tan's big black rim ?

Mummy and her big sunflower shades


You know about those auto-cleaner-robots? Daddy believe our kids can mop our house, and get fitter at the same time keke :)


Click to have a laugh, our funny antics @ Daiso Part 1.

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We won a Camera and an iPod :)

Mummy's department got a photo cum story competition, we won First and Third prize hooray ! Boon Kang will get to play with our new Nikon camera in Taiwan :)


First prize is a Nikon coolpix 5100 and Third prize is an Ipod shuffle :)
(Daddy would be overwhelm if we win a Nikon D5100 keke)



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Here is our entries, no prize for guessing which cute pic won First prize :)

#2 Siblings (Blood is thicker than water)

We hope our little ones will standby for their siblings throughout.
The Chinese got an idiom "Blood is thicker than water".

Siblings are for life.
We embed attributes in our kids from young, to take care and trust each other.
When siblings work together, there will be less family tension and conflict.

When siblings start to look after each other, we hope they will grow up to be responsible adults.
When parents delegate household activities to kids (sweeping, washing, gardening),
we want the kids to enjoy working together as a Team.

When kids are looking after themselves, when they love and respect each other, siblings can pull a family together.
As a Team, siblings will be strong, and can face any challenges together.

Above vision belongs to Mummy and Daddy, which we hope to achieve.
When the kids are happy, their smiles are the only reward we parents need, and the only motivation to make us better parents.

… Meanwhile, back to the present, kids are still fighting over toys and remote control and iPhones :)


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#1 Family (our cool activities)

We are one red-hot family!
When our kids wear Red and march out, people stare at us.
How did the parents managed to rein the active kids together?

Ever since the kids were young, we involve them in all our activities.
It can be a simple outdoor picnic, or a short holiday abroad.
We believe this is the best way for our family to bond and become stronger.

Through family activities, we are transferring family values to our kids.
Hopefully, kids pick up "empathy", "sharing", "independence", and become more confident.
When they see Mummy and Daddy loving and respecting each other, we hope kids will grow up to respect their partners too.

Outdoor activities makes our kids more robust, and less prone to illness.
Meanwhile, parents get to hone our parenting skills, and we can only improve as our experience grows.

So, getting together as a Family is not only Fun, but educational !!
Our kids only has one childhood, we wish to make it memorable.
This is Daddy and Mummy's Promise.

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The camera freebie was a GorillaPod, and Daddy is having fun twisting the tripod around for his camera .


Thank you to the Uncles and Aunties and Kor Kor and Jie Jie who voted for us :)
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Who needs a maid to carry our Army bag !

If you have been following Singapore news, the hot story a few weeks back was this young Soldier who got his maid to carry his fullpack ! First impression would be to chide the spoilt child, but wait, are the parents not guilty as well?


In our society today, it is so common to see parents shelter and pamper their kids.
So can we blame the kids when he grow up expecting princely treatments and take everything for granted?



Daddy was thinking, how can our SengkangBabies grow up to be independent and self reliant? To start with, maybe kids can help with some household chores.

Wash car or corridor? No problem.

Look, we even invested in a whole suite of chambermaid accessories for Wen Xin. But Wen Yi seems more interested.

He tries to force Mei Mei to sweep the floor :(

Wow, this is cool. Now Mummy can outsource jobs to her little helpers.
Who needs a maid when our kids are so hardworking :p

Do you need anyone to keep your laundry or wash your utensils?
Ironing clothes and washing dirty linen would be too difficult for now hee hee.
(we better not push our luck)

Who enjoys a solid bone-breaking massage?
http://sengkangbabies.blogspot.com/2011/04/kids-can-massage-shiok-and-cute.html



Tips to bring up independent kids

1) Ask your primary school kids to bring you across a road, instead of the parent walking infront. Throw "Responsibility" to kid to train his confidence. (please watch up for cars too as Primary school kids are still easily distracted !!)

2) Siblings are for life, they better appreciate this fact earlier, and take care of each other.

3) Other worthy traits to pick up, Empathy, Sharing, independence.



disclaimer..

Even if we have a helper, Mummy and Daddy do not believe our kids need to be "served". A helper is just there to lighten the household chores.

We reward our kids after their hardwork, we are not maltreating anyone :p
Daddy is still working on his Kids-Duty-Roaster version 1.


Credit : Soldier pic taken from http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Favouritism, I am guilty

They say parents always dote on the the youngest.

Free Dictionary definition ~

1. the practice of giving special treatment to a person or group

2. the state of being treated as a favourite

Tell me, how not to dote on such cute babies?

Kids can massage.. shiok and cute !

Daddy intend to enroll the kids with the famous Banyan Tree resort for some massage courses. Once they graduate, Daddy and Mummy can expect some therapeutic experience ??



Video : let us know whether our kids got potential?

Golden Village's Mums and Babies

We blogged about Golden Village (GV)'s pro-family initiative last month. Together with SPRG, "Mums and Babies" wants to encourage more young Families to go for movies, with their babies and toddlers!


Besides Gulliver's Traveller, we noticed a few interesting fringe activities :
- some babies really sleep through two hours
(dim light, lowered volume, and lesser DTS surround sound helps haha)

- parent follow their toddlers around the theatre
(this is ok, kids are expected to be restless )

- when kids fail to settle down, their Mummy or Daddy will be considerate enough to bring the kids out of the theatre

- this is the mini-pantry for your babies :)


Kang enjoys the show, and he is asking when he can skip school again !

We pose with Rango and friends, but we forgot to take pictures with Adlene and organizers :p


How come there are so many rides in Plaza Singapura?

If our review sounds interesting, there are a few more screenings till May.
Proceed to GV Mums and Babies website to book your ticket today.

** screenings only at GV Plaza and Grand, 11am
** each ticket cost $6
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15 Mar - Sammy's adventure
29 Mar - Letters to Juliet
12 April – How to train a dragon
26 April – Did you hear about the Morgans?
10 May – Toy story 3
24 May – Dear John
~~~ ~~~

Thank you GV, for allowing us to enjoy one fun morning together :)
It was nice to see other parents took time off just to accompany their darlings. If time permits, Daddy would like to bring Wen Wei (who was jealous) to the show.

Although programme is "Mums and Babies", Daddies are most welcome !



Our little girl did not attend the movie, but she happily volunteers to carry our goodie bags. How come she is exhibiting shopaholic symptoms at such a tender young age?

#updated 27Mar2011- Our GV experience is featured on TheNewPaper !

I feel most Singaporean when...

.. our kids are around Daddy and Mummy. Read on to find out why :)

When Daddy was still a teenager, he used to think that Singapore is so boring.
Tiny island with no natural reserves, we do not have Maldives'crystal clear water, nor Malaysia's rich flora and fauna. What else can we do beside shopping, eating and movies?

The coolest thing (literally) seems to be visiting the latest shopping mall and some say aircon bus-interchanges ooops ! Teenagers define "cool and happening" differently, so Zoo and Birdpark might not appeal to the youngsters.



Situation is reversed, when our babies pop out one by one. We are now proud parents! and we realise happiness come in small packages (pun intended).

When our kids tagged along, we become Tourists in our own country.
Every trip to the parks, beaches, Zoos, and Birdpark is a new adventure!


Everything is interesting to our kids, the blue skies, the green gardens, the ants and the butterflies. Even a simple double-decker bus ride is so much more interesting. Kids exclaimed "the cars below are so small" !

Kids are always imaginative and their creativity never fail to amaze us.
Above all, Kids make us see things from their innocent perspective .
(make it simple ok)

Sometimes we wonder, why is it so hard for adults to appreciate everything in simpler ways? Instead, we will be busy calculating the "sacrifices, efforts and justification bla bla". Some will even label kids as "liability or asset", before they enjoy baby-making!

A child does not use our yardstick to gauge happiness, satisfaction or even value-for-money! Daddy would not want our kids to remember a childhood which is only "homework and tuition", that would be so sad.

To the kids, Happiness is being outdoor, enjoying our little playgrounds, sweating it out with siblings and friends. Kids do not need F1 or Universal Studios, they just want parent's company.

No Buts and What-ifs, just Do it, and enjoy the Moment. It is moments like these, when our kids are happy and contented, that we are grateful for our family, and Singapore.

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Do we still feel Singapore is boring, or do you need more reasons to feel happy ? Our food, our religions, our languages are so colourful!
(yup, shopping malls are still there for the shopaholics )

Do we need Tourists and oversea colleagues to let Singaporeans know :
- how "cheap and good" is our hawker food fare? (not those at Newton please!)
- how safe Singapore is, we can walk alone at night without fear of getting mugged
- that our diversity and cultural melting pot is one of a kind !
- some say Singlish is cool leh

When my kids pull me off my bed during the weekend to bring them to their playgrounds, that is when Daddy realised family is everything !
Every smile every cheer, that is the only ingredient we need for one more happy day :)

Now that you know why our kids make us feel more Singaporean, we are waiting for the next fun-fill weekend!



disclaimer : Daddy is not blogging for MCYS and encouraging more people to have babies. But we sure hope Sengkangbabies will encourage more parents to bring their kids out for outdoor fun!

Links..
MySingapore is encouraging you to blog about why "I feel most Singaporean when..."
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