Blog Entries

A Salute to Parents

elsa@onsponge.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:13:21 +0100

<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:SimSun;
panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;
mso-font-alt:宋体;
mso-font-charset:134;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 680460288 22 0 262145 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:1;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font- [...]

Street smart bully at 4

elsa@onsponge.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0100

It was hang-out night at the club with the Dart team and while the men were busy trying to outbeat each other, the ladies just chat about and June went, "Jerald is a real bully and he is only 4! We put him into a swim class and he went about pinching the girls and throwing his weight about the other kids. I had to pull him aside to discipline him!" Nisha, a mother of 2 very grown kids (in their early thirties) jumped to Jerald's defence, "No. Don't need to discipline. He does not understand wad. [...]

Look out for Science Month in August at Marina Square

anthony@onsponge.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Organised by Science Centre and A*STAR, Marina Square features from mid-August a month-long festival of science activities, discussions, workshops and documentaries.

Check out related science stories in onSponge Articles section.

Holiday activities: Star-gazing at Science Centre

anthony@onsponge.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 +0100

The school holidays are here again. I have been looking for relevant holiday activities and programmes that we can consider engaging with our kids. Specifically day/night outings.

One item that has caught my eye is the free-admission Astro Night at our Science Centre on Friday, 29 May. It is being held at the Omni-Theatre starting from 7pm till 11pm.

Visitors will get an educat [...]

Seven Secrets to Problems Sums for Parents

chris@onsponge.com — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:00:00 +0100

I was recently asked by one of my new friends, who is also one of our onSponge parents, how can she improve her problem solving skills with the aim of assisting her son in solving math problem sums. Sound familiar? So rather than demand a night on the town with a free flow of drinks in return for my wisdom, I decided to share my "Seven Secrets to Problem Sums" for Par [...]

A Cosy Corner For Mum

angellimck@yahoo.com.sg — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0100

With Mothers' Day looming, here's a year round treat for Mum...create a cosy nook for her to unwind whenever she wants to, surrounded by her favourite things.

Pick a spot in the home where you think she'll love. Relocate the armchair that I suspect has been rooted in its place for like a decade ( I can never understand this ). Find an occasional table or in the ab [...]

When Kids Teach....

angellimck@yahoo.com.sg — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0100

As parents we expect alot from our kids. I'm no exception....good grades a must. I was like a fiend when Nicholas was in Primary school. I remember the first test results he brought home. All excited and happy, this bespectacled kid waving his test paper like crazy. However, it fell sh [...]

Violent behaviour in primary school

anthony@onsponge.com — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Today my nephew came home, with two red gashes on his face! Apparently he had bumped (accidentally he says) into another boy earlier. Then while my nephew was in conversation with a friend, this other boy came up, pulled my nephew's cheek and scratched him.

I advised his mum to visit the school teacher, and ensure both boys ap [...]

Are kids today more stressed than in the past?

anthony@onsponge.com — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0100

A 2007 UK study on primary education concluded that children face "excessive" pressure today. Conducted by Cambridge University, the Primary Review was the biggest such independent study in the past 40 years.

The Review stated that UK children "are under intense and perhaps excessive pressure from the policy-driven demands of their schools and the commercially-driven values of the wider society."

Among those interviewed were children, parents, teachers and [...]

Knights of Loyalty

wendy@onsponge.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Yes - Craig has recently been "knighted" - in fact his whole class has been (^___^)

At the last Parents-Teacher meeting with Craig’s P3 teacher, I was struck by how dismal his classroom looked. It needed a fresh coat of paint to cover the smudges, footprints and other marks left on the wall due to sticky tapes. Papers were stuck on the wall as the notice board was not big enough for all the subjects.

Recently, a friend mentioned this thing called "adjective order". That there's an order to apply adjectives (words used to describe a noun). However, I don't remember studying this in school. Or maybe it just did not register then!

Inspired by this, and at her behest, onSponge has posted a short article on it. See Adjective types: Your child knows this?

[...]

Awesome site on parenting, dating, and more...

Ronnie.lew@gmail.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Great website for advice on:

1. Marriage & Relationships

2. Parenting

3. Intimacy

4. Healthy Living

5. Money

6. Career

7. Faith

8. Entertainment

You MUST check out this website! Click on this link to get there: http://www.iquestions.com/

Blame not on teenhood

elsa@onsponge.com — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Ok, it is an acceptable observation that boys tend to speak lesser than girls - at least with mine. However, I noticed that my son (now 14) has started to response lesser to us in our daily interactions. And yes, they are rather petty things like a simple, "Son have you had your medication?" or "Are you in your room?" or "Taken your bath?". Unless reminded frequently, it would take me at least 4 times of repeating the question or raising my voice before I get a response :(

Am i [...]

Assessment Fried Chicken !

wendy@onsponge.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:35:15 +0100

That's what Craig calls the assessment worksheets I give him (^___^)

Yvonne, a friend of mine recently shared this useful tip which she uses to get her kids to do all their assessment. As she is a working mom, she faces difficulty in getting her kids to complete the assigned pages of worksheets every day. She tried giving them only one subject a day, folding pages or even placing sticky notes to remind them which pages to do. But nothing worked. Then she notices tha [...]

Promoting reading!

anthony@onsponge.com — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

I just love to read! But as I grow older, my eyes begin to let me down! My focusing distance has now gotten farther and farther away, a condition we commonly call "old" sight, otherwise known as long sightedness (medical terms: hypermetropia or hyperopia).

Now, I have to use reading glasses! To date, I have four pairs (only!) around the house. But for those with my problem (love to read but with reading glasses), we know we cannot read for long before we gotta put those glasse [...]

File-sharing sites: Exercise caution

anthony@onsponge.com — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

Recently I came to know of someone who visited a movie file-sharing site. He was trying to see if he could get episodes of the latest season of a TV show that is no longer playing here.

So, why did he visit a file-sharing site? Reason: Couldn't wait for the DVD set to be out to buy, which is his normal modus operandi.

Now he is being spammed with emails from sites with highly questionable material! Obviously, he must have used his often used email address (duh!) to sign up for [...]

Love needs no Valentine

elsa@onsponge.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

On our bedroom door, there stuck 2 envelopes which our 11-year-old girl has put up for us where she would 'post' her private notes to Dad and Mum. It's her personal post box to us. Occasionally, we will find 'I love U', "God Bless U", "Am sorry I made you mad" or "Why didn't you write? I miss u" types of notes in these 2 envelopes. Sometimes, it could be just a candy bar to sweet [...]

"Family bonding, where got time?"

trevorgc@gmail.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0100

"Daddy, what time are you coming home? You have not being eating dinner with us for the last 3 days." My no. 3, Rachel asked.

"Daddy, you have not taken me on our one-on-one this month, when are we going?" my son, Reuben complained.

"Dear, when you are taking me on our couple time? We have not done it for months." My wife, San San said with a slightly demanding tone.

These are remarks and questions that I have struggled with from time to [...]