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9 Ways to Forge Loving Ties That Last a Lifetime in Your Children
Feb 13th
Children have an amazing capacity to learn. They’re like sponges in the early years and they easily form memories that are cherished for a lifetime.
There are many things you can do in order to build loving ties that last. It’s a great way to teach your children trust and companionship. When you foster a positive relationship with your kids, it’ll be far more likely that they’ll continue to build happy and healthy relationships in the future.
Here are some ways to forge loving ties with your children:
1. Show your gratitude. You may feel gratitude for your children at every moment, but it’s what you project to them that matters. Make sure you verbally and physically show them gratitude. When you do, the message will come across clearly that you care.
2. Exemplify respect. Respect your children, just as you ask them to respect you. They’ll appreciate the saying, “treat people the way you’d like to be treated,” if it’s something that you practice as well.
3. Love them unconditionally. There will certainly be times when your children disappoint or anger you, but make it clear to them that you still love them even when you’re upset with their actions. It doesn’t mean you condone their behavior, but it does mean that you love them no matter what!
4. Make time for them. You’ll build stronger ties when you make time for your children and make an effort to participate in their interests. Ask them what they’d like to do and get involved in their life. This is a great way to enjoy some bonding time with your kids.
5. Encourage them. When your children face a challenge, it’s an opportunity for you to step up and help. Be there to nudge them in the right direction without being too pushy. Give them words of encouragement and let them know how much you believe in their abilities.
6. Help them build confidence and independence. Tell your kids that they can accomplish anything with a positive mindset. Encourage independence in your children so they can remain confident even in situations where you’re not around to help out.
7. Listen. Listen to your kids. They have many important lessons, ideas, and stories to share! When they know that you’re truly listening to them, they also know that you care and love them.
8. Make dinner together. Having meals together as a family is important because many times that’s the only time of day where everyone can be together. Instead of being silent or making small talk, use the opportunity to share love and support. Later in life, your children will remember these wonderful family dinners.
9. Schedule family time. Establish regular opportunities dedicated to building memories with your family. Let each family member choose an activity to enjoy together. Laughing and having fun together will help to build ties that last forever.
When you use these tips to show your family how much you care, the feelings are more likely to become mutual. Spend one on one time with each member of your family and get involved in each other’s lives to connect on a deeper level. It’s those moments of sharing that will last a lifetime!
The Career Mom – How to Balance Your Career and Home Life
Feb 2nd
In this day and age, it’s becoming more and more difficult to live off of one income. This means that oftentimes moms have few options when it comes to the decision of whether or not to work while raising children.
If you’ve decided to keep up with your career, whether through choice or necessity, you’ll be busy, but you can certainly make it work. You’ll be rewarded in the end because you won’t have to worry about re-entry into the workforce once the kids are older, and you may opt to continue building your own 401K for retirement purposes.
Scheduling and Planning
When you ask most working moms about how they do it, you’ll often hear about their particular scheduling and planning habits. It’s important to work out a set schedule that works for you personally.
Consider the following working mom tips:
1. Plan your mornings. If you’re not a morning person, try completing some of your morning tasks the evening before. Set aside enough time to get the kids up and dressed if they’re not old enough to do it themselves. If you can, enjoy a meal together as a family before the day’s commitments.
2. Schedule events. Schedule your after work activities in a planner. This will ensure that there’s room for everything and that nothing important is forgotten along the way. Play dates, grocery shopping, and other errands can be scheduled as well.
3. Be flexible. Remember that everything won’t always go perfectly. If something doesn’t work out and you need to rearrange your schedule, just plan to do something on a different day. Since you’re juggling many tasks at once, keeping your schedule flexible is a must for keeping your stress levels down.
Staying Involved
One of the top worries of working moms is the fact that they feel like they’re not as involved. However, if you concentrate on spending the time you do have with your little ones in a quality way, you’ll still be heavily involved in their lives. Just because you aren’t there every minute, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t making a big difference in their lives.
When you arrive home from work, do something with your children that you’ll all enjoy. Maybe they’ll want some alone time to play independently, but you can also stay involved by showing that you care. You’ll have quality time with them at meals, and you can always engage them in family games or other activities.
Taking Breaks
It’s vital that you remember to schedule some breaks. If you need a “spa day” every once in awhile, it’s certainly something that you deserve. Sometimes you’ll feel that you spend every waking moment either at work or worrying about the children, so take some time to unwind. Read a book after the kids have gone to bed, work on your relationship with your spouse, or engage in something you find relaxing.
Your Relationships
Spend individual time with each member of your family. Be sure to remember your partner during life’s crazy times and give that relationship some much-needed nourishment as well. Individual attention will help you get to know your kids better, and you’ll have time to truly build upon your lasting relationship.
A career mom is a truly special person. Sure, life can get really hectic at times, but if you follow these tips, you’ll be able to strike a happy balance between your career and your life at home.
Homemade Ice Cream, anyone?
Feb 2nd
My colleagues are crazy over homemade ice-cream these days. It was to the extent that they attended the workshop organised by the trainer. I was told that the essential item you need to have is an ice-cream maker machine which costs around $88 and with that, you can make yummy and delicious ice-cream, sorbet, yogurt and gelato.
To tempt you more, I was told that the ice cream was so good that it is equivalent to those you eat at Hagan Das or Island Creamery, and best of all at an “affordable” price.
Here is a recipe of lemon & cream ice cream recipe from the website (www. dessertart.com.sg)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 egg
- 65 g castor sugar
- 120 g milk
- 230 g cream (35% fat)
- Zest of one lemon
- 35g lemon juice
PREPARATION:
- Whisk the egg and sugar until thickened.
- Add cream and milk to the egg mixture and simmer over double boiler.
- Bring mixture to approx 85 deg C or until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Before plunging the hot mixture into an iced water bath, stir in fresh lemon zest and let stand the cooled mixture in the refrigerator for a further 2-4 hours.
- Add in the lemon juice into the chilled mixture.
- Churn the combined mixture in the Venetto Ice Cream maker until firm and spoon the ice cream in a container to let in set the freezer for a further 4 hours or overnight.
Happy Ice cream making ! Oh yes, before I forget, my colleagues said that their children’s friends were so amazed by them whipping out those yummy ice-cream that they are so “famous” amongst the kids’ friends now and their kids are so…. PROUD of them 
A good way of bonding with your kids? Maybe!
Link: http://www.dessertart.com.sg/
Email: dessert-art@hotmail.com
Affirmation – I am who I want my children to become
Jan 31st
Every day, I live my life aware that I am who my children will become. My actions, reactions, and values are being imprinted on my children. It is my responsibility to conduct myself in such a way that will be worthy of their imitation.
I work hard to be the person I want my children to become because I am the most important influence in my children’s lives.
I share my life openly with my family so my children can learn from my experiences. Carrying myself with integrity enables my children to see that I am the same regardless of the situation.
My children will be generous with others because I model selfless giving. Each time I offer a helping hand or a listening ear to a person in need, the experience is etched into my children’s memories. I actively engage my children in acts of kindness.
The disciplined lifestyle that I implement in my life also benefits my children. The addictions that I have overcome, as well as the healthy habits I have begun, will produce a better future for my family.
My reward for my diligence in improving myself is the knowledge that my children will not have to struggle as hard as I have, because I am setting them up for success.
Today, I am proud of who I am. I work hard to become someone worthy of my children’s admiration. I am confident that my children will benefit from following my footsteps.
Self-Reflection Questions:
1. What is my vision for my children’s future?
2. What values are my children learning from my behavior?
3. How can I improve my actions so my children can follow my footsteps?
A short account – Distant Family Member
Jan 28th
A new addition to our family tree – my little nephew was born in mid December and just returned back to Thailand yesterday after a 2 weeks stay with my parents. I got to see him twice over the Saturdays while he was here. He is a very cute little boy and am starting to feel sad just thinking that I won’t be seeing him this coming Saturday and not sure when will he be back again for “holiday”.
This little nephew of mine was a darling, who hardly fusses even when he is wet, hungry or tired. I recalled that he was having constipation one Saturday and while trying to get his poos out, he didn’t cry out loud like most babies would, he just shed his tears quietly. He has really big eyes and would start at you when you talk to him. He is so adorable that even my 3 years old girl loves talking to him. I told her last night that her little brother has went back to Thailand and we won’t be seeing him this Saturday when we go to her “po po” house, she looked sad and kept asking me “why?”.
We miss him (especially my parents who get to see him everyday for that 2 weeks) and if you have family members who stay overseas and comes back to Singapore only a few times a year, you would comprehend how we feel…
So till we see him again (which I bet he would look very different then), we could only affectionately remember him as how he looks like now!
A Tribute to my Helper at Home
Dec 9th
I am a working mom and my husband’s job requires him to travel frequently. While we are away from home, we need someone to help care for our two young kids.
I am fortunate that I have a good helper who is (and still) with me for almost 5 years now. We have heard horrible stories about domestic helper abusing their employer’s children. Honestly, I’m afraid that the same thing would happen to my children too. As such, when I first engaged my helper, I got my parents to help “monitor” her performance. It was about a year later that my parents gave me the “green light” that we can leave our kids alone with her at home. Since then, I trust her to take care of my children while we are at work.
I do not allow my kids to call my helper “maid”. I told my children, especially the elder one that she is their auntie and she is there to help me take care of them while daddy and mommy are at work. They have to respect her like they respect us. When they need help from her, they need to say “please”, when she did something for them, they need to say “thank you”, and when they done something wrong, they need to say “sorry”.
My helper does not want off-day so I compensate her with money. When she wants to take time off during weekend, I allow her to without deducting her pay. When she was sick and unable to tend for my children, I took leave to care of them myself and allow her to take “MC”. I remembered when she came back from her home leave last December, she was down with dengue fever and I had to take almost a week leave to take care of my children and cook for her (on top of the 3 weeks leave I’ve taken while she was away). When I go for my recent holiday trip to Hong Kong, I brought her along as a reward for her hard work. She was so happy that she got to meet up with her sister-in-law and cousin who are working there.
I believe the rule of thumb of having harmony with domestic helpers at home is to treat them fairly and respect them. If they are happy and feel that you treat them well, they would be grateful and work hard for you. Isn’t it the same for us when we are working for our employer?
Without her, I don’ think I would be able to concentrate while at work so I’m thankful that I have a good helper at home and my kids are safe in her good hands.