Meeting up with Santa

Went to meet up with Santa (2011)

We went to Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah (WA), about half-hour drive from Seattle.

The main attraction of this zoo is the reindeer. Being Christmas seasion, is popular with children. They will tell Santa what they wish for this Christmas and the parents, with listening ears, will try their best to make their children's wishes come true. These will be beautifully packed, together with other christmas presents, and place under the christmas tree next to the fire-place. Stockings were also hung by the chimney, one for each child and parents.

For make-believe, they even has a room for children to communicate with Santa and mail a letter to the North Pole. A post-box is in the room for the children to post their letters. How fun.

In this high tech world, you can even go into the official NORAD Santa Tracker via

http://www.noradsanta.org to see where Santa is, in the month of December, before Christmas.

May All The Joys of this Holiday Season be yours throughout the New Year.

Maxine in Winter Gear

Maxine in Winter Gear

(Christmas - 2011)

No Time - Find Time

Zach & Ethan at the Zoo with Ruby

There is no such thing as No Time. We, adults, use our time differently - at work, with friends/relatives, with the family (children), in religious institutions, sleep/relax, etc. 24/7. Occasionally, organising an outing with the children is value family time. Memories are made of these.

The First Three Years of Child Development

These are the most challenging, demanding and also most satisfying years for the parents and the caregiver - almost 100% attention is required. These are the years where the child is too young to go to a child care center. At this age, the child only requires the basics and that is (1) proper milk/food, (2) living in a safe/quiet environment, (3) have plenty of suitable toys to see, touch, hear and to play with and (4) inter-acting with the child with lots of communication (by speaking/singing), inter-play and love.

Initially, the child can only communicate through crying or sounds of response, comfort/discomfort. It depends very much on the attention of the person looking after the child to pick up these signals. At later months, sounds or facial expressions of satisfaction/dis-satisfaction, happiness/unhappiness, shock, etc are also developed.

How well the parents and the caregiver master the skills of bringing up a child can be roughly gauged by the number of crying instances. It is alright if the child cries because he is hungry, wanting to sleep or feeling discomfort or sick. It is very important that the parents and the caregiver master the skill of understanding baby's cries (communication) to react to the child's needs appropriately. This will reinforce the bond and provide the child with security which is also needed by the child. The crying instances should gradually be less and less frequent as the child grows. One should avoid developing a child to communicate through crying in wanting something from you.

Bringing Up a Family

Many research is done on this and also many books have been published on this topic. As no two individuals are the same, there won't be easy to find what is best for each individual of the family. We are very much influenced by the way we are brought up and as parents, we try to provide our children with the best. There is truth in this saying ... if a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

Every parent want their children to grow up normally and will nurture them along their life journey with proper guidance and encouragement. But, what if, in the course of their development, some "issues" arises, how do we as parents or caregiver react to the new challenges and take appropriate course of actions.