Motherhood

TRADITIONS WE STOPPED DOING DURING CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR

January 18, 2022 by Little Miss Honey

Year-end winter holiday celebrations like Christmas and New Year have accumulated some accustomed traditions in several households, ours included. When we were younger, my mother have started lovely traditions during Christmas and New Year. On Christmas eve, we often go to church for a evening mass then when we go home we would be told to sleep because Santa Claus is coming and he doesn’t want to see kids awake. The adults will be busy in the kitchen. I would hear clanks and banging of kitchen pots, a cheerful chatters from the elders with a booming sound of Christmas songs from the speakers of our sound system. When we (the kids) are woken up a little pass 12 midnight for our Noche Buena (Christmas feast) followed by opening of presents. Our mother would often give us loads of gifts for Christmas. She would even wrapped even the tiniest gifts separately because she enjoy seeing us open our gifts. We will also check the socks we hang in the window for Santa to fill with goodies, usually with an apple, chocolates and candies. I would keep that sock filled sweets in a shoe box and I would slowly eat them for weeks after the festivities.

During New Year eve, we often lit noisy firecrackers and beautiful sparklers. We have a houseboy at home that took care of lighting up the firecrackers and sparklers for our safely. We often have 12 fruits displayed on a container on top of the dining table for New Year that represents abundance for the next 12 months. My mom just loves our reaction when we open gifts during Christmas so we don’t open all the gifts we got in Christmas and we save it for New Year’s Eve. My mom would often add more for New Year’s Eve.

My hubby’s Christmas traditions involved a big party with his family and the whole clan with lots of games, gift-giving and lots of laughter. He talked fondly of this memories of those parties.

Now that I have my own family, we tried to incorporate some of the traditions we have been accustomed to and made new ones. However, out of necessity, the current circumstances we are all experiencing now and practicality, there are some traditions we have stopped doing during Christmas and New Year.

Here are 5 traditions we stopped doing during Christmas and New Year:

1. Big holiday parties

Because of the pandemic and practicality , we opted for staycations over big holiday parties. We prefer to chill & quiet (me especially) over loads of preparation and more loads of clean up after the party. It is not easy to do big parties even small parties without a helper and with three active young kids. Honestly, I just can’t manage. So we rather book a good budget hotel for Christmas or New Year. Maybe we book reservations for a Christmas buffet or maybe a good Christmas or New Year Eve dinner would be just great. We still attend fun Christmas parties with our friends here over at their homes and exchange gifts days before Christmas.

2. Gifts

My hubby and I have already promised ourselves when we were still living in Singapore, in order to save, we decided to only give gifts to each other on our birthdays. So we don’t give gifts to each on Christmas, New Year, anniversaries and Valentines. So no gift-giving between my husband and I are already a given.

Previously, during Christmas, we would give one gift from Santa and one gift from us to our kids. A few Christmas before, I would add lots of little knick knack gifts for the kids. But I realised that kids received lots of gifts from our neighbours too for Christmas. Toys and stuff accumulate and we realised that they start taking their stuff for granted with the massive collection of toys and items. We decided a gift from Santa is enough for us. It is also economical. We prefer to expose them more to experiences instead as well as teach them the value of taking better care of the things given to them.

3. Christmas stocking filled with sweets

I used to enjoy this tradition so much. I love opening my shoebox filled with sweets. But now with my kids, we try to minimise their sugar consumption. We often keep the socks away from them and give them their sweets sparingly throughout the weeks. It would literally take months before they can finish their stocks. Plus we already have a stock of chocolates in our fridge which we eat occasionally for dessert. So we thought we get rid of the stockings filing with sweets because it is totally encourage sugar addiction. They barely even realised they didn’t get it from Santa.

4. Opening presents on Christmas Eve

In our household when I was young, we often open gifts on Christmas Eve but now with my kids, my hubby suggested that the kids open their gifts when they wake up in the morning of Christmas. It makes the kids excited for the morning of Christmas.

5. Twelve fruits for the New Year

We don’t buy 12 fruits for New Year for abundance. It seems like a superstitious practice. I rather pray and work for abundance & prosperity for the New Year rather than relying on fruits for my luck.

Another practice we will probably stop for New Year are firecrackers and massive sparklers. Here in Oman and before in Singapore, we never do it because it is prohibited. But if we are in the Philippines, I would like those firecrackers too because it is quite unsafe.

So there you have it, the 5 traditions we stopped doing during Christmas and New Year. Do you have traditions you decided to stopped too?

Some Christmas tradition I am keeping is attending mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ though I do it online now. I also want next time to buy a cake for Christmas for Jesus’ birthday and sing a Happy Birthday song with the kids. For New Year, I still do my New Year’s resolution, of course. It is one of my favourite traditions of all time.

5 WAYS TO HELP OUR KIDS COPE DURING THIS PANDEMIC

September 21, 2020 by Little Miss Honey

I mentioned before that this Covid 19 pandemic doesn’t only affect us but our young kids too. Sometimes we forgot that in spite the fact that they maybe too young to understand what is happening in the world today, they are still inadvertently affected by all this. There is a disruption to the normal flow of things and in their lives. We need to take in account our kids in our home and help them cope with the #thenewnormal during this pandemic. Online classes replaced the regular classes. Kids are not allowed to enter any public establishments. They are coop inside the house with nowhere else to go.

Here are 5 ways to help our kids cope during this pandemic:

Go easy on them

Like I mention in my last blog post (See: 12 Mental Health Care Tips During Covid 19) . We are more understanding if our kids are acting up more these days because being coop up inside the house most days can be too restricting for their hyperactive energies. I try to be more patient and don’t go ‘psycho-mom‘ on them when I see them turn our sofa into an indoor playground obstacle or when they spill crackers all over the floor. A reprimand is still on order if they get really really naughty but sometimes my husband and I let it go with a reminder (or sometimes constant reminders). We allow them to sleep in and sleep a little later than usual. We normally not allow the kids to use phones to play games but recently, we allowed our eldest to play pre-approved games on my phone on weekends. We allow a certain amount of leniency and we try not too be too stringent with our rules. We give the kids a space for them to be kids and have fun.

2. Create routines for them

Because the normal flow of things has been disrupted, it is best to create a consistent routine for the kids to minimise a chaotic atmosphere and to give a sense of calm & consistency especially for anxious kids. The kids have their usual breakfast around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning followed by bath time then followed by online class. We would have lunch then nap time after. They would have their snack time after the wake up from their nap. We would give Naj some short writing exercises before they watch TV. Sometimes Howell wants to join in the writing exercises so we would give him some writing exercises if he feels like it. Kids knows exactly the night time routine of brushing teeth, wash feet ang nighttime prayers. Kids needs the normalcy and consistency in their own house despite the chaos that is going outside.

3. Let them get creative

This time is a perfect time for them to enhance their creative juices. My kids loves playing with the blocks and they have interesting creations that they often show off to Mommy & Daddy. We are amazed at what they can create. They also love to draw robots on paper or create invented drawing games. Naj would think up of games for him and his brother which allows them to run around the house sweating and laughing like “Sticky Popcorn Catch Me If You Can”, “Jump Jump Race”, “Camel Ride”, “Transforming Themselves Into Vehicles” & “Santa Claus & the Reindeer”. They would also cut up A4 paper using their hands and put scotch tape on the cut out to create robots, though we have banned them from doing this already because they were creating so much flying mess and lots of wasted paper. Sometimes, they are just happy colouring their colour books. We are glad that they don’t spend the whole day staring blankly at the TV screen.

4. Teach them responsibilities

Being stuck at home is a great opportunity to teach them to be responsible. We have 3 young kids at home- a 6 years old, a 4 years old and a 2 years old. We don’t have a helper and we need them to be aware that even if they are young, they can contribute in the household duties. As early as now, we want to instill values that they can carry on when they get older. The kids are responsible in taking used milk bottles from the night before during the mornings inside the kitchen, even baby Zeke helps out with that. We sometimes still reminds them from time to time. Naj and Howell also automatically put their plates and glasses on the kitchen counter sink after eating. I try to remind them to fold their blankets in the mornings after their breakfast. It may not be perfectly folded but they will eventually get the hang of it. Naj is responsible in watering our aloe vera plants every other day which he lovingly calls “Corny”. We help him by creating a calendar checklist for him pasted on the ref door when he needs to water Corny. He loves this assignment and never begrudging does his duties. He is a little bit sad now that his Corny ‘s leaves are turning brown so he is hoping he can still resurrect it.

5. Be present

Now that we have the kids 24/7 at home, I try to be mindful to be more present with them. We love slow breakfast mornings together when I don’t have morning work duty. I try my best to put my phone away when I am with them. I try to soak in the moments that I have with them – listening to their imaginative stories, praising their creations, nap times with them, cuddle times in the bed, watching cartoons with them, doing our nighttime prayers. Upon the insistence of my kids, I try to join their hide & seek games, Sticky Popcorn Catch me If You Can, race from bedroom to living room & back again until my stamina allows me. Though after like 2-3 runs in their game, I would tell them , ‘Mommy needs to rest for a bit to catch my breath’. It is a great exercise for me too, hehe…

I hope parents out there might find this list helpful. Kisses to your little ones. I pray this Covid 19 will go away hopefully by 2021. Inshallah!

5 FREE KID-FRIENDLY SPOTS IN EAST OF SINGAPORE

March 13, 2019 by Little Miss Honey 1 Comment

Having 3 kids under a foreign visa status in an urban city like Singapore can be quite expensive I must admit. So to budget our finances wisely, we look for recreational activities in Singapore that doesn’t require us to spend too much or better yet, fun activities that are free. We also don’t want to deprive our kids with good recreational fun. And apparently, kids are easy to please. No need expensive toys, regular trips to places that require admission fees, tickets to popular shows, etc.

Living in the east of Singapore for almost 6 years now, I found some spots that are kid-friendly and free! We would often take our kids here on weekends if we don’t have anything special planned and we want them to explore & stretch their active limbs to a few hours of play.

Here are 5 free kid-friendly spots in east of Singapore:

1. Changi City Point Playground

This is conveniently located in the outdoor area at the 2nd floor of the Changi City Point mall. It is perfect for kids age 12 years and below or below the height of 1.4m. My active little boys love the playground because they have this cool obstacle course. There is a wooden suspension bridge, a flexible plastic bridge, a rope obstacle and climbing ropes. My 2 toddlers are up for the challenge. The course is a great way for them to exercise and test their coordination & motor skills. I gave credit to my hubby who discovered this play area. They have a wet play area too.

2. Our Tampines Hub

This place is huge. It is conveniently in walking distance from Tampines Bus Interchange and Tampines MRT. Our Tampines Hub (OTH) is Singapore’s largest integrated community and lifestyle hub, bringing together multiple agencies and offering a comprehensive range of services and facilities.

They often have kiddie movies shown in their open-area lobby like Cars or Coco. Those are my kids’ favorite cartoon movies. They sometimes would have free bouncing castles for kids to enjoy. They have wide spaces with free play area in some levels of the building. So often, we would buy food at the hawker area and we eat in the tables with benches provided near the play area while walking the kids play.

3. Pasir Ris Park

Strolling around this area is a nice educational trip for the kids. My eldest son’s school would have their field trip often in Pasir Ris Park. They would have fun activities and teach them about the living things in the area & nature.

4. Tampines 1 Roof Deck Water Park

If my kids are tired of the swimming pool in the condominium, we would take them for some water fun at the roofdeck water park in Tampines 1 mall. We will bring their wet suits & extra clothes to enjoy the water park. They are so happy just playing in the water while I would buy my kopi peng watching them play. They would meet new friends too at the waterpark.

5. Changi Beach

If they want to play with some sand, we bring their plastic shovels & bucket to Changi Beach. We would buy some food at Changi Village and have a little picnic on the grass near the beach. We would either buy some pao or dumplings or try the Nasi Lemak at the Hawker Centre. We also would buy the Chocolate Origin Choco Lava .

The kids would dip their feet in the water or just play on the sands. They also enjoy watching the planes that are flying low to land at Changi airport.

So fun doesn’t necessary means expensive, right? What is important is that my kids will have amazing memories in their time here in Singapore and it didn’t even cost us much. We are happy we get to find ways for them to enjoy and have fun. Do you have other suggested free kid-friendly areas here in Singapore? Please let me know. We would highly appreciate it.