Today’s Motherhood

Music is the expression of the heart and the soul. Your children’s ability to appreciate music as an art, as a communication medium and as a worthwhile interest is to be honed early on. Music has been associated with your children’s positive growth and development. Introduction to music enhances social skills, literacy, memory, general intelligence, mathematical ability and language.

As parents, you don’t actually have to be musically inclined or be professional singers to let children appreciate simple songs and tunes. There are a lot of ways you can do to help music penetrate your child’s mind and heart and appreciate music.

• The learning of music could begin when the baby is still in the womb. Your humming of tunes or playing of subtle music could already move the child’s sense. While pregnant, try to play good music that could affect your child’s’ neurological development.
• For preschoolers, allow an hour or more three times a week for you to dance simple steps with good music at home. This is a good way to strengthen the bond between you and your child and at the same time to boost their interest in looking for better rhythms which you could dance with in future home dancing sessions.’
• Be inclined to children’s songs. These are short and could easily be learned as they rhyme and they are simple in notes. Jack and Jill, ABC, Mary Had A Little Lamb and Row, Row, Row Your Boat are just a few you could share with your child.
• As the child grows, you can gradually point out different pitches and tones. If you can’t sing, you can have your child listen to different singers. This is your chance to explain the various tones, voices and pitches.
• Introduce musical instruments; piano, guitar, drums and the lyre are a few of the many musical instruments you can ask your child to play. Their ability to play the musical tools will enhance their appreciation to music
• Practice. Let your child practice how to sing and dance. You can give feedback but make sure not to embarrass them.
• Play games that utilize music. Learning songs can be fun as you try to guess out the lyrics or the title of the songs.
• Play good music at home. Make sure that what your children hear are appropriate their age and understanding. Innuendoes are very common to songs. Be careful of what your child listens to. Monitor their musical gadgets and CDs.

Appreciate music. It carries with its wings the feelings of comfort, happiness, fears and contentment. Help your child find his world through tunes and rhythms as you encourage good songs at home and in school.

More Related Posts

Petra Hypnosis will be holding free Hypnosis Seminar on

Dates : 17 or 19 Mar 2010

Through this seminar, you will learn how Safe and Natural Hypnosis is and how you can benefit from it.

Reservations are required and can be made by calling 91000432 / 64639500

or email info@petrahypnosis.com.

More Related Posts

Motherhood is a crucial task. Almost everyone in this world expects a mother to be perfect. The downfall of a mom is almost equivalent to the failure of the children and the home. It is very important for all mothers to try to perform their roles with love, sacrifice, dignity and respect. This is because they are the source of inspiration for the spouse and the children including the people around them.

It is indeed not an easy task to become a mother. However, the following list would help in easing out the hassles of achieving motherhood perfection:

• Patience is a virtue. Moms should be patient in dealing with children. If patience is gone, everything will turn out chaotic and disorganized. It will also be very hard to deal with stress if tolerance is lacking.
• Learn how to budget. Being too tight or too lax with money could have a great impact on family management. Mothers who know how to budget could have the biggest chance to provide all that’s best for them according to the family’s lifestyle.
• Show interest to children and husband’s inclinations. Sports are indispensable in the family. Joining or participating or just plainly becoming a spectator would boost the child’s esteem in excelling in their fields of endeavor. If you see your child inclined to the arts, you can just at least surprise him with a new set of crayons or drawing pad. This way, he will realize that you are there to support him in his interest.
• Be supportive. The mere act of preparing what your child needs in school is already a clear sign of support. Knowing that you are behind them will make them pursue higher goals.
• Be approachable. Talk to your children if possible. Small chats would let them open up their fears and hesitations. If your child knows that you are a good listener, it will not be difficult for them to share his thoughts and feelings with you. This way, he would not turn to others for comfort.
• Be fair. Don’t show favorites even if one child is better than the other.
• Instill privacy. Although you are an authority at home, you must understand that children also need time to be alone. Privacy is inherent to anyone even to a young child. When you think that you already know some of his secrets, refrain from laughing at them or subjecting them to family ridicule. If this happens, they would create that dividing wall isolating them from the family.
• Respect freedom but create boundaries. For instance, your child must have the freedom to choose his friends but he should know some limitations with regards peers and relationships. Curfews are supposed to be emphasized.

Motherhood is an easy venture for any woman who has the heart that loves and cares unconditionally. Every mom should understand that in her hands lay the goodness of a home and the wellness of a family.

More Related Post

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Synopsis:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a book that talks about a caterpillar emerging out from an egg and spends an entire week feasting on all kinds of foods (As he eats through each food, he also eats holes in the book big enough for little fingers to fit through). At the end of the week, the caterpillar has become a huge caterpillar. Due to the feasting, the caterpillar suffers from a bad stomachache. After eating a piece of leaf, he feels better and builds a cocoon where he sleeps for two weeks. At the end of the second week, he emerges as a beautiful butterfly!

The story of the life cycle of a butterfly, from a tiny egg, to caterpillar, cocoon, and finally a beautiful butterfly, were told in simple terms in this storybook. This story also includes a variety of foods to talk about, and is a great starting point for learning about healthy and not-so-healthy foods. The time line of the story presents the days of the week and through this story, children will get to learn about the sequence of events.

Age: Recommended for ages 2 and up (younger children may enjoy the book too)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children’s book written by Eric Carle, a writer who won many awards. This book is widely regarded as one of the best children’s books ever written.

2. I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly – illustrated by Pam Adams

Synopsis:
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly is a humorous folk song/silly rhyme that was turned into a children’s book. It describes a lady that swallowed a fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow and horse and the aftermath of it. What’s more interesting is the hole in the middle of the page that  gives a good view of what the old lady has swallowed. Children finds it interesting and funny witnessing the different creatures in the old lady’s stomach. Young readers are attracted to the  colorful illustrations and the rhyming story.

This rhyme has a catch tune to it so don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to sing, instead of reading it. With repetitive sentences, it is a great book to encourage children to follow and sing along when the adult reads or sings to them. Kids just love this book!

Age: Recommended for ages 2 and up (younger children may enjoy the book too)

3. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Synopsis:
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse talks about Lilly, a little mouse who loves school and adores her teacher Mr. Slinger. However, Lilly’s love for her teacher takes a downturn when she brings her new purple plastic purse to class. Mr. Slinger confiscates Lily’s purple purse because she interrupts the class in the attempt to show it off to her classmates. Anger drives Lilly to write a nasty letter with a mean portrait of her teacher, and she hides it in her teacher’s bag. But when the young girl opens her returned purse outside of school, she finds a note reading, “Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better”, and some yummy snacks are included. Wracked with guilt, Lilly realizes that she must apologize to her beloved teacher.

The book provides children insights into conflict resolution when face with problematic situation. With the simple story structure, children learn about resolving conflicts in an amicable way. Furthermore, there are plenty of ‘teachable moments’ that adults can share and talk to their kids about, such as anger management, forgiving others, importance of apologising etc.

For children who haven’t been exposed to a day care or preschool environment, this book shows how a child learns to interact with an adult other than her parents in a classroom environment, specifically with a school teacher in a respectful manner.

Age: Recommended for ages 4 and up

4. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Synopsis:
Caps for Sale is a book that talks about a peddler who has 17 caps stacks up on his head. This peddler cannot sell off a single cap that day and decides to find a great tree that he can sit and rest. However, when he awakes, 16 other caps stacked on his head are gone. In fact, it has been stolen by a troop of monkeys, who now sit at the top of the tree wearing them. The peddler tries all means to get the monkeys to return his caps but the monkeys only imitate him. Unknowingly, this actually sparks off a brilliant idea for the peddler to get back all his caps.

This book is a great book that children enjoy reading with familiarity as the repetitive parts in the story will gradually encourages children to join in when the adults re-read the story over again. Since the author continues her use of repetition and word ordering, and maintains the same style and colour scheme of pale blue, red, browns and greens for the illustrations, children can easily relate and follow along.

Age: Recommended for ages 3 and up

5. Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Synopsis:
Based on an Indian fable, seven blind mice set out to discover the “Something” (an elephant) by the pond, only to learn that “knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole.” Each mouse visits the “Something” on a different day of the week and imagines what the “Something” really was. However, each blind mice returns home with an incorrect description of the elephant’s body parts. They see a cliff, a spear, a pillar, a snake, a rope — but it is only when the seventh mouse experience the whole “Something” then he is able to “see” the elephant.

This would be an excellent book to use with young children when teaching about the importance of not “judging a book by its cover.” This story highlights the importance of not judging someone or something before one gets to know, understand or see the whole picture. Furthermore, it also introduces young readers to the days of the week, ordinal and cardinal numbers, and ranges of color and more.

Age: Recommended for ages 4 and up

Reading to our children can do far more than simply helping them excel in school. In fact, reading to them can instill a love for reading that will last them a lifetime. Raising a fluent reader is not difficult, start reading to your child today!

Other Related Posts

The Reading Loft will be at the Kidz Academy on

Date : 19th to 21st Mar 2010

Venue : Suntec Singapore Hall

Time : 11am to 9pm

More Related Posts

We have good news for all members of our mailing list. PowerMoves Pilates In The Park will be giving away the following prize to one of our lucky subscriber

1 PowerMoves Pilates Matwork session AND 1 PowerMoves Pilates Reformer session

These 2 free pilates session are worth $120 and comes with a 3 months expiry. The classes will be held at the venue of the winner’s choice - Bishan Park or Dempsey Hill.

The closing date of the draw will be 22 Mar 2010.

To qualify for the Lucky Draw, simply join our mailing list if you have not. All existing members of our mailing list will be automatically included. To sign up, simply enter your name and email below

Terms and Conditions Apply

More Related Posts

Updated 16 May 10
Thank you for your participation. The Top 4 Voted Entries in our Coverpage Baby Photo Contest are (in alphabetical order)

1. Erika (914)
2. Gabriella Ng (966)
3. Gordon Gooi (691)
4. Shannon Toh (356)

They have won for themselves a full sponsor of one Perfect Mini² package worth $118 sponsored by Colorful Photography.

Their photos taken by Colorful Photography will be published in August issue of Today’s Motherhood Magazine and the winner will be the Coverpage Model of the same issue.

The Coverpage Photo Contest - Baby Photo Contest May-Jun 10 is on-going now. To submit a photo, please go to Baby Photo Contest May-Jun 10

——————————————————————–

Today’s Motherhood Coverpage Photo Contest Mar/Apr 2010 is open for submission. The contest theme will be the popular Photogenic Baby Contest.

1. You must be a subscriber of Today’s Motherhood mailing list to enter the contest
2. Only ONE photo per child
3. File size of photo must not exceed 1M btyes.
4. You can only submit photo of your own child.
5. Age of child is 5 years old or less

For details of prizes, rules and regulations, terms and conditions and how to enter the contest, please see details at Coverpage Photo Contest.

The contest will be an INTERNAL voting contest by Today’s Motherhood panel of judges. The judges decision are final and no correspondence shall be entertained.

Closing Date : 20 Apr 2010

This Baby Photo Contest is held together with Colourful Photography.

Steps To Submit a Photo:

1. Click Upload Photo below
2. Select an image to upload : You can either choose from your harddisk or a WebURL (Note : File size must be less than 1M bytes)
3. Caption : Please enter photo description
4. Enter Your Name, Your Email (the one used to join our mailing list)
5. Key in Your Phone Number, Your Child’s Name, Your Child’s Birthday
6. Click Submit
7. Once the photo shows up, click Done

For enquires, please email support@todaysmotherhood.com

Select an image to upload:	Browse for file  Enter URL Import Image by URL
Caption:
Your Name:
Your Email:
Your Phone:
Your Child's name::
Your Child's birthday:

4.  Gabriella Ng

3.  Erika

2.  Gordon Gooi

1.  Shannon Toh

Giving birth to your baby does not mean the end for the connection between him and the doctor. The fact is, it is more crucial for the baby to see his pediatrician a few weeks after birth in order to keep track of his growth and development. Your first baby doctor visit will see to it that your baby is having the right kind and amount of food he needs to properly develop and mature. This could also be your chance to ask the doctor some questions regarding your baby’s health and condition.

There are many reasons why you need to bring your baby to the pediatrician two weeks after birth. Growth check is essential and your baby should be weighed and measured in order to know if he is growing properly. Your pediatrician will also have the chance to check on little progress which your baby is showing like reacting to simple noises, following moving objects with his eyes, and lifting his head.

Once you are headed to the pediatrician, you should be able to make sure that you do the following:

• Bring some books and toys to keep your baby away from boredom while you stay in the waiting area.
• Be sure to make a list of the things you want to now and to clarify with your doctor. This is your great chance to ask for certain issues that concern your baby. Your doctor is an authority when it comes to baby protection and welfare.
• If in case the baby is sick, you should take note of some details including symptoms and frequency of attacks or when they occur.
• Speak up for your child. He has no ability to speak for himself that is why you need to be sensitive about his feelings and needs.
• Avoid Monday or Friday appointments because these days are packed with sick kids who have waited to see the doctor for the week or who is in a rush to be checked.
• Make a schedule in the morning. As the day progresses, more and more patients will be enlisted down. You wouldn’t want to wait in the long line with your baby crying out of boredom.
• You should expect the baby to wail as hard as he can once he is given some vaccination shots. Try all means to calm him down and assure him that you are always by his side to comfort him.

Baby doctor visit can be threatening to them but once you have scheduled a check up, see to it that you have fed the baby before proceeding to the clinic or the hospital. The feeding promotes intimate bonds that ease the baby discomforts. Preparing for the visit is ensuring a worthwhile experience for you and your baby. Keep him safe and protected as you work out for his general welfare and good health.

More Related Posts

Petra Education Centre was established in 1997 with proven track record now opening in April 2010 at

51 Thomson Road 153-B Goldhill Centre Singapore 307607

For enquires or registration, please contact 64639500

or email to info@petraedu.com

Website : www.petraedu.com

Our courses include Petra Phonics and Creative Writing Enrichment

View Larger Map

Mothering is a crucial lifestyle and personality role. What makes mothering more unique is that the burdens of the job are actually its joys and fulfillment.

Even if we spend the entire days of our lives serving and taking care of our children without even asking something in return is nothing for us but a noble mission. Yet mothers need some time out of chores and family responsibilities for a while in order to regain the strength and become tougher for any tasks ahead.

Sometimes mothers and mothers-to-be may go through a period of unsettlement and even depression due to changing circumstances which may trigger old memories. Some may have to wrestle with relationships issues with their children, their husbands or even in-laws.

In the past, such women did not have much avenue for relief. Now there are many self-help groups to cater to their needs. However, one overlooked area is the mutual and emotional wellbeing which can be enhanced through therapeutic hypnosis/ hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy is the latest scientifically proven way to resolve mental, physical and emotional challenges. It is a good way to deal with anger, guilt, fear and pain issues. It is also good for HypnoBirthing, a relatively painless way to give birth. Person with anxiety, depression, procrastination, bad habits and other related issues can also seek help from hypnotherapists.

One such well known hypnotherapist, Fauziah Shah is the founder of Petra Hypnosis & Training Centre and Advanced Institute of Complementary Healthcare. She conducts short courses on self hypnosis for individuals who wish to de-stress and/or deprogram their minds and reprogram themselves for success. In addition, she also provides one-on-one consultation and conducts other short courses for health and well-being. For more information, please check out the Petra Website – www.petrahypnosis.com

Address: 203-A Goldhill Centre, 51 Thomson Road, Singapore 307636

Tel: 64639500/ 91000432

View Larger Map

Back to Top