Today’s Motherhood

Recycle Your Books at the Book Exchange 2011!

Name of event: Book Exchange 2011
Date: 16 April 2011
Time: 8.30am – 6.00pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building , 100 Victoria Street, Singapore 188064

Description: Book Exchange 2011, held in conjunction with the World Book and Copyright Day, is back for the third year!

Members of the public can drop off their used book at NLB’s 23 public libraries from 2 to 15 April, 11.00 am to 8.00pm and get a coupon for every book accepted. Simply present the coupons at the Book Exchange on 16 April for a one-for-one exchange of books. Each person can redeem up to 50 coupons.

Adults’ and children’s fiction and non-fiction books in the four official languages are accepted. Used books for exchange should be in a relatively good physical condition. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual items are not accepted.

In line with the Book Exchange’s green focus, participants are encouraged to bring their own bags as no carriers will be provided at the event.

For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg

Nurture Kids is an enrichment centre providing social and emotional coaching for children. The programme was adapted from The Incredible Years programme, an award-winning USA child social skills training system, stemming from more than two decades’ worth of research, studies and medical expertise.

Registered with the Ministry of Education, Nurture Kids has adapted The Incredible Years programme to fit the needs of children in fast-paced Singapore. The Nurture Kids approach reinforces the 5 domains identified in MOE’s framework for Nurturing Our Children for the Future.

Nurture Kids aims to empower every child with emotional intelligence for academic and lifelong success. Strong foundations are set by providing a vibrant, conducive and supportive learning environment for the children, as well as working in partnership with schools and families to ensure each child’s comprehensive and effective EQ growth.

Other programmes include EQ testing, Behaviour Management and Social Skills Intervention.

Website : www.nurturekids.com.sg
Tel : 62884823
Address : Blk 211 Hougang St 21 #01-297 Singapore 530211

View Larger Map

Nurture Kids will be having FREE Trial Class in Singapore as below

Emotional Intelligence for Kids

Little Sprout (5-6 years old)
31 Mar, Thursday 9:00am-10:30am

Little Seedling (3-4 years old)
1 Apr, Friday 1:30pm- 3:00pm

To register, email enquiry@nurturekids.com.sg and provide child’s name, date of birth, parent’s name & contact number

GymnAdemics April Showers - Unlimited Classes! Limited to 1st 30 Kids!

1 hour classes per day everyday from Wednesday to Sunday for the whole month of Apr 2011. Suitable for all babies from 6 months to 6 years.

ONLY at S$488. Excludes registration fee.

For more information, please call 6659-0307 / 08 or email : info@gymnademics.com. Visit www.gymnademics.com

Terms and Conditions Apply

Feedback by parents

Both my husband and I would like to express our biggest thank you and appreciation to Teacher Mark & Teacher Derrick for their facilitation, positive energy and never ending support in handling the March 2011 promotion for Bambino class with the babies as well as communicating the teaching practices to the parents. We truly enjoyed the sessions and my son has gained many learning oppourtunities through the different exercises conducted throughout the hour. We have witnessed together with the teachers’ input over this short period of time about my son’s soon to be crawling development. He is now creeping and crawling at times, and even amazed both teachers and parents with his ability to do so ,within two weeks of attending classes.

Great job to the team of professional teachers!;) Keep up the great work.

Ash & Nash
Parents of Wan Aaqil Nawfal 6 month old when he first joined in

Kids Cover Looks will be having Kids / Baby Models Portfolio Promotion @S$58 instead of the usual S$178.

For babies / children age 6 months to 7 years old

Promotion valid till 30 May 2011

Kindly call +65-6235 4993 for appointment and present this page for your kid’s photo session

Address : 545 Orchard Road #05-13 Far East Shopping Centre Singapore 238882

Careermums invites all mothers to join us in this inaugural career event! Meet some of the country’s most progressive companies that are offering flexible work arrangements. Learn how to incorporate the art of Work-Life Balance in your lives by attending our specially prepared “Mums Workshop“.

Register and find out more at www.careermums.com.sg/minglingsessionformum

There’s a new way of doing business these days – partnering the new breed of women professionals. Talented, motivated & experienced, this new generation of women is opting to chart new territories on their career path. No longer does having a career force them to sacrifice family time. Neither does it mean giving up family time for a career.

“Flexiwork Mums Mingling Session” is jointly organized by Careermums and Mums@Work (Singapore) and is an inaugural career event for MOTHERS. it offers a unique opportunity to bring together some of the country’s most progressive companies and a pool of talented, experienced and dedicated working mums who are opting for a flexi-work arrangement to fulfill their life goals.

A total of 25 – 30 employers, together with 100 – 120 mothers are expected to attend this ‘Mingling Session’. This is the opportunity for Mums to learn of future Flexiwork opportunities and for employers to meet with potential candidates and to find out how the Singapore workforce is evolving.

Employers from progressive companies, who are open to the idea of hiring people for various Flexi-work roles, such as job-sharing, telecommuting, part-time work and other work-from-home solutions. Mums whom are Professionals & Executives (diploma holders, degree holders and above) exploring the possibility of Flexi-work roles and a chance to put all your years of work experience to good use!

This is not your ordinary job fair. It’s a networking platform, kept “free and easy” with no ceremony or job booths. Each company will be provided with a bistro table to allow easy mingling.

WHEN?
29 April (Friday) 2:30pm – 5:30pm

WHERE?
Function Room 3, Drama Centre Level 3
National Library Building (100 Victoria Street)

PROGRAMME:
2:30pm Employer Registration
2:45pm Employer Workshop “Implementing Flexible work arrangements” (30min)
3:00pm Mums Registration
3:30pm NETWORKING BEGINS
5:00pm Mums Workshop “Achieving Flexibility@Work”
5:30pm End of Event

For MOTHERS who wish to attend the event, please visit:
http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event

* Registration before and on 15 April is $15.50 (and $25.50 after 15 April)
For EMPLOYERS who wish to participate in the event, please visit: http://www.careermums.com.sg/minglingsession

*Employers can register for free before or on 15 April. (Registrations after 15 April are subjected to a $20 surcharge)

Kooshi is having a special promotion and stand a chance to win Maldives holiday trip for two.

Promotion Period : 26 Mar to 29 May 2011
Draw Date : 31 May 2011
Time : 7.30pm
Venue : Mandarin Gallery Singapore

Every Kooshi Bikini set purchase qualifies for one chance

For more information, visit www.kooshi.com

Terms and conditions apply

Six-year-old pre-schoolers plan donation drive to raise funds for the victims in Japan

1. Twenty-nine Kindergarten Two (K2) pre-schoolers at The Little Skool-House International (LSH) By-the-Vista are doing their part to help the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. Over a period of two weeks (21 March – 5 April 2011), they will raise funds by helping their parents with household chores such as sweeping the floor, folding clothes, washing dishes. After tallying the total funds collected, contributions will be made to the Singapore Red Cross Society.

Little Tots With A Big Heart

2. As part of the LSH literature-based curriculum, the K2 students from LSH By-the-Vista engaged in a meaningful spin-off activity from a storybook entitled “Forgotten Forest”, which touches on global warming. Through the story, students learnt about natural disasters, the cause and effect of human actions that harm or benefit the environment. As an extension to the lesson, a newspaper article on the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan was read to the students to further illustrate the topic.

3. After listening to the article, the students felt for the victims and wanted to lend a hand to help them. During a class discussion, they decided to conduct a japan earthquake fundraising activity to pool a sum of money to the Singapore Red Cross Society for the victims in Japan. With the facilitation of their teachers, the K2 students started to brainstorm ideas and concluded that they will raise funds by helping with household chores at home. Appended to this release are drawings done by the students on what they plan to do at home to raise funds.

About The Little Skool House International

The Little Skool-House International Pte Ltd was established in 1994 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) First Campus Co-operative Limited to meet the growing demand of quality premium pre-school education. Operating at choice locations such as community clubs, shopping malls, private residential estates and workplaces across Singapore, The Little Skool-House has 16 centres with more than 1,700 children. We pioneered Singapore’s first literature-based bilingual curriculum which uses meaningful children’s literature as a key medium to seed the learning process in children and to help them develop life-long learning skills; and expanded it with a project-based approach component that provides a platform for children to apply their skills and concepts in real life settings. Our commitment and track record in delivering quality early childhood education has made us the partner of choice to Government ministries, tertiary institutions, hospitals and private corporations.

Drawings by K2 students of Little Skool-House International (LSH) By-the-Vista on household chores that they will do at home to help raise funds

Being a father can also be a huge struggle. For most men, being a father is an overwhelming role transformation. The primary reason cited by experts is that with the addition of a new child in the family, a woman’s attention is no longer focused on him, but on the child. Furthermore, the dynamics of a couple’s life will change in all aspects, in terms of their marital relationship, sexual frequency and financial priorities.

Here are tips to help the men out there to be aspiring fathers.

• Evaluate your priorities. See to it that you have sufficient time for work, your wife and your children. These are three main aspects of your life. If you think your work demands more time, talk to your family about it.

• Show your children that they are needed and welcomed. Spend time together as a family at home. Do some household chores together such as cleaning the car or cooking.

• Engage in play. Most children view their fathers as tough and stern. When you laugh and play with them, they will see you beyond your tough exterior.

• Get involved. Sit with your children as they do their homework or when they watch TV. Children express a great deal of feelings and ideas in their conversations during day to day activities.

• Tell bedtime stories. Narrating your own childhood to your children during bedtime can be a great bedtime story.

• Avoid physical punishments. Earn your children’s respect by being firm and consistent with house rules. Children can obey without being beaten or spanked.

• Make little surprises. Surprise your wife and children when you come home from work – buy them a cake or ice cream which can be indulged by the whole family.

• State what you want. Avoid giving your children the ‘silent treatment’ as they might think that you are pushing them away.

• Listen to what your young ones have to say. Fathers are house authorities and call the shots but that doesn’t mean children do not have bright ideas. Listen to what your children have to say when they voice out their opinions.

Parenthood is a lifelong journey. For all those fathers-to-be or fathers out there, we leave you with an inspiring quote by Angelo Patri on fatherhood: “The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood must turn back from the plane of his experience, take with him the fruits of his journey and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road.”

Do you always feel so lethargic at work even if you think you have 8 hours of sleep every night? Do you envy your colleagues who can make do with lesser sleep and still look very fresh and charged? The answer can be found in your bedroom Feng Shui – a Chinese ancient science that taps on environmental energies to create results.

In this article, I will discuss the causes of poor quality of sleep from a Feng Shui perspective and at the same time share with you some do’s and don’ts in the bedroom so that you can rest better throughout the night.

Poor quality of sleep, in the long term, can lead to daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, fatigue and adversely affect the cognitive function. It may also cause you to feel blue and depressed more easily. To arrest the problem, Feng Shui Practitioners like us first zoom into the yin and yang of the bedroom.

Tranquility is an important ingredient and hence if the room is too yang, it will disturb the sleep of the occupants, including your child, because the brain is usually active even when the person is asleep. It also results in a lot of unpleasant dreams. Yang is associated with movement, brightness and activities. So, it is not advisable for the room to be too bright or to have too many windows.

One also should not install TV or any water feature in the room as these are perceived as activities. Contrary to popular belief, having your bed facing a mirror does not contravene any Feng Shui rules since mirror has got nothing to do with the ancient science.

While we do not want the room to be too yang, we also do not want the room to be too yin. Remember, Feng Shui calls for balance. Yin is associated with darkness, cold and stillness. A house or a room which is too yin often leads to mental health issues like hallucination and depression – besides poor sleep.

A typical cause of overly yin situation will be a lack of penetration of sunlight into the house or bedroom due to overgrown foliage outside the window. For people staying in the high rise apartment or flats, it can be attributed to the gloomy corridor. The problem will be exacerbated if the room is coupled with the strong presence of yin energies in accordance to our calculation.

An easy solution is to trim the leaves outside your windows and keep the entrance of your house well-lit. Painting your room with bright red or orange, however, do not solve this Feng Shui issue.

The position of the bed can be the next reason for not having the well-deserved rest after a whole day of work. The location of the bed and the direction your body is pointing to play a very important role in achieving a good Feng Shui for your bedroom.

On this, you need a Feng Shui Consultant to assess the house and plot the energy chart so as to recommend the best location and direction for you to sleep. We spend about 8 hours every day there and whether one can live healthily and achieve longevity really depends on the bedroom Feng Shui.

As a simple Feng Shui rule-of-thumb, it is advisable for you not to:

• sleep with the bed head against the wall with windows; bed head should be placed against the solid wall
• sleep with your head under the beam as it will cause migraine and stress
• sleep directly next to the room door as the flow of qi or energy is relatively fast from the door which will disturb your sleep

In the study of Feng Shui, bedroom is one of the most important factors to consider besides main door and stove. Start looking into your bedroom now to have a energetic new year ahead.

This article was first published in Today’s Motherhood Magazine Feb  / Mar 2011 issue Page 28

Jo Ching is the Principal Consultant of DestinyAsia Global Consultancy – a feng shui firm that creates opportunities and results for individual, families and business owners. Coming from a reputable lineage, Master Jo is also a trainer that coaches enthusiasts and practitioners on advance feng shui and bazi techniques. You can visit his website or contact him as follows:

Website : www.destinyasia.com.sg
Blog : jo-ching.blogspot.com
Mobile : +65-97982675
Email : joching@destinyasia.com.sg