Parenting on Purpose

Quote of the Day: One of my favorite actors, Robin Williams, has passed away at the age of 63. The news was particularly sad for me, as Williams died of an apparent suicide.  I will always remember Williams in one of my favourite movies of all time - "Dead Poets' Society" where William plays the role of an inspirational teacher. I will always remember the scene when he stands on the desk and challenges his students to call him "O Captain, my Captain". This was a call for his students to stand up against the conformity of the world and to choose to lead their own lives as thinking individuals. Then there was the epic movie "Good Will Hunting". I remember the movie most pointedly during the time I was studying for my course on Counselling Psychology. The protagonist Will Hunting was being sent to various counsellors because of his behavioural problems. And all of these sessions failed because the counsellors refused to listen to Will; each ...

Quote of the Day: What do we deposit in the memory banks of our children? What will they remember after years and decades have gone by? I believe the experiences we deposit in their hearts will stand the test of time. After all that's what childhood is made up of...

Quote of the Day: When all has been said and done, what are you leaving behind for your children? We believe that children need to develop a spirit of reverence - for God and for others.

The little boy squealed in delight. Mirroring his Daddy and Mummy, he mouthed the words of a song so familar to him, all complete with corresponding hand actions. The 2-year-old then lifted his hands and launched a purposeful punch into the air. "Yeah!" he cried. It was Sunday evening. The day was almost done, and little Z was in his cosy room, having an enjoyable time singing songs. Daddy and Mummy had initiated this special time because they wanted to create a new family ritual. The singing was the penultimate activity before bed. It was just before the nightly prayer time that they had always been spending with him as far back as they could remember. But that night was only the third such song session, and the first with the animated hand gestures. And judging from Z's exuberant response, Daddy and Mummy knew that they were indeed doing the right thing, that they were creating a special time to teach their son how to honour the most important person in their live...

My Uncle Ann passed away last week. He was 63. If you were a casual visitor to his wake, and listened to all the eulogies by his mother, siblings, children and friends, one word would echo about Joe Tan Kim Ann - "generous". A man of very few words, Uncle Ann went out of his way to help others, quite often at his own personal expense. Many a story was told of how Uncle Ann would take in a person on the street and invited him to work at his cleaning company - "just because". And there were the times when he loaned out money to those in need, sometimes without them ever returning him the cash. I was a recepient of this generosity as well - many a time I would ask him for help to move furniture from one location to another, and he would always comply, offering his men and his van to help me transport the items. And when I asked how much I should pay, all he said was, "Just give the men coffee money - that's enough." On the last occassion almost fiv...