Parenting on Purpose

My wife Sue recently tagged me in one of the latest challenges that have been going around social media. It's called the "5 Days of Blessings" challenge, and the idea is to share 3 things that you are thankful for during the course of 5 days, and to tag 3 people to join you in the process. I'm on Day 2 of the challenge and this was my Facebook update: Today I give thanks for the simple pleasures of life: 1) For the privilege of driving my wife  Sue  to her counselling sessions each week; enjoying the long drive in the car while listening to our newest favourite radio station Lite 94.6FM and partaking in some of the most meaningful conversations about life, love, marriage and parenting :) 2) For the simple joy of sitting at a coffee shop and tucking into my morning nourishment of a good book, enjoyed with a coney dog, hash brown and a glass of Kopi O Bing. 3) For the privilege of reflecting on life, on parenting; and being blessed with the gift of wri...

This article was written for Little Day Out, a Singapore-based family portal.  Little Day Out chats with Puss in Boots’ songwriter Bang Wenfu, and gets into the groove of how music makes a musical sing… “Every piece of music I write must have heart and soul. In theatre, writing without heart and soul is a crime. The songs must touch the audience as much as the story and performance.” I Theatre’s resident songwriter Bang Wenfu is a veteran in the music scene. He is local artiste Kit Chan’s close collaborator, and has written numerous hit songs for luminaries such as Jacky Cheung, S.H.E. and Stefanie Sun among others. Wenfu is also a seasoned music director and producer, having led the musical charge for the inaugural Singapore Day in New York in 2007 as well as the 2009 Total Defence mini-musical at Suntec City. Given his extensive composing experience in the commercial world, what then is the difference when writing for the drama stage? “In musical theatre, cohere...

Recently I received an email from a British lady, Lucy Crehan, who was enquiring about an article I had written regarding the Singapore education system more than 15 years ago. Over the years I have received several queries about my written work, and it has always been an interesting process engaging in this way with people around the world. This time it was different. Lucy wanted to meet up for coffee to discuss how things have changed over the last 15 years. Lucy Crehan is an education consultant who is in the process of writing a book about top performing education systems such as Finland, Canada and Singapore, and how they compare with her home country, the United Kingdom. She has written a blog to chronicle the process, and her findings can be found here . It was a good half-hour or so with Lucy, and while she asked me many questions about the evolving nature of education in Singapore, I also got an opportunity to find out more about her work both as an educator and...