Parenting on Purpose

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…” “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare When master storyteller Aesop first presented his fables more than 2,000 years ago, he imbued them with a sense of justice and morality. This collection of more than 600 tales often served as a moral compass to guide people towards thinking of others rather than solely about themselves. I Theatre, in its usual tradition of seeking out stories with moral values, has taken eight of these tales, and transformed them into dramatic pieces that children and adults alike can relate with. This is done through the ensemble actors of the travelling Crowfoot Troupe, who attempt to tell the stories in a manner that is sometimes humorous but at other times seriously sombre. Artistic Director Brian Seward adopts elements of the Brechtian tradition in this production. Actors were encouraged to ...

To say that these past few weeks have been difficult for us is an understatement. We have been embroiled in one tantrum after another; when the 4/1/2-year-old finishes his screaming match, the 2/1/2-year-old begins his own song and dance. And just when Daddy and Mummy think that everything is ok, one brother decides to snatch an item from the other, and the entire process is repeated once again. There seems to have been no respite for us. As I mused earlier this month on Facebook:  The best Valentines' Day gift this year was when my in-laws offered to take the kids overnight today. Much needed respite after a tiring few weeks. Brothers are great to fool around with; but they are can sometimes also be a formidable fighting opponent. There are two options to take when everything seems to go wrong in your parenting. You either choose to give up and outsource the problem to your spouse or childcare centre, or you make the conscious decision of digging in your heels, readi...

Adventuring into a world of darkness in order to discover the worlds of heat and light! It's been an exciting time on the homeschooling front for us. Mark and I attended our first homeschooling conference right here in Singapore, with at least 50 other homeschool parents and their kids. The guest speaker Heather Shirley is one of the CEOs of Classical Conversations, Inc. , based in the US. It's a curriculum that our family has decided to embark on starting August this year, as a community with 6 other families. We can't wait! The Classical Conversations Parent Practicum was more than what we thought it would be about. More than just covering the curriculum, it dealt with the much bigger picture of the core of education and what learning is all about. It dealt with the heart issues of us parents, and how we are often more like slave masters or sledge hammers, drilling Science and Math concepts into the brains of our children, rather than gently wooing them with an ...

"I don't want Daddy!" yelled the 4-year-old boy. "Mummy! I need you!" he cried. As if to add salt to the injury, his 2-year-old brother echoed: "Go away, Daddy! Don't change me!" It was a Saturday afternoon. One of those  days. We had just come back from a lovely time at the park. The sun was not too hot, there was a gentle breeze, the kids had a great picnic and a good walking workout. There was however one problem; both needed to sleep and were extremely grouchy. Enjoying a picnic in the park - the calm before the storm. There had been tantrums; many of them. Both boys were fussing and arguing over what music to listen to in the car, who to hold their hand in the carpark, and what clothes to change into after coming home.  Daddy and Mummy were exhausted; and Daddy was all ready to give both boys a huge spanking for their lack of obedience and total lack of respect. After all, Daddy had been the one providing for their every n...

It has been an oh-so-difficult couple of weeks on the parenting front. We are all adjusting to a new routine in the new year, and our boys have seemed to be exceptionally whiny and cranky these few days. Whining, squabbling, having meltdowns... handling each of these moments has left Mark and I feeling physically tired and emotionally drained. In the midst of it all, we found ourselves on Saturday morning at Labrador Park, feasting on sausages and hash browns under a tree, letting the boys wander around and explore the grassy patch nearby. They started collecting stones and throwing them into the sea, and after awhile decided to build a tower with the stones.  Enjoying a simple picnic by the waterfront. In a moment of inspiration, Mark said that we should build an altar and let it signify a time of surrendering our family once again to the Lord. We did so, taking turns to remember God's promises to our family and laying down a stone each, ending the time by wo...

The Last of the Tuarts As the sun headed towards the horizon, we made the best use of the daylight hours to stop at the delightful Tuart Forest National Park. The Roaming Down Under  website provides this interesting history about the Ludlow Tuart Forest: Once upon a time, the main road between Bunbury and Busselton in Western Australia passed right through the Ludlow Tuart Forest. The railway did too, so anyone in WA who ever went "down south" knew what a tuart tree looked like. You couldn't miss them, the way they grew almost to the edge of the bitumen. Times have changed. The railway is long gone, and a busy bypass takes traffic quickly around the edge of the forest. To see the tuart trees means diverting onto the overlooked old road ... but it's well worth the detour for anyone with an appreciation of Australia's unique trees. Tuart trees are native only to the coastal plain between Busselton and Jurien in the south west of Western Australia. They gr...