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A Family United By Facebook
Dear Xander, We are a family united by humour. Love, Dad Okay, I’m cheating; it’s an image of words. Still… Link to the NBA-Singapore article (via TodayOnline)
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What You Should Do When I Die
DO NOT give me a funeral wake - no prayers, no incense, no burning of offerings (if it turns out they have an economy where I'm going I'll e-mail you and let you know). I want a funeral PARTY - with luck, I will have pre-arranged a booking for one night with a restaurant that has a good 8-course menu, a bar, a good collection of beer, liquor and soft drinks and allows us to put a casket with a dead person in it on their premises for one evening.
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Active Fatherhood: An Uphill Battle
Dads don’t have it easy in Singapore. (Bear with me ladies; there is a silver lining.) While mothers (who, under the Child Development Co-Savings Act, get up to 16 weeks maternity leave) get an entire section dedicated to maternity leave entitlement on the Ministry of Manpower’s website, dear old dad gets a less-than-honorary mention at the bottom of their Annual Leave page stating: “There is no statutory entitlement for… paternity… leave under the Employment Act. The entitlement to such leave depends on what is in the employment contract or agreed mutually between employer and employee.” So in short, if you’re looking for a good paternity leave package (employment contracts will…
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Your Web 2.0 Life
Dear Xander, At 3 years of age, you have yet to understand the extent of the online presence you may have. 3 days after you were born, I saw fit to provide you with the Holy Trinity of the Web 2.0 world of my time; I decided to register a Google account under your name, create a Facebook profile and even a Twitter account for you. When you turned 3, I decided to register a domain name for your birthday present, and xander.sg was booked in your honour (as is xndr.sg, in case you wanted to be lazy). That is also essentially how Dear Xander came to be. Recently, I…
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Happy Mothers Day
Dear Xander, I have been told on a number of occasions by a number of people (I count 3 so far; your eldest aunt – my eldest sister – and both your grandparents) what an unfilial son I have become, particularly after I settled down, had my own family and am struggling to keep things afloat financially whilst trying to ensure the happiness of those that matter to me. I know the sacrifices parents make first hand because I see and make very much the same sacrifices with our own son. This isn’t a day to mark up your filial piety a few notches to show your appreciation to your…
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Review: Dads for Life Conference 2012
If it wasn't for the need to find something to talk about in Blogfathers!, I would most probably have avoided the event for fear that it might turn into a very large self-help group meeting complete with confessions, crying and excessive group-hugging. But go I did, and I found about 800 men (plus a handful of wives) apparently not sharing the sane trepidations i had about the event. Regardless, I found myself leaving with much more than I bargained for.
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Happy Mother’s Day!
I have been told on a number of occasions by a number of people (I count 3 so far; my eldest sister, my dad, and my, er, mum) what an unfilial son I have become, particularly after I settled down, had my own family and am struggling to keep things afloat financially whilst trying to ensure the happiness of those that matter to me. I know the sacrifices parents make first hand because I see and make very much the same sacrifices with our own son. This isn’t a day to mark up your filial piety a few notches to show your appreciation to your mother; you should be doing…
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Y U No Share?
Getting your toddler to play well with others is always a challenge; most, if not all of the time, it’s because the kid hasn’t learnt the concept of sharing. Young Parents has published an article explaining that this is a normal developmental process in children, and where the difficulty lies: When you think about it, sharing doesn?t actually make logical sense anyway. It involves your child giving away something he likes, without any promise of anything in return ? and maybe not even the item he shared in the first place! The right approach to this starts from home; the article teaches parents how to inculcate sharing in your child…
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Have a Little Faith
Amidst the current affairs commentary and general horsing around, Mr Brown doesn't delve into his family life very often, particularly when it comes to his autistic 11-year-old girl Faith. But when he does,... well, see for yourself.
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Don’t Push: Avoiding the Rush in Developing Your Child
This is the 3rd in a 6-part series of articles based on the public lecture conducted at the National Library on 16 April 2012 by Professor Steven Pfeiffer entitled “Raising a Successful Child”; the content herein is reproduced with permission from Professor Pfeiffer and the National Library Board. As parents, we naturally only want the best for our children, to love them, encourage them, do everything we can do to ultimately see them do well and become successful individuals. But as we uphold these values and expectations of good grades, doing things correctly and success in general, we need to be careful that we don’t unduly rush or push our…
