SweetieTots » On My Kids

Does your kid’s teacher(s) has passion for teaching children?

小猫 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:42:28 +0000

Miloboy’s Primary One teacher last year (in year 2009), is someone who really has a passion with teaching kids. She alerts me of Miloboy’s condition and she keeps Miloboy’s attention in check, letting him sit in the middle of the classroom and getting the class’s probably best student, to help supervise Miloboy’s attention span.

I am really very glad that she did all these that she makes me feel a bit apologetic to the girl who helps to “supervise” my boy. But, when I heard that she took Miloboy’s stationery without permission from Miloboy, I tell myself, well, she got her “payment”. Don’t feel too bad about it….

How I wish she’s teaching Miloboy this year. Well, sometimes, you just have to accept the fact that Life is full of up and downs. You do not get someone as good as that teacher every year. If your children do, you must be the world’s luckiest parent!

This year, Miloboy’s teacher made him sit right at the corner of the classroom, which is also the “backdoor” of the class. You can imagine, an ADHD kid, it is pretty hard for him to concentrate at a position like this. I must say that Miloboy has done well. So far, he only “forgotten” to takedown his homework 3 times….. Trust me, he really improved compared to last year….

I did alert the teacher. He KNEW about this. He even acknowledged it. I was a bit surprised to know that Miloboy is not sitting somewhere that the teacher can help to monitor him. Then again, he has NO obligation to help Miloboy.

Also, those kids sitting beside Miloboy also seems to have the same problem, maybe milder than Miloboy. This is because, they also seem to heck care or not aware of what is happening around them. (Happens to most ADHD and Autism kids)

My only conclusion is, if a teacher who has passion for teaching children, he/she will want the best out of everyone. Miloboy’s teacher this year seems disorganized and have not much passion for teaching…. pretty much from what I have seen and conversed with him so far….

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Need Something to Perk Me Up

小猫 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:12:12 +0000

I did something that makes me feel so bad this week.

I am not sure why I did that.

But somehow, I know I wanted my boy to grow up and be a person who is able to protect himself.

Nowadays, I talk to him nicely, and I can find immediate improvement in his behaviour.

Its not easy as he really exhibits real poor awareness and a bit of unbalanced behaviour towards his sister that I sometimes wished that Miloboy is not my son.

It is as bad as it is, but life still goes on, and nothing is changed, so, get back up and perserve, no matter what…

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Overprotective Over Children Does More Harm Than Good

小猫 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:47:35 +0000

I have thinking of writing a post on this.

My kids, especially Miloboy, has been overprotected. Not by me, but no point crying over spilled milk. I have been trying to guide them to be independent, bit by bit, so that the kids will not react defensively to me. Ever since I quit, I have been doing that.

There are trying times too. Sometimes the kids refuse to budge, cos they have been ‘pampered’ for at least 5 years of their life. Needless to say, Miloboy’s case is the most serious, I have to keep trying and trying.

Basic stuff like wearing own socks and shoes are perfectly fine for Miloboy now. He even brings out his own uniform to try wearing them himself ever since school reopens. It’s a great improvement! You see, I also got to ‘convince’ others to stop helping Miloboy. That’s why its taking me a long time to get Miloboy to do things himself, and does it well.

Miloboy now eats himself at the dinner table. Very significant improvement since school reopens.

Sweetie is doing well. Now waiting for her to get used to bathing by herself. She enjoys school, enjoys company, enjoys her teacher’s jokes and she seems very happy to go to school now. Compared to the first month, she sometimes cry when she misses me a lot. hehe

Her only problem is her emotional up and downs.

As for Miloboy, I need to hang on and control my temper when I see ’someone’ helping him. I had to talk to Miloboy separately to express my concerns.

Overprotection also causes problems when it comes to writing journals, dairy or a short story. The kids becomes not so creative and they will have problems when it comes to story writing, or we can call it a short composition. Primary One and Two children need to do this in school.

Parents have to be especially careful when handling and managing such kids. Miloboy sometimes makes me feel that everything I do is futile. But it is really not the case. Perserve on and you will see results, it just comes slowly.

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A Simple Tip On Teaching Our Children

小猫 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:08:49 +0000

I met the mother of my daughter’s classmate yesterday. she is very very interested in education for children and she likes to deal with children.

She happened to be one of the playgroup teacher of Miloboy when he was 3 years old.

She shared with me a simple tip while chatting yesterday. She knew I am concerned with the kids’ mother tongue.

She recommended teaching the kids, say, 3 words/characters a day. She told that this method is easy and fast and should not be too much of a problem. Like me, she believes in instilling interest when learning.

Learning through play is best. I totally agree with that. I will try it and post the results.

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Speech & Occupational Therapy For ADHD Kids

小猫 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:00:03 +0000

Miloboy is currently undergoing Speech & Occupational Therapy as recommended by his Doc over at Child Guidance Clinic. Miloboy is slowly improving, at his own pace. I would like to share some of the activities we did.

Do note all of the below things I did are ‘customised’ for Miloboy.

Activity #1 – Playground Helps To Channel Excess Energy

I find bringing him to the playground very good to help him fall asleep at night, especially on days where he uses much energy, such as playing chasing. The sessions last 45 mins each and there’s plenty of recommendations by the therapists to do at home with Miloboy.

But, the therapists do warn that we should not force the kids when they do not want to.

It is not easy to get ADHD kids to do homework. Same for those “exercises” that the therapists ask me to.

Activity #2 – Read Out Loud

Tip – Praise & Encouragement For The Kids

Miloboy knew he could not read very well. Sometimes, when he is stressed up, he stammers and tends to read the same word twice in a sentence. But when he is relaxed, he can actually read quite well. I do strongly suggest PRAISE & ENCOURAGEMENT for all kids when they did well. It works for Miloboy.

Activity #3 – Star Jumps For Hand Leg Coordination

I will also do Star Jumps with Miloboy to improve his hand leg coordination. But Miloboy does not fancy that. He only did it once (I had asked him to do it with me for 4 days in a row). Got to keep asking…. Don’t give up!

Activity #4 – Paste papers on wall for writing/drawing

I also pasted mahjong papers (white paper) on the walls to get him to write and train his wrist muscles, at the same time, teaching him Past Tense. This is a pretty common activity but Miloboy likes it.

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I will share more activities that we did as we go along. So far Miloboy has gone for 4 therapies for the past one month.I am glad that I am not working so that I can bring him there weekly. Gotta count the blessings.

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Some Photos On The One Week Holiday

小猫 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:15:10 +0000

These are some photos taken during the one week school holiday. ^^

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I like to talk to the kids

小猫 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:55:05 +0000

Today is a rainy day. I thought I can bring them to IMM, a shopping mall that has small playgrounds at the 3rd and 4th level. Unfortunately, due to the rain, I cancelled the plan.

Both kids spent 2 days (yesterday and today) at home… They drew and they played with each other. The funniest thing yesterday was that Sweetie ACTUALLY DREW ON MY WALL……Gosh….

I am not angry with her, really.

I am just …. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry….hehe ^^

The drawings at the wall look kinda nice though. I will upload a picture when I am able to, maybe next week.

The kids are funny. I wanted Miloboy to go take a bath, and he refused. I told him jokingly I will soap him up into a BubbleBoy, and he will smell really good. He retorted back jokingly, “You’ll soap me to death! hahahahahaa”.

We had a good laugh.

I had brought the kids to have a nice lunch on Wednesday. Then we went to look for swimming costumes as I want to sign Miloboy up for swimming lessons. The ADHD Doctor had said that sports will be good for Miloboy. I have not contacted any swimming instructor nor looked for one yet. I will look for one, maybe after the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

PS: I think I forgot to update that the plan to get a Japanese Private Tutor for Sweetie failed. The Japanese teacher contacted me that she was returning to Japan and could not, therefore, take up any more jobs. Sad….

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One Week of School Holidays

小猫 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:48:15 +0000

This week is the school holidays for the kids.

My boy is especially happy. Not so for my girl. She finds staying at home is boring. :p

I brought them to the library on Monday, and also a little art session at one of the shops at Jurong Point. The kids enjoyed it.

On Tuesday, I sprained my neck…. so I brought them to the playground. Unfortunately, the playground is infested with flies as there are food on the floor, everywhere…. The kids ended up staying at home.

Today is Wednesday….my neck is still very painful…. but I think I will bring them out anyway.

Endure Endure….

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The Inattentive Kid

小猫 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:56:12 +0000

I have not been updating for sooo long.

Now for some catch ups. The busy June holidays proved to be too much for my Miloboy. He fell sick for weeks and missed the last lesson of the Classroom Behavioural Skills Course.

But not to worry, Miloboy has always been a good boy. He is just unattentive, and he does behave well at class. And this is a direct feedback from his teacher. ^^

After the course, the Doctor sent him to a Speech Therapist instead, as he found out that Miloboy has trouble expressing himself well. There is still no medication given for his ADHD…. sometimes I really wonder if it is good, cos his inattentiveness at school is still there, and the teacher, I can feel the stress level is increasing.

True enough, just last week, the poor teacher bursted. My poor Miloboy came out of school crying….

I subsequently passed the Survey Questionnaire to the teacher via Miloboy as requested by the Doctor for he needed to know how the teacher think of Miloboy, which was actually sent to the school in February, but there was no response from the school.

Then immediately after this event, the School Counsellor called me up. From her tone, she seemed to think that we, as Miloboy’s parents, ain’t doing enough to help Miloboy overcome his inattentiveness…..

Ultimately, they are worried about the exam, how Miloboy will flunk if he doesn’t concentrate and daydream all the way. But, somehow, it gives me the feeling that they are more concerned about their KPIs….

I was pretty sad by this suggestive thought, “She doesn’t understand ADHD at all“, I told myself.

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Who likes their own kid to be shouted at at school ?

Who likes their kid to be thought of as an idiot ? (although consequently, they realise he is not)

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Tell me about it.

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Prepared For The Busy School Holidays

小猫 — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:08:52 +0000

With the exams over, all parents and kids heaved a sigh of relief and the kids are already in holiday mood, requesting to play games every single day.

The School is preparing the kids for a performance this coming friday and I am looking forward to it. My boy’s class will be having this “Do Re Mi Dancing”, as per what my boy told me. I wonder how it will turn out. He told me it is fun.

Afterthis, it will be the Meet The Parents Session. Got to gather some feedback from Miloboy’s teachers for his ADHD doctor. The June holidays will be very very busy. I will need to shuttle to places as well, the doc recommended a Classroom Survival Skills Course for Miloboy and it will last for 12 days, 5 days per week. Its a one hour session.

I am also looking for a Japanese Language Private Tutor (found one and waiting for a reply) for Sweetie, my elder daughter as she’s very very interested in the Japanese language. If she’s serious about it and doing well, will most probably let her continue.

Ok, its Playground Time for the kiddos. Until next time!