Greetings from Phnom Penh
26 02 2006second day in phnom penh but feels like i’ve been here long time.
nope, and it isn’t becoz we haf nuthing to do here. more like yest was a long long day…pretty eventful & we’ve been up to lots.
finally managed to sort our travel arrangements to siem reap. did tat soon as we got out of the guesthouse…and tat’s after we took a 3 hr nap first…haha
flights for 28th feb were all full so we will end up going to siem reap on mon instead which leaves us wif no time to make the side trip to sihanouville ( beach ). on the plus side, we’ll be there when siyuan arrives & we are going on a short side trip to oudong ( the old capitol of cambodia ) tomolo.
we’ve accomplished quite a lot in the 2 days we’ve been here :
- Royal Palace
- Silver Pagoda
- Independence Monument
- Toul Sleng Museum ( S21 )
- Killing fields
- Russian Market
- Wat Phnom
- Friends restaurant – really a great place to eat!
LJ hasn’t been well…seems to be having stomach flu or food poisoning. gotta go now.
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Haywired Spam Control
23 02 2006Yahoo! Spam Control has gone haywired!
mails tat usually get delivered to my inbox are sent to bulk instead eg. heifer & uob.
and my guesthouse reservation for siem reap too. stressed ah…luckily i spotted it before clearing everything in bulk.
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Laugh for Better Blood Vessels
23 02 2006Laugh your way to better blood vessel function by watching a funny flick.
Laughter relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow — the exact opposite of what your blood vessels do when you are stressed.
In a small study of healthy men and women with normal blood pressure, watching a funny movie increased blood flow by about 22 percent.
If funny movies aren’t your style, spend time with the people who tickle your funny bone.
Marie, having mi as teamie actualli has health benefits coz we giggle so much!
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Tip from Realage
23 02 2006Just because your body is awake, that doesn’t mean your mind is.
Research suggests that most people experience severe cognitive impairment during the first 3 to 10 minutes after waking up.
In fact, mental faculties may not reach peak performance for up to 2 hours after rising.
Give yourself ample time to wake up before tackling tasks requiring concentration or careful thought, such as driving or doing your taxes.
well, i tink i would rather sleep den wake up 2 hrs in advance so i can drive to work…duh!
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Cambodia accomodation
23 02 2006Sigh…my bookings done thru JetStar Asia’s website are unavailable.
Now I am trying to book guesthouses in Cambodia but payment is thru Paypal which I don’t haf.
So troublesome and muz wait for confirmation from guesthouse…not much time to do booking liao. if I dun do during office tomorrow, may not receive confirmation in time.
Duh…and they may haf charged my credit card for it. Wat a mess!
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Special Edition Coke Bottle
22 02 2006
went to zouk wif the gcs colleagues tis evening to celebrate singapore’s haul of the regional awards
marie had coke tat came in special edition coke bottles. i meant to bring it back for my collection but forgot abt it when going home. sigh! and the waitress was so nice to find mi the bottle cap when she heard i wanted the bottle.
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Peculiar Trees
22 02 2006
saw tis cluster of trees when i stopped at the red light…looks like several trees growing together in a cluster
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Qiqi & Yeow Yeow posing on fri nite
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Meaningful Sunday
20 02 2006i am exceptionally hyper tonite though it’s past 2.30 in the morning.
and tis is despite the long day i had tdy. took yeow swimming or rather i sat in the pool & watched him while he ran around playing wif the other kids wif his water gun.
we went marie’s chalet last nite & did a bit of kite flying which he enjoyed. i had offered to bring him to fly kite again tdy but he chose to go swimming instead. the main contributing factor will be his new googles tat we got from kiddy palace last nite.
initially, he didn’t want to learn how to swim at all. he told mi he can move around faster in the pool by running. den he discovered he can see veri clearly underwater whill using the googles.
den he actualli held his breath, ducked his head into the water & walked around the entire feature pool.
on the way back, i heard the DJ, while doing the weather forecast, went “for ppl outside shopping or engaged in outdoors activities, the weather is no good wif thunder storms expected in most parts of the island”. i couldn’t believe my eyes coz i actualli got sunburnt on a day wif bad weather. and it hasn’t rained a drop in pasir ris till now & since morning.
den he helped mi wash the car when we got back. it was hard work & both of us were feeling sleepy after a long day. but he insisted on helping to pack his luggage for penang. i tink i’m overdoing it. he’s got clothes for every day he’s away, as well as some to spare.
as i walked him to his bedroom for bed, he told me tat tdy is very enjoyable for him & he had a lot of fun. suddenly my fatigue is no more.
tdy is also an impt day for my bro in terms of his next carrer move.
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Closed down shop at Aliwal St
18 02 2006i believe in fengshui when it comes to doing business especially for businesses wif a shop front.
coz all too common, we come across locations where the businesses kept winding up.
keypt used to haf such a ill-fated spot where 津津茶餐厅 is located now. the eateries operating there kept winding up their businesses.

another spot is the corner or end of aliwal st where there used to b a stall selling roti prata of many special flavours. den it became a teochew porridge place for a while. oh…before tat, it sold chinese & malay 煮炒 too. now the most recent attempt has failed again & the shop is again vacant wif tables lying around neatly outside the stall as if it will resume operations at any moment.
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Rochor Beancurd
18 02 2006after class last nite, we passed by geylang on the way home so LJ 跳车 to 打包 rochor beancurd for ivy et moi.
so nice! shupin didn’t feel like having it so i finished both bowls..so glutton hor??! yeowyeow had 3 mouthfuls coz i worried he’ll vomit if he eats too much tau huay before bed.
i was conscious tat i’m taking too much sugar syrup by the 2nd bowl so i scooped the syrup into the empty bowl.
quite scary hor? so much syrup from 1 bowl of tau huay & i tink the beancurd looks better wifout syrup!


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OD of Jap
18 02 2006went for the 6.10pm class wif LJ last evening. den we discovered the pace is slower den the 8.30pm class we attended on tue so i ended up having a sneak preview of my class tomolo…sigh
i was starving in class despite having BK for lunch. we met up wif LJ’s batch ger & had dinner at Phin’s. muz go try the newly opened steamboat someday…buffet so muz go when i haf more time.
den i went for the 8.30pm class while LJ hanged ard & waited for mi to finish class.
i haf gone for 4 sat classes so far which are 2 lessons each time. So to summarise the classes i haf
attended :
Sat 14 Jan : Lesson #1 & #2
Sat 22 Jan : Lesson #3 & #4
Sat 4 Feb : Lesson #5 & #6
Sat 11 Feb : Lesson #7 & #8
Tue 14 Feb, 8.30pm class : Lesson #11
Thurs 16 Feb, 6.10pm class : Lesson #10 & 8.30pm class : Lesson#12
Sat 18 Feb : Lesson #9 & #10
utterly messy rite? imagine how lost i was on tue when teacher started doing revision on things i haben learnt! duh!
but at least i’m doing the same stuff so many times tat hopefully, it’ll reinforce my understanding coz i still abit lost at times.
and i have 5 lessons of Jap tis wk…super OverDosed ( OD ) liao
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Otis lift
17 02 2006
ever since i work at concourse, i haf lift phobia.
u noe how ppl rush into lifts at the last min but the lift’s sensors will detect the movement & open the doors?
well, the lifts at concourse is so damn stoopid tat even if u press the lift button as the doors are closing, the doors will not react. many a times, i haf seen ppl being squashed by the lift doors & boy! tat muz be painful given how heavy the doors are.
for the longest time, i suspect the lifts have no sensors watsoever. and i developed lift phobia tat i’ll use my bag to block one side of the lift doors as i enter, to act as a shield, in case the doors insist on closing on mi.
but marie is very brave. she’ll wave her bare hands in between the closing lift doors to activate the sensors to open the doors. how she figured out tat the sensors of the lifts are below waist level, is beyond mi. but i’m still very skeptical tat there’re any sensors in the otis lifts.
tonite, i discovered tat the lift at midland house is oso from otis.
and the gap bet the lift doors were so great i spotted the sensors in between the doors. Yesh! the sensors were really placed very low.
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Marie’s stunts
17 02 2006WOW! juz discovered tdy tat my teamie can perform stunts wif her wrist & fingers.
looks a bit deformed hor? how can anyone bend their wrist backwards like tis?? scratch* scratch*
and her “monkey see monkey do” antics are so funny.
i abit the slow wif such things…still don’t get it leh…haha….muz practise more.
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Self Check counter at Market Place
16 02 2006Comments : Leave a Comment »
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Rochor beancurd & Cats
15 02 2006went for make up class with LJ tdy.
the sat & wkday classes are at such different pace tat i’m confused. i am now at least 2 lessons ahead of my sat class.
haben been doing my homework & much revision. muz put in more efforts.
drove to selegie for rochor beancurd after class. 1st time tat i sat there & enjoy the tau huay!


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Half eaten pears
13 02 2006
tdy’s the 十五 so mum has put some offerings on the altar outside the house.
tis shows wat happened to the pears by the time we got back from the temple. looks like the birds had a feast on the pears.
i am amazed at how ‘neatly’ the birds have pecked at the pear to create tis cavity. i mean they could haf juz pecked randomly & leave the pear pockmarked rite?
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Update on Krispy Kreme
12 02 2006aiyah, i din check LJ’s schedule & turned out tat her flight landed at 1pm instead of 2pm but i happily going to airport at 2pm.
went to pick up the donuts from her place instead.
tis is qiqi in the car to pick up donuts from LJ
moi & qiqi shared 1 donut on the way back to fetch my mum. hehe….it tasted as good as it looks.
den qiqi had 1 more donut when we were at bedok. see, tat’s all tat’s left of qiqi’s 2nd donut which i finished for her. she liked it so much she juz held it herself & munched away happily.
a bit like dunkin’ donuts but definitely taste better.
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Little Pink Riding Hood
12 02 2006
went to buy pampers ( rather it’s diapers coz qiqi wears huggies diapers ) on fri nite after work.
buying pampers & milk powder is quite a family outing for us so i went wif my mum, my sis-in-law & qiqi in tow.
it was drizzling earlier in the afternoon so qiqi wore her little pink bonnet tat makes her look like little pink riding hood.
ya, and ms vainpot was choosy abt her clothes after her shower & was wearing her one of her new year dress. it’s white wif lotsa pink cherries. very cute hor.
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Krispy Kreme
11 02 2006tis will b a SUPER fast posting coz i need to go to the airport again, to pick LJ & my Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!
so exciting….i hope they taste as good as they are legendary…haha
oh, and qiqi is coming along for the doughnuts. gotta run now.
will post pictures of my doughnuts soon…haha
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Neopets VS Maplestory
11 02 2006i d/l maplestory on 31 jan but haben registered & played at all.
somehow, it’s very low on my to do list & besides, i haf been playing neopets slightly more regularly tis wk.
since i haf more den 12,000NP from interest daily, i onli spent about 0.5 hours earning a few thousand NP from my fav games.
i figured tat if i stick to playing a minimum amt of time daily, buy 1000 shares & deposit at least 2000NP, i will at least be working towards my goal of being self-sufficient in neopets.
my definition of being self-sufficient means being able to buy 1000 shares daily. ie. invest at least 15,000 NP & not haf to earn any points to do so.
tat means the 15,000 NP muz be financed by the daily bank interest
so my goal works out to having enuff deposits in the bank so i get at least 15,000 NP daily to invest.
as for maplestory, i juz haf no urge/desire at all to start. i’ll play eventually, juz to see wat it’s abt but i doubt it can replace wat neopets mean to mi.
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Good news and bad news
11 02 2006YT called me yest afternoon wif a piece of news…i was expecting some good news & was shocked/very sad to hear otherwise.
coincidentally, LJ was in town so we gers ( plus HQ ) had a long conf call, complimentary of HQ’s calling card…haha
luckily YT seems to be taking things in her stride & we gers are gonna c her on mon morning, at the airport.
things don’t always happen as planned and altitude makes all the difference in how we deal wif wat comes our way. if we wun let ourselves be defeated by circumstances, we wun be defeated & will emerge stronger & better.
and i forgot abt the good news. the good news is YT has got the mypoints voucher from her bro’s old address. plus, she has used it oredi at Bath & Body Works
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Parking
10 02 2006
Been parking at aliwal st when i drive to work. and my fav lots are juz opp 7-eleven.
was running late for a call & out of paring coupons so i had to tear more coupons during lunch.
there was a lorry in the lot in front of mi so i ended up parking partially into the lot behind.
by lunchtime, the lorry was gone so there was a huge gap between my car & the one in front.
despite my car taking up part of the lot, a nissan march managed to park in the lot behind mi.
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I HATE Spam!!
9 02 2006I hate spam, be it email or sms.
u noe how there’re so many different kind of spam email now.
there’s the regular chain email tat claims tat some big company is gifing away free stuff if u forward the mail & CC the company.
and the nigeria scam tat involves emails tat tell u u inherited some money or they need ur help to claim some ‘unclaimed’ money. but first u need to pay a small fee for it. sounds incredible?? the australians haf lost millions to the nigeria scam.
den there’s phishing. i got such a mail yrs back before the term phishing is widely used. it claimed to be from citibank & becoz the email addy looks so authentic, i was nearly tricked into giving my PIN & cardnumber on the bogus website. luckily, i realised it as the URL of the website it directed mi to looks suspicious. but design & layout of the website looks very authentic too! it was an exact replica of citibank’s website.
but wat prompted mi to haf such an adverse reaction was the sms i got tis morning from 2 of my friends who didn’t know each other.
the contents of the sms urges us to pass the sms on abt a 4 yr old ger hoo needed negative O blood in Nam Hwa Eee Hospital. it oso listed a local handphone number.
i questioned the first fren hoo forwarded it to mi if she noes anything abt Nam Hwa Ee hospital. She hasn’t heard abt it but being a kind soul, she still decided to pass on the sms.
i tried calling the handphone number listed but the fone was off. den i used yahoo search for Nam Hwa Ee but didn’t manage to find any info for tis hospital.
i told my fren to tell everyone she has sent the msg to, to stop forwarding it until it is verified.
i am not unsympathetic but i believe in being accountable for emails & sms that i sent out.
i was once an unsuspecting ‘kind’ soul hoo passes on such msgs tinking i’m doing a good deed. unfortunately or fortunately ( depending on how u see it ), one day i responded to the handphone no. listed in such “appealing for help” emails with an offer to help.
i was shocked when the ger hoo answered my call told mi tat the email was a hoax & someone was playing a prank on her. what kind of perserve people wif twisted minds would send such msgs tat plays on ppl’s sympathy?? i can onli say the person who came up wif tis prank is sick & pathetic
as it was an email tat was forwarded a couple of times before arriving in my inbox, i replied to the entire email chain informing them of the hoax. but the first person in the email chain claimed to be a victim too.
my next question to myself was
“were we juz victims or unknowing accomplices by helping to spread the msg??”
thus i do not forward such msgs unless i haf verified the emails or my frens are endorsing the contents of the msg or the original sender. but none of my frens haf ever told mi tat they haf verified the contents of the msg. being a kind soul doesn’t mean u should b passing on msgs tat may not be true without taking any responsibility
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Qiqi’s shoes
9 02 2006it nbr fails to amuse mi when i see qiqi’s little shoes at the front door when i get home.
juz to gif u an idea of how cute the shoes are, compare them wif a regular size 6 adult’s slippers.
i tink the chubby & rounded feet of children are simply irresistably adorable.
children are really amazing works of miniature humans!!
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Photos from airport cake eating trip
9 02 2006pictures taken at the airport when we went on our cake eating trip last sat.
I tink the airport is turning into my fav haunt for family outings. the benefits are plenty :
- so close to home ( onli 5 mins away! ),
- not very crowded,
- nicely air-conditioned so we can go rain or shine,
- plenty of food choices
- open 24/7
- plenty of parking
- lotsa interesting things to keep the kids occupied
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The Seven Signs that your child loves you
9 02 2006
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春到Bedok
8 02 2006the carnival as i see it from the car when i drive past bedok



brought the 2 kids to 春到Bedok carnival after going to the library.
yeowyeow played in the inflated ‘houses’ while qiqi sat on the kiddy rides.
they both had a great time though qiqi was insistent on playing in the inflated ‘house’ too. but managed to distract her wif other rides. tink she’s too young to be jumping & running around with the other kids. too dangerous for her.
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Delicious 红糟面线
8 02 2006
had my first jap lesson wif LJ last sat…good to haf someone to practise wif….hehe…but marie’s level too high for mi…my vocab still very limited so cannot understand wat she’s saying.
had the delicious 红糟面线. the yong tau foo stall next to it looks quite appealing too. but i tink i may still succumb to 红糟面线 next sat.
tis is getting addictive & i feel good tat i’m eating something good for my health…very 补 mah….haha
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Cheese Cake
8 02 2006hmm…been eating lotsa ( cheese ) cake lately. had cheese cake on thurs at changing appetites & again on fri nite at secret recipe.
den on sat, went on a cake eating outing wif the 2 kids in tow at 10pm. secret recipe not tat accessible, nearest in the east is at siglap so i searched for coffee bean outlet online instead. found the nearest one at T2 but when we got there, didn’t see coffee bean anywhere.
and wat happened to the viewing gallery?? it’s all but gone now due to the reno. the reno works at T2 seems to be taking forever tis time.
ended up buying fruit gateau from bengawan instead.
tink i’ll organise another cake eating trip for yeow on fri.

took a picture of the distilled water tat LJ ordered at secret recipe coz the bottle was so dainty & cute. to show the size, i got HQ to hold it in her hands.
ended up wif tis shot tat looks like the guy in the background is nibbling HQ’s ear….very funny hor.
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MyPoints voucher
7 02 2006Sigh..I redeemed my mypoints for an USD20 bath & body works voucher tat was sent to YT’s bro’s old add.
too late to cancel the redemption so can onli pray tat hooever recd it will retn the mail since it’s addressed to mi.
otherwise, the recipient can juz use the voucher anyway.
let’s wait & see wat happens.
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Cambodia
7 02 2006Mi went to library wif the 2 little ones on sun & got 2 guidebooks on Cambodia. One’s frommer’s & the other’s on Laos & Cambodia.
now if onli i haf the time to read both before the trip coz i’m still mega busy. no time to stardee for my jap & do knitting & go outings wif the kids. plus the books are real thick!
can’t even do bedtime reading coz my last activity of the day is playing neopets & blogging. after tat too tired to read liao.
the onli ‘free’ time i can tink of is if i take mrt to work. i still tink the journey is the best time for knitting, stardee-ing & reading. driving gives u little time to pursue other interests.
so i muz try to take mrt to work as often as possible. tomolo is out coz mi need to bring steve his ‘ironed’ shirt. prob is, i haben iron it yet. need to do so before i sleep. sigh. i hate ironing! i hope his shirt will look alrite.
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Qiqi’s weight & height
7 02 2006
took qiqi to her doc’s appt at KKH tdy. the wait was really long. we waited for more den 2 hrs for our appt.
issit becoz not enuff govt docs? or it’s juz poor scheduling of the appts? should allow more time in between appts.
our queue number slip shows the time we arrived. there should be a similar system tat shows the time we saw the doc.
some of the kids were hungry after the long wait & parents went to tabao mac donalds & other food. luckily, i brought peanut butter & jam sandwich for yeowyeow & qiqi had some bread too. children really need to eat non-stop to keep their energy levels up. they played non-stop at the activity area for more den 1 hr!
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My fav drink & oatmeal
4 02 2006tis red dates cereal drink is really nice. not too sweet and got fragrance of red dates.
yummy & satisfying drink.
mi been eating oatmeal lately too. sure is healthy but 1st attempt was so horrible tasting tat i pulled a long suffering face as i forced myself to swallow the offending mixture. halfway thru, my mum told mi to stop eating the bowl of oatmeal.
den i decided to read the instructions on the oatmeal can. hmm…add a pinch of salt.
the difference is unbelievable. the horrible tasting oatmeal suddenly became real savoury so yup, mi taking oatmeal regularly now. great for breakfast. quick & healthy & filling. great for my heart too/
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舞狮 in the office
3 02 2006the country executive team aka all our big bosses went around the office in CNY tradition giving out ang baos & 大吉。
they brought an entourage of 舞狮 completed with their big drum to go around the office.
see marie hiding behind the lion? wow! wat a BIG mouth!
The lion reaching out to get the ang bao we stuck on the ceiling for them at our workstation.
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Most Common Veg in US
2 02 2006Wanted to blog last nite but i read the newspaper on the floor after eating my dinner & ended up with a bad stitch. had to lie down to stretch my abdominal muscles to relieve the stitch so slept early instead.
there was tis interesting article from the New York times on a study to find the most common veg taken by US kids. Guess wat?? it is the french fry! sad rite?
ok, french fry joke of the day. we were supermarket shopping and yeowyeow proclaimed “我最不喜欢马铃薯的!” when we passed the potatoes. i asked him “wat abt french fries?” he stared blankly at mi & it was den tat i realised tat my kid has no idea tat french fries are made from potatoes! Sigh.
thankfully, my kids take a lot more vegs den the average US kid. and their most eaten veg is spinach ( especially those with red stems ). typically chinese fav veg…looks like we are raising popeyes.
Ok, time to stop blogging & get ready for work. need to wake yeow up too.
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New Year Resolution to be a better parent
2 02 2006This is from Parents Center. Looks like parents the world over have the same resolutions :
This time of year, we parents reflect on everything we have — and all the ways we could do better by our kids.
After all, who among us hasn’t vowed to lose our temper less and show our kids we love them more?
Get strategies that’ll help you…
• Not yell so much
• Stop using threats to keep your kindergartner or grade-schooler in line – do all parents fall into this trap?
• Be more loving — and find other ways to help your 5-year-old or 6- to 8-year-old feel good about himself
• Slow down and really listen to your child
• Give each of your children the one-on-one time he deserves – point to note
• Find more family time
• Plan fun outings more often – definitely something to constantly explore. afterall, quality time is impt.
• Read more with your child — whether he’s a beginning, intermediate, or advanced reader
• Watch less TV
• Make healthier meals - make tat snacks as well. No more Oreo cookies tat haf trans fats
• Encourage your child’s relationship with grandparents
• Nurture yourself so that you can better nurture your child
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