Any Mommies in mid-late 30s or over 40 with small children?

Hi Sophia,

You need to get the Filipino Govt Employment Contract done via the Philppine Embassy here. Need to get another payment receipt from The Philippine Embassy - they called it Pak Ibit (something like Tax payment) in order for your maid to get her re-exit pass from their Customs. According to the maid agency....pay her is ard S$20. If your maid pays at Philppines side upon exit, she has to pay up to US$150.00

To save the hassle of having to run to the embassy, I got my maid agency to do the entire documentation for me. I paid him ard $300 in total to get everything done.
 


thanks snowball. all these are the hidden cost which are not stated...... ichecked with my agent. she is charging me $380 to do this. abit exp right?
 
Hi Tam,

thanks for the books list... shall go library yah..

Hi snowball,
we didnt have to take leave for our #1 1st day yah. as the sch doesnt allow any parents in the compound. my #1 childcare mate mummy was with her girl on 1st day. then 2nd day girl tummy pain n cried n want mummy badly so no sch. then 3rd day cried in the sch bus, want mummy.... (my #1 and this girl in diff sch lor).... hope she is okay today...
 
Hi Reiner,

Received and replied your mail
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Cheers!
 
Hi all,

Hope the kiddies are all well adjusted to school and new schedules for the year. I can't believe it's already almost Chinese New Year!
 
Hi Mumusings,

My DD1 is settling in well to Primary School and Student Care Centre.

But, she complain that she is always sweaty in school as there is no aircon in her classrooms and most of the common areas in school. I told her she has to get used to it. Other than that, she is happy going to school so far
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Hi Snowball,

How's the Blanco sink doing? Need some review... thinking of over-hauling kitchen. Using their stainless steel one at the moment and have never tried the mixed-stone type like yours.
 
Hi Mumusings,

Blanco Granite Sink....So far so good. I would recommend that you get the deep one like mine...easy to do washing and the sink is easy to maintain.

Yes, CNY is coming....but dun really feel the mood this year.

Have decorated my house up already tho'
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Hi Snowball,

Yes, will definitely get a deep sink cos I don't like splashing water all over
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I haven't decorated my home yet but started spring cleaning in December. Too many toys all about the living room.
 
Hi Tam

Yes my gal is in P1 this year! Has not been at this thread since sch reopened!

My gal does not seem to like sch very much. She said teacher always scolding....sigh what to do? She also has prob waking up in the morning tho she has more than enough sleep. When it comes to Math, she jus switched off. She is only interested in the pictures and stories in the textbook. When I tried to go through the concept taught in the textbook, she just put it back into her bag and took out her CHinese textbook. Aiyo! Dunno what to say! I was thinking of resigning so that I can monitor at home, cos I get so tired at the end of the day after work, I have no patience and energy left to coach her..
But looking at her "interest in math", I have second thought about resigning. Mayb drilling might work for her for the time being, so no point resigning when she is not keen to work with me at all.

Really at a loss now. If I am resigning, it will be end of March..sigh....every year different prob....Any input?

My main concern is to sustain her interest in learning and in going to sch, not so much of achieving fantastic grades. I know if she can do well, she will of course be more interested to learn and more keen to go to sch.....
 
Hi mommies,
My boy just recovered from Chicken pox ! I heart aches when I see all the blisters all over his body. My girl had taken the chicken pox vaccine, but don't know why I forgot to let my boy take it.

Hi Helen,
When I told my boy that he did not have to attend school for one week because of chicken pox, he gave me the brightest smile ! I think nowadays schools are not enjoyable for most kids, despite all the effort by MOE to make lessons fun etc.

I understand how you feel about whether to resign and stay at home. I also feel so tired after work every day. P1 and P2 are considered easy, it gets worst from P3 onwards with so much homework. My P3 boy had to wait for me to return home and coach him maths until almost 11 am. He had to wake up at 6 am in the morning and he looks tired every day. That's why I really dislike morning session, why does it have to be so early ?

It is hard for me to sustain his interest in learning since his teacher gave him so much home work everyday.

I think if you can manage well financially, then staying a home will definitely be beneficial to your kids. At this age kids need to read extensively in both English and Chinese, otherwise they will struggle with composition from P3 onwards. For full time working mothers, it is hard to find time to read with kids after coaching them to do homework.
 
Hi mommies,
How much do you normally pay when you visit the GP ? Yesterday I bought my girl to see doctor for her running nose, cost me about $60. Very expensive right ?
 
Hi Tam,

Its seems that is the high alert for Chicken Pox cases now. my DD's CC got almost 20 cases happening progressively since Dec last year. Both my DDs were vaccinated. But, I heard that those vaccinated can still catch the virus but supposed to be milder and less serious.

Good thing is, once you have caught it, its lifetime immunity unlike HFMD.

I like it the fact that my DD's Pri School make compulsory silent reading time of 20 min everyday before they start their lessons, of which, one of the days, the kids have to bring a MT book for reading. For Chinese, they have to read at least 6 Chinese Story books per term and write a book review on the best book being read.

With this, I can have more time with my DD1 within the little time I have with her on other activities
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But, like what you have mentioned, come P3, I will still have to face the HW challenge.

GP - Each visit cost at least $45. That is standard price nowadays
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tam

my gp charges are quite reasonable. normally $20plus to $30plus. Just brought my mum to see him this tues, her medical fee was $24.

medicines are only going to get more expensive. so now i reali have to pump myself, hubby n kids and mum with supplement and natural alternatives such as essential oils. it is also expensive buying all these, but there is a chance of not getting sick so easily and also can enjoy nice aroma from the oils. most imptly, teh side effects(if any) will not be so detrimental to the health(i hope, heehee keeping my fingers crossed). i am really fearful of taking medicines. my hubby was joking: in singapore can die but cannot get sick.....cos no money to get treatment
 
hello ladies, hope all of you are doing well and all ready for CNY
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Tam,

my elder 2 kids are now in P2 and P1 respectively. I always hear parents talk about homework onslaught in P3.... can you share with me roughly how much homework that is.... does all subjects have home work daily? normally how many pages etc.

do you get your kids to read chinese book loud to you too? But at first there will be lots of words they do not know... wouldn't it be very disruptive to read a few words and stop to find out how to read that word. By the time they finish a page, they would not know what's going on already. That's my problem.

Helen,

my P2 boy used to dislike maths too. He was rather weak in it... Then I gave up making him do any assessment book. Instead, I would write 2-3 sums daily for him to do in an exercise book. Maybe 1 addition, 1 subtraction. Then follow by multiple digits addition, subtraction, follow by multiplication, division, fractions etc. Each week, there will be about 3-4 days he will be doing my exercises. Each day I will adjust the sum for him based on the mistakes he made the day before. At first, he kept making the same mistakes, and I will repeat the same type of sums.

Eventually, he started to understand the operations, place value and had moved on ahead of P1 syllabus. I was able to teach him P2 syllabus and then P3 now. Very slow, very little but consistent is key.

When he started to get better results from his tests, he started to love maths. Now its his favourite subject. I do not teach him everything in the syllabus but rather certain things which I felt will need a little more time to understand when its introduced in school....and since I taught him ahead of school syllabus, he has more time to learn, make mistakes, learn from mistakes, internalise in a more leisurely pace.

He also manage to memorise his multiplication tables like that.
 
Re: GP charges
Mommies,
Thanks for your inputs. I think the cheapest is polyclinic, but the queues are horrible and its closed at night.

snowball,
Wow 20 cases ! My boy was infected with HFMD twice at 4 and 6 years old
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.

Helen,
I feed my kids Sambucol and Vit C gummies, these work well but are expensive.
Your hubby is right ! I wonder how those low income families can manage.
 
poohy,
The amount of homework varies every day, sometimes more than 50 pages.

Yes I ask my kids to read Chinese books out loud to me, they are reading the 马小跳 novels now. They completed the 四五快读 books at P1, so they know most of the words.
 
tam,

50 pages! That's really a lot, hope they are given a few days to finish that.
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My boy is still very busy with his violin practises daily, I will likely slow him down next year.... and really concentrate on studies. For now, I am trying to prepare him for harder stuff like comprehension, creative writing, problem sums...to compensate for the time he spent practising his violin.
 
Hi Tam,

Yes, we are still receiving news of 1 - 2 new cases of Chicken Pox every week in the past 2 weeks. Do not know when the cycle will break.

I also feed my kids with Sambucol and DHA...So far, I find Sambucol really good. My kids catches only mild colds and coughs.

Hi Poohy - I also make my girls read out loud to me when they read their story books. My DD1 is more into silent reading nowadays. But, I tell her, she still have to read out loud to me during her bedtime story reading time.

I send both my DDs to attend 3G Abacus class. My DD1, now at primary level, start to learn time table. She is into 3 Time table now, next week going on to 4 Time table...It saves me the hassle to teach her addition, subtraction and timetable
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snowball,

I sent my 2 older ones to cma abacus when they were young. But they hate the repetitiveness so I stop after a term. I sent them to mpm instead. MPM is really quite good in that it does not just teach the mathematical operations but involve lots of pattern recognition, IQ related exercises, puzzles, and multi-model based problem solving, seeing a problem from different angle. It actually ease their understanding into more advanced mathematical topics. Most important is parents do not need to coach the kids to do the homework at all. I love that the most.

I am forseeing problem sums will get more tricky as times go by though... so thinking of sending my P2 boy to Fabian Ng for maths enrichment. My P1 girl is in learning lab maths... I am monitoring to see whether its good or not. So far learning lab is good at covering maths practises that are tricky, where kids often get confused or wrong.

I think I should try harder to find time for them to read to me. Most of time I am so tired after 2 hours of violin practises.
 
Hi Poohy,

My DD1 needs repetitive training to help her remember....so abacus fits her well
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I will probably let her continue until end of this year before I decide if I wish to switch her to other Maths enrichment.

Wow....your son really has stamina for 2-hrs of violin training everyday. I only make my kids practise their piano up to max 30 min per day.
 
snowball,

my kids need repetition too but they are lazy.. cannot take it lol
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My boy used to practise for 3-4 hours when he was 5-6 years old. Last year he average around 3 hours. Nowadays, he gotta cope with more academic homework and at P2 there will be streaming at CA2. I want to concentrate on studies more but he has 2 violin competitions coming up this year, so still gotta maintain reasonable practise.

Tam,

from 四五快读 straight to 马小跳, isnt it a big jump? Wont there be lots words they do not know how to read and have to keep stopping? I completed the first 5 books of 四五快读 with my 2 older kids before P1. But I felt it seemed a jump from that to a lot of good story books.
 
Happy New Year! Blur me - I didn't know today was the eve --- kept thinking it's tomorrow till I checked the lunar calendar. Luckily we've already cleaned the house and stocked up on clothes and foodstuff.

Managed to find us a pot of flowering plant this morning! Was wondering why so many shops were closed -- kept thinking tomorrow (Sunday) is the CNY eve.

Have a blooming new year
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poohy

thank u for sharing. will try out this method. yes i believe once they understand/knw how to do the sums, they gain confidence and will start to like the subject.

tam
any particular brand of sambucol? i searched iherb and there are so many! thought of trying this one
http://www.iherb.com/Nature-s-Way-Sambucus-For-Kids-Berry-Flavored-8-fl-oz-240-ml/9342

i feed my gals with ester-c 500mg. it is the chewable type.

Happy new year to all! May you be blessed with good health and happiness!
 
Hi Snowball

Is it the one from UK? I see some mothers selling at the overseas sprees, got kinda confused which one is the original. Geez.... Dun wan to get the "pirated" one and end up in hospital heeheehee
Thank u in advance Snowball
 
Hi Helen,

The 1 I bought from iherb can be from UK or France. The latest batch is made in France. So far my kids n myself got no pblm with both.
 
Hi Mumusings,

I am also taking the Sambucol Tablets....I taste like thickened Ribena.

My kids has no problem taking it (the liquid form) every morning.

I find its really good in keep flu and cough at bay
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Hi Mumusings
I have not tried Sambucol before, hence cannot comment. But seems like quite a number of mummies here are buying for their kids, so I thought I will give it a try though my gals are taking ester c chewable.

Snowball

Thank you for your info. I have placed order for the one you posted. I also placed order for one bottle of the Sambucol with zinc for myself.

Now waiting for delivery. Will feedback once I get to use it!
 
Hi Helen and Snowball,

Thanks. Think I shall need to buy the sambucol. Weather is cranky and we were taking turns to get stuffy nose
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL!!!
 
Hi mumusings
My sambucol came yesterday. Let my elder gal took once but she did not like it, said it is too sweet. Anyway, it came a little late. This morning at 3am, she came down with high fever almost hit 40! I practically jumped out of bed. Todaybthe whole day her fever did not really come down to 37. Sigh.... This is going to continue for at least 3 days....

If i am not working, i can still rest. Now i am working, itbis almost imposs to take leave for so many days... Really very tempted to stop working when kids get sick and i have no help from my mum. She is also not feeling too good and i did not want her to come and help. Seems like after menopause, she gets sick easier compared to last time. Doc said it is normal. Geez...women sure have loads of "probs"?

Recently, my friend went for an op to remove her ovaries and womb as there were too many fibroids and her womb is many times the original size. Good thing she is recovering. ...

Mummies here, do take care and go for your regular checkup. My friend is not married so i think she did not go for ultrasound nor pap smear. These checkups are impt as it can help to detect any abnormalities.
 
Hi Helen,

Thanks. My kid was also down with flu before and during CNY. Terrible - all the phlegm and mucus
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This thread has been very quiet lately. Wonder how's Stylo, Rona, Tam, Muffin, Sharon, Sophia, Fairy, Joy, Reiner and all?
 
Hi mumusings and all mommies,

Good morning!
Not forgetting 恭喜发财 ^o^

Seems a lot of flu, cough and fever cases .... DS got it too and tomorrow is the start of CA1 ... sigh
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Take care
 
Hi Helen,
Hope that your gal has recovered by now.

The government only talks about increasing the number of childcare centers in order to boost birth rate, they neglected the fact that when kids get sick then parents need to stay home to look after them. Which employer is so kind to let employees take leave at any time ?

As for my current job, it is impossible for me to take leave during school term. My mother is getting old and weak now. So I have no choice but to depend on my maid.

Thanks for the reminder about the checkup. I just made my appointment at SGH. My favourite gynae has become so popular, her earliest appointment is in April !
 
Hi poohy,
After 四五快读， my kids read a few picture books before moving on to 杨红樱 books. We started off with some of her books which are easier than 马小跳. At first there was about 10% of the words which they do not know, but they are able to learn many new words as they read.
 
Hi mommies,
I keep waking up at 3 to 4 am at night and find it very difficult to go back to sleep again. Anyone has this problem ? Is it because I am getting old
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Hi Mumusings,

Phelgm n Mucus - Try Flumicil for your son....it helps.

Hi Helen - Its actually not very sweet. Maybe you can try the tablet form for your girl (for kids > 4 yo)? Its chewable and is not sweet. Hope that your girl's fever has subsided and getting better now.

Hi Tam - Are you having problems troubling you that subconsciously you are unable to sleep? I had this problem on and off esp when I am troubled with problems.

My company sends us for annual full body checkups. So far, I have a few discoveries (good and bad) from the check ups....BP going upward trend, Thyroid now under control (good news), discovered a small stone in my kidney (not harm causing, monitored for 2 yrs and good news that the stone disappeared), then go polyps in the stomach lining (only need monitoring).....sighhh
 
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