Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA): A Parent’s Role in Early Detection & Care

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord and impacts the muscles used for activities such as breathing, eating, crawling,…

“They Don’t Even Know They’re Special Needs!” says Mum of 2 Kids on the Autism Spectrum

Five years ago, Mina Sunico Chin, 44, and her husband Vincent, 42, became parents for the first time. But their blissful parenting journey took an unexpected turn when their toddler…

5 Proven Ways to Support your Child in Bilingual Learning

Bilingualism is a common feature of Singapore society. Many children growing up today are bilingual; they have exposure to one or more languages at home, sometimes simultaneously. Bilingualism has some…

Bedwetting and Night Terrors: are these Sleep Disorders Disrupting your Child’s Nights? 

Your child has slept through the night, but there is a large wet patch on the bed. Your child wakes with a piercing scream in the middle of the night,…

Are Probiotics Good for Babies, Children, Pregnant & Breastfeeding Mums?

Probiotics is such a buzzword these days. But how much does the average person really know about these so-called good bacteria? For example, is it safe to munch on those…

Hearing Loss in Babies & Children – The Silent Epidemic

Hearing loss is not just a problem for the elderly. In Singapore, about 1 in 1,000 babies born each year has profound hearing loss, and 5 in 1,000 have some…

When Should My Baby Start Socialising with Other Children?

Parents begin socialising our babies from birth as we naturally engage with them by talking, singing, smiling, and making eye contact. But when it comes to socialising with other babies…

Why Early Intervention is Important if your Child has Learning or Literacy Difficulties

As a parent, you know that your child’s early years — from birth to five years of age — are a critical period of growth and brain development. So you’re…

Why You Shouldn’t Treat All Your Children Equally – A Common Parenting Mistake

“But why not? Aren’t we supposed to love all our children equally and not show favouritism?” asked a fellow mum. Because equality and equity achieve completely different goals, I reply….

Future Skills for Your Preschooler: Why It’s Necessary and How iSTEAM Helps

Thirty years ago, our parents could never have imagined that today, we could watch movies, order groceries, and book a car — much less an overseas vacation — via our…

5 Free Apps that can Teach your Kids to Code like a Pro at Home

An app that can help your child get answers to tough questions on practice papers. Or one that can help you improve your communication skills and boost your confidence in…

Why You Need to have Mental Health Conversations with your Children

Did you know that one in seven young people between 10 and 19 years has a mental health issue? Furthermore, that these mental health issues remain largely untreated? Adolescents are…

Future-ready Kids: Meet Brilliant Inventors Who Are Still in Preschool!

Today’s preschoolers are tomorrow’s leaders, architects, teachers, scientists, and inventors. But there’s no reason for them to wait till they grow up before they start doing all that. After all,…

Navigating Emotional or Behavioural Challenges for Children with SpLDs

Specific learning differences or SpLDs are neurodevelopmental differences that are typically discovered and diagnosed in the first few years of formal schooling. Dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder…

Teach your Child to Overcome the Fear of Failure

Fail. It’s the other four-letter ‘F’ word, and one that is as emotionally arousing and offensive as the swear word. Seeing the word “fail”, or the big red “F” on…

Teach Your Preschooler to be Inclusive & Embrace Diversity

As Singapore becomes an increasingly inclusive society, our children are more likely to interact with peers of different needs. If you were to ask your child “how would you play…

A Closer Look at Ortho-K Lenses for Children with Myopia

Michelle Hon first heard about ortho-K lenses from a mummy blogger friend. “I remember reading about how wearing the lenses helped her daughter, but I had no idea how it…

Singapore’s Only Preschool with Habits of Mind Framework – Where Preschoolers Learn like GEP Students!

Parents living or working in the Dover area now have an exciting new option for exceptional early childhood education. Mulberry Learning, which offers award-winning infant care for tiny bubs as…

Paediatricians and Paediatric Clinics in Singapore that Parents Trust

The most important thing to every parent is the health and well-being of their child. When your little one falls ill, you want a doctor who not only hastens their…

3 Life Skills Parenting Experts say your Children should know, but don’t learn about in school

Oh life, as Michael Stipe from that seminal 90s band R.E.M. would mumble (with all of us howling along with him) is bigger. “It’s bigger than you, and you are…

​​Why Individualised Learning is Important in your Child’s Preschool Education

As parents, we know never to compare our children with others. After all, every child develops at a different pace. Similarly, they often learn in very different ways. Hence some…

8 Expert Strategies to Build your Child’s Self-esteem and give them Confidence in Life

Did you know that letting your kids fail can help build their self-esteem? Learning to overcome failure, working through the experience, analysing where they went off track, and learning how…

4 Ways you can Empower Your Daughters

As a child growing up, I suffered from low self-esteem and had very little confidence. I would constantly compare myself with my peers in every way, and feel inferior about…

Top 10 Immune System-boosting Foods for your Child

While you and the grandparents are probably vaccinated against COVID-19, your children may not be. Apart from taking the usual measures to stay safe, such as masking up, and staying…

Digital vs. Natural Worlds: What Preschoolers Really Need

Parents, are you doing enough to equip your preschoolers with the tools they need to pursue their happiness and success? With the increasingly digital world they are growing up in,…

White Lodge International Preschool & Childcare: where Child-centred Learning comes First

Living in Singapore offers us parents the best of all worlds when it comes to giving our children the right start in early education. But with the myriad of preschool…

How to Parent your Child better based on their Chinese Zodiac Sign

Often, we wonder how our children will turn out to be when they grow up. As we watch them develop and learn, we try our best to make sense of…

When Children Say “I Dunno” / “I Don’t Know”

At my enrichment centre The Collaboration Corner, when we start a class with new students, I often encounter this scenario: children who tell me “I dunno / I don’t know”…

How to Support Your Gifted Children in Singapore

How do you identify a gifted child and what unique challenges do such bright young things typically face? We speak to experts and a mother of two gifted children for…

Best FREE Book Apps for Kids

Reading and fostering a love of books has been an integral part of parenting for years. However, starting young ones on reading can be challenging, especially with so many other…

5 Key Areas in Your Child’s Development that Need a Crucial Boost

Mums, do your kids seem to fall prey to every virus that comes along? Do you often struggle to get them to finish their meals? Let’s all take a collective…

Posture Perfect: 3 Ways to Help your Child Stop Hunching and Slouching

How many times have you heard parents telling their children to “sit up straight”? In fact, your parents probably said the same thing to you when you were young. Then,…

Don’t Let Your Baby’s Delicate Tummy Get in The Way of Important Milestones

Embrace the next stage in your little one’s journey – Dr Lian Wee Bin explains how you can help keep your baby on track. If you have a baby over…

Hearing Loss In Babies and Children: Why it Happens, What You Can Do

What can you do if your child is born without any hearing ability? Or what if he or she has hearing loss while growing up? In Singapore, up to 3.8 per 1,000…

8 Strategies You Should Adopt to Stop Bedtime Battles with Your Tot

Bedtime is probably the most frustrating part of your day if you’re a parent of a sleep-resistant toddler. We offer you eight tips to help you put an end to…

Raising Olympic Champions: A Guide for Parents

Our children can learn valuable lessons from Olympians and Paralympians in order to achieve meaningful success and become champions in their own right. The story behind any Olympic win is inspiring. It…

Sex Education for Kids: An Age-by-Stage Guide

One of the trickiest situations as a parent involves teaching your child about the birds and the bees. Sex education is necessary — and especially so in these modern times…

9 Activity Courses for Baby and Mummy to Bond Over

There’s nothing a mummy loves more than spending quality time with her baby, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t get variety. With so many different activity courses available for…

Toddler Developmental Milestones: 12 – 48 months

Your tot’s first birthday has finally come and gone. Now, he or she has officially entered toddlerhood. Looking back, the past twelve months have been a mix of laughter and…

When there’s a Death in the Family: Preparing Your Child to Say Goodbye

In the previous instalment of this series, we discussed how to talk to our children about death. Here, we raise the issue of how we can best prepare our children…

Why the Piano is the best instrument for your Child to start learning Music

If your toddler is belting out the latest Disney song or Taylor Swift tune, or creating the big bang sound of an orchestra on your pots and pans, you may…

Yes, You Should Introduce Current Affairs to your Child. Here’s How.

One in three children aged 10 to 14 years old is not curious about world events. 74% of Singaporean teens do not read, watch, or listen to the news. Miranda…

6 Best Indoor Play Gyms for Toddlers in Singapore

Play gym for toddlers? Why not? At toddler stage, your little one has discovered the joy of independent activity. Already a master at crawling, he’s now added walking, running, and…

7 Ways to Instil a Love of Learning in Your Child

Children who grow up curious about the world around them, encouraged to pursue their interests and free to make independent choices, are more likely to enjoy the process of learning….

Make your Home the Best Playground for your Kids!

We all know the benefits of outdoor play. Playing in open air, surrounded by nature, can help children develop their abilities for creativity, problem-solving, and emotional and intellectual development. And play is especially…

The Best Clothing Stores to Shop at For Tweens

A tween is defined as a child between the ages of nine and twelve. It’s that awkward age range during which your child is no longer a little kid, but…

Helping My Introvert Child Cope in Primary School and Beyond

When my daughter Rachel was younger, she attended ballet and piano classes — just like her older sister. She wanted to be as good in them as her jiejie (older sister in Mandarin) in these activities. But…

Help Your Child Cope with Bullying

We have all probably heard of the notion that one who is a bully is indeed a coward. But is putting across this universally acknowledged truth to a child who…

Does your Child have Spinal Problems? Consider Chiropractic Care

If your child plays with a tablet or a phone, think about putting it away. A 14-year-old girl in Colorado in the United States was recently diagnosed with ‘text neck’,…

How Creative Confidence can help your Child

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” – Henry Ford Have you ever wondered why your child seems to do badly at creative writing even…

Anger Management for Children

You have probably seen the 2003 Hollywood flick, “Anger Management”, starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. The plot revolved around adults. Slightly more than a decade on, anger management is…

Bond with Baby Early by Communicating with Your Bump!

Even before I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to start developing the bond with my baby as early as from the womb. While many parents­-to-­be find it hard to…

Teaching Manners to Kids aged one to 12 Years

Every parent hopes to have the dream child who impresses everyone with his or her good manners. After all, your child’s behaviour, good or bad, reflects on your parenting skills…

Encourage a Healthy Body Image for your Child

In a world constantly bombarding us with images of “perfect bodies” and “hot bods”, it is almost inevitable that our children are exposed to body-related insecurities even at a young…

4 Educational Games to Create with your Preschooler

The preschool years are a precious window of time during which a child can explore and learn about his world in a relatively carefree environment. Mindful of the academic expectations…

What My Teacher Taught Me

Both teachers and parents are similar in the way they want the children to grow well, learn more and develop positive attitudes towards life. Both teachers and parents ride the…

The Unexpected Joy of Predictable Books

English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon once said, “Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom”. He was probably not referring to early child development. As all teachers and parents of…

Does Your Child Need a Self-Esteem Boost?

Some kids seem to have it all figured out, while others struggle to keep up. We know that everyone has different talents and develops at varying paces, so the more…

Co-Sleeping: the Big Questions

The inside cover of Antonella Gambotto-Burke’s new book Mama: Love, Motherhood and Revolution (which will be released worldwide 7 July 2015) describes it as a “brilliant, passionate and moving exploration…

Study-Smart Tips: Balancing Studies & Play

Striking the right balance between studies and play-time can be immensely stressful for parents. That’s why we’ve come up with these study-smart tips to help parents as we navigate the…

Braces: Does your Child need them?

One of the issues some growing children face relates to their mouths. No, it is not about what big chatterboxes they become, but concerns their teeth and whether or not…

Explore The Deep At The ArtScience Museum!

Light has been shed (literally!) on organisms residing 4,000 metres below sea level in The Deep, a first-of-its-kind exhibition in Southeast Asia which brings to you more than forty rarely…

Have Fun At The Financial Literacy Fiesta!

Does the term “financial literacy” sound very much like a grown-up concept to you? Well, it most definitely isn’t anymore! You can expose your children to financial literacy early in…

Craft, Make, Do: Welcome to the Science of Play

Crafting with kids can be messy, but it’s loads of fun. It’s also a great way for your toddlers and preschoolers to hone their motor skills, coordination, and artistic flair….

Childhood Tales: Now & Then

UNESCO recognises the 23rd of April 2015 as World Book & Copyright Day. It is an opportunity to recognise the power of books to transform our lives for the better,…

5 Lessons About Nature That You Can Impart to Your Child

Earth Day is an annual worldwide event celebrated on April 22nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection. This year, on the 45th year that Earth Day is being celebrated, the…

Why Your Child Should Learn Swimming

Swimming is a recreational activity that dates back to pre-historic times. It emerged as a competitive sport only in the 1830s in England, where the very first indoor swimming pool…

Help Your Child Cope With (Exam) Stress

Seeing your child stressed is one of the most difficult things for a parent to go through. And because children may not always know how to express themselves, their stress…

5 Lessons from LKY to Pass On to my Kids

Photo: MCI If, like me, you are a middle-aged parent, you are of the generation that has truly enjoyed the fruit of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s (LKY) success. The first…

Parents, Inspire your Child to Self-Motivate

We yearn for the day when our children display self-motivation skills, when that primary school-going child does his homework without needing to be nagged, when the preschooler puts away her…

15 Singaporean Authors (& Celebs) & Their Favourite Childhood Books

As a child, you’ve probably read Catherine Lim‘s novels or studied them as Literature texts in school. But did you know that as a child, this award-winning writer, political commentator,…

ADHD: What You Need to Know

Alex*, a five-year-old boy, has been on his mother’s nerves. Although most three-year-olds can dress themselves, Alex is still unable to dress himself sometimes. When outdoors, he does not walk,…

KidsSTOP: Where The Learning Never Stops!

The Science Centre Singapore has been around for 37 years and is constantly foraying into fresh areas of interest in order to widen the horizons for learning as far as…

Homeschooling As An Option

The mandatory six-year primary school education scheme was implemented in 2003 in Singapore. Apart from government, autonomous and independent schools, there are a handful of choices for alternative educational paths…

The Importance of Play in Early Childhood

“I want to play. I want to play…” Frank pleaded, but his mother refused as she wanted her four-year-old to go for his Chinese enrichment class. Is play important? Should…

Get Moving, Build Brains!

“The first five years of a child’s life are the most important for brain development.” How many times have you heard this? Too many? Well that’s because it’s true. SingaporeMotherhood…

The Importance of Early Childhood Education

Today marks the launch of Startwell, a campaign initiated by the Lien Foundation to help children in Singapore have a happy childhood, to support parents in bringing up their children…

Teach Your Child to Self-Motivate

As a parent, it is so rewarding when you see your child succeed at something, whether an academic subject at school, a sport, a creative hobby or as a baby…

The Benefits of Active Play for Kids

On Sundays, merchandising executive Ifa Sani and her family often spend an entire afternoon at the beach where her three children aged six, nine, and 12 years race on their…

The Power of Music in Child Development

Music has an excellent reputation in the world of baby and child development. It’s been touted to increase brainpower, soothe the ‘savage’ baby (and sometimes even the petrified parent). Scientists…

Dreaming Up Preschool Spaces in Singapore

Imagine bringing your child to a school in the woods, or one rising from the sands. How about a learning ‘village’ above a carpark, or over a canal, or even…

Growing A Theatre Culture for Preschoolers

The earlier you expose your child to theatre, the better, says Ruby Lim-Yang. The gamine co-Founder and Artistic Director of ACT 3 International and a stalwart of local children’s theatre…

SM Blogmums : Baby : Sleep-training

Sleep is one of the biggest worries on a parent’s mind. Most days (and nights) we wish we had more of it. I read up on sleep training and the…

Chinese Theatre For Kids

Main image: Ric Liu, taken during a rehearsal of Nini in Changi Village “There is really a shortage of quality Chinese language programmes for children,” says Artistic Director of The…

SM Blogmums : Baby : Weaning

Real-life pregnancy and parenting stories set in Singapore, from mums in Singapore. Welcome to our SingaporeMotherhood blog series, where we get local bloggers to share their motherhood experiences – from…

Why Coding Can Be The Best Hobby For Your Child — And For You Too!

We all know the importance of getting our child to be passionate about something. How many of us are hopeful that they learn to play a musical instrument, or learn…

The Magic of Theatre for Kids

Mother, actress, host, and presenter extraordinaire Jacqueline Chow-Voo is a believer in the power of theatre and drama as a channel for children’s enrichment. She tells us why, here. A…

Toughen Up, Kid!

Teaching your children to be mentally and emotionally strong so that they can take on the world around them with panache and confidence might not be as tricky as you…

Who’s Writing Books For Kids in Singapore?

When we were growing up, the bookworms among us devoured Famous Five, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stories. It was great to read about their exciting adventures, but deep inside…

Potty Training: Go Slow and Steady

A few months before my daughter Caitlyn turned two, the little miss decided she didn’t want to wear diapers and would randomly take off her clothes. At first I thought…

Baby Sleep Secrets: Co-Sleeping

Co-sleeping is a hot-button topic in parenting circles. It saved my sanity, but it’s not for everyone. “I don’t recommend co-sleeping unless you are really sure it is what you…

Baby Sleep Secrets: Travelling with Baby

If you are planning to go on a trip with your baby, you’re probably wondering if you’ll have to pack all of his bedtime paraphernalia in order for him to…

Calmer, Happier Children, the Whole-Brain Way

“The moments you are just trying to survive are actually opportunities to help your child thrive,” say Dr Tina Bryson and Dr Dan Siegel, authors of The Whole-Brain Child. In…

Bye Bye Pacifier!

Binky, paci, dummy, “nee tu”, “chi chi” – call it what you will. That artifical teat represents comfort and security to many children around the world and a miraculous off-switch…

Weaning: Let Baby Lead

My daughter was exclusively breast fed from birth. When she turned six months old, I excitedly introduced her to pureed foods to complement the breast milk in her diet. However,…

Toddlers and Biting

I remember the day when I went to pick up my daughter from preschool and her teacher looked me in the eye and said, “Caitlyn bit her friend today.” Oh…

Is my Child Financially Literate?

As parents we spend much of our time experimenting with different ways to teach our children our values and what we consider to be the right behavior. No parent ever…

Motivate your Child to Succeed

All their lives, I have told my children, “We are not a highly intelligent family. Mommy isn’t a genius. Daddy isn’t either. You, being our children, cannot be very smart…

My Child, A Social Being

Does your child clam up when you introduce her to someone whom she has not met before? Does your child hide behind you when your neighbour, the friendly auntie who…

Coping with Separation Anxiety

With the beginning of the school year, I have had to deal with a contentious area for me – separation issues while dropping off my preschooler at kindergarten. At the…

Get your Picky Eater to Eat!

Are you a picky eater? Then your child may be one as well, says Associate Professor Daniel Goh, Head of the Paediatric Department at the National University Hospital, as studies…

Help Your Child Learn Responsibility

One of the paradoxes of being a parent is that while we love our children deeply, one of our end goals is to equip our children with the skills they…

Let Children Learn How To Learn

Within 30 minutes, Nicole Chang had completed her multiplication homework and made a chart on her responsibilities at home for her upcoming show-and-tell session at school. After this she read…

Help Your Kids Deal With Anger

Feeling angry is part of being human, as is managing the anger that we feel. As parents, we want our children to learn such skills, which they will need in…

Precocious Puberty Explained

Reports earlier this year of a 10-year-old girl in Colombia having delivered a baby via Caesarean section made headlines the world over, and she’s not the only one. While the…

My Tantrum-y Two-Year-Old

Two weeks ago, we had a teacher-parent meeting at the girls’ preschool. The teacher of our two-year-old girl told us good naturedly, “All children who are quiet at school, are…

Do Babies And Toddlers Really Need Enrichment Classes?

Sending our children to enrichment classes and playschool before they’ve even learnt to walk or crawl is a trend that’s picking up here in Singapore. Are parents giving their kids…

Does My Child Have A Speech Delay?

The joy that parents experience when their child utters his or her first words is immeasurable. Conversely, if those words are slow to be heard, parents are understandably concerned. The…

Take Your Kids On A Writer’s Quest

Many mothers face a common problem: their kids don’t like to write! Perhaps the little ones get bored quickly. Or they’re not confident enough to share their ideas. Or they’re…

Sleep And Your Young Ones

If you were walking past Raffles Place in March, you could have seen people napping on the lawn outside the MRT station. They were doing that in celebration of World…

Is My Baby Sleeping Enough?

Newborn sleep is strange. These brand new creatures of the world can nod off to construction clamour, rock music, and sibling racketeering. But they also wake very often, and can’t…

Surviving the First Weeks with a Newborn

Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby! Do you also have other small children (your own, unfortunately, so you can’t return them to someone else) in the house? Are you wondering…

Yes, Your Child Can Write Amazing Stories

Kids love fantasy stories! You know this, I know this, and of course those film producers in Hollywood know this. Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, The Mummy, Avatar:…

Music lessons for little ones

You may have noticed that your baby gurgles and waves excitedly when she plays with a musical toy, or perhaps your toddler bobs rhythmically to the radio. When your preschooler…

Prepare Your Child for Pre-school 

The start of pre-school is an exciting, but sometimes scary, moment for you and your child. Whether your little one attends school for a few hours a week or several…

Get Your Socks On! Go to an Indoor Playground in Singapore

It’s a great time to be a kid in Singapore, especially when it rains. Yes, even when the weather is bleak, there’s megaloads of fun to be had. Caught on…

Understand your Baby’s Language Development

From the time your baby is born, she is communicating with you. Every cry, every coo, every gurgle, every bit of babble, and every gesture is a form of conversation…

Sleep Secrets

“People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one,” author Leo J Burke so accurately observed. Indeed. As Dr Kenny Pang says, there’s nothing like the sight of…

Money-Savvy Kids

Chances are, your parents told you that “money doesn’t grow on trees” and when you grew up, you heard that “money makes the world go round”. There’s truth in both….

Souled Up

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know….

Despicable Me

It’s a fact: bullying happens everywhere. Bullying is prevalent throughout the world and cuts across all socio-economic, racial/ethnic and cultural lines. An estimated 20 to 30 per cent of kids…

TV Made Especially for Little Learners

Specially created for pre-schoolers, CBeebies is a multi-award winning channel inspired by their natural curiosity and zest for play. Lively, funny friends- like Tinky Winky, Penelope K, Charlie and Lola,…