Kid's myopia

On 21 April this year, when he got his new pair of glasses due to his broken old pair, his power was

250-150-10 for his right eye and
300-150-10 for his left eye. 

Previously, approximately about 6 months ago, his power was

200-150-10 for his right eye and
250-150-10 for his left eye

No increase in astigmatism but slight increase of 50 in myopia which was considered good for a kid like him, according to the 'optician' at the shop.

Irrepairable.....the string holding the lens was broken 

A lousy sitter

The above two were taken when Wyng was in his pre-school year. He was never able to seat his entire buttock on a chair.

In his moody times..

Even when he was sleepy and dozed off...

Or playing enthusiastically on the electronic gadget..

At times, when he gets engrossed in his books, this is how he sits himself.

Is it easy to say No to your kids?

It's easy to give the kids what they ask for, saying 'NO' to them is difficult.

When you give them the green light, it opens up their eyes almost instantly, a wide smile too. You may see them vanish in split second, right to their computer (kids' all-time favourite in this IT era), without any sign of gratitude for saying 'Yes' to them.

If you object to their demands, groans and moans will follow.  Hostile stares and frowning faces are expected.  After all the facial protests, next come the verbal ones, of course.  The 'whys' will be showered to me.  Not that they want to know the real reasons for depriving them of their pleasures, all they are after is indulgence in their favourite pastime.

More headache will come when they start to bombard Mom with questions or remarks which sometimes can pierce you through the heart.

"You are a bad mother,"
"You always don't let me..."

Wyng can't hold his tears if he is forbidden to do something he yearns to, for instance, iPad-ing or playing on Dad's tablet or smart phone.

Yet, someone hard-headed like me will not give in.  Or to put it crudely, it takes a black heart mom to say No when the kids demand relentlessly.

So, it's really not easy.

He is awesome

This was posted on 5 June 2009 in my previous blog.  Here is a reposting.


I couldn't believe the effort he is taking to help me promote my venture among his classmates in school. If only he put such effort and talent of his in other areas such as his studies, I think this guy will fly. But, ....

Never have I taught him to use such method to publicise this. He did it when I was not aware of it, using the little home 3-in-1 printer, scanner and photocopier to photocopy his home-made flyers complete with coloured graphics of his favourite anime (which are not related at all to what I'm doing). He was too selective and cautious with the people that he was going to approach. So, I explained to him the law of 'the more you approach, the higher is the success rate'. He seems to understand it. 


As I am writing this now, this is the defiant teen of mine now. Wasn't he angelic? Mothers of teens will understand what I mean. How an angel can turn into someone as 'devilish' as to break all possible rules. Well, maybe some mothers out there are fortunate and are able to have obedient teens, but certainly not me.


For the record, he managed to secure one customer who has been with me for almost 3 years now. 

My teen always gives me surprises

Unfortunately, they are mostly the shocking ugly truths which always never fail to send my blood pressure shooting sky high.


You see, he has been attending Kumon since December last year.  It is his choice to go for this class. Hence, he should be giving all out to make sure he does well, isn't that logical?  Once, I caught him 'breaking' the first rule of the Kumon routine.  He didn't record down the time he took to complete the set he was doing which receive 'hoo-hah' from me. Upon interrogation, all he said was something that didn't make much sense and not even worth my remembering.  


In another instance again about Kumon, he was seen copying answers of the worksheets he was 'doing' from his previous completed worksheets. How 'creative' is this fella in making shortcuts? 

Catching him clicking away his handphone while he was supposed to be revising his work is already quite common scenes nowadays. It ended up with the custody of the phone taken over by me which always got rebutted by him or getting an earful from me.

How about some of his non-academic books under his reference books? Not unusual.  Oh, how I hate to step into his room all because of the fear of discovery of some shocking truths!  Believe me there are worse things that had taken place in that room!

The number one rule about coming back home after school was long broken by him.  He is supposed to come back home straight from school and if he ever needs to stay back at school, he has to call back home. Not only he doesn't do that when he stays back at school at some occasions, he even came back late when he promised earlier to be home for lunch or on time for Kumon class. Again, his replies to my queries show that he didn't bother much to keep his promise ie to come back on time. Further questioning will reveal this difficult teen's indiscipline.  This is the typical Hoe!

" I hung around in school because I want to join my friends..." or "I played basketball ..."
"Why couldn't you come back by the time you promised even if you played basketball?"
"I didn't keep track of the time..."

What do this tell about Hoe? Blatant ignorance to comply to rules! Sigh...

Not only he wasted the lunch cooked for him, he also had to miss the Kumon class as my schedule does not allow me to send the kids for Kumon too late in the evening.  Having to wait for Hoe means Wyng will also miss Kumon, something that I don't want to happen.  Putting all these 'losses' aside, what is disappointing is his failure to see the negative implications of his defiance and laid-back attitude.

"Why? What's wrong?" These words uttered by Hoe each time an 'offcence' is unfolded are enough to drive me up the wall.

Mom's lessons are many to be learnt and I just wish the pain of learning to cope with my teen is lessened.

Mommy is out of earth!

This was posted on 14 October 2008 in my previous blog.  Here is a reposting.

Wyng drew the earth. His circle was almost perfect. Patches were added (he was drawing with a pencil without any colour pencil with him). I tested him the colour each of the patch signify.


Next, he drew the face of Mommy. He then wrote 'Mommyoutofearth' with no space in between the words. I corrected him and subsequently he wrote it the correct way on another line.


He was elated after completing his drawing and kept chanting 'Mummy out of earth'. I really couldn't manage to get the meaning of his drawing. 

The best joke book for the family

As usual, Wyng was babbling about jokes from his favourite joke book.  He had been rattling during the weekend, at home and in the car.  Even when we were eating at the table outside, he couldn't stop telling his jokes.  Talking about grabbing attention!

Somehow, this time, his Qo Qo bothered to entertain him and answered his jokes which start with a riddle-like question.  Now, this is hilarious to me.

At the table, Wyng was still enthusiastically pestering us with his jokes. Although his parents ignored him, we couldn't stop laughing when he gave out the 'funny' and 'senseless' and 'impossible-to-guess' answers.  Wyng just couldn't stop despite being told not to do so.  While all of us were waiting for our dinner to be served at the restaurant, Wyng took the golden opportunity to ask us another question.  Probably due to the fact that not many riddle jokes are easy to answer, Daddy replied to one of Wyng's questions which sounded like this.

"If a dictionary goes from A to Z, what goes from Z-A?"
When we thought that nobody was listening and bothered to answer, Daddy quipped, "Zebra!" not expecting the answer to be correct.
"Yes!" Wyng smilingly responded.

Hoe and I were amazed with Daddy's intelligence and ability to answer Wyng's jokes.  This even motivated Wyng to continue to ask us more jokes.  For a particular joke, he said, "I already said a lot, you all were not listening just now."

Then, came a joke riddle which sounded like this.

"What is in the centre of gravity?"  This instantly rang a bell in Mom's head.
In just a second, yelled Mom, "V!", much to the amazement of Wyng and Daddy. Hoe was still pondering why was the answer so.

Cackling at the dinner table, this was a nice ending to Wyng's jokes for the night.  Our plates of food were slowly served, one by one.

Wyng's jokes actually managed to tickle our funny bones although we may be, at times, slightly irrirated by this relentless 'joker'.  At times, we can't help it but laugh when he revealed the 'absurd' and 'unguessable' answers to his riddle jokes.  This make us 'dread' answering his riddle jokes.  But, one lesson I learn is such laughter and joy can only be felt when the entire family gets involved, to laugh together, no matter how silly the jokes are.

He can spell so many words in one night!

This was posted on 12 December 2008 in my previous blog.  Here is a reposting.

Wyng was 5 years and 3 months when this was posted earlier.

I was really amazed with Wyng's achievement with word spelling. One night (about a few weeks ago) I was only testing if he could spell some new words. He may have learnt those words in school as I have not introduced those words as a spelling exercise though they are not entirely new to him as he may have seen them whilst reading story books.

I wrote those few words in flash cards. They are:

tiger

donkey

lion

mouse

cow

owl

(I don't know why my mind went blank and seem to be lost for animal words.It could be due to fatigue.)

Guess what was Wyng's reaction when he saw this word 'owl'. 'Easy la that word'.

He didn't need any guidance on how to read these words. He could read all of them. Next, I proceeded to test him on spelling. I started with the 3-letter words, then 4 and then the others. 3-letter words pose no challenge to him. Even the 4-letter words do not seem to deter him. And, the exercise went on with NO mistakes as I tested him to spell the words, alternating between the easy one and new or harder ones. It was such a productive night with Wyng.

I introduced a new word play concept to him. I told him that 'owl' can be jumbled up to make 'low'. He was amused, as usual and repeat after me.

The next morning, just to ensure he's solid enough to master those words, Mom gave him the same test again. He passed with flying colours!

Lessons # 46 - Sow diligently and you shall reap.

Is the kid too young to explain science?

Wyng and I were watching astro's tutor channel yesterday.  I chose to watch UPSR's BM for a while when he pleaded to me that he wanted to watch the SPM channel where a tutorial on Science was on.  Not wanting to pour cold water when he is an eager beaver to learn something educational, I gave in to his pleading.

One of the questions asked in this quiz segment is on variation.  He got the answer correct. Well, probably it was just a wild guess or he may have seen this programme before and could remember the answer.  Another further question on variation was being asked. This time, the question was to choose which one from the answers from A to D is a discontinuous variation.  Out of the options, he chose the correct answer which was 'finger print'.

Mom ignorantly popped a question, " Why is finger print discontinuous?"
Wyng answered matter-of-factly, "Finger prints don't change, it's permanent, that's why it is discontinuous. They don't keep changing."

Mom hates to admit it but she fully understands Wyng's explanation of the term 'discontinuous'. Kids just can see things so clearly compared to we,adults or Mom was just too slow to be digesting scientific facts.

Lesson from the kid : It was truly a simple lesson about variation from the television, made easier by Wyng. 

Is your kid meticulous?

Always very enthusiastic when it comes to new technical and hands-on venture at home, Wyng voluntarily helped Daddy to assemble the new armchair.

"Wait, must count first," he stopped Daddy, who was pleasantly taken aback by his thoroughness, from beginning the assembly before counting the number of screws, nuts and bolts to make sure they are in the quantity as written on the instruction guide.

Watching him counting them painstakingly, Daddy waited patiently for him to complete the audit.

"Yeah, correct," Wyng confirmed.  He was worried that the number of nuts and bolts are incorrect and that they couldn't assemble the chair.

Counting to make sure they are correct

He carefully referred to the instruction guide for each part assembly.  Except for his lack of strength in locking the parts, he did a fairly good job as an assistant.

Assembly in progress

He is meticulous when it comes to such task but rather hopeless when it comes to his school matters.  He tends to forget what page of homework to do, which book to bring or what exactly were the instructions given by the teachers.

How to teach your kids to be tidy?

Wherever he goes, his 'tools' are following him. 

Toys, toys.. a big headache. He never knows how to place toys properly in their boxes after playing

Read books are seldom put tidily in their original place

A very common sight..books and stationeries strewn on his desk

His arts work chucked behind the computer monitor

Can mothers train their kids to be tidy if they themselves are not? I am not a very tidy person,actually. Yet, I cannot tolerate mess.  Talking about mess.. they are abundant in my home, some made by me, some by my kids, Wyng is the culprit, most of the time.

The thing is I clear my own mess but who are going to clear those made by my kids? Mothers? No, absolutely not! If mothers continue to clear for them, when are kids going learn to be tidy themselves? Then, what are mothers, who stay at home, supposed to do with these mess?

Wyng is a mess-maker. The pictures tell a thousand stories.  There is worse mess than these. If only my eyes are my camera as I'm greeted with mess everyday, at his room.

I don't clear these mess unless it's one of those once-every-few-months 'cleaning up'. And when I do that, Wyng is going to be in for great trouble.  There will be flinging of stuff, useless most of the time, in the air as Mom will be sieving through bits of papers, empty boxes, pieces of broken erasers, pencils and other stuff which are not supposed to be where they are found.  During these times, I will make sure he puts those books back at their proper shelves.  Certain stationery stuff is in toy boxes or what not will be dug out and placed at appropriate places.  At times, lazy Wyng will just simply place an item and he will be reprimanded if ever Mom goes through that place and finds the same item he is asked to put it.

I will make sure Wyng clears his mess or untidy desk and shelf once every few weeks. If Mom is not so preocuppied, he will be reminded sternly to tidy them up quite frequently.  He seldom does it on his own without any reprimand.

I have done these reminding and reprimanding countless times and I will be doing these countless times again until this guy knows how to stay tidy. At least, he should learn to clear a mess after making it.

Lesson to learn for Mom is to be tireless in reminding and reminding even if reprimanding has to follow. Kids don't learn fast enough in this aspect, sadly.  So, this just means stress and follow-up for Mom.  Who says being a Mom is easy?

Do you ground your teen for hacking?

His previous acts
Is your teen a computer hacker?   
Does your kid hack into your computer account?
My kid did it again!

He's an opportunist when it comes to hacking. He wouldn't forego any opportunity to hack my computer.

Just when Mom is reminded to be extra vigilant, she has forgotten again to shut down the computer after a late night, oh..it's actually in the morning 1am... completing some last minute preparation for her classes the next day.  When he wants to do it, he will try all means. The saying "When there is a will, there is a way" can never be truer for this effort of his.  How does he know when to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and access the PC to see if it's accessible?  He has to pray real hard for Mom to keep forgetting to shut down the PC.

This time, he was smarter than his previous act.  Instead of removing Daddy's password, he changed the password.  I had earlier told him that I had checked if he's done anything to my PC clicking on Daddy's user account icon and it'll be fine if there's a password request. By just changing the password and not removing it, Mom may just stop at clicking the user account icon and not proceed to type the password.

I was smarter than him this time, I'm glad that I was but I was not glad that this guy never gives up with his notorious act.  Sigh.. I said I was smarter because I discovered his deed in about one day.  I proceeded to type Daddy's password (I set the password for Daddy and will give it to him. The password that Daddy sets are too easy even Wyng has no problem with it.) and lo and behold!  Incorrect!

What on earth is he trying to prove? He never tires!  Just when I had just the night before denounced that he would have his mobile phone confiscated for one month if he continues with his 'crime', he did it again. I am beginning to get a little adaptive to this intelligent and secretive deed of his.  I tell myself that each time I turn on the PC, I will click on Daddy's user account icon and type the password to make sure Hoe has not meddle with it.

He derives thrill by hacking the computer.  He doesn't see anything wrong with that as long as he gets to use the computer, even without his Mom's knowledge.  And by the way, my Mom is one of the first few persons to discover his 'date' with the computer at unearthly hours of the day and decided to keep mum about it for a while.

It's not that Mom does not know the root of the problem but this guy must be made to understand what he does is not right.  It's not uncommon for him to defy my instructions but until he learns obedience and discipline is the rule of the game, he will not get any computer time. He has committed too many 'sins' that he had yet to repent and giving him this 'must-have' (computer time, of course!) is not a priority yet.

Is your teen a computer hacker?

It makes my blood boil, he gets on my nerves, I'm going to kill him!!!!! Sights of this guy stealthily 'in action' at my PC appeared in my mind as I clicked on Daddy's user account and discovered that no password was required to access the PC.

My kid removed the password AGAIN after being caught in less than a week ago.  What was in his head! Why did he have to do it after so many rounds of harsh lecture and grounding? I wonder, I really wonder what he is trying to prove.

Not thinking twice at all, I went into Control Panel and set a password for Daddy's user account.  Next, I went hunting for his hand phone with Wyng's help and confiscated it. All this was done without Hoe's knowledge as he was still at school.

"I knew it, I knew you would set the password back, I'm just testing if you will do it."  That was the reply which came out from his mouth when I told Hoe off for hacking the computer again.  Of course, he wasn't going to 'escape' so easily.  A very stern warning that if he is ever caught hacking again, his hand phone will be confiscated for one month.

Why hasn't Mom learnt?  I HAVE to log off whenever my kid is around, especially with Hoe's presence. He is an opportunist when it comes to hacking.

Does your kid hack into your computer account?

He never gives up.  It's not the first time, I believe he did it for not less than 5 times.

This time, he removed the password for his Daddy's account which we have for access to our home PC.  How did he do it? You may wonder.. Well, most of the time, I would leave my PC on while I do my other stuff at home.  As our study room is just next to his room, it's not difficult for him to walk in and access the PC (which is left idle) to meddle with it while Mom is downstairs busy attending to other things.

Using Daddy's account which is obviously free from any parental control, he could be sneakily surfing (though it may just be for a few minutes) without Mom's knowledge while she is preoccupied with other things.

This may not be the best way to overcome his hacking but as a temporary measure, Mom has to keep reminding herself to LOG OFF before leaving the computer.

Lesson from the kids : Log off from the computer, there may be some hungry 'thieves' waiting to hack it. Do this only if you believe in parental control. Otherwise, don't even bother to read this post.

A painful lesson for the kid

What a way to celebrate the CNY? Another first.  Playing fireworks can be so much fun but if done not following safety rules, disasters will definitely strike.

Hoe and his cousin, holding the sparks, a few at one go. 

What thrill to just hold one single sparkle and just watch it burn? So, playing and holding a few sticks at one go seem more exhilarating.  But, watch out!

Wyng, trying to do the same, despite warning 

Wyng, despite warnings from Mom, Daddy and aunties, chose to imitate his Qo Qo and heroically held a few with his small and new hand.  Successful at his first attempt, this encouraged him to do it again.  Ahh, he learnt his lesson as he was seen flinging away a few burning sticks and next he was seen squatting down, frowns of pain appearing on his pitiful face with his welling eyes, not being able to utter a word.

Too late to regret! Notice the tooth paste on his left hand.

The result of mischief..burnt palm and fingers.

And, what do you get if you don't heed advice? Blisters at five spots. Notice the two bigger ones and the minor parts burnt. Either the burns weren't so serious or this guy has 'thick' skin. He wasn't even cringing in pain when I helped to shower him.

The next morning, he didn't complain about the pain at all.  He was able to do his normal work. He even did his Kumon, that means he wasn't really hurt.  But, I believe the burn has taught him a lesson.  

When his concerned aunty sms-ed him, he replied, "Half-healed but my mother don't let me play computer."
Reply from his auntie, "That's good, so you have learned a good lesson."  Wyng, still so crazy about the computer games responded, "But I still need to use my right hand because it still hurts."

Does your kid destroy things?

Mine does, lots of them.

School bags, glasses, pencil cases, books, school shoes, to just name a few.  The latest one being his shoes.  At least this pair as pictured was something like more than a year old.

Dad bought him a sandal which lasted less than 6 months.  The strap just came off from the base. I wonder whether it was the sub-quality Bubble Gummers or just his 'roughness' when he walked or ran.

Compared to Hoe, his school shoes don't last as long.  He is capable of ruining two pairs of school shoes in less than a year. Well, I normally buy him a pair of X-brand shoes and another pair would be the better quality Bata or Pallas shoes.  The 'branded' shoes didn't get treated better by him.

Isn't it expensive to 'maintain' this kid?

How to make ice-cream warmer?

"I want to make my ice-cream warmer."

Wyng made a fuss when Hoe bought him a plain vanilla cone sundae instead of chocolate fudge as topping for his sundae. He said the chocolate fudge will make his ice-cream warmer as he doesn't like his ice-cream too cold!

What are you talking about, Wyng?

Enjoy the ice-cream and save money

He savours it as though it is his last.  He will take his own sweet time to eat his favourite ice-cream.  He enjoys it, licks it and doesn't bite until he really has to.

When I tell him to hurry as it will be melting very soon, his answer will be, "Enjoy ma.. Why eat so fast? Waste money!  While he was licking the ice-cream in this video, Mom,Dad and Qo Qo had already finished theirs much earlier.

If only Mom can save money when the kids enjoy and eat their ice-cream ssslowwwly.

He is a real reader

On an outstation trip as we were travelling in our car heading towards KL, Wyng kept reading the small signs located along the highway.  These are signs which indicate the distance to KL.  Guess what, he was patient and persistent enough to read for a good 5 to 6 minutes.

Twenty six, twenty five point five, twenty five, twenty four point five, twenty four, twenty three point five, and so forth. It was so mundane that I have to stop him from rattling some boring numbers on and on .  No one was paying attention to him except Mom and after the long journey we just needed some quietness for a while. But, Wyng never seemed to tire.

This is obedience!

This was posted on 2 May 2009  in my previous removed blog. Here is a reposting.

I had just gobbled some leftover of beancurd and fish paste while watching TV with Wyng.

Lazy to walk to the kitchen, I instructed Wyng nicely,"Can you help me to put this (the plate) in the kitchen?". He smiled and said,"Can! This is called obedience and attentive." I don't know why he used 'attentive'. But, I am so impressed that he is really such an obedient boy (only, at times).