Hola!

Since Earth Day is just around the corner, I’ve lined up a few activities for the kids during the weekend to create awareness on the importance of doing our bit for mother earth. If you don’t know what on earth is Earth Day (where have you been?), let me try to break it down for you, ya? ;)

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment, and will be held on April 22. We can show our appreciation by getting involved in environmental activities such as beach clean-ups, tree plantings, or park restoration.

Appreciation for Earth Day begins at home, too. Parents can teach their children about energy conservation by turning off lights and appliances when leaving the room. (something that I’m guilty about not doing, sometimes!) Teach them to turn off the water while brushing their teeth and use a mug to wash up.

Parents can also encourage their kids to recycle things in the house. Teach them about the value of a product that can be turned into something with a new life, such as an aluminum can or a plastic water bottle. Well, the list goes on!

And to commemorate Earth day, Playhouse Disney will be airing Handy Manny and Friends’ episodes that deal with the importance of preserving the environment on 22 April, Thursday.

There will be also a Handy Manny Earth Day contest. Enter Manny’s Mini Garden and tell us how you can get handy with the earth by drawing on a sketch pad. Hey, you stand to win a Handy Manny Garden Tool!

Help Handy Manny save the planet by sending your green messages!

Just log on to www.playhousedisney-asia.com/earthday.html and click on Handy Manny’s Earth Day icon to enter the site. Click on Manny’s Mini Garden and get creative! There are plenty of brushes and colours to help you and your kids to send your green message.

And don’t forget, let your children learn more about Earth Day on Playhouse Disney (Starhub Channel 34), 22nd April, 9am – 2pm.

Adios, amigos!

0

  

the little girl’s many ‘aunties’ have been asking what she wants for her birthday.

what do you think?

clearly, she has waaaay too many boys’ toys at her disposal. from power rangers to ben 10 merchandise to cars to trucks to dinosaurs to (i’m ashamed to say this) guns (none of which i’m responsible for, i stress) – she’s been sharing them all with her brother.

which is not such a bad thing, actually. i think it’s kinda cute. (this is her favourite set of pajamas, by the way. i kid you not. “eh-men! i want eh-men!”) ha ha.

sure, there’s a cooking stove, which both of them congregate at every day to concoct imaginary dishes/drinks for me or the daddy. there’s a little pram with a freaky blonde doll, which they both take turns to chase each other around the house with. there’s a shopping trolley, which they equally find pleasure in scattering its contents all over the floor with.

i’ve not discussed with her yet about princesses (except that one book about a Princess Polly and her potty, and even that, it’s just a girl with a crown wearing panties, not your standard Disney-type womanly princesses with coiffed hair and frilly gowns who go around kissing frogs or supposedly rich, handsome, young, single, charming men), but somehow, either from the incessant advertisements on tv or from observations of older girls and peers, a kind of, hmm, ‘social osmosis’ happened, and she can identify with the concept.

“(pr)een-cess!”, she’d exclaim, her head tilting, her voice extra high-pitched and in such a sing-song manner that you can practically hear glitters and pink sparkles coming out of her. O-o

“princess?”, i’d ask, giving her a sceptical grimace. “dowan lah.”

as you can see, i’m still trying my best to resist the idea of over-gender-conditioning and hyper-femininity. i’m fighting against creating a ‘gu niang’ girl. just as i’d lost the battle with the boy and his penchant for toy guns, i may be losing it with the colour pink.

and, admittedly, mummy isn’t being a great example herself, what with her girly makeup and lipglosses and dresses and high heels, eh? LOL.

0

  

the thing with siblings, they can get pretty competitive, and i think even more so if their age gap is close. one of our tricks to make them do something is to turn it into a competition. most times it works.

another thing we like to do is go “who wants to [fill in activity]?” eg. “who wants to eat ice-cream?” (“ME!”) or “who wants to go swimming?” (“ME!”) etc. the daddy thinks sometimes they don’t even hear what he’s suggesting, they simply go “ME!” coz they don’t want to lose out. so he tried an experiment by garbling his words. “who wants to grgmmbfyabbayabbabla?” “ME!!”

for the purpose of this photo exercise, i’d asked “who wants to eat popcorn later?”. guess the answer.

i don’t know how they can be so chipper in the morning. they came back late from a party last night (bad parenting, as usual), yet here they are, all ready to take on the world the next morning… while we adults are cursing away the monday blues.

and i better remember my popcorn promise later in the evening.

now, who’s going to have a great week ahead? ;)

0