I'm a full-time mummy

I recently read about this from a book and decided to share this with you guys. 

Put it simply, it means if your kiddo is learning ABCs with this method, he/she is creating unnecessary extra steps to remember them. Extra step in this case means, in order to learn and remember the letter A, they have to visualise or see the picture of an apple just so they can remember the letter 'A' or 'a'. Sample shown below:

What the article tried to say is to teach our kiddos directly like this:

I remembered going through the phonics song lessons and Jolly Phonics (taught in our kiddo's preschool) with our 1st and although the songs made it fun for kiddos to remember the letter sounds, I personally think now that it is creating unnecessary steps to remember if a child is being taught to recognise alphabets with the additional visual aids.

Teaching kiddos how to sound out the letters phonetically by using the phonics songs are fine with me but I think for alphabet recognition, it will be better to teach the simpler and direct method, which is just plainly showing the letters in uppercase and lowercase. I'm going to try the direct methods with our girls and see how it turns out.

Do share your thoughts on this!

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this.

For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

"Head lice are annoying, but they don't actually make people sick, and children with the condition should not be kept away from school, according to new guidelines from a leading group of pediatricians.

The guidelines, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, say that although head lice can cause itching, they are not known to spread disease, and the insects are not very likely to spread from one child to another within a classroom. Rather, it is usually direct head-to-head contact that spreads lice.

For this reason, "no healthy child should be excluded from school or allowed to miss school time because of head lice or nits," the guidelines say. (Nits are the eggs of head lice.) Most doctors who care for children agree that school policies requiring children to be free from nits before returning to school should be abandoned, the AAP says.

In addition, screening kids at schools for head lice does not reduce the occurrence of the condition in classrooms over time, so routine screenings at schools should be discouraged, the AAP says. However, parents should still regularly check their children for head lice, and school nurses may check children who have symptoms of lice.

The new guidelines are an update to previous recommendations on head lice, issued in 2010."

I remembered back when I was in primary school (probably around 9-10 years old), I was sitting behind this girl with long hair and I was shocked at seeing lice crawling all over her hair. It still gives me the creeps whenever I think about it. But well, the girl is still attending classes then despite having lice on her head.

I personally feel that if a child has lice, the child must remained at home until all lice are gone. Spreading or not, just the thought of the lice crawling around on the hair is really really making me uncomfortable. As a parent, you wouldn't want your child to be infected with it, so why expose other children with lice right? I'm not sure how it goes with other countries' policies though, so would be interested to learn more on this.

Do share your thoughts on this!

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

"A company selling a range of high heels for babies has been branded 'sickening' - as parents claimed that it is trying to sexualise children. Parents are also disturbed that photos advertising the bizarre baby fashion items showcase the children in silky underwear.

The company behind the shoes, Pee Wee Pumps, which is based in the US, offers the heels for £20 a pair.

There are six ranges available, with three dubbed Wild Child, Sassy and Diva. On its website the company boasts: "Pee Wee Pumps will be your daughter's first fashion statement."

But parents are not impressed, with an online backlash underway. "High heels are designed for one purpose — the sexualisation of women," one parent said.

"That is fine because women are mature enough to make such choices but putting these on a child is just wrong.""

Do share your thoughts on this!

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.