I'm a full-time mummy

Every weekend whenever possible, we will plan for some family outing and if can, we bring along a niece and a nephew with us. Our 3 kiddos love spending time with their cousins and we enjoyed their companionship as well, so our latest outing was to a Chocolate Museum! I have previously mentioned this to hubby but he rejected my idea and I tried again for 2nd time and because of my nagging persistency, he relented hahahahah...

We fetched our nephew and niece from their place and went for our lunch first. Once done, we navigated our way towards the Chocolate Museum using the location I found on Waze which I sent to hubby's mobile. We reached the museum around 1pm+. Parking is ample, there was a female security guard pointing us towards an area for visitors' parking.

When we first tried to go in through the main entrance door, hubby couldn't get in. There was a group of about 10-15 people at the entrance listening to a staff explaining to them about the history of cocoa etc. We ended up going in through the Museum Cafe's side door which passes through the Museum's entrance.

According to their website, it is the latest, most interactive, one of a kind chocolate museum in South East Asia with interactive displays, etc. I am still scratching my head wondering where and what do they mean by that. I guess you will need to experience for yourself just in case you don't believe me. After all, I made the same mistake after googling around for other bloggers' reviews on their visit to the Chocolate Museum. All giving happy glory-mory feedback with around the same ol' same ol' pictures.

If by interactive museum they meant this display board with some LED lights blinking, I am utterly disappointed. No kidding. Never mind the visit we made to the museum, but I am expecting more from what I read on their website.

There are some machines and exhibits which you can read - about cocoa, how do you process them to become chocolate, who are the pioneers in the chocolate industry etc.

As a parent, I'm always on the look out for things that might pose a risk to our kiddos. So imagine when I see my niece and nephew playing with one of the machines in the museum (this is not barricaded or have any signs cautioning anyone). You can still pull or spin the lever/handle but still that means it can be operated on and is working. Now look at the picture below at the arrows I'm pointing at. I hope you can see from my point of view why I was concerned with the risks here. Imagine tiny hands or fingers slipping in while someone gives this machine a spin. *horror*

After going through the exhibits area, you will head towards an area with clear window around, where at certain times, you can actually see staff in the room making chocolates. Facing this chocolate kitchen is the Chocolate Galleria (aka where you shop for chocolates!) There is only 1 tiny Tripod Turnstile entrance and 1 tiny Tripod Turnstile exit in the Chocolate Galleria. You need a bit of dexterity and good handling of your child stroller to get into the Chocolate Galleria but we managed to get our stroller in and out.

When you exit the museum, you have this feeling of being the subject of a 'good riddance' thing, it's like you are not welcome there and quickly ushered out towards outside.

 To sum up our review on Chocolate Museum @ Kota Damansara:

PLUS POINTS:

• FREE entrance fees

• You get to buy chocolates!
  

BAD POINTS:

• The entrance and exit are BADLY done. Limited space and no connectivity. Normally when you go to an establishments or places of interests, they will position the exit together with the souvenir shop or cafe so as visitors can browse and shop for some souvenirs etc. I'm not saying there is no shop in the museum, it is just that it was not nicely connected.

• Museum Cafe is bland, snacks sold is really pathetic looking and lack of options (sorry didn't bother to take picture)

• Machines (that you can play with) poses a risk - children who do not know the dangers and risks of operating it might get hurt.

• I'm not sure about other amenities like restroom or baby changing room as we did not need to use it during our short time there.
  

Definitely NOT going back there!

** 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.

Came across this recall article and decided to share it with you guys!

"Disney Store bosses have issued a recall appeal for around 1,000 Doc McStuffins dragon toys.

 The safety alert came after a parent noticed the ears of the blue dragon could be pulled off by a child. It was sold as part of Disney’s Doc McStuffins Bath Set range.  

Disney has now withdrawn the bath set product from sale and launched an urgent investigation into the potentially lethal fault.

The £12.95 Doc McStuffins Bath Sets went on sale at Disney Store branches across the UK and Europe in January.About 1,000 have been sold online and by stores.

One worried British customer alerted the company after noticing the ears of the dragon character had broken away while their child was playing with it.

Customers who have already bought the toy have been advised to return it to their nearest store where they will get a full refund. Other toys in the McStuffins Bath Set are not affected by the recall, which Disney describes as a “precautionary measure”, and do not need to be returned.

A Disney Store spokesman said: “Whilst the product is compliant with all relevant safety regulations, the safety of families who buy our products is of utmost importance to us. “This is why as a precautionary measure we have taken the decision to instigate a full voluntary recall of this Doc McStuffins Bath Set, sold in Disney Store in Europe. “We are also performing an internal investigation to effect any corrective action necessary. No other merchandise is affected by this recall.”"

Personally, there are risks in everything, so as parents, do give a thorough check before you purchase or hand in any toys to your kiddos. And of course, keep a close eye on them when they play with the toys.

** 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.

Before I begin, I just want to say that based on the feedbacks gathered from so many parenting related articles I shared on my FB page so far, I would say a lot of my readers are very open to the idea of teaching and educating their children about their body parts, the correct naming and what to do to protect themselves and their privacy. On matters related to sex education, there are mixed responses from my readers but I realised I have not asked my readers whether they talked to their kiddos about birth control topics before.

So for this article, I would really want to find out what are your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

"An eight-year-old boy is being tested for sexually transmitted diseases after finding a used condom on his school's playground and putting it in his mouth. The young boy, whose mother has asked that he isn't named, is being tested for herpes, hepatitis C, chlamydia and other viruses and infections.

He found the used condom on his school grounds and thought it was a balloon so tried to blow it up, his mum said. She said: "When the teacher took the 'balloon' out of his mouth, it was a used condom." Emails between school officials and the boy's mum show the condom was thrown away by a teacher and was not tested, American news KMGH-TV reported.

 The boy, who attends Bennett Elementary School in Colorado, could now face tests for STDs for years to come, his mum said.

 She said she wants the school district to pay for the tests and the school's insurance carrier has denied her claim. But health officials said there is little risk of the boy contracting a disease from the condom, since it may have been outside the school for a long period of time. The school has no surveillance cameras and no fences and it remains unknown who discarded the condom."

The boy is 8 years old. He found something odd at the playground and like any curious child, decided to find out more. Now my questions to parents reading this are:

• First question: Does your child know what to do if he/she stumbles upon things he/she has not seen / heard of before? Do you teach him/her to run straight to the teacher or to you (or person-in-charge) to inform first? Or he/she is allowed to bring over the object(s) he/she found to show and ask someone else?
  

• Second question: Does your child know what is a condom? Do you teach them what it is and what to do if he/she ever see one regardless whichever location / condition they found it?

To be honest, I am concerned after reading this article as even though our kiddos have been taught not to simply touch anything they found wherever they are (and to always let mummy know first - so far so good), curiosity is a very tempting thing. It doesn't help if the child prods further and like the boy in this article, thought it was a balloon and tried to blow it up.

• Third question: Do you plan to talk about this incident with your child now that you have read this article? If yes, how? If no, why?
  

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.