I'm a full-time mummy

We used to watch loads of TV. I mean, I used to let my 2 kiddos watch TV a lot. Everytime they have their meals and after 6pm until their bedtime. EVERYDAY. I think it amount to about 7 hours a day.

Until I decided that it is time to cut it down.

Yes, cut down TV time.

I started doing this a week before November 2012 ends and so far, I'm happy to report that I think we have cut down a LOT of TV time since then. There are days when we do not even turn on the TV at all (I know because there are dust collecting on the TV - no kidding)

Of course, I still had to on some rare occasions turn on the TV and let my kiddos watched some of their Disney shows (their latest favorite is Lilo & Stitch) so that I could rush off some paperwork for hubby's business (recent is closing of year end's account).

I do know too much TV time is not good. I do know we cannot use TV to babysit our children. I know that. Which is why I decided to cut it down. Note that I did not say I'm stopping the TV time completely, for now, I am starting it slow, and that is by cutting down the TV time.

To replace TV time, I get myself and my 2 kiddos to spend more time on activities like playing water in our balcony, learning activities (cutting exercises, gluing, coloring, reading, writing for my 46 months old boy and doodling for my 16 months old girl), dough, Lego, watching documentaries and reading books from my iPad, grocery shopping, baking, playing at porch, water plants, anything to get them off the TV.

My 2 kiddos watching National Geographic documentary on Human Body..

I was told that it takes 21 days to change a habit, I think our progress is good so far. I hope that this will continue on!

How about your kids? Are they on TV? A lot or not much? Do share!

It is quite rare that I promote apps which is free and one that I did not get pitched or requested for review. But I just have to share my review of this app because it is so far, so good! It is currently one of the favorite apps on my iPad. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: Super Monkey Jr.
* Price: Free (at the time of my review)
* Category: Games
* Updated: Oct 31, 2012
* Version: 1.1
* Size: 36.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: TribePlay Limited
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"This game is totally free! Join Super Monkey Jr. to help the animal world! There are 5 missions in the game to accomplish such as putting out fire, saving little animals from the water, driving a cool hero van, help Super Monkey Jr. to exit a maze and rescuing poor captured animals. Animal world awaits the help of your child. Get ready for some heroic actions!"

* There are 5 mini games in this app: Fire Fight, Crazy Rescue, Valiant Drive, Corridor Craze and Cage Count.

* The Corridor Craze game is one of the games that I love seeing my 3.5 years old boy play!Take a look at the screenshot below which I managed to capture right after my boy drew the path to help the monkey find its way out. I love seeing my boy's face as he figures out how to help the monkey out through the maze.

* I like the exciting music background and the illustrations are very cute and eye catching too!

* The other 4 mini games are equally fun to play with as well, and I like that my boy is learning things while playing!

* In the Fire Fight game, he learns to multitasks and focus on more than 1 thing at a time - in the sense he needs to help put out the fire as it breaks out in the building.

* In the Valiant Drive game, he learns to maneuver his car and make sure he pays attention to other cars on the road and not get into accidents.

* In the Crazy Rescue game, he learns to differentiate the colors and help rescue the animals of different colors by putting/dragging them back to their respective boat colors.

* In the Cage Count game, he learns to identify with numbers (something which I am still trying to teach him).

You can get the "Super Monkey Jr." app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, the application is free on iTunes Store at the time of my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

In the middle of Sept this year, I have started teaching my 3.5 years old boy unofficially. Unofficially in the sense that we do not follow any curriculum or schedule. I have tried introducing alphabets to my boy but our progress is still at a very slow pace, he can sings right from A to Z but somehow he is still slow in recognising the alphabets. At the moment, the only alphabet he can recognise is the letter C (which he says as 'kah-kah' in phonics). Hence this review is based on my sole opinion as I did not involve my boy's participation in this app. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: Alphabet Plus
* Price: Free (at the time of my post published)
* Category: Education
* Updated: Aug 03, 2012
* Version: 1.02
* Size: 11.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Emmy Chen
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Alphabet Plus combines four games into one which provides everything your child needs to learn the alphabet, phonics and the sound and first words associated with each letter. This app includes the "Alphabet Song", a coloring book with a page for each letter, activities for learning the letters in sequence, and fun animated games to teach pronunciation and letter recognition. Your child can click on each animated letter and pictures and objects will pop up on the screen with the sound of the first letter and sound out the words. Learning to associate each letter with the phonics sound is an important first step for kids to learn to read. The entertaining and enjoyable format will keep children focused as they learn."

* There are 6 different games in this app: Coloring, ABC song, Matching, Ordering, Words and Tapping.

* I don't quite like some of the games in terms of its layout and design. For example I am not a black or dark color background person as I find it hard to focus and it's contrast is quite glaring.

* The ordering game is one that I enjoy and think my boy will appreciate once he started recognising the letters.

In summary, this app is OK and I think it can be greatly improved in terms of the designing and layout aspects - to make it more interesting with easy to see coloring scheme.

You can purchase the "Alphabet Plus" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"