Updates.

Grounding myself to work on two Montessori/school-related projects. One of which I will reveal in hopefully less than a month and the other would be worked on a weekly basis but I’m not sure how to implement it as I am drafting the idea and policies for it.

Many ideas many hats many triumphs!

Selling used things.

I am selling my used stuff (books, clothes, cds, dvds, vcds, souvenirs) and conducting a survey at Awesome Possum Bazaar booth 32 on

Dates: 4^th July 2009(Saturday)
Time: 11:00am to 8:00pm
Venue: Subang Square Shopping Gallery, SS15 Subang Jaya

I hope to add dosh into my Travel Piggy Bank from the sale. Initially, I wanted to sell my handmade accessories there but the my things are occupying a large part of my brother’s space, so I thought that it would be fair to pass on the things to the next owner to provide more space for my bro’s house and to salvage the abandoned things. I can always find another selling venue for my accessories.

So, don’t forget to bring friends and families on that day to enjoy maximum! And for more details visit http://awesomepossumbazaar.blogspot.com/

Childminder.

Reading an article in an early years magazine from UK, and this thought struck me all of a sudden.

It’s an article about celebrating National Childminding week in UK in mid-June, and the question that hit me was what is the definition and responsibility of a childminder, and any similar position here in Malaysia.

Registered Childminders are professional day carers who work in their own homes to provide care and education for other peoples children in a family setting offering a flexibility of service that is difficult to find in other provisions. – taken from Leighton Buzzard Childminding Association

Do take note of the word ‘registered’. And here they call them nanny, don’t they?

Registered childminders offer a flexible service in a family environment. All childminders are required by law to register with Ofsted. Police and Social Service record checks are carried out on the childminder and all persons over 16 living in the house. The childminders home is also checked for hygiene and safety. Bedfordshire childminders are required to attend training courses before registration. Registration is renewed annually, which involves an inspection of the childminders home by Ofsted to check that standards are maintained. Registered childminders must also have public Liability insurance.

Okay above is something  far-fetched from our local nannies, although no doubt their liability to look after young children is unlikely to differ much from the UK childminders. What I want to highlight is the seriousness and professionalism in child care conduct and codes in developed countries, and whether we should start to emulate this strictly here.

On a lighter note, I’m quite happy to know there are a few semiformal playgroups conducted by parents, taking turns to organise indoor and outdoor activities for the young ones.

Survey at PJ Civic Centre, Malaysia.

I am helping  a researcher friend to collect data on public’s knowledge about  Minggu Amanah Saham and basic financial knowledge on 13 June 2009, Saturday (8am- 5.45pm) at Petaling Jaya Civic Centre, in conjunction with a seminar to be held by the Malaysia Indian Business Association.

Do come and support me at the booth if you are around the corner. You won’t be going back empty handed. A lovely pen with clip and lanyard will accompany you home.

Back To Work.

I am starting to teach full time again in a school in Bangsar, Malaysia next Wednesday. Yeap, this time now I should be slaving my time, effort, blood and sweat there.

I am also looking for a room to rent nead Bangsar and Pusat Bandar Damansara.

Play dough Experiment- Day 5.

I have a confession to make- I don’t make good playdough that can last for months. So, this is a challenge and an experiment I set for myself. Today is the fifth day since I started making the playdough using a method found on the  internet. I’m sharing the recipe here with the readers.

Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 cup boiling water
• food colouring
• vanilla essence

Mix all the dry ingredients into a cooking pot or saucepan. Then, pour the boiling water into the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon. I find that it helps well for the dough to form by putting the pot on the hob under minimal heat, keep on stirring for 1-2 minutes until a mixture of mashed potato consistency is obtained.

The dough should be done by now and it can be very hot, so use the wooden spoon to knead the dough into one big ball. Leave it to cool.

When your hands are able to stand the dough’s heat, put a few drops of colouring and essence, continue kneading until you get a colored and scented ball of play dough.

Store in a tight container.

Now, this is where my dough experiment failed the last time for two reasons:

1. The dough was in the fridge for a whole week.
2. Nobody touched the dough for a whole week.

I was not able to monitor the consisteny of the play dough the last time because I made and gave it to somebody else. This time I made the play dough and kept half at my house so that I can see the changes, if there is.

Today is Day 5 and this is the dough.

Bonding, vital for development.

Parent-baby bonding begins right from conceiving period, during pregnancy time and continues after birth. When baby is born, the bond should be maintained between dad-mum-baby to reduce baby’s stress levels, to smoothen present and future communication and most important of all so that the baby feels secure in a safe and intimate environment.

A few strategies are listed here to help new parents maintain the bond with their babies;

1. Massage
2. Skin-to-skin contact
3. Maintain eye contact
4. Sling carrying
5. Talk to baby regularly
6. Dance, listen to music and sway together
7. Singing and rhyming
8. Cuddling up and reading a book
9. Bouncing and rocking games
10. Don’t rush bathing time. Do it gently and affectionately.