Respectful Parenting; Getting Your Child To Come When You Call.

Pre-School Press(Vol 5, Issue 2) - Ms Heather.

One of the most frustrating moments in parenting comes when your child does not respond to you. For example, pretend your child is playing with their toys. You say, "It is time for dinner. Come to the table." But your child does not move. He pretends not to hear you. So you get louder and say, "Come to the table now!" But your child still does not respond. You may think your child is misbehaving. While that may be true, there is something else that is happening too. When children start doing something they enjoy, they have a difficult time stopping. We want them to stop when we say stop, but just because they don't does not mean that they are misbehaving. They just need time to change what they are doing, they take longer than we do to slow down and stop.
As their parent, it is your role to help with this process. For example, you can give them a 'warning' that a transition is coming. "Dinner will be ready soon. You only have a few more minutes to play". Then, wait a few more minutes and say again, "It's almost time to be finished with your blocks". Maybe even setting a timer to alert your child of the transition would be helpful. Remember that your child cannot tell time and really cannot understand the passage of time, so using cues to alert them is helpful.
One of the best things you can do to acomplish your objective(in this case having them come to dinner when you call) is giving them choices. They feel that they are still making the decision, not recognizing that you are the one that provided the choices, all of which are acceptable choices to you! Going back to the dinner example; 'It's time for dinner'. (You have stated the expected behavior). Do you want to have your blue plate or your yellow one? (You have drawn their attention to the fact that it's time for dinner and have given them some control and interest over the situation by presenting them with a choice).

Some tips on giving choices.

1. Give only two choices at a time; Young children are not ready for many choices and may get confused or overwhelmed with more than two options.

2. The choices you offer should be OK with you; Do not give the choice of oatmeal or pancakes if you do not want to make pancakes!

3. Do not make everything a choice; Some things should not be negotiable and presenting everything as a choice can lead to control issues later.

Remember, perenting is also about teaching and you are your child's first teacher!

Thank you Ms Heather!

Washington DC Trip 2

Cape Charles beach. One gorgeous little girl came to say hi to Billy but our shy little boy run to dada instead.

I need my swimming trunk, mom.

Aaah! Strange looking bird.

A dash of sand found it way on Billy’s cheeks.

We drove through Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel from Cape Charles to Virginia Beach.

One of the tunnel.

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
They charge two different entrance fees to the city parks/beaches to the local and out of state visitors. So we decided to keep our $8 and continue our journey instead.

We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant in Virginia. I ordered ‘fried soft crab’. It was pretty disappointing. As you see in the pic, it a very small crabs, just two of them. The two small crabs, coleslaw, biscuit and applesauce cost me $12. The crabs taste was not even close to the one I had in Gayang Seafood Restaurant, back home.

Dear hubby had fried fish fillet. His lunch is cheaper and taste better than mine.

Strange looking cloud.

Bethany Beach. I like this family friendly and well maintain beach.

Beautiful beach! .


Tired little one. Napping in style. (LOL!)

Virginia Beach…beautiful! Unfortunately, Billy was napping and we decided to just take some pics and continue our journey to the next town.

After the long boring journey, we brought Billy to the pool at the motel where we stayed in. It’s much more fun than just sitting in the car.

Billy fell off the step face down into the water, scared the hell out of me. But minutes later he was back into the pool. We have determined to send him to swimming lesson by summer next year….haha.

Washington DC Trip 1

It had been two weeks since we got back from our Washington DC trip. I know…. I know…. where are the trip pics? (LOL) Things went pretty slow for me lately, I was hit by the summer bugs….haha!

Anyway, here are the pics from the trip. We had a great trip, lots of fun and beaches too. At the end of the trip, I have added three more states (Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina) in my visited states group. Okay, enjoy the pics.

We are just a block away from the WH.

The WH

The WH

Billy and mommy resting in front of the WH.

Billy in front of the WH.

Unhappy Billy as dada put him in his stroller.

We went to Malaysia Kopitiam for lunch. Hainanese chicken or chicken rice as we called it back home. The rice was yummy but the chicken was just so so.

Dear hubby had Chicken Raja. It was pretty good.



This time we made it to the Arlington National Cemetery. Lot of visitors but felt so quiet. Somehow felt sad but peaceful. Thank you!

Arlington National Cemetery. It’s really huge.

At Crystal City Mall - Walked around the mall after dinner but most of the store have already close.

How I Paid Off $35,000 in Debt, and How You Can Too

No, it's not me. I like some of the ideas and hoping my dear hubby would read this too...hehe!

Last December, after twenty years of owing money, I finally paid off all of my debt (except the mortgage — and I’m working on that). Co-incidentally, Leo paid off his debt at the exact same time. I didn’t pay off my debt overnight. It took many years, and I made plenty of mistakes. But with patience and perseverance, I met my goal.

read more

Summer Events In Knoxville/Oak Ridge

Happy Monday all! Hope you guys had a nice weekend. Ours was okay. We missed The Secret City Festival events, which held at the Alvin Bissell Park last Friday and Saturday. I have forgotten that all kid's events were scheduled on Friday. The park is just several blocks away from us and still we missed it all. Oh well, there is always the next year.

Then on Saturday, The Secret City Festival events continued with WWII Combat Reenactment and WWII Living History at the same park. And guess what? We did not make it to the shows either …haha. It's all my fault. I saw my sister online on Skype and we chatted for 2 hours. By the time I was done chatting with my sister, it was already lunchtime for Billy. So we decided to just stay at home for the whole day instead. Pretty boring, huh!

This weekend, dear hubby is taking part in Dragon Boat Races in Knoxville Dragon Boat Festivals. It is a charity event with Knox Area Rescue Ministries as the beneficiary. Other than the dragon boat races, there will be an entertainment, cultural activities and fun activities for children. I am so excited, not only because of dear hubby is participating in the dragon boat race but also because they have Asian cultural performances and activities that day. Horaaay! It will be my first time watching Asian cultural performances live in East Tennessee. It should be fun for Billy as well, as there will be Children’s Fun Zone and this year for the first time they have Asian Culture Center…..yeah!!! I will try to take good pictures but we will see.

All Day Activities:
*More than 25 heats of racing
*Live Music by Dishwater Blonde at noon
*Live Music by Mission Possible at 2p.m.
*Performances by the Organization for Chinese/Chinese Americans at various times
*Children's Fun Zone sponsored by Coulter & Justus with inflatables, games and new this year - Asian Culture Center with fun interactive activities!