One of the Primary Worries of Every Parent who has a kid in Primary 1 is; how much Pocket Money to give, and how to give it!

Mummy decided that Nicole will only go to School with $1 and a small lunchbox.

Technically, it is only 90 cents, as she has to tithe 10 cents to God.

Unfortunately, with the effects of inflation, Mummy realized that 90 Cents can only go “so far”, as it costs Nicole 80 Cents to eat her Chicken Rice and horrors… $1 for Nasi Lemak! 

On her 1st day, she even overspent! She walked up and down the Canteen surveying the food (as if she was at the shopping mall), and after deciding on a Fish Cake (50 cents), she wanted to WangWang (20 cents) and another packet of biscuits (30 cents). The Snack uncle gave her a discount for the biscuits as she looked helpless and hungry holding on to her remaining coins. (Mummy notes: she totally ignored the packed lunchbox…claimed it didn’t look nice")

As a result, she got a raise in  her pocket money on Day 2, and currently it stands at $1.20, before her tithe . Mummy also improved the lunchbox with dried stuff she likes like Cereal, Biscuit etc.

Oh Yes! The Pill Box above – is where she is supposed to collect her pocket money from every morning. If she forgets to take out the money for the day, she is supposed to just go without any recess money for the day.

The Sunday box is for Tithe. The Saturday box is for Savings. And Mon-Fri for each respective day. On Day 3, she saved a total of 10 cents and she was ecstatic … until she realised she couldn’t find anything to buy at the supermarket. She wised up and told Mummy on Day 4, to pack more in the lunchbox, so she just ate chicken rice and saved the rest.

We are still testing out theory at the moment, as hopefully it will teach her the discipline of a daily routine, tithing and the ability to save as well.

We are still in the preliminary stages of  testing out the theory, and we are hopeful that it works out!

Today was the 1st day of School for Nicole, and it was a significant milestone for our family!

Primary 1 means that from now onwards, 1 Parent has to wake up at 530am to prepare her for school. Both of us never thought that we will need to wake up so early anymore after Secondary School. Just typing about the early hours, is making me Zzzz.

But the consolation about waking up so early, is realizing that we are NOT Alone. The Roads outside were really crowded, and it looked like every parent in Singapore was fetching their kids to school.

Some of the funny moments of this day was that, when Nicole was asked to fill up a questionnaire regarding her details, one of the questions that “stumped” her was that:

“What are some things that you want your teacher to know about you?”

She replied, “At home, I am known as N1!”

And she quickly added, “Can I add that I don’t want them to know, that I drink from the Milk Bottle!”  

N1 was totally funny, and she even thought of what she wants to have for recess time. She wants Chicken Rice and Nasi Lemak!

All this in 1 morning….it is no wonder that her proposed $1 pocket money may not be enough for her!

Yes! It’s that time of the year again…2011 has just passed, and we are slowly moving into 2012.

As we enter the new year, we thought that we should look at the Highlights of each month, so as to remember the different milestones that we experienced each month.

In January, we had the privilege of being featured in the New Paper! I thought that was really cool, considering the fact that Parenting Blogs are practically dominated by Mummies.

In February, Nathan appeared in his first advertisement, as he was featured in print along the NEL Train lines.

In March, the kids had a chance to appear in an OCBC advertisement, and I made my first radio appearance on 93.8 Live. It was definitely a Big Milestone for myself, as my family has some history on the airwaves (My grandfather was Lee Dai Soh).

In April, I got my handy Lumix LX5 Camera which has been following me for most assignments now, as it is more manageable than my DSLR.  Nicole also did one of her performances in school, and my sweet little Nadine celebrated her 3rd Birthday in School.

In May, the kids had a blast, as they were invited to the media launch of “Madagascar” the latest ride at Universal Studios,and HTC also furnished me with their latest tablet – the Flyer. I think these 7 inch tablets are truly under-rated, and I use my Flyer all the time, as it is definitely more handy than my iPad.

In June,  we had a somewhat trying month. We were supposed to go to Beijing on a sponsored trip with Julia Gabriel, but the whole family ended up in hospital. The kids due to food poisoning, and I was down with dengue again.

In July, I managed to win my biggest competition yet. I competed in the Shell Fuel Save Challenge, and I won 1st Prize. That was really cool, as it meant 1 year’s supply of Free Fuel for the family, and I got to represent Singapore in a regional Shell Competition in Malaysia.

In August, the kids performed in their National Day Recital in School, and all 3 kids put up a great show. It was good to see all the kids overcoming their fears and putting up a good public performance.

In September, we had our sponsored “Stay-vacation” at Quincy Hotel off Paragon, and the kids had a blast making muffins and playing in the pool due to the stay. My girls also competed in a Master Chef competition sponsored by Zespri Kiwi Fruit at Asian Food Kitchen.

In October, I completed my 1st Parenting with Confidence class as a facilitator, and it looks like I will be conducting many more classes in 2012. . We also shifted into our new home, and we had a fun time decorating the place. Only thing was that we fell out of love with Ikea furniture.

In November, our family enjoyed a sponsored stay at Hard Rock Hotel Penang. It was definitely a fun outing for the whole extended family, and the kids really loved Adventure Zone in Penang.

In December, Nicole had her milestone recital at Raffles Hotel. This performance marked the coming-of-age of our little girl, as she was going to Primary 1 in 2012.

Looking back, it has certainly been an eventful year, and I am counting my blessings, as we look back at our Adventures. Believing for an even greater year in 2012.

Thanks for being a part of our lives!

Last week proved to be a really exciting week for the family, as it was Nicole’s graduation performance from her Pre-school.

If you think that these graduations are still simple affairs, where you just wear your graduation gown and take a photo with a scroll (Remember that photos from your People’s Association Kindergarten), times have changed. In fact, the picture below is the simplest part of the ceremony  

Nicole’s graduation ceremony was at Raffles Hotel with each ticket costing $65, and we had to pay a sum of $400+ for the costumes/graduation ring/calendar.

With prices so steep, even inviting a grandma or a popo will cost us an additional $60/person.

Nicole truly loves the stage and she was really hyped up for her performance. Reporting time was at 845am, and she was up by 7am, making sure that Daddy and Mummy were not late for her performance.

Here are the the pictures of her at her combined graduation performance:

As Nicole also loves to sing and dance, she was also cast as “Mulan” and “Princess Jasmine” in the play Aladdin.

Ok…Mummy has been commenting that these photos are too masculine, so here are the photos of her as Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.

Here are more pictures of her after her performance. She was so happy, as the cameras and all the parents surrounded her.

If you guys want to watch the video of her performance, you can check out the youtube video below. Nicole makes her appearance at 9min in the video and she does a solo item! Daddy and Mummy are of course very proud of her!  

Last month, I just completed my 1st Parenting With Confidence class as a facilitator.

It has been fun getting to know more parents from City Harvest, and I enjoyed finding more about their lives and sharing my Parenting Experiences with them.

I think we all came to a conclusion that Parenting is a journey, where both husband and wife must walk together.  As in every journey, when we have God and encouraging friends to help us along the way, the valleys certainly become less lonely.

We also realized that we should not take ourselves so seriously, and laughter is certainly the best medicine, as we shared about our mistakes

Definitely looking forward to the next class!