I learned swimming by jumping into a lombong bijih timah lol

And yes, that time we seldom heard of missing child, kidnapped child, someone got slashed while withdrawing $ fr ATM etc.

Well you got a point there. Given the situation that i have mentioned earlier at such a family environment, so what would be ur advise? I assume u r probably a seasoned parents vs im a newbie.

TS...u better close this topic as the replies are way off from your queries.

Answer here will never pleased any parents as they have their own opinion.

I'm still looking fwd to more replies. Opinions/ suggestions are welcome.

At least i got some good inputs fr here - home education, exposure, enrichment classes etc.

Always listen to what old men says, then judge your self.
Keeping both the young and old together will strengthen the family ties.
What you are doing now is what you will be getting next time.

Yes agree. Nothing against that.

Coming back to my situation, with kids running around, 5-6 adults watching tv, talking etc. So how should i "home edu" my kids at such a distracting environment? Leave aside the parents will once a while comment here & there while u r "educating" ur child.

Well, you can always talk to them that you need some time for your kids.

Yes, we have options, but there's not only one way to bring up a kid.
Many parents bring up their child in different way, I believe parents try hard to provide the best to their kids.
We respect their decision to bring their kids to enrichment class, as well as parents who spend time with kids at home.

Just like I'm a breastfeeding mummy, should I say those formula feed parents are not providing the best for their baby?
No, I will not say that, maybe they have their difficulty, I believe they are providing the best within their limit to their little one.

Do you have a small playground at your room?
Before sleep, usually my husband and I will spend 30min-1hour, staying in the room, sing songs, read story book or play with him, then only put him to bed.

During weekend, usually morning we will go out for breakfast, then will bring him walk around at playground.
If it's a shopping week, we will go out together to shop for groceries. Else if stay home, we will let him play with his toys, lego and montessori materials. We have been trying hard to teach him to collect back his toys and put back to original place... it's really depends his mood

This post has been edited by vandoren: Mar 18 2015, 11:08 PM

Already done that....but most of the time we will take a walk around the neighbourhood + playground in d evening.

Only missing part is the montessori materials, which i'll explore.

Why don't you try making flashcards for a start?
I make my own flashcards from wild animals, ABCs, numbers, transportations, occupations, fruits & vegetables, flags etc etc.
One day flash like 50 to 100cards and trust me, babies can know what you are showing to them.
I continued doing so and increased the number of cards after first flashing around 20+cards to my 9month old girl and she can correctly point out all the cards after few days. She can't talk or walk yet at that time but would stare tentively at what you show them. So doing this earlier the better because as they grow, they can't concentrate so much as they will be walking around.
I have now made more than 1000cards and still growing.
It's cheaper this way and you can choose what you want to teach your kid.

It's OK if they don't show any response but they know what you taught them. They will only respond when they are happy or in the mood to play with you and that's the time you can test them.

Done that d. But im a lazy fella, so i bought those flash cards. Baby is kinda bored wif it now. Unless i buy more/ DIY more. I even use the poker cards since recently was CNY.

Yes it takes alot of effort make those cards And yes they will get bored showing the cards they already know over and over again. There are other ways to utilize the cards such as doing memory game.

Own self can do it for free but refuse to. Instead, willing to pay money by doing the same

Not to say free also because you have to factor in the cost of cardboard, printer ink and glue. I'd say around 25 cents per flashcards but it's way cheaper than buying as those will be around 50-70 cents per piece. So the saving is about 50% to 70%. The pro is you can prepare whatever material you want as to compare buying because the choices in bookstores are really limited. Con is time and effort is needed.

Nope, I mean going to those centers. As we are doing the same also.
Why those centers required parents around? Is because :
1. they don't want to take risk of injuries.
2. children won't really learn(or I would say some still don't know how to express them self).

We have a lot of such flash cards for free since my wife operates kindis.