News / Nunn Road / 2007 / August 2007 (E70)

Dear parents,

Teacher Joyce was away to take care of her mother last month. The children made cranes (birds of peace) to send their “get well soon” wishes. We hung the cranes at our display corner. I was so moved when I saw the children stand in front of the cranes to pray. I could feel their compassions and love. Teacher Joyce’s mother has been discharged from the hospital and is now recovering.

Last week, our papaya in the garden ripened. We harvested it with the children. As the gardener had covered the ripening fruit to avoid it being eaten by insects or birds, the children were very surprised when they saw the golden fruit. We enjoyed the sweet papaya very much.

This month we have Foong Lin and Swee Kian, two parents, to share with us. I appreciate their contributions. I hope you will gain some insights from their articles. You are most welcome to share your thoughts and experiences with us in the future.

Please remember to write your child’s name on all his/her belongings. This is to avoid any mix-up among the children. Most of the parents still didn’t write names on their children’s belongings after I had highlighted my concern in last month Nania News.

We will celebrate Harvest Festival on 5th October. Please mark the date on your calendar. More information about the festival will be given in September.

Lastly, I wish you a happy holiday. See you again on 3rd September.

Teacher Thian

About Moon Cake Festival

The Moon Cake Festival, a Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu), is the third major festival of the Chinese calendar. Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "Chung Chiu Jie." It is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy.

On that day children are told the story of the moon fairy, Chang-o, living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival.

Of course, the most famous legend surrounding the Moon festival concerns its possible role in Chinese history. Overrun by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the Chinese threw off their oppressors in 1368 AD. It is said that moon cakes - which the Mongols did not eat - were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along plans for the rebellion.? Families were instructed not to eat the moon cakes until the day of the moon festival, which is when the rebellion took place. (In another version plans were passed along in moon cakes over several years of Mid-Autumn festivals, but the basic idea is the same).

Parents’ Sharing: Television and Child Development

You may already have heard of the rising concern on the adverse effect of television viewing to children development. I would like to share some general effects that I have learned through my own experience and from others. Through observation of some schools, children who become used to ‘zapping’ from one programme to another lose their awareness of the importance of listening to spoken words. Children’s concentration is also affected. Unintentionally, children are exposed to the advertising of undesirable products. The sitting still state with restricted interaction between children and television set is not really enjoyed by the children. These are the effects that we as parents need to be aware of. It is us to decide what role we want television to play in our children’s lives.

I do recognize that television is a central in most of the home and family. It sounds difficult to control the watching time or even eliminate completely. I was having a tough and joyful experience in my family of moving away from television watching routine. When I decided to eliminate television from children completely, it appeared very difficult to me to change my family routine as my other family members, e.g., my husband and elder aunt have been used to the TV watching routine. Sometimes, my children didn’t really like the TV programme but just wanted to stay in the living room with the family members who were watching TV after dinner hour. I found that children didn’t really enjoy as they sometimes preferred to have movement play than sit still. I was suspicious to my decision in the beginning as I was afraid that my husband and my aunt would not be happy. However, I decided to stick to my decision as I thought of the previous generations were also having happiness without TV.

What I have attempted at first was creating a play corner at the upstairs’ room to move my children away from the living room where TV watching was the family activity during evening hours. I planned movement, singing and craft activities for children in the play corner. This helped but I could not maintain the routine because it was not natural for children to

move to upstairs without my active invitation and accompany. Though my husband and I had different opinion in the transitioning approach and pace, we learned from each other through better communication between us. Finally, I received great support from him not to have TV in the living room when my family moved to new house. We keep the TV in the corner far away from living room. Our family chose to watch DVD instead of ‘astro’ programme as we can control the viewing hour, e.g., during children bedtime. This is really a big step in creating joyful evening hours for our family after the dinner.

My children have their routine of drawing, playing with natural toys, folding origami, viewing story book pictures and interacting with family members through playing and sharing their days’ story. It is a warm environment for my youngest daughter who is 19 months to imitate and learn. She started to scribble and ‘cook’ with natural toys. She folds origami paper using her whole body weight as I guess she thinks that the paper is hard to be folded. The other big surprise that I have is my husband, aunt and sister-in-law also enjoy the routine without TV. They enjoy observing the children play and growth, which are so fulfilling to each of us. They substitute their evening hours with reading newspaper and magazine which my husband intentionally purchases more copies as replacement media for TV. My aunt starts to bring back her previous skills of craft work. For example, she makes clothes with my children together. So, it is not as difficult as I think initially. With patience and better communication within family members to get their support, our evening hours are nourished with joy and fulfillment.

By Swee Kian (Chia Zheng and Chia Yui’s mother)

I am Foong Lin, mother of Jing Qi and Shu Qing. Jing Qi graduated last year from Taska Nania and Shu Qing is currently in the English class. I am writing this letter to share my experiences with you.

Last December, I shared with you my family’s daily routine. We wanted to match our home rhythm to the daily routine at Nania to our home for our children when they reach home. I have seen the positive results in my family. I will share about them in my next letter.

This sharing is my concern about watching television. When my family moved to Penang, we decided not to have TV at home. My family has benefited from this decision especially in our relationship with our children. My husband and I shared the same opinion that watching TV brings more harm than benefits to children. Besides, there are many activities that can replace TV’s role. Parents need to plan these activities for the children. Some activities need parents’ participation while others do not. Some examples are drawing, singing, origami, reading, games and outdoor activities.

In my family, Monday to Friday nights, we read together for about half an hour after the dinner. While we read the newspaper, we explain the pictures to the children. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we go swimming, hiking, play games in park or attend Taska Nania’s Saturday class. In the afternoons, we usually take a nap and play at home. At night, we take a walk together. Then we sing, read or do craft work.

At first, we faced some problems. Everyone needs time to adjust to the new family routine. It took us almost a year. The most important thing is to plan activities that are suitable for the whole family. The activities depend on each family’s interests or hobbies. Our family consists only of parents and children, so it is much easier to plan the family activities as compared to the families with grandparents or other family members. If the other family members need to have a TV at home, may be you could locate it far from the center of living room or lock it in the cabinet. Besides, we also can choose the TV programmes or limit the viewing hours.

Why do people watch TV? In my opinion, most people get information and entertainment through watching TV. However, some people become addicted to the TV. They are used to switching on TV at night or when they get back home. They hope to find some programmes that will interest them. Unfortunately, they will continue watching another programme when one is finished. Actually, nowadays to watch TV or not is a tough decision that wars in our minds.

Today, TV has not only changed our lifestyles, but it has taken away our wonderful time with the children. Children don’t want to communicate with us and we can’t have time with them to talk or educate them. Childhood can be wonderful if we take away the TV from our children.

TV advertisements and ‘soap operas’ have stimulated children’s desires. Children absorb unhealthy information and imitate the cartoon characters. At this stage, children can’t analyze the TV information. They absorb all messages into their mind. This makes them confused.

Children do not need TV. It is we, the adults, who bring TV into their lives. We have the choice to take away the TV from them or to control their viewing time. Actually, children are influenced by our lifestyles. Don’t make TV the ‘nanny’ or let TV arrange your child’s time. “Rescue’ your child from this magic box and let them experience Mother Nature. Let them enjoy the family time with you to nourish their physical and psychological growth. Today, work and other things have occupied most of our time, so don’t let TV take away our limited family time. Use these precious moments to develop our relationship with our children. Even though we need to ‘leave’ the TV, it is worth the sacrifice.

By Foong Lin (Shu Qing’s mother)


Coming events

Moon Cake Festival (25th September 2007)
Teacher will tell the story about the moon fairy, Chang-o, on that day. Later, the children will bring back a vegetarian moon cake each.