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Stories of Play on Instagram

This is not the kind of content I usually talk abo

This is not the kind of content I usually talk about on my social platforms.

But I honestly can't find it within me to talk about anything else
Because that wouldn't feel right

That wouldn't be authentic of me and authenticity is the core of who I am and what my business stands for

I honestly haven't been able to stop thinking about the events currently unfolding in US with regards to racism.

Which might seem strange because I'm not based in US

I'm not White or Black

I'm Asian

More specifically, I'm a Singaporean Chinese based in Australia.

Growing up as an ethnic majority in my country of origin and even now living as an ethnic minority in my country of residence, I've never personally felt like race was an issue

Which I acknowledge is already a privilege in and of itself

Yet the truth is, I'm utterly devastated and my heart is broken for the Black community

I'm not usually one to follow current affairs closely (not even with Covid)

But I haven't been able to stop reading news, articles and consuming content on social media posts with regards to the conversations and discourses surrounding privilege, justice and racism.

To say that I've been challenged by what I've seen, heard and read is an understatement

I'm experiencing new levels of discomfort within myself like I've never felt before

As a Christian I believe that God created all of us fearfully and wonderfully in His image, and that He made us all so uniquely different

That's the kind of nice, feel-good conversations we have in our home

I've always felt proud of the fact that my children "don't see colour"

And by that, I mean that they don't have biases or prejudices

Of course they see skin colour, just like how they see the colours of hair, the colours of eyes.

No different to how my older girls have straight hair and my youngest has naturally wavy hair

It's simply another thing that makes us all uniquely us. Special. A nice good thing. (cont. comments 👇🏼)

This will either make you feel extremely relieved,

This will either make you feel extremely relieved, or a bit annoyed or maybe even angry.

Angry because you probably thought I was going to give you a 10-step solution to this problem or a list of sure-win activities for your children that will result in hours of independent play.

Well I’m not.

Because hear me clearly mama:
It is NOT your job to entertain your children.

I often come across articles like “101 Things to Do When Kids Are Bored” or “Here’s how to keep your children entertained at home” or “How to make sure your kids are never bored” and they honestly make me angry.

Because these articles are perpetuating lies that boredom is a bad thing and we need to fix it, and worse still, that it is our job as parents to constantly be entertaining our children so we can prevent them from ever feeling bored.

As if we don’t already have enough on our plates!

Disregarding the additional pressure on us to always be one step ahead with the activities, we need to realize that boredom is the mother of creativity.

Having that empty SPACE and TIME for children to sit and be, feel, think (and whine) is a GOOD thing! It will spark imagination and breed new ideas. It will encourage them to look at their own toys with new eyes. It will cause them to devise their own games, create and invent.

Why would you want to prevent that?

And when you’re constantly entertaining them and spoon-feeding activities to keep them occupied, they’ll come to always rely on you for more and more entertainment, and to always be there to solve their problem or to hand over the screen because you cannot stand another moment of whining.

You’ll never be able to get off the wheel of being their source of human entertainment and they’ll never get to experience the joy and benefits of engaging in self-directed play.

Be comfortable with boredom
Be comfortable with whining and frustration and sitting with your children in their negative emotions.

Then flip it on its head by telling them it’s a good thing.

I love boredom. Do you? 😊

#AuthenticLearning

“Because of the mess that comes with play, somet

“Because of the mess that comes with play, sometimes parts of our toys go missing and it gives me anxiety”

Do you relate to the above sentiment that a mum recently shared with me?

Well hand over heart, I am most definitely not immune to mess.

I am also most definitely not immune to feeling heartache, disappointment, frustration and even anger when pieces of expensive open ended toys go missing at the end of the day or get drawn on or get broken.

Don’t they know how expensive those toys are?
Don’t they know what they cost me?
Don’t they care that there’s now a textas mark that’s forever engraved on that beautiful piece of wood?
Don’t they care that the set is now imperfect?

Well to be honest, children don’t care.

And it’s not because they’re ungrateful brats or they are irresponsible little minions.

It’s because the value they place on toys is not based on the cost or their outward appearance.

Toys aren’t there to prettify their play space.

They’re simply tools for them to explore, engage, experiment, investigate and be curious with.

If I keep all my toys out of my children’s reach or hidden because I’m afraid that pieces will go missing, drawn on or broken, then my children will miss out on all the learning opportunities that come from them engaging with the pieces and learning important life skills like responsibility and taking ownership of their belongings.

What is the opportunity cost for not providing them with the opportunity to make messes, to play with toys and lose pieces in the process?

Weigh it up mama and know that the early years where our children are sponges goes by so quick! Don’t miss the train! 🙂 🙌🏼 #AuthenticLearning

The secret to encouraging children to engage in cr

The secret to encouraging children to engage in creative play?

Being intentional about creating an environment that encourages creative play and consequently learning.

Choosing toys that allow children to take the lead.

Toys that encourage endless creativity and imagination as they inspire children to create, imagine, explore and problem-solve.

Toys that enable the child to become an active participant and creator of their play and learning as compared to a passive participant being entertained by pushing a single button.

Now am I suggesting that we only stock our homes with the latest open-ended toy hypes or splash out on collecting stacks of expensive wooden toys?

No! Heck no!

There are plenty of wonderful open-ended toy options that are affordable and would cost the same as a battery-operated, push-button or electronic toys.

Pictured here in the background are some Papoose trees and Grimms LSP, and whilst I love the endless play possibilities they offer my children, I equally love that my 4yo is able to create her own trees out of pom poms and some cheap Kmart jenga blocks which is what she’s done here.

Then am I suggesting that we can’t have any of our children’s favourite toys? Should we throw out all their favourite stuffed animals for instance, or all their frozen Frozen figurines or Paw Patrol figurines?

No, no and no!

Instead, it is simply about being intentional and really thinking through what toys we allow into our homes and recognising how our toy purchasing decisions have the power to influence the play and learning environment that we are creating for our children.

It is recognising what kind of toys do we want to have more of and what do we want to have less of.

It is perhaps thinking about having less toys in order to have better.

Because when our children’s play environment is thoughtfully set up, the entire environment serves as an invitation to play and children can’t help but engage in deeper and extended play and learning is just an inevitable by-product in the process.

Are you intentional about the play environment you set up in your home, specifically the kind of toys that you allow?

“... my first year of motherhood was incredibly

“... my first year of motherhood was incredibly challenging, lonely and isolating, to the point where I felt like I lost a huge part of my identity and struggled to find the person I was before mum.

It didn’t help that the general consensus and stories I heard about this season of motherhood with littles was always of mums putting their lives and dreams on hold for their families and being told to ‘hang in there and it too shall pass’

And so I bought into the lie that this feeling of not recognising yourself, constantly feeling like you’re hanging by a thread and barely holding it all together is part and parcel of the incredible sacrifice and rite of passage that all mums have to make in our journey of motherhood... this was NOT the motherhood I wanted and envisioned for myself...”
.
I recently had the pleasure of sharing my motherhood and business journey with the amazing community of mums over @comma.rethinklife, where I share my thoughts on abundant motherhood and a few tips on running a business as a stay at home mum.

To read the full article, click on the link in bio :)

To tell you the truth, I never set out to have a b

To tell you the truth, I never set out to have a business.

When I became a mum, I was happy to “just be mum”. It was all I ever wanted to be and do and I assumed I’d just be a SAHM/ homeschooling mum for the rest of my life.

But what I didn’t expect to happen was that I would find the first year of motherhood so incredibly challenging, lonely and isolating, to the point where I felt like I lost such a huge part of my identity and struggled to find the person I was before mum.

And so I started this account way back in 2016 to find a little bit of myself back then, to do something that’s just for ME, something that I loved.

I couldn’t have imagined how that seemingly small decision then to do something for me, would eventually grow into this beautiful community of like-minded parents, and continue to grow into this business that I now have.

The business is only 9 months old but I’ve had the incredible privilege of working with hundreds of parents through both my programs Playful Parent Academy and Authentic Learning.

I GET TO help parents be more intentional and present with their children and help them reach their fullest potential, advocate for the power of play in the early years, have an impact in the lives of families whilst contributing to our own household income.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity for how these programs have enabled me to serve countless mums and families, but it’s now time to serve at a higher level and create a bigger impact.

Can’t wait to share more of what’s been brewing behind the scenes, but for now, I’d love to know what’s one of the biggest takeaways you’ve had from following my account! Feel free to do it via DM if that’s more comfortable for you! ☺️

I’m truly sorry to break it to you mama but ther

I’m truly sorry to break it to you mama but there’s honestly NO SINGLE TOY that you can buy on earth that will simply lead to hours of independent play #ifonly

You would know this if you’ve ever purchased a highly raved about and expensive open ended toy because it appeared to be used endlessly and in multiple ways on IG accounts, but it has unfortunately ended up mostly sitting on your shelf looking pretty and collecting dust.

You wonder if you’ve wasted your money, or if those photos you see on IG of children playing with them are staged!

Choosing good quality open-ended toys helps.

Setting it up in a way that is easily accessible and is inviting will help.

Modelling the various ways to play with a toy will definitely help.

But the real magic is in truly knowing your child, recognising the uniqueness and individuality of your child, and being attuned to the person he/she is.

To be attuned as a parent, is to be present, observant and curious so that you can watch your children, and really get to know them.

It’s to be aware of and attentive to your child’s interests, personality, learning styles, developmental stage and strengths so that you will be able to set up an environment for play and curate toys that are age/ developmentally appropriate and aligned with their current interests so they will gravitate to and engage with them for ages.

Start with your child.

Because my friend, that is when the magic happens!

So tell me, how well do you think you know your child? :)

When teaching children the alphabet, should you st

When teaching children the alphabet, should you start with upper case or lower case first? 🤔

What do you think?

If you feel like it, you can let me know your thoughts below.

Otherwise there’s also currently a poll going on in my Stories where you can vote.

And if you’re keen on knowing my thoughts, go check out my Stories because I also shared the A-Z of how my 4yo came to know and write her letters, and how we did it without specifically introducing either upper case or lower case first 🤭
#AuthenticLearning

p.s. Featuring the incredibly well-loved book that singlehandedly introduced the alphabet to my girls 🙂 Would you like a video of the entire reading? 😊

From the moment I got woken up this morning, it ha

From the moment I got woken up this morning, it had all the makings of it being a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Pardon the picture book reference, I can’t help it 🤣

I had slept close to 3am last night.

Got woken up a couple of times by a really upset 2yo with a horrible ezcema flare plus wheezing.

Kids were up early today, even though they’ve been sleeping in til around 8 for the past couple of weeks.

Kids all woke up grumpy and were fighting and tantruming and refusing to get dressed.

Bless the hubby who knew I had a late night and told me to sleep in and he’ll handle the kids.

I tried. But the screaming tantrums meant I couldn’t fall back to sleep, as much as I wanted to.

I came out of the bedroom groggy and ready to flip at everyone, until I saw the poor tired-looking hubby slumped on the couch, 3 kids screaming at each other on the ground.

At that moment, I knew I had a decision to make.
I could fight them all, or I could embrace the chaos.

So I sighed inwardly, went to our ipod dock (coz I’m oldschool like that) to put on some worship music, and then sat amongst the crying/screaming kids, grabbed two of them and just held them. Hubby took the other one.

And just like that, the situation was defused.
The kids calmed down.
I couldn’t believe how “easy” that was! #SimpleNotEasy

And then I was reminded of this quote, which is one of my favourites as a teacher, so much so I had included it in my personal teaching philosophy statement in my classroom back in the day. (I’ve altered it slightly here)

I am the decisive element in the home.
It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.
It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.

Mamas, we honestly have the power to reset the atmosphere in our home when it’s anything but homely.

I’ve mentioned my go-to way of resetting the atmosphere in my home. What’s your favourite way to defuse the tension in your home?

#storiesofplay_motherhoodtales

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Home
Hello There!
Blog
Play Matters
Play Spaces
- Play Room
- Art Space
Store
- Cart
- My account
Invitations to Create
- Why Process Art/ Invitations to Create?
- 31 Days of Invitations To Create
Contact