February 23rd, 2005
I Have Been Seeing These Quite Often Lately
» motherhood
1. Mommies enquired and discussed about sending little kids to establishments like Cherrybrooks, Chiltern House, Pat’s Schoolhouse and Eton Schoolhouse. Oh, the new hot preschool now is the one at Creative Technology.
2. Besides the premiere preschool, the kids also attend enrichment in movement, music, craft, swimming, yoga or languages at Julia Gabriel, Growing up Gifted, Shichida, Berries, and Gymboree.
3. Own baby Bjorn, Maya Wrap, MIM sarong sling, water mesh, Ergo, hip seat and also a backpack. Some mommies only has one kid, and some have many kids, but they all love baby wearing and also buy the similar slings in different fabric or prints to match with their outfits.
4. Buying an Aprica stroller is quite common, but is considering getting an Aprica car seat as well. If I am not wrong, it isn’t found in Singapore, so, intending to have the car seat ship over from Japan (opps, according to mb, can be found in Robinsons).
5. Asking around for the best O&G and paed. Price is not important, as long as they are good. How come no one ask about the best polyclinics or gynea in public hospital? Ok, sometimes, but very rarely asked.
6. Talks about bringing the kids downstairs, or outside the house to play with water or receive private swimming lesson? Public swimming pool is hardly heard.
The list goes on. Sometime I must wonder if Singapore is really getting so affluent that we are able to spend such a tidy sum on the kids. Blessed are those who could provide the best to their kids, and kudos to those who are also able to provide the best to their kids in non material ways.
How many ticks have you gotten from the 6 above? I had a chat with my friend A yesterday. We were both complaining about getting ends meet and being just barely able to balance our accounts, even though the family’s total income is reasonably sound. No more “extra money” since the child arrives. My friend A couldn’t give up her job because she needs the income in order to provide for the kid. She will slave for her, to give her the best education during the precious first 6 years of the daughter’s life. Parents are most willing to spend to last cent (and maybe go digging somewhere else) to ensure their kids well being and education are not compromised in any ways.
February 23rd, 2005 at 9:48 am
You can get Aprica car seats in Singapore (very the expensive).
I saw them in Robinson’s, I think. There is an Aprica store at the building next to Peace Centre.
(I had no ticks in any of your boxes, heheh.)
February 23rd, 2005 at 10:59 am
Other than the two slings i own and having Troy to teach Tim swimming at our friend’s pool, i am not ‘guilty’
of the rest. We are homeschooling Tim for now.
Is Aprica really that good? My brother ( 22 yo this year) used to be transported around in an aprica when he was a baby… the pram was very expensive as i can recall.
February 23rd, 2005 at 11:56 am
mb, I remembered you wrote about bringing Faith and Issac to “club” for swimming…haha.
Ok, I have got an aprica stroller, which I spent a bomb on buying one, but always feels embarassed to use. Anyway, it is very light, easy to open and close, and has a very sleek look.
If I have a lot of money to spare, I think there would be a high probability that I will score very high on the ticks. btw, I must clarify that the above post was not meant to be scornful to parents who have the very best interest in their kids.
February 23rd, 2005 at 12:06 pm
Like you, if I have a lot of money, I would probably be very guilty of #1 and #2. As for the stroller, I have not heard of Aprica stroller but I do have a Peg Perago stroller that I too am embarrassed to use in Singapore. In the US, it would not be a big deal. I have a friend who lives in Europe and she has a chicco stroller. When she came back to visit her parents in Singapore, she told me that she was also embarrassed by her stroller as it seemed really BIG compared to all the other ones here…
February 23rd, 2005 at 12:32 pm
Me only guilty on #5 when my boy was sick for 2 weeks. No money and time to worry about the rest. hahahahah. The only “enrichment” course my boy gets is learning distorted ang moh from his ah ma…….
February 23rd, 2005 at 1:11 pm
LOL. Are you reading too much mummy’s forum/blog ? For me :
1) I send my kids to the nearest and most convenient neighbourhood childcare centre.
2) My elder one is only taking piano, and none for the younger one.
3) I only own one cotton sling, that’s enough for me already.
4) Haha, what’s a stroller? I use my sling or hands.
5) I choose the gynae and paed who are within walking distance. Recently, we’ve switched to polyclinic for the elder one.
6) Ok, we bring them to SPANS club (SAFRA club for police since hubby is policeman for reservist) to swim, but that’s not an elite club right?
I do agree that there are parents who want to give a headstart (or kiasu depend on how you look at it) when it comes to their children’s wellbeing, for example, my poor nephews are taking 4 to 5 extra classes a week. But that doesn’t mean that other people like us are compromised in anyway. The time other kids spend on their classes, we are enjoying quality time together as a family. To me, that’s better for our kids.
February 23rd, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Ah huileng, but that “club” we went to I not member. My marder is member and she signs us in. And it is not even high-end club, heheh. We almost went to the public pool near our flat last week, but called it off because of heat and bad air.
I have an old Aprica car seat, which I have to say is excellent. It was bought off a German expat lady neighbour of my cousin’s, for $100 (plus a boxload of toys and clothes). Actual price (which I saw at Robinson’s) was $700+. Ouch.
Lately, I have been impressed with SAFRA club, especially the ones at Mount Faber and Yishun. I may become a member there (cheep cheep!) so that we have another place to swim and bowl.
We do not have a paed believe it or not. Our family all see our family doctor, a GP who has a clinic on the first floor of our flat. She is very good, and we have never felt the need to see a paed. The only time we saw any paed was when the kids were born, and when the girl was hospitalised at KK (twice) for a nasty lung infection. That was no fun for all. Especially since I had to sleep on a folding bed in a B2 ward with no aircon for a week.
I agree with Mel, classes are nice to have (and I may have one or two for the boy when he gets older) but spending time together as a family is better. Anyway, after spending a monthly four-figure sum on the daughter’s therapies and diets, we have precious little left for all the luxuries. If I had some extra money, we may indulge a little but as it is, we are happy and content.
February 23rd, 2005 at 11:00 pm
I only have a tick to no. 3. I own a hip carrier called EZHipCarrier which I bought from an eBay seller. Ryan is close to 12 kg so I definitely need one when I’m out with him as he doesn’t like to sit in his stroller much.
I oogled and drooled at the Aprica strollers at Robinsons. I also nagged at Chris for having bought the bulky Graco stroller which we still use to this very day. I wanted to buy a second-hand one but in the end I gave up the idea.
We swim in Clementi swimming pool. That’s the nearest public pool to us.
With single income, I don’t think I can afford to send Ryan to all these expensive classes. Also is it really necessary? I often wonder if those scholars or Cambridge or Harvard or Ivy League students were attendees of these kiddie classes? Did these classes give them a headstart?
I went for a trial Gymboree class with Ryan some months back. Unfortunately he was fussy and cranky during that time and so didn’t enjoy his lesson. I don’t think I can ensure that he will be in tip-top condition during lesson time. A better way is that I obtain materials so that I can teach him as and when he is ready or in the mood for it.
February 24th, 2005 at 1:02 pm
Yes mel, reading too much mommies forums and blogs, and started thinking that all other babies are attending shichida lesson, doing some gymboree classes, or cramming at some language centres.
Oh yes, the SAFRA at Henderson Road look really nice from outside. Also, can go climb “mount” and “hill” after having a fun time at the club.
February 25th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
Hm… I think I can tick more than I care to admit. I’d like to think our situation is different (Tokyo is a walking city and an uber light stroller makes so much more sense than a big heavy European one), but hey, I didn’t have to get the most expensive, top of the line Aprica, did I? Parents want to give as much as they can for the “good of the children”, but when is too much? At what point do we trade off good old family time for that one extra enrichment class? How different are we from those kiasu parents out there?
February 28th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
I understand that parents do feel the stress, given the competitiveness of our society. They want to ensure that their child makes the grades, after all better grades, supposely, will give them better career prospects which in turn equals to comfortable salary and thus comfortable living and hence happiness. I do not agree with the last relationship though. From comfortable living to happiness. Its a very materialistic view based on the main flaws of our Singaporean thinking. While I was a kid studying, I have the following observations.
1) Parental support and a conducive family environment does more to a child learning ability and his grades as compared to any other tuition or prep school.
2) The kid with the brightest grade in school are alway not the one who has the most pressure from his parents. Will to succeed is usually innate. The more pressure they feel from parents, the more they may want to free themself by rebelling.
But those are my personal view. My 2 cents worth of contribution.