News, thoughts and play inspirations

May. 17, 2020

From paper plates to Pointillism - Five amazing arts and crafts websites to inspire your child's creativity

“Most children will probably lose their imaginativeness and vivacity as they mature, but some will not” - said the famous abstract artist Mark Rothko, a pioneer in art education for children. If I...

May. 16, 2020

To tech or not to tech: Do we go forward or backward?

But judgment aside, it’s also a very interesting article that reflects the tension facing our generation of parents: When it comes to play, do we go forward or backward?Do we engineer for them a childhood reminiscent of our own – with lesser “stuff”and more child play experiences independent from "stuff"? (I say “engineer” because it has to be a conscious effort -- we'd have to consciously stop ourselves from inadvertently too many cheap, unneeded things for them) Or, do we look forward and apply the latest research and technologies to ensure they are ahead of the game?

Jan. 12, 2020

What to pack for a flight with kids

On my first trips with Bean, I had an one-page list of things to pack which I printed out from a mom's traveling blog, and filled my backpack with maybe fifty things that I thought to pack "just in case" - only to find that the backpack was so full I couldn't find where anything was! lolz. And I never used half of them anyway, so instead I carried a heavy load AND a baby around wishing that I hadn't brought so much.

Having learned from this experience, here are a list and some tips I've accumulated to make you calm and have a relatively painless ride:

Sep. 15, 2017

The little truth about big sisters

I am the youngest child in my family and I have one big sister four years elder. Since when I was a child, my mom has always told me the funny story about my sister when I was born. Apparently she thought I came from the hospital as she cried and and insisted that my mom should return me to the nurses to come home with her! Well, it's been well thirty years since I knew that story but I never fully empathized with my sister as much as this year, when I expected my second baby.