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Quick Links - Play is Good and Others - 15 October 2007

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:14:47 +0000

Haven’t updated the blog in a while. So, here’s some links out to stuff I found over the week or so.

- Children’s learning should be fun, says heads
Head teachers in the UK have come out strongly in support of having children below the age of six learn through play. They are against children entering formal education at the age of five as studies in Scandinavia has shown that starting formal education later could boost academic performance in the long term. Hmmmm … maybe we should do that for Matthew. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy. Play is always better than studying!

- Free parenting e-books
Parentwonder.com has compiled a list of 36 e-books, that are free and downloadable, on a range of parenting topics. I particularly like the ones on being a dad, child discipline and handling their tantrums.
(via Inside Fatherhood

Top 10 Things To Do While Your Kids Have Tantrums

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:23:15 +0000

Though Matthew hasn’t had a major tantrum yet, this is definitely good list to keep in mind when and if he decides to have a tantrum. The list “Top Ten Things To Do While Your Kids Have Tantrums” is quite comprehensive though it’s catered more for mothers than fathers. Maybe I should go think of what fathers can do when they are faced with a kid throwing tantrums. Anyway, go through the comments as they provide other useful tips.

(via Parent Hacks)

Technorati Tags: parenting, tantrums

How To Manage Kids in the Home Office

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:13:35 +0000

Web Worker Daily recently published an article how “How To Manage Your Kids in the Home Office”.

Though I’m not a Stay-At-Home Dad, the pointers provided would definitely help me if I ever decide to become one. I guess it also applies to whenever I’m working at home on projects and other last minute matters. For the time being, I usually wait for my son to go to bed first before I start on my work. Or if it’s on my off days, then I’ll send him to infant care first before going home to work.

Technorati Tags: kids, productivity, sahd, stay-at-home dads

The Father Life - An Ezine

Isaak Kwok — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:36:35 +0000

The Father Life is a recently launched online magazine for men with a particular focus on fathers. The first issue is currently available for download. There’s also an online forum where you can discuss with other readers (and potentially also fathers) on fatherhood, current events and life in general.

The magazine is nicely designed with informative articles though the first issue’s colors are a little dark. However, I’m already looking forward to the next issue.

Technorati Tags: fatherhood, parenting, ezine

Isaak’s Links - 29 December 2006

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:23:08 +0000

- Things a Man Should Know: About Fatherhood
Good a funny list of things that a father should know. Though some of the points are written tongue-in-cheek, I feel most of the pointers are really useful. Here are some of the tips that I adhere to: “15. Avoid walkers, not only because they can be dangerous around stairs but because they don’t require a child to balance and thus retard his walking progress.”, “25. Let them take reasonable risks: A few scrapes in the long run are nothing compared with the scars left by hovering parents. Or tics.”, “58. It’s never too early to begin reading to children.”, and “66. The harder they play, the earlier they sleep.”
(via Digg)

- Study Takes Rare Look At How Materialism Develops In The Young
This is a summary of a paper that would be published in a forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research. Their findings showed that “children with lower self-esteem valued possessions significantly more than children with higher self-esteem.”
(via reddit: what’s new online)

- Teaching Your Children How to Save
Think it’s important to teach children about the importance of saving from an early age. And it’s also crucial that the parents set an example for the children. But it’s always easier said than done.
(via Weary Parent: Parenting Tweens and Teens)

- Quintura for Kids
This is a child-, school- and library-friendly search engine, which uses a cloud-like environment for doing web searches. However, do note that the search engine doesn’t guarantee that all search returns would not contain inappropriate material. However, it should be generally quite safe as the back end of the search engine is powered by Yahoo! Kids.
(via Lifehacker)

- Housework cuts breast cancer risk
Hmmm … interesting research done. Housework can reduce breast cancer risk “_by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women_”. Must tell my wife do more housework.

Technorati Tags: baby, family, fatherhood, health, parenting, search engines

Stay-At-Home Dad

Isaak Kwok — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:14:35 +0000

Saw this post on Inside Fatherhood about Stay-At-Home Dads (SAHDs). In the post, he provides links to 5 articles he has previously written that would help dads make the decision if they should become a SAHD. But his best advice given is “Just Do It”.

However, I haven’t convinced Wendy if I should become a Stay-At-Home Dad, but, more importantly, myself. It’s a very big decision to make. There’ll be the financial consideration and that would be the biggest consideration for us. In addition, there’ll also be a matter of taking Matthew out of infant care and the lack of interaction with other kids though that can be reduced by joining a SAHD support group. To a smaller extent, there would be the question of ‘face’ since the father is supposed to be the breadwinner of the family in our Asian context. So, there is quite a bit to think about before we can make the big decision.

And I’ll be going to borrow some books, like the ones below, to read up on becoming a SAHD.

Full time father: how to succeed as a stay at home dad
Richard Hallows; editors: Richard Craze, Roni Jay
Great Ambrook: White Ladder, 2004
Call No.: English 305.33649 HAL
Click here for item availability on NLB’s catalogue or here if you want to buy a copy.

The stay-at-home dad handbook
Peter Baylies with Jessica Toonkel
Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2004
Call No.: English 306.8742 BAY-[FAM]
Click here for item availability on NLB’s catalogue or here if you want to buy a copy.

Stay-at-home dads: the essential guide to creating the new family
Libby Gill
New York: Plume, 2001
Call No.: English 649.1 GIL-[FAM]
Click here for item availability on NLB’s catalogue or here if you want to buy a copy.

Technorati Tags: books, parenting, sahd, stay-at-home dad

Isaak’s Quick Links - 29 November 2006

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 06:08:09 +0000

- Trophy Husbands
The news article looks at the increasing number of women who make more money than their husbands. And also the increasing number of men who take on the household duties while their wives work.

- The Answer to Long Life for Men is 9

A strong grip
Being married
Not smoking
Not being overweight
Low levels of bad cholesterol
A good education
Avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol
Maintaining a normal blood sugar
Having a normal blood pressure

Seems like I need to work on a few of the points listed above to ensure I live a long life. And to ensure I don’t step onto the roads without checking first.
(via Inside Fatherhood)

- Real-life Solutions to Everyday Living
One of the solutions listed that I find real useful, particularly when we have a dog and a young child.

If you want your upholstered furniture to survive, just have each piece hermetically sealed with crunchy-hard clear plastic.

- Ambitious parents spend on educational toys for toddlers
It has been reported that about US$1.7 billion was spent on “edutainment” toys with the figure reaching US$5.5 billion by 2010.

Well, I’ve got to admit that we do spend quite a bit of money this past year buying toys for Matthew. He has a couple of toys from LeapFrog plus others. And I’m sure we’ll be buying him more toys in the foreseeable future. Oh, and he wants a ‘Bob the Builder’ doll for Christmas.

- The Birthday Budget
A good way to inculcate in your child about the proper management of money through making him/her responsible for keeping to the budget of his/her birthday party.

Technorati Tags: family, parenting, toddler, toys

Isaak’s Quick Links - 14 November 2006

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:01:49 +0000

- Top 10 Sites for Kid’s Thanksgiving Ideas
Useful even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.
(via Thrifty Mommy)

- Tell Strong-Willed Toddlers What They Should Do
Think I need to start doing this to Matthew.
(via Parent Hacks)

- Preparing Your Dog For A New Baby
Very useful tips. We faced a similar situation when Matthew came along. Thankfully, Matthew and Jeremiah get along real well.
(via Parent Hacks)

- Parents to Monitor on Classrooms Online
Parents can now see what their kids are doing in school in a A$60 million hi-tech project. But that’s if you reside in the state of Victoria, Australia and the incumbent government wins the state elections next week.

Technorati Tags: arts and craft, baby, dog, infant, monitoring, parenting, toddler