Mummy val: Hi! Mom-of-four and a stay-home mom reporting!

[val]

I also have a flexi-hour part-time job as a freelance writer.


You're welcome to read the stories about kids, travel, recipes, and other thoughts, which I've uploaded at http://www.valtay.blogspot.com.

[mintcc]

welcome Val! wow how do you do it? I got one kid and I m tired out daily. I like your stories so cute how you play detective with the boys. :lol:

[val]

Tks, Mincy!

[mintcc]

hey val, did your children draw all those pictures on your blog?


I think some of them are very well done. How old are your kids when they draw those?

[val]

Thank you - personally, I thot some of them were okay, and some so-so. But like all moms, I think our own kids' drawings/paintings are good enuf to go on the Internet. : P


My kids' age range from 5 to 12. I think the drawings were mostly those by the 5-year-old (she has the most time to draw/paint compared to her siblings in primary sch), and some by the 8 and 10 yr old.

It is a pity that I do not have my eldest child (now in P6) drawings from his early yrs, as I only recently got a free scanner/printer that came with the new pc.

Come October, I will post two more stories that I have written and published in Lifestyle mag (September issue). One's on Teachers and the other's about trip to Bangkok/Hua Hin.

[val]

I’m not absolutely sure, but if you try clicking on the drawing, some of them u might find the file name - some of them indicate their age or level, such as K1 or P2, etc. That shd give u an idea of their age when they did the drawing.

[SMILEY]

Hi val,


Wow… Mom with 4 kids?
How do you cope?

[val]

It's challenging but not as difficult as it may seem.


I wrote about how I juggle 4 kids in \"Breezing through a handful of kids\" on http://www.valtay.blogspot.com . Instead of giving u a short answer here, that wud answer yr question in greater detail.

[SMILEY]

Hi val,


Have read your article on \"Breezing through a handful of kids\".
The only word that can describe you is SUPER mama.
3 cheers

But just out of curiousity, you mentioned your older boys help you on some of household chores. How did you go about doing it? How old did you start them on?

[val]

Have thought of writing a story on that some time ago - but never got round to it. For the long, detailed answer - look out on my blog (one day, I’d get round to write the long story and post on blog).


Short answer for now (which still seem long by forum standard): Basically, what I cud do and did do when I was in primary sch, I’m sure my kids wud be able to do as well. Since it was my job as a child to wash the bathroom once a week, and help with the dishes sometimes, wash my own sch shoes, iron my own sch uniform (that was in upper primary - when I was in lower primary, my elder sis helped me iron).

So my 2 elder boys started out to help wash the dishes, and later, my third son as well. They also wash their own sch shoes now. And the two older boys (in upper pri) help their younger bro (in P2) iron his uniform when they do theirs.

Be it washing the bathroom, sch shoes, dishes, ironing - u have to teach slowly and patiently. First, they watch you do it. Then they try - give lots of praise and encouragement. Do not scold when they make mistake. Keep repeating and correcting over several weeks and even months.

We have a system where I check their work - be it washing or ironing. If not gd enuf, they have to do it again. I don’t scold them - I jus point out which part no good and ask them to pls redo those parts. Till now, even for the bathroom - one of them tend to past the inspection (like army barrack style) with flying colours and the other fail. When they fail - I point out the dirty spots missed and they redo.

I have no hard and fast rule re age: as my third son takes after my MIL (he inherited her genes for height) - he is small for his age compared to his siblings. So he started doing the dishes once a week only when he was in P2 - as b4 that he was not tall enuf at the sink. His two older bros started in P1 - and they each wash 3 days a week now. Hence, between the 3 of them, we have got 7 days a week of dish washing covered.