Bad Parenting..and How You Can Make A Dfference.

This picture was taken on my way home from the office, I can’t really remember when. I took it because I wanted to write a post on responsible parenting and though I could use this as an example.

You see the mother right? She has her helmet on, and I suppose the dad does too. But what about the little kid? Not only does he not have a helmet on, he’s been carried in a very dangerous way. Now I know not everyone can afford to buy cars, and sometimes those who do have cars, don’t buy child seats for their kids. Maybe this is the case. However, the parents still could have taken a few precaution steps for the kid, just in case old daddy-o accidentally hit a pothole or a wet patch in the road.

First, the kid should be wearing a helmet. No buts about it. How much does a child helmet cost anyway? Probably not as much as your kid’s life, right? This should be a no-brainer, no matter how far or how near you’re taking the kid. Accidents can happen within 20 meters of your own home. How sad would you be if something was to happen and your kid could have survived head injuries, only if he or she were wearing a helmet?

Secondly, if the kid is below two years old, or small enough, strap him/her to your body using a baby carrier or even a sarong would do. This would prevent the kid from squirming too much and would also help you have a better grip on the child. Look again at the picture; all it takes is a small pebble in the road and dad could have lost control. You think mom would be able to hold on to her child? Most probably the kid would be thrown from his mother’s arms onto the pavement or god forbid, into traffic.

We as parents, we always want our kids to be safe. We tell them, don’t climb trees or you’ll fall and break your legs. We tell them, don’t play in the roads or you’ll get hit by a car. But when it comes to situations like these, situation where we can make a choice, we choose to put our kid’s life in danger. Why is that? Do we really have to see a kid’s brain splattered all over the road on the 8 o’clock news before we take precautionary steps? Why are we such a society that takes passive action, bak kata orang “Sudah terketuk, baru terngadah”?

This is just one example of bad parenting. There are more below. Remember, I’m not dissing on the parents but more on their actions.

Another example would be taking young children to a fancy restaurant. Now I’m all for family gatherings and family meals and what not. We do it all the time. However, if you take your child to a fancy restaurant, please be prepared with a course of action if the kid decides to scream his/her head of during dinner. This is out of respect for the other customers; no one wants to spend RM150 or more having dinner with Junior screaming in their ear. Bring a bottle or some toys for the kid to distract them from boring dinner talk. If everything else fails, LEAVE! Do not let your kids scream and throw cutlery at people or run around the restaurant like a shrieking banshee. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen. I’m appalled at parents who would allow their kids to act that way. My kids are no angels, and there have been times when hubby and I have had to leave the restaurant because of the kids acting up. But they are kids!!! We are the adults, the ones who have the power to make a choice in these situations. Usually when this happen (thank god, not that often) we just ask the server to wrap our food while one of us takes the kids outside for a cooling down session. Again, it all boils down to respect for others.

Another great example would be taking young children to the movies. This is another thing I don’t understand; kids already have very short attention spans, you expect them to sit down quietly to watch a 2 hour movie?!! I don’t care if it is The Care Bears Movie Special or Barbie and Ken Get Married Again. For starters, the cinema is cold and dark. Most kids hate places that are cold and dark. The surround sound is loud. I mean even I have trouble dealing with the loudness. So unless your kids are used to ear shattering sounds, chances are he/she won’t like the loud dialogues and music. I’ve seen parents who bring babies to the movies. Goodness, now you know the baby isn’t going to understand what going on anyway and the cold and loud sounds are only going to upset her. It’s understandable if she starts screaming her head off, but you as the parents should again, respect others and take the baby outside. Do not proceed to sit there and try to hush the baby up. Going to the movies has become such a harrowing experience already, what with the people in front of you being too tall, or the people next to you eating snacks none stop loudly or the people behind you, kicking your seat every 2 minutes. To add a screaming baby would just be too much. Hubby and I took Dania to her first movie when she was almost 4; we went to watch Narnia. Even then, we were prepared to leave the cinema if things got too much for her. We bought tickets for the last row, nearest to the exit. We bought popcorn for her and we brought her jacket, just in case it got cold. Fortunately for us, Dania enjoyed the movie but we were prepared to just forgo the entire thing if she hadn’t.

I could go on and on about bad parenting but its 6.30am and I haven’t done my Subuh prayers yet. I just hope whoever is reading this would next time take a minute to think about how their parenting may affect their kids and others around them. Till next time, take care.

Updates Since Last Time..

Dear readers,

Yes, I know I promised to update more. And it’s been more than a week since my last update. I’ll try to write a bit everyday, about all the mundane stuff that goes on in my life to keep you guys happy. Kay? Hehehehe..

It’s the 6th day of Ramadan so I guess it’s still not too late to wish all Muslims “Selamat Berpuasa” and may Allah bless you always. So far fasting has been rather uneventful for me, other than a few chest pains I’ve been feeling lately. I think it’s heartburn but since I’ve never had heartburn before, I can’t really tell. It comes and goes and it feels like there’s a hurricane going on in my chest. There first time I got it, it hurt quite a bit but fortunately it didn’t last all that long. I’ve been drinking a lot of milk, just in case.

Updates on the kids; Dania has been taking piano classes over at the Yamaha school in Subang Parade. She’s been going for 3 months now and she still hasn’t memorized all the placements of the notes. I guess I’m partly to blame for not practicing with her or going over her homework with her more often. I must make a point to go over the notes with her everyday, for at least 20 minutes. I can’t expect her to remember everything if she only opens her book for an hour a week during class.

Dina; well, she’ll be two next week. How time flies!! Her vocabulary has improved a bit; you can make out what she’s saying if she says the words one at a time. However if she speaks in full sentences, all I hear is baby gibberish. Her favorite words are “up”, “down”, “please”, thank you”, “velkomm (welcome)”, “ibu”, “babah”, “kakak” and “kakong (kak long)”.

Hubby; he’s doing fine. Oya, we had our 5th anniversary early this month but I had to work so we didn’t get to celebrate. We took the kids out for dinner over at Cozy Corner but hubby promised to take me for a hotel weekend getaway. Our date is still postponed because of the fasting month (cannot naughty-naughty, hah!!!) so it might be a while. But that’s ok. We didn’t get anything for each other coz we already ran out for ideas. Easy to say, we have given each other everything we need. Hah, that’s just talk for “I’m too lazy to think and shop for him anymore”.

Other than that, things are pretty much still the same. Work is still the same except the company is undergoing some major changes. I’m still waiting to see how that will affect me personally. Hubby got the promotion he was hoping for so that’s a big plus. We get to park the car in the basement now!! Hahahaha..

So, it’s Friday night and it’s started to rain outside. It’s going to be a cold night tonight, better go warm up hubby. Hehehehe…till tomorrow. Take care everyone.

Ps: I tried uploading some pictures of the kids, because Syikin requested them but blogger won't let me. Maybe next time.

I've Been Gone Too Long, I Can't Think of A Witty Title

Aaaaannnddd….I’m back!!

Has it been that long? 3 months plus already. What have I been up too? Work…more work…a quick holiday…more work…launches…work…teambuilding…loads more work…you get the picture. In fact I was so fed up from work, I couldn’t bear the site of my beloved Dell laptop at home coz the site of the Internet and all that comes with it made me want to puke.

But here I am again, my friends and I’m back in the blogging world. Not to worry, just in case something causes me to gag, I have my trusty Tuesday Night Vomit Bucket right beside me.

DID YOU CHECK OUT LAST NIGHTS’ SEASON PREMIER OF THE AMAZING RACE?!!

Sorry, was I screaming? Must be, coz it was soo damn exciting. I had it circled in red pen in my diary - “AMAZING RACE, 8.30PM – BATHE EARLY!!” I just lurve the Amazing Race coz it’s so unpredictable. Unlike some reality shows that run out of steam by the 2nd or 3rd installment (The Apprentice, Survivor,…yawnnn), the Amazing Race never runs out of surprises.

And boy, did it deliver last night!! I was excited to see all the contestants; I think the producers did a great job at picking out a variety of couples. Of course, I was rooting for Sa’eed and Bilal coz it would have been really interesting seeing them negotiate their way around the world, and also maybe have other cultures learn a bit more about the real Islam. Alas, that was not to be as the Muslim brothers were eliminated out at the first leg over. It wasn’t even the first pit stop!!! What a bummer. I was expecting for them to have to go through some kind of challenge or maybe even have their bags taken away from them, but not being eliminated. And the looks on the rest of the contestants; no one could believe what was happening. I bet the Chinese brothers did a huge ”Praise to Buddha” ritual for keeping them in the race.

Wouldn’t it be great if the producers did another twist and brought back Sa’eed and Bilal back later in the race? I doubt they would but still it would be great if they did.

I was also kind of bummed out when the Indian married couple, Vipul and Arti were eliminated. Too bad they were really bad with navigations. Being the first Indian American couple on the Amazing Race, it would have been interesting to see them work together. Two interesting couples, already gone within the first leg of the race. Sigh!!

I still have no opinions about the other contestants. The disabled couple, Peter and Sarah, looks tough despite their handicap and I’m very sure Sarah’s leg (or lack of) will come very handy in getting sympathy from the public and (most important) from taxi drivers.
The father-daughter team also looks quite interesting but so far the gay issue hasn’t really caused much drama yet. Speaking of gays, of course, we have our gay couple on the race; Tom and Terry. Yawn, sorry to be frank but gay couples are rather predictable. However, it is funny to hear them bitch and talk about the other contestants and also hilarious to see the way they celebrate their victories.

Of course, we have our “pretty” couples. This time we have three; cheerleaders, models and beauty queens. Seriously, is this Project Runway or the Amazing Race? I would trade Bilal and Sa’eed and Vipul and Arti for the bimbos anytime. But it’s still too early for me to diss on anyone yet, so we’ll see in future legs how those pretty lasses will hold up in the race.

All in all, I think this season is going to be the best one yet. I can’t wait to see the places the team are going to travel too; must jot them down in my travel diary for future references. Hey, a gal can dream, can’t she?