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Diarrhoea

The Daughter is down with diarrhoea. Very bad one. I had to change her nappy by the hour, sometimes twice in an hour.

Each time she has diarrhoea, I worry if it is rotavirus. But thank goodness she is not running a fever because I think the other symptom of rotavirus is fever. I wonder why she is suffering from diarrhoea, though. Was it the food she ate? Hygiene? Or what? How would we ever know what the cause of diarrhoea is?

I’m glad that The Daughter is eating well and drinking lots of fluid because one of the dangers of diarrhoea, it seems, is dehydration.

According to tp://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/rotavirus.html , “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that the rotavirus vaccine be included in the lineup of routine immunizations given to all infants. ” I can’t remember whether I have. I can’t even remember what she has been immunized against. The worst is, I even lost her health booklet which states when she went for check-ups and when she took what vaccination. What a bummer I am!   -martini

Choosing a Primary School II

Martini – you certainly sound more clear-headed than I am. My deareast boy is truly on the brink of facing the big (bad?) world out there and he’ll be off to Primary 1 next year. As much as I want to protect my children from the cruelties of childhood and growing up, I know I can’t…so my next best choice to hold his hand and walk him through it as far as I can. I can only imagine the challenges that will surmount him in mainstream public school especially since my son is a special needs child.

So you can imagine my headache…and my dilemma…and confusion at having to choose a primary school for my boy. Well, actually, if you ask me, ‘choice’ is an illusion. I don’t really think I have a choice at all in which primary school to enrol him, thanks to the wonderful phases of primary school enrolment in Singapore.

So here are my two cents’ worth:

Distance – Distance does matter to me as I am a working mom and it’s The Grandma who will be dropping the children off at school. As Grandma doesn’t drive and have to drop off both my son (to primary school) and my daughter (to kindergarten)…I can’t possibly tax the Grandma into travelling all over the country every day. Especially since Grandma has to cook and take care of Great-grandma as well. So under this constraint, I have little choice but to enrol my boy in a school within our neighbourhood.

Reputation: While the reputation and ‘track record’ of the school is important to me, I have little choice in the matter as well. First off, chances of being accepted into a school is highly dependent on whether the parent has contributed 40-odd hours of volunteer service to the school one year prior to the child’s enrolment. Since I’m a working mom, I hardly have time to volunteer my service to these schools. And I don’t even live within 1 or 2km radius of these schools…so chances of my boy enrolling there would be zero.

Teaching Methods: I believe most MOE primary schools have similar teaching-methods. There’s only so much you can do when you have 30 kids to one teacher…so I don’t think teaching-methods in MOE schools differ that much from school to school. Unless one is considering sending one’s child to international or private schools. Unless The Husband somehow strikes it rich I don’t see how I can reasonably afford to send my children to international or private schools. Even if the government allows it….which they don’t.

So as you can see….it all looks pretty bleak. BUT for some reason, I am still optimistic because I truly believe that THE MOST IMPORTANT VARIABLE in all these factors is ME (and hubby, of course).  I believe that if both parents are actively involved and engaged in the child’s education, then where he goes to primary school becomes less important (secondary school is a different matter…but I’m crossing one bridge at a time). I must be there for my children and guide them in their schoolwork, provide comfort and advice and lots and lots of love.

To be honest, I owe my doing well in primary school not so much to my teachers but to my parents. My parents were so loving and firm in the way they raised me that I owe all my successes to them. If I were intelligent and responsible and well-mannered in primary school, it was because my parents raised me that way – not so much because my teachers nurtured me to be so. (This isn’t to de-value teachers in any way….this is only a reflection on personal experience.) And while I grew more independent in secondary school, my parents truly were my pillar in my pre-adolescent years. Maybe because my parents were always there for me, I didn’t feel the need to grow too attached to or dependent on any of my teachers. I can only hope that my own children will trust me to bring them up well the way I trusted my parents. While teachers are important role models to our children, as parents, it is our responsibility to raise our children such that they will not grow up to be a burden to their teachers (or anyone else).

End (happy) note: My litte girl (who is 3 years old) appeared to have undergone a developmental growth spurt. Two weeks ago, she could only confidently recognize 10 letters of the alphabet but now she can recognize 16 of them (with their sounds to boot!). Also, two weeks ago, she could barely write the letters independently (without copying or tracing) but all of a sudden she’s now writing letters all on her own. This really made my week.

My daughter’s favourite nursery rhyme is ‘There was an old woman who lived in a shoe’. Today, she surprised me with her version of the rhyme. She went:

‘There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she flushed them down the loo.”

And she burst into hysterical laughter.
My goodness. I must make sure she doesn’t repeat her version of the rhyme in school.

-happimom.

Choosing a primary school

I was reading a question by simplyme regarding what we should consider when choosing a primary school for our children and I began to think about what I would consider when the time comes for The Husband and me to make a decision.

1. Distance – I know that to many people, distance is very important as they want a school which is as near to their homes as possible but to me, distance should not be the most important factor. Then what is? Go to point 2.

2. Reputation – The reputation of the school is very important to me. Does the school have a good tradition? A good history? It is known to produce students who are well-rounded? Do they have good,caring teachers? Do the students come from good family backgrounds?

3. Co-ed or single sex? – I think at the primary school level, it doesn’t really matter but when once they reach high school, it definitely should be single sex so as to minimise distractions!

4. Teaching methods – Is the school one that subscribes to a teacher-centred approach or a student-centred approach? Are the students given opportunities to develop their creativity and thinking skills?

5. Affiliation – Is the school affiliated to another secondary school? It might not matter at this point in time but 6 years down the road, you might begin to realise how important it is. If the school is affiliated to a good secondary school, it would make it easier for your child to enter that secondary school even if she doesn’t do that well in the exams. The last time I checked, students from affiliated primary schools are given about 20-30 points advantage against students from other schools and this is something that’s really worth considering.

It’s a headache deciding on a school and although The Daughter is only starting primary school in 3 and a half years’ time, I’ve already decided which school I want to put her in.    – martini

Toddler Fever

What do you do when your toddler has a fever? Wait for it to disappear in a few days or rush her to the paediatrician?

The Daughter has a fever yesterday and until this morning, the temperature still didn’t subside. I’m not worried about it at all because I read somewhere that it is the body’s way of fighting infection. She’e been having a runny nose for a week too , you see, and I thought I would just let the fever settle on its own as she is still very active and has a good appetite and everything.

And honestly, I really don’t want her to be given too much medication. Like they say, let the body fight it. But was I allowed to have it my way?

No! The Grandma INSISTED I take The Daughter to the hospital. I tried to reason with her but she started making nonsensical comments like I am too stingy to take The Daughter to the hospital. In the end, I gave in and to the hospital they went. Darn! I lost. To The Grandma. Again.

Sigh.

-martini