Life with children

little outing

2005-12-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

I simply adore them.

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Photos

2005-10-04T21:04:00.000+02:00

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted the last time. Nomin's school and other classes, and the preparation for shifting house have kept me pretty busy.

First few days of the new school year, I was literally nailed to the school playground because, after school, Nomin wouldn't stop playing with her friends.

Anyway, I've got some photos to post here. There are very few photos in which Nomin is not present. Probably the ones without Nomin are the ones taken by her.

children photos

More Water, Not Less, Will Help End Bedwetting

2005-09-12T21:41:00.000+02:00

by: Graham Jones

Children are notoriously bad at drinking enough liquids. They are so busy playing they sometimes 'forget' to drink. Sometimes, children seem like camels - able to go for ages without having a drink. Obviously, when they are thirsty they will rush indoors for a drink. But often they look for sugary, caffeine-laden drinks which are great for quenching thirst, but do little for the body's fluid levels.

That's because the caffeine in many drinks leads to extra urination. The result is that more liquid goes out of the body than is taken in. And therein lies a problem. Your child's body has inbuilt mechanisms to maintain the liquid levels. A lack of liquid intake, combined with the effects of caffeine in fluid output, means your child's body requires more liquids to maintain the right balance. In other words, their body starts to demand more liquid.

That demand for extra liquids usually starts at the worst possible time - early evening. Your child is home from school or from a day playing with friends and they suddenly want a drink. They gulp down whatever you give them and demand more - and more. This is because their hydration levels are low and their body's self defense mechanisms have kicked in to ensure that they don't become dehydrated.

However, the body always takes in more than it actually needs - just to be on the safe side. So that excess has to go somewhere. It is taken out by the kidneys, converted into urine and placed in the bladder for urination. But this can take a few hours to occur. The result is that your child's bladder has often not completed filling until after they have gone to bed.

If they have a poorly developed sense of bladder fullness while asleep, they will simply wet the bed. Many children wet the bed not because they drink too much, but because they don't drink enough!

If a child drinks plenty of water during the day, they need less during the evening. Also, because their body has had time during the day to regulate it's water levels, there is less need for urinating at night. Hence if a child drinks more during the day, the likelihood of bed wetting is reduced. Preventing your child from drinking too much liquid is actually working against you; it makes bed wetting more likely.
The problem for many parents is encouraging children to drink enough water during the day. As ever, changing your child's habits starts with changing your own. Start drinking more water yourself - it won't do you any harm! Your child will see you doing this and will not see water drinking as unusual.

Also, make sure you provide your child with water whenever they go out. Put a bottle of water in their bag and encourage them to drink it. Equally, raise the issue with school, suggesting that children should be encouraged to drink more. You don't need to mention your child's bedwetting - indeed you shouldn't as it will embarrass your child. However, if you can get your child's school to encourage more daytime drinking of water you'll be helping the overall health of the whole school - as well as reducing bedwetting in your own child.

More information on dealing with bed wetting can be found at http://www.bed-wetting-info.co.uk

About The Author
Graham Jones is a child psychologist who helps parents cope with the difficulties of bed wetting. Mail to: graham@bed-wetting-info.co.uk
Article source: http://www.ArticleCity.com

Wonderful Books on "No More BedWetting"

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From Children's Stories to Study Skills: Help Your Children Succeed in School

2005-09-12T14:47:00.000+02:00

by: Barbara Freedman-De Vito

Introduction

As a parent who wants the best for your children, there are undoubtedly many things that you already do every day to help your children succeed in school. The purpose of this article is to provide some practical ideas for you to try. Some of these suggestions may be new to you, many will be familiar, and some are just plain common sense but, hopefully, they will all serve as reminders of the many simple steps you can take that are too often taken for granted or forgotten about, due to the hectic pace of everyday living.

Read to your kids, whatever their ages

First of all, read to your children. We all know that this is important, but I'd like to point out that reading aloud should begin in infancy. It can contribute to your baby's developing attention span and receptive language skills. In addition, I'd like to encourage parents to read to growing children, even once they are able to read on their own. Don't stop once your kids are in elementary school for, whatever the status of their reading skills, hearing a good book read aloud is an experience apart.

Being read to allows children to focus more on the descriptive passages and the action, rather than having to struggle with understanding every single word. It also allows them to hear great children's stories that are beyond their current reading level, and it's a wonderful way for a family to share a magical experience. Choose a children's book that can also be enjoyed by you as an adult, and have a family reading session each evening or each week. A classic children's story, such as "The Wind in the Willows," or the Harry Potter books might be perfect for your family, depending on the ages and interests of your children.

Encourage independent reading and library use

Offer quality children's literature to your growing children and encourage them to read on their own - at their own level and at their own pace. Fiction and nonfiction can both open up new worlds of knowledge and experience and help prepare kids for success in school and in adult life, and don't forget that online children's stories are an exciting new resource to add to your reading repertoire.

Take your children to the local public library. Be sure that each member of the family has his or her own library card. Help your children see the public library not just as a place associated with homework and drudgery, but rather as an exciting doorway to interesting information and adventure. Encourage library book borrowing related to any special topic that interests your kids - from astronomy to adventure stories, from fact to fantasy.

Get your kids to participate in some of the special free extra activities and programs that are regularly scheduled in many public libraries, like storyhours, craft projects, films, and summer reading clubs. Take your children to museums, concerts, puppet shows and the like. Expose them to any forms of entertainment and cultural enrichment that you may be lucky enough to have access to.

Develop effective research skills and good study habits

Help your kids develop research skills that will serve them well, not only on school projects, but later in daily life as an adult. For instance, if you're planning a family trip, let the kids conduct library and Internet-based research on possible destinations, sites of interest, driving or flying routes, and how to dress appropriately for the climate of your destination spot. If you're thinking of buying a new car, let your kids take part in your consumer research, comparing different car models according to a variety of pertinent criteria.

Nurture good study habits and self-discipline. Set aside a regular, daily study time for homework in a quiet, well-lit room. Be sure that your kids have a study environment that's sound physically, as well as conducive to mental concentration. A quiet room is important, but so too is good lighting, a chair that provides good back support and access to all the materials that your children need to complete projects. Supply them with pencils, erasers, rulers, and so forth.

Encourage kids to keep their desk or other study area neat and well organized. This will prevent lots of time-wasting searches for materials and will really pay off as your children get older and their school assignments become more complex. Good organizational skills, which include the arrangement of physical objects, plus the logical structuring of the steps involved in completing any given project, can last a lifetime.

Take an interest in your kids' day-to-day school life

Take an interest in your children's school projects. Encourage them to show you reports they've written or pictures they've drawn. Make them see that you care about what they're doing and about how they're doing, but don't make them feel like they're constantly being monitored or judged. Don't add pressure, just give them plenty of support, encouragement and praise for jobs well done. Provide them with the resources they need (such as Internet access, library time, books and magazine articles) to do a good job on school assignments, but... resist the temptation to do the school projects for them.

Take the same approach with everyday homework. If your child's having trouble with a math problem, review the rules, explain the procedures, and check the results, but don't just give a child the answers. The learning process is more important than a list of correct answers to hand in to the teacher.

Help them discover their special talents

Set aside some time for engaging in special activities with your children. Build a model volcano together, perform science kit experiments, design a family tree, build your own dollhouse, draw maps, etc. Make learning into a fun and creative process. Help your kids discover their own unique aptitudes and talents, as they discover new subjects that might interest them throughout their lives. Stimulate your children's natural intellectual curiosity and spark their desire to learn more, to take a subject to a deeper level.

Give your kids an opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities: to learn to play a musical instrument or to play team sports, for example. Again, expose your children to as many different skills and pastimes as possible, so that they can discover which ones will really click with them. See where their aptitudes and proclivities lie, but don't force them to participate in something if they don't enjoy it and don't put undue pressures on them. It's a cliché, but don't try to vicariously live out your own dreams through your children.

Go to PTA meetings, attend school plays and music recitals. Once more, it's important to show your kids that you care and that you share their interests and concerns, that you know what's going on in their lives and that you're proud of their achievements. This kind of regular positive reinforcement can help them develop self-confidence and a solid sense of self-esteem.

Go that extra mile

Among the most precious gifts that you can give to your children is your time. Put them first and make time for them. Build a happy, stable home environment, full of love and security, and you've already gone a long way towards helping your children thrive and succeed both in school and in life. Be involved in the big and the small events that make up their daily lives. Offer your support, encouragement, resources and love. Be there for them, no matter how busy your professional life is or whatever other commitments you have. Before you know it your children will be grown up and what they'll become depends largely on you. For their sake, as well as for your own, make the most of their childhood.

There are no pearls of wisdom here, just a refresher course in things that we've all heard a million times, but don't always stop to take them to heart. They're so important that they deserve our attention, to periodically remind us of what really counts in life.

About The Author
Barbara Freedman-De Vito, children's librarian, teacher, professional storyteller, and artist, writes and illustrates animated children's stories which are available at http://www.babybirdproductions.com which also has free games and educational activities for children, teachers and parents. Clothing and gift items decorated with artwork from the stories are also available. mail@babybirdproductions.com
Article source: http://www.ArticleCity.com

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Study Skills - How Can YOU Help Your Kids?

2005-09-12T02:49:00.000+02:00

by: Frank McGinty

Some years ago when touring the Scottish Highlands, a man I met said something that's stuck with me ever since.

He was elderly, yet was still working away on his small farm. He had no intention of retiring, and when asked if he felt the pace of the years he said no, he really enjoyed his work but - and this is what stuck with me! - "It's a day's work getting started."

In other words every day he had to gather up his strength and resolve, get out there and get going.

And this doesn't apply only to farming, does it?

The same principle applies to our kids when they have to get down to serious home study or 'homework': "It's a day's work getting started!"

So how can we help our kids when their teachers aren't there to 'motivate' them?
There are lots of ways, but here we'll consider only a few of the practical details that are well within our control - and which can radically affect the quality of the study sessions.

First and foremost is a suitable place for studying.
So many kids attempt to do their study in the living room or at the dining table where there are all kinds of distractions: people coming and going, the TV blaring and so on.

Try to provide your kids with a quiet area which they learn to associate with study. This could be a corner of their bedroom or an area of the house set aside for all your kids to study together. Facilities for online study are an added bonus.
It's important to have a desk or table where books and materials can be spread out and left open - ready and always available.

Two of the biggest impediments to home study are A) having to find a place and B) having to dig out books etc.
It's much, much easier when all you have to do is sit down and pick up from where you left off!

Another serious, but seemingly trivial, impediment is a lack of ready materials. How motivated do we think our kids will be when they're always asking: 'Anyone got a spare pencil?' or bemoaning the fact that, 'My worksheets are all mixed up!'
It helps greatly and makes them feel organised and industrious when they have all the 'nick-nacks' that go with an effective home study programme:
Pens, pencils, notepads,binders or folders plastic wallets or 'envelopes' for keeping individual pages in order, rulers, Scotch tape, erasers, a calculator, and so on.

These items can make a dent in a student's allowance, so as caring, interested parents willing to invest in our kids' future, it's usually appreciated when we make these available.

It goes without saying the study room should be well- ventilated and maintained at an appropriate temperature. Nothing kills the study habit more than a lack of oxygen and an environment that's too hot or too cold!

But what if you have a large family and there's just no free space for a study area?
In that case call on the relatives. Usually grandparents will have a spare room, and they'd be delighted to see the kids calling in regularly for a study session.

Or maybe your kids could team up with friends over at their house. But be careful! There could be a temptation to chat instead of getting the heads down!
In that case, check whether the school runs a Homework Club. Many schools are now doing this and it's proving a highly popular option. Sessions are held after school and supervised by teachers - so the work gets done!

If your school doesn't have this, ask for it! You provide the materials, the school provides the location - and the kids supply the effort. Voila!
Doing all you can to provide homework help will pay huge dividends all round.

Happy parenting!

About The Author
Why do some parents and children succeed, while others fail? Frank McGinty is an internationally published author and teacher. If you want to develop your parenting skills and encourage your kids to be all they can be, visit his web pages, http://www.frank-mcginty.com/peace-formula.html AND http://www.frank-mcginty.com/for-parents.html
Article source: http://www.ArticleCity.com

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Help! My Child Lies

2005-09-11T22:55:00.000+02:00

by: Noel Swanson

Childhood Lies

Unfortunately, even though adults hate lying, they often set up their children to do just that. Here's a look at how:
Greg's mother just found out that Greg was throwing rocks at somebody:
"Hi Greg, what have you been doing today?" [Why would I tell you if you don't know for sure?]

"Like what? I haven't been doing anything", he says innocently and looked a bit confused.

"Did you throw rocks at the new girl?" [Maybe I can still get away with it]
"No", he answers incredulous that you would even suspect him.

"Well Mavis says you did."

"It had to be some other kid." [Why would she believe a neighbor over me?]

"She sounded positive that it was you, Greg."

"She's crazy, it wasn't me!"

First Mum tempts him to lie to wriggle out of it, and she corners him with the lie.
It is showdown time. What will Mum do? Is she confident that Mavis is totally reliable? Or is there some shadow of doubt? Greg seems to be pretty insistent, what if it was some other kid? If she lets him off, she will have to apologise for doubting him. If she convicts him, it will be double punishments, one for lying and one for throwing stones.

Since most kids lie to stay out of trouble, it's up to you to promote truth and honesty. Don't tempt them to tell more lies. You have to make it beneficial for incriminating himself, instead of letting him off the hook. Lay a foundation of truth telling and honesty for your whole family. This means you can't lie either. Watch your children for honesty, and reward them when they are. Keep talking about how valuable honesty is as well as a good reputation. Show them that honesty is great and that it will be rewarded.

Then, when you do suspect your children of some misdemeanour, stay calm.

If you know for sure that he is guilty, don't tempt him to lie by asking him if he did it. Give him the details that you know and punish him.

You can also ask him to tell you the truth. Here is an example that won't giver him the option to lie about it:

"Greg, Mavis informed me of something she witnessed this afternoon. I would like to have you tell me what went on. Go to your room and think about it for 15 minutes. While you're thinking, keep in mind how much we value honesty in our home."

This will give Greg a chance to think things over. He can dig a bigger hole for himself, or he can be honest and face the consequences. If he tells you the truth, praise him for his honesty. If he chooses to lie, even after thinking about it, then you must double his punishment. He has now both lied and thrown stones at someone, and there are consequences for both.

However he responds, have a talk with him when things have quieted down. Talk about why he may have done it. Was he mad, jealous, or feeling insecure? Tell him that such feelings are normal, but they don't excuse acting badly. This will take time, as he won't talk until he knows he can trust you not to be angry with him.

About The Author

Noel Swanson
Got a problem with your children's behaviors? Why not check out Dr. Noel Swanson's Free newsletter and articles at http://www.good-child-guide.com
Article source: http://www.ArticleCity.com

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Do You Want Your Children to Be Like You?

2005-09-11T21:17:00.000+02:00

by: Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

There is an old saying regarding children: “Do as I say, not as I do.” Whoever coined this phrase didn’t know much about children. Children often do not “do as we say.” We are the role models regarding how our children learn to treat themselves and others. We are the role models regarding whether or not our children learn to take personal responsibility for themselves – physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, spiritually, and organizationally.

Do you avoid responsibility for your own feelings with substances, activities, or with shaming and blaming behaviour toward yourself or others? Are you always late and is your desk a mess? Do you eat poorly and lack exercise? Are you always in major credit card debt? Do you lack a relationship with a spiritual source of love and guidance?

If you want your children to be on time, then you need to be on time. If you want your children to be healthy and fit, then you need to be healthy and fit. If you want your children to be honest, then you need to be honest. If you want to raise happy and peaceful children, then you need to role model how to be happy and peaceful. If you want your children to have high self-esteem, then you need to learn to treat yourself and them with kindness and caring. If you treat your children with caring and respect, but your children experience you shaming yourself and treating yourself as if your feelings and needs are not important, there is a good chance they will learn to disrespect themselves as well.

For example, Martin grew up in a family where both of his parents were high achievers and made tons of money. But his mother was a highly judgmental woman and his father was always unhappy and worried about something. Is it any surprise that Martin does well financially, yet is constantly judging himself and others and is often agitated over minor things?

Angie grew up with a mother who was totally devoted to her. In Angie’s mind, her mother was the ideal mother – kind, compassionate, and always ready to listen to Angie and help her with her problems. Her hardworking father was also a kind and caring person. Yet Angie has a hard time taking loving care of herself. She ignores responsibility for her own feelings, does not feed herself well, is often judgmental toward herself, and has a hard time getting things done. She is constantly seeking out a man to fill her up and make her feel worthy. How did this happen with such loving parents?

While Angie’s parents were loving to her, they were not loving to themselves. Angie’s mother used food to avoid her feelings, and was always giving herself up to please others. In addition, she could never quite get organized and was always late. Angie’s father spent his life working hard and using the TV to avoid his feelings. Neither of Angie’s parents role modelled personal responsibility for their physical and emotional health. Angie was shaped far more by how they treated themselves than how they treated her. In fact, because they treated her so lovingly and treated themselves so unlovingly, Angie grew up believing that it was others’ responsibility to love her and fill her, rather than her own responsibility. She grew up being needy and demanding, rather than personally responsible.

Do you want your children to be like you? As a parent, it is very important to take a look at what you are role modelling for your children – not only regarding how you treat others, but how you treat yourself. If there are certain values that you want your children to have when they grow up, they are far more likely to have your values if they deeply respect you. And they will not respect you if you do not treat yourself with respect. It is highly important, if you want your children to be happy, healthy, and personally responsible, to be a role model of happiness, health and personal responsibility.

About The Author
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" and “Healing Your Aloneness.” She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or email her at mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com Phone Sessions Available.
Article source: http://www.ArticleCity.com

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Articles on child raising

2005-09-11T08:47:00.000+02:00

Having children is one of the most joyful moments of life. But raising them is never easy. There are periods that we parents find ourselves at wit's end when it comes to handling our kids.

But fortunately, out there on the internet there are plenty of sources to help lessen our problems. I found the following articles quite interesting.

Do You Want Your Children To Be Like You?
Help! My Child Lies
Study Skills - How Can YOU Help Your Kids?
From Children's Stories to Study Skills: Help Your Children Succeed in School
More Water, Not Less, Will Help End Bedwetting

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Back to School

2005-09-06T10:41:00.000+02:00

Parenting Magazines

School starts... Nomin goes to 2nd grade...

Very unfestive and uncelebrational start of the new school year. I had expected something a little more special like school staff welcoming students in a festive manner, excited children and so on... No way, nothing of that sort. It was just like any other usual school days. Come on... It is a NEW SCHOOL YEAR!!!

Even Remy took a leave from his work, especially for this occasion, so that we all three could go to Nomin's school and enjoy the opening of a New School Year together. How disappointing...

Who would want to go to school if school starts its new year in such a dull way!!!!! No welcoming, no celebration. The New School Year should be more like a festival that kids look forward to.

When I was a school kid, every new school year I was always excited to go to school again. The school used to start New School Year in such a way that kids looked forward to going there. School building decorated, school staff dressed up in a festive manner, a warm welcome speech from the principal, children holding flowers excited to meet their teachers and hand over their flowers, and so on. Every New School Year used to be more like a graduation ceremony but with welcome speech instead of Goodbye.

Well, anyway we took her to school, said Hello to teacher, we said Goodbye to Nomin and she went into her classroom. That was it. That is all about this New School Year, 2005.

children school

More on potty training

2005-09-04T14:07:00.000+02:00

I've been thinking that I should elaborate on the potty training method that I mentioned in my previous post in case there might be some folks out there who are in need of this information.

Basically it is about:
1. Mother or the caretaker learning the infant's rhythms, i.e. learning the timing between eliminations and the signals that baby gives before eliminations.
2. Baby recognizing the feeling that goes before the elimination and learning to give signals prior to elimination.

You can get a headstart on potty training as soon as the baby is born. Are you shocked to hear this? You don't have. Babies are more capable than what you think!!! They learn to respond to their body funstions amazingly fast. Instead of teaching your baby to pee and poop in diapers, why don't you teach him/her to do it over potty right away!

I, personally, started with my daughter when she was 2 weeks old, when I felt more confident with holding her and no longer afraid that my tiny creature might slip out of my hands.

As her head was still flopping, I had to be very careful when I held her to catch the elimination. Holding the baby in a comfortable position with proper support on its head and back, is crucial.

I used to caress my daughter on her knees and make a gentle sound of running water when I held her over the potty. Babies love skin-to-skin contact and gentle sound. Unbelievably, this special touch and sound became a sign "It is time to pee and poop" for my baby. It reduced the time that I held my baby over the potty because she started to associate the sound with elimination and respond to it.

At first, there were some accidents because I didn't recognize her body language and sound preceding the elimination. After several dry moments, my baby started to twist and grunt. If I didn't respond to it immediately, then there were accidents because at first the babies are unable to hold up.
But when I started to recognize her body language and sound, it was very exciting for me. You know how exciting it is when your baby starts to communicate with you.

When my daughter was around 4 months old, now and then I started to put her on the potty between my legs and held her supporting her back. She started sitting without support around 6 months of age, and I started to let her sit on potty without support and sitting next to her making my "sh...sh..." water sound while holding her hands with gentle caress to make sure that she wouldn't fall over.

Around the same time, I also started to ask her "baba" meaning "Do you need to pee or poop?". After asking the question, I would bring her to the potty so that she could associate the sound with the question.

Around the age of 10 months as I remember, at least she had mastered crawling and was able to stand up climbing on furnitures, she started to crawl to her potty saying "baba, baba". My Goodness! She started to say "I need to pee and poop." in her own language. Undoubtedly, I was thrilled and very proud of our success.

By this time, definitely I was master at recognizing my daughter's expression and showing her how to do things like opening the lid of the potty and sitting on it without falling over. Things went on smoothly and by the time she started to walk she was able to go to the potty by herself, open the lid and sit on it all by herself. Certainly, I kept an eye on her so that she wouldn't end up playing with her pee and poop.

She learned pulling up her panty much later. But that question is not of our concern here.

As a conclusion, I'd like to say you don't have to teach your children to use diapers and then two-three years later instruct them to unlearn it. Unlearning a habit is always very hard and distressing.

Whether you can stick up to it or not, just try this technique as it is a natural way of training the children for toiletting just as it was done naturally before the existence of disposable diapers.

Enjoy the dry days and nights with your baby. Good luck!

Recommended Book on Potty Training

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Potty trained or not???

2005-09-02T09:06:00.000+02:00

Two days ago, we babysitted Timo and Zoe, two of Nomin's cousins. Timo is 4 and Zoe is 2 and a half years old.

When I willingly said very big "YES" to look after them that day, I hadn't thought of one very very important thing. "WHETHER THEY WERE POTTY TRAINED OR NOT!!!"

Well, fortunately Timo had recently started going to the toilet by himself. But Zoe was not. The big job of the day came after 9 o'clock in the morning. Zoe POOPED in her diaper. I faced the task to clean it up. Then I realized I had already alienated from baby-poop-clean-up job.

Firstly, now that Nomin is 7 years old, I have no concern over toiletting issue. Secondly, Nomin was potty trained when she was an infant.

Nomin was born in Mongolia, and in that part of the world infant potty training is very common.

In Mongolia, the folks, who brought up their children during the time when there were no disposable diapers available, still teach the younger generation how to potty train the infants. That was the case with my mother, me and Nomin.

Infant potty training method, on the whole, is about the mother or the caretaker holding the baby over a potty until the baby pees or poops.

At first it might be quite time-consuming. But as soon as the mother catches the infant's rhythms and the baby learns to give signal when it needs to relieve itself, then things become much easier.

Once the baby starts sitting without support, then he/she can be put on the potty without any difficulty. The babies who are trained in this way start going to the potty to pee-pee poop-poop on their own immediately after they start walking.

Personally, I favour this potty training method because it starts early and finishes early. It is cost effective and more hygienic because you don't have to use disposable diapers. And of course it is environment-friendly too.

Recommended Book on Potty Training

Potty Training Products

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Our little girl - Van Gogh's fan

2005-08-30T13:41:00.000+02:00

Nomin's fascination for Van Gogh's paintings started in 2003 when she was 5 years old. That year she came to Holland for the first time on a holiday.

The first museum we visited was the Van Gogh museum. And Nomin liked it so much that the rest of the holiday was packed with museum visits.
Every morning she woke up with the question: "Which museum are we going to today?"

The day we went to the Van Gogh, she showered us with all kinds of questions about Van Gogh's life, paintings and all. His life history was quite different from any other people's that Nomin had heard of before. Perhaps that's why it inspired her a lot. She started drawing and painting quite a lot and did pretty well indeed.

Now that we live in Amsterdam, one of her favourite places to visit is the Van Gogh museum. Every now and then, my husband and I go there with her, and she draws and paints intensively after the visit.

She especially fancies his colorful, vibrant paintings, such as The starry night (1889), Sunflowers (1889), Almond blossom (1890), The bedroom (1888), The drawbridge at Arles (1888), and a few more....

If you are coming to Amsterdam, then don't forget to put the Van Gogh museum on your must-see list. Perhaps you'll get inspired too!!!

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This summer - my daughter

2005-08-29T15:44:00.000+02:00

Summer holidays are nearly ending. I didn't expect this summer to pass this fast. In a flash it was over.

My daughter and I moved to Amsterdam half a year ago. Because we didn't know whether we would get our residential permits, would ever get them, we hadn't planned any holiday entertainment for the summer.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we got our residential permits in hand at the beginning of July.

"Fortunately" because we got those "magical" ID cards with permission to stay in Holland, eventually (it was a looooong wait without knowing when or whether we would get them).
"Unfortunately" because all of my husband's colleagues had booked their holidays with no chance of my husband getting any holiday for the summer.

Anyway, with our being unable to go on holidays, I expected a long, I mean looooooooong, summer with my daughter bored to death.

Well, things turned out quite differently, thanks to the internet.

First of all, we found a good summer day camp, where my daughter enjoyed herself immensely while honing her Dutch language skills.

And for her summer reading, we got books from Amazon.com. She specially enjoyed reading The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. Whenever she reads the book, she sings the Pooh song in her own melody enthusiastically:

The more it
SNOWS-tiddely-pom,
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
On
Snowing.

.. .
Are
Growing.

And of course together we did many other things, not to mention my daughter's visiting Van Gogh museum several times in one and a half month.
She's a great fan of Van Gogh. More on that later.

Two thumbs up movie

2005-08-28T17:23:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a family movie - "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", based on the Roald Dahl book.

Charlie Bucket is a young boy who comes from a poor but loving family and would love nothing more than to find a golden ticket to enter the amazing chocolate factory run by Willy Wonka. As luck would have it, Charlie finds the last golden ticket and goes on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with his grandpa Joe. And the other four winners are:
Veruca Salt, a spoiled rich girl; Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous kid who stuffs his face with sweets; Violet Beuragarde, a champion trophy gum chewer; and Mike Teavee, a kid who spends more time watching TV and playing video games than anything else.

TWO THUMBS UP movie. It is very entertaining and quite hilarious!

When we came out of the cinema, Nomin (our daughter) was very excited and started to pour questions on us about all the characters in the movie. That was a good moment for us to explain to her about the positive and negative character traits. The movie colourfully described bad and good characteristics, and how children behaving badly get their comeuppance.

If you have children behaving badly, then it is a must-see movie!!! If you have children behaving well, then see the movie too!!!

I have neither read the original book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, nor watched the 1971 film but my husband, a man who is very picky about books, is a great fan of "Roald Dahl Books" and he finds the original "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" book fascinating too.

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