Money doesn't grow on trees

Money management skill is a key life skill that all parents need to teach their children. It is never too early to teach a child about money and the process can be made easy, fun and enjoyable for both the parent and child.

As a start, an introduction of a few key money values are important for the child to understand that money doesn't grow on trees but something that they would need to (earn), save, spend and share wisely. While money is important, it is not everything - not everything can be bought with money, and/ or need to be bought with money.

Are there really anything that is free these days? Perhaps not. However, a mini barter trade game could help a child to better understand the need and use of money with ease and fun.

Barter trade is a form of goods and services exchange in the absence of money in the olden days so why do we still need to teach it? This concept remains very relevant and important but instead of cashless trade, it is now more commonly seen in the new form of cross promotion, marketing or business collaboration.

So, why not have some fun teaching your child about money by first showing him/ her how a barter system can work out to be an amazing, fun and wondrous deal? Check out this link at - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-395132/Man-trades-paperclip-house.html. Have a go at your own mini barter trade game too for a more "hands-on" learning experience!

And yes, teaching children about money can interesting and enjoyable - this is but one of the many creative, easy to learn and fun ideas that Numis Academy offers in its financial literacy programs for children.

Details can be found in the link here.

Is Edutainment Effective for Learning?

Image extracted from telegraph.co.uk

With fast advancing technology and increasing pace of life, multi-sensory gadgets and digital contents are not uncommon. To attract and capture the attention of today’s children, education methods and materials have also evolved to be more fun and enjoyable.


The term “Edutainment", an integration of education and entertainment, is said to be in used as earlier as in the 1940s. Classic edutainment will be the TV programmes by Sesame Street, Electric Company etc that teach topics like Math, Science, using fun music and dance to aid memory and learning.


In fact, edutainment remains popular in the present, as seen not only through TV programmes, but including a wide variety of multimedia products, live shows, games and toys by Barney & Friends, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder and more.


No doubt that learning while playing or having fun is great, but does edutainment really helps in the development of a child? Research suggests that humor produces psychological and physiological benefits that help students learn. Humor enhances otherwise dull statistical methodology by tapping into students' multiple intelligences and learning styles in a way that forces them to think in divergent and real-life ways. (Reference: How laughing leads to learning by Zak Stambor, American Psychological Association)


While an educator’s job is to educate and not to entertain, if the programs can be designed to be fun, interactive and enjoyable, everyone benefits at the end with easy teaching and happy learning. At Numis Academy, all of our programs are specially designed to be fun and interactive, so that the students can relax in a comfortable learning environment, which in turn will help boost their interest, participation and focus.

Boosting Creativity & Innovation

Can you connect the 9 dots using four straight lines without lifting your pencil/ pen from the paper?

To succeed in doing so, get creative and try thinking beyond the normal ways of doing things.

What exactly is creativity? Is there a difference between creativity and innovation? Dictionary.com explains creativity as the ability to think beyond the traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships etc to create meaningful new ideas, methods and so on. Whereas innovation refers to the introduction of new things or methods.


New ideas, improvements and problems solving come much easier with creativity and innovativeness. Therefore, it is not uncommon that more focus is placed on helping to boost a child's creativity and innovativeness. One good example of creativity is a common urban legend whereby NASA scientists realised that pens could not function in space.


This is because the ink could not flow to the writing tip without gravity. To help the astronauts write things down, NASA spent huge amount of time and money trying to develop a pen. However, the more creative Russians managed to solve this problem easily and almost effortlessly... by simply using a pencil! (Reference: scientificamerican.com)


How can we help breed creativity and innovativeness in a child? One of the good ways will be to guide the child to "think outside" the box, such as:


   * adding new features - e.g. from music player, camera etc to a multi functional smart phone
   * deleting current features - e.g. from telephone to wireless mobile phone
   * making it bigger - e.g. from folded sofa armchair expanded to be a full-size sofa bed
   * making it smaller - e.g. from bulky computer to portable laptop


As a children enrichment programs provider, Numis Academy understands the importance of building these two very important qualities into its programs. With the same beliefs and principles, Numis Academy also develops its own creative games and innovative programs.


Now, have you gotten your answers right? :)

Acquiring Information, Knowledge & Wisdom

In today's well connected world, technology may have increased our level and ease of connectivity with people but has it also increased our depth of interaction and real communication with personal touch? Similarly, we can get information about almost anything, anywhere and anytime by just pressing a few buttons on our smart phones, tablets and/ or computers. Ironically, there are still reports and feedback that our new and young generations are slowly degenerating into a bunch passive individuals or worse still, unthinking passive lot. What has happened? And why has it happened?

With advancing and fast changing technology, new gadgets that kept appearing in the market, as well as easy online search and access, it is inevitable that we may get a sense of “false" good feeling that we can learn new things, check out information or have the power to find out everything under the sun at a simple touch of our fingertips. This perceived power of being able to obtain information has slowed down the need to acquire more and/ or retain information, but created a superficial understanding of a topic and believing of information without verification. 

With almost everyone capable of writing and posting information onto the web or social media for sharing, there is so much information that are “pushed” to us that we are facing a problem of information overload. This makes it difficult for one to sieve out the truths. Given our fast pace society, we get impatient when information is slow. It is also easier for one to accept and choose to believe in information that comes across closer to one’s beliefs as truths, rather than spending the time and effort on more research. Humans tend to have a herd mentality hence, even the untruths, when spread by many, may become the “truths".

To ensure healthy progression and growth of our new and young generations, it is crucial to first understand the difference between Information, Knowledge & Wisdom. 

From there, it is also important that parents and educators pass down the right information, teachings and beliefs. So, what exactly is Information, Knowledge & Wisdom, and what comes first? 

The first level that comes first should be Information - knowledge obtained about someone or something : facts or details about a subject. This is followed by Knowledge - facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Lastly comes Wisdom - the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.

In conclusion, checking for accuracy and verification of data to acquire the right Information takes time and effort. This, is Knowledge gained by those who go down this path. It is with great knowledge that comes with Wisdom. 

See the World Through the Eyes of Our Children

How often have we heard exclamations that "We never used to behave like that while we were young!" or "The kids these days are just so different from our times!" and so on. The way that the adults see the world today can be very different from the way the children see it, and age or experience are just one of the few factors.

Seeing through the eyes of an adult & a child
In an example of an adult who is is born in the 70s and and currently aged around 30s-40s,  he is likely to see the world as a well connected village and yet where people may feel more distant from one another as communication is more via online than face-to-face interaction. To him, playing with friends means meeting up physically for a game of sports like basketball or football. 

In an example of a child, he may not find spending long hours online as anything unusual and may even prefer electronic face-to-face communication in the comfort of his own home. He will probably consider chatting with his friends via google hangout, messaging them on twitter or whatsapp a means of "hanging out" and "communicating" with them. To him, playing with friends means meeting up electronically for a game of football via mobile or computer games.

Generation Gap
The above phenomenon is also commonly known as the generation gap. For adults who are currently aged around 50s-60s, they would probably felt the same way with those who are now in their 30s-40s. In addition to age and experience, changes in environment, technological advancement as well as education will impact on the degree of differences of how the world is seen through the eyes of the adults and children.

When tuned to think in differently, it is inevitable that the children will also behave differently and sometimes, even far from what the adults may expect. The link below is a video that has gone viral recently. It shows a secondary school boy asking  his teacher to apologise for raising his voice.

While there were some supporters for the boy, there were also net citizens who think that he is too manipulative of the situation, and that his body language displayed strong signs of defiance towards authority.


Bridging the Gap
While the above situation seems worrying, generation gap is nothing but psychological and emotional gap between parents / elder people and the younger ones. It is important for the adults/ parents to try to be current and updated with information and technologies, make friends, listen and make it a point to communicate effectively with an open mindset and heart, be willing to accept new things, as well as to stay close to help mould the good behaviour and attitude in the children.

Important Development in the Games of Skill

It is not uncommon these days to hear complaints from the parents that their children are glued to playing games all the times. 

There were also concerns and studies that examine the social and mental development of the children who play long hours of games. 

Is playing games detrimental or can it actually be of any benefits to the development in the children?

Games of Skill
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Games of Skill refers the use of skill in a game to determine the outcome, rather than due to chance.

How Does Games of Skill Helps In The Development of Children

Playing the right games, and playing them right can actually help enhance multiple areas of development in the children.  These include:

• Character - Patience, Discipline, Confidence, Integrity and Sportsmanship

• Social - Playing, interacting and learning from other players

• Awareness - Analytical and Decision making skills

• Brain Development - Creativity in overcoming hurdles, thinking out of the box, strategy planning, critical thinking as well as deductive reasoning skills and more

What Are The Typical Games of Skill?

In the tabletop game genre, typical games of skills can be developed via playing Chess, Go, Bridge and more. These are games that people have been playing for decades. 

On card games like Poker,  Mahjong and Big 2 (a game more commonly found in Asia), there are still varied views and arguments if they can are considered as games of skill. 

An interesting note is that in Germany, Poker is considered legally, to be a game of chance and is only allowed in casinos. 

As there are more recognition and awareness of the importance and impact that games of skill has on the development of children, there is an upward trend of new educational games developed in the market. 

One of more recent games being developed include the Math Game Plan by Numis Academy, a  game that integrates a strategy tabletop game into Mathematics learning for children. 

Photo courtesy of kotaku.com.au

In recent years, there is also another electronic sports game genre with game of skills that is fast gaining recognition, even from organizations and government around the world (Link). 

Some popular examples are the Starcraft and Street Fighter series. 

The iconic player in the Street Fighter series is Daigo Umehara, whose feats in tournaments has even been recorded into the World Guinness Book of Records (Link). 

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

We will be back in 2014 with some brand new updates and topics

Stay with us!

It’s Not A Chore At All!

It’s Not A Chore At All!

There are many good reasons why parents should enlist the help of your little ones in the house.

Over and above getting some relief or for the children to learn and contribute a share for the family, chores help them to learn responsibility and lessons about life.

Parents can start to assign some simple chores to their children when they are three or four years old e.g. putting away the toys.

They may messed things up even more or take a long time to do a chore but this is essential for them to start learning to be a team player.

According to “More Than a Chore: Getting Things Done the Right Way” by Family Education, children will learn that a job well done is a reward on its own, and praises from parents or any other rewards e.g. going out to play are secondary benefits. 

In short, they will learn to possess an inner drive to do well rather than be dependent on external motivation.

In the same article, it is also explained that children will learn to delay gratification e.g. by doing their chores first before they can go out to play.

Learning to delay gratification is ranked by John Gray, PhD, in Children Are from Heaven, one of the "essential life skills".

Sounds great isn’t it? So now, here are some tips to help get your child started:

1. Be positive. This will help encourage your child to adopt the same attitude. 
2. Be fair. Hold a family meeting to discuss and assign chores to all family members. Where possible, do take into consideration individual preference.
3. Be participative & creative. Do some chores together with your child and make it fun by e.g. singing together while working. This can be a good bonding time too!
4. Be consistent. Set a schedule and help your child to work at the chores regularly.
5. Be realistic.  Everyone has his/ her own ways of doing things, even for the children. Avoid criticism or worse, jumping in to do the chore when it is not done the way preferred.
6. Be encouraging. Praising will help your child to feel appreciated and work at his/ her chores more willingly.

Reference Source: More Than a Chore: Getting Things Done the Right Way by Family Education 

UH-OH... Is Your Child Overspending?

UH-OH... Is Your Child Overspending?

It is not uncommon to hear how some parents can be surprised by the amount of money spent by their children, especially for the older ones, who would have learnt to enjoy more things in life.

Weekly allowance should be given to younger children because they are unlikely be able to focus on things on longer-term basis. However, monthly allowance is recommended for older children so as to help them learn and practice budgeting.

Upon handing out the money, some parents will get the children to start small by setting aside a fixed amount or a percentage of the allowance to be saved. 

There are also others who may leave the amount allocation to the child, as long as he/ she spends within the given sum, preferably with spares to save.

But wait! Is that good enough for your child to learn about money? How about teaching and helping your child to plan and set aside a simple budget?

While it is easy for parents to state how the money allowance is to be used and saved, it is more important for a child to be able to think and exercise control over his/ her money.

With a budget, it helps to set some guidelines for your child to allocate his/ her spending, savings and sharing e.g. for charity or gifts and so on.

Get started by first grabbing a paper and pen. Sit down with your child to determine the time frame for the budget. To make things easier, it could be based on weekly/ monthly allowance giving basis.

Run through with your child to list down the items that he/ she will have to spend on, as well as the prices. From the list of items, also known as expenses, find out which are the variable and fixed expenses.

This is the part where numbers matter

Fixed expenses are those that definitely need to be paid for, and of which the amount needs to be set aside strictly e.g. bus transport.

Variable expenses are those that are flexible and may vary in amount e.g. birthday gifts for friends. Despite that variable expenses will change, it is still necessary to set aside an estimated amount, and any unused amount could be passed on to the next round.

Do remember to get your child to include any wishlist items / those that they need to pay once a year e.g. Granny’s birthday.

If the budget time frame is weekly, he/ she will need to divide the cost by 52, and set this as a target amount to be saved weekly. Similarly, if the budget time frame is monthly, the amount will be by 12.

When the budget is done, do try it out and review it with your child for a few more rounds so that he/ she can get the hang of it to develop a good habit in budgeting for his/ her own money!

Positive Discipline

Help Your Child Feel Good & Behave Better

Parents always have the best interest of their children at heart however, children may not always behave the ways that parents would want them to. There are parents who think that discipline should include spanking, and some others who believe otherwise.

According to “Positive Discipline: A Guide for Parents” by the University of Minnesota and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, spanking is not recommended. Children who are guided by methods other than spanking generally have better mental health, feel better about themselves, and are less stressed.

In fact, the word discipline comes from a Latin word that means, “to teach.” Discipline helps children to understand what parents expect, how to behave, what happens when they misbehave and how to exercise self-control. Here are some ways to enforce positive discipline:

Find the Root Cause

There is usually a reason when a child misbehaves. He/she may be tired, hungry, frustrated, seeking for attention, testing limits or wanting control. Upon finding the real reason, you will have a higher chance of quieting down the child and getting him/ her to listen and behave.

Control Yourself, Not Just Your Child

Children tend to pick up the behaviours of their parents. When parents get angry and shout loudly at the child, the child may cry or scream even louder. It is not easy to keep your cool at all times and when necessary, walk away for a while.

Speak in Your Child’s Language

Whenever a child misbehaves, parents should take time to explain why that particular behaviour is undesirable.  When the child understands the kinds of behaviours to avoid, he/ she will then be more likely to behave “correctly” at different situations. When disciplining, parents should look at the child at the eye level, speak firmly on what he/ she has done wrong, and why. Do make a point to listen to what the child has to say too.

Distract & Direct

Children may tune out when parents nagged frequently for them to stop doing this or that. Try to distract and direct the child to behave proper by asking him/ her to do something else or offering him/ her two choices.  For example, when your child starts misbehaving in a supermarket, get him/ her to help pick out the good apples or choose between having to hold your hands or to walk quietly by himself/ herself.

Let Your Child Bear the Consequences

It is important for a child to experience the consequences of his/ her own undesirable behaviours to learn (where possible, and within safety levels). He/ she will then understand the need to exercise control over certain actions. For example, the parent may take away a toy that the child has willfully thrown around.

Praise & Encourage

A child is likely to repeat behaviors that get attention therefore, do praise and encourage the child when he/ she is well behaved, or corrected a bad behavior. This will help to reinforce good behaviours. The same theory applies when parents ignore a child for undesirable behaviours.

How Much Money Would You Give Your Child?

How Much Money Would You Give Your Child?

Giving money allowances to children comes naturally as part of their growing up phrases. Children need to experience handling money to learn its value.

However, this can be a headache for some parents when they are giving out an allowance for the first time or when the child is moving on to a next higher stage.

Most parents would probably start to give allowance only when the child is about to start Primary School, and will need to use money e.g. to buy canteen food.

 When should you start teaching about 
 money or giving allowance? 
 How much should you give? 
 How should you do it?

It is never too early to teach your child about money. This can start as early as when your child is 4 – 5 years old. Take opportunities to explain about money and inculcate good money values through daily events e.g. what is an economy, how does a bank operates, what are the different notes and coins, why saving, sharing and spending is important and so on.  

The amount of allowance to give your child may be best decided by estimating how much money you are currently spending on him/ her, and set that amount as the allowance. The amount given should be reasonable and realistic, taking into account the standards of living, the school environment, your child's age and the family's financial situations.

For most young children, long-term goals would be difficult to follow. It would probably be better to give them weekly allowance. For older children, monthly allowance is recommended so that they can practice budgeting.
In addition, it is better to teach your child to manage their own money than for them to request or ask for your permission for every single thing.

Discuss with your child on what the allowance will and can cover. Teach him/ her on how to spread out the given sum and plan for daily uses, as well as how to weigh his/ her choices carefully to keep to budget.

However, do also allow space for creativity and flexibility when your child wishes to spend on something that exceeds his/ her daily planned allocation. He/ she will have to learn to make up for the subsequent days, as long as the final end target is met.

Reference Sources:

Allowances for Children by Selena Hohenstein, University of Florida IFAS Extension

Giving Children an Allowance: Contrasting Views by Robert Brooks, Ph.D. Dr. Robert Brooks

What is Your Parenting Style?

What is Your Parenting Style?

How do you react when your child pleads to finish his/ her last round of mobile phone game before dinner? How about at times when your child is unable sit still or concentrate at school work? According to past research, there are 4 types of parenting styles and effects (Baumrind, 1967 and Maccoby & Martin, 1983).

Authoritarian Parenting where children are expected to follow the rules set by the parents strictly. Failure to follow such rules usually results in punishment. This style leads to children who are obedient and proficient, but they rank lower in happiness, social competence and self-esteem.

Authoritative Parenting is similar to Authoritarian Parenting where children are expected to follow rules and guidelines. However, the parents are more nurturing and forgiving rather than punishing. While the parents are assertive, they are not intrusive and restrictive. This style tends to result in children who are happy, capable and successful.

Permissive Parenting refers the style of parents who are nurturing and communicative with their children, often as like a friend more than that of a parent. They are more lenient and rarely discipline their children. This often results in children who rank low in self-regulation.

Uninvolved Parenting is usually the style of busy parents who will fulfill the child's basic needs but detached from their child's life. They are usually of few demands, low responsiveness and little communication. At such, their children tend to lack self-control and have low self-esteem.

While Authoritative Parenting style appears to be the best, parenting styles vary among couples and families due to differences in culture, beliefs, personality, parental background, educational level and so on. What is more important is for parents of each family to cooperate, combine various elements of their individual parenting styles to create a cohesive approach to parenting.

(Reference source: Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide)

You Are Your Child’s Best Role Model

You Are Your Child’s Best Role Model

Parents are their children’s first teacher and the biggest influence in their children’s lives. Children learn by observing and imitating their parents’ actions and words. It is never too early to start teaching your child about good money habits, and the best way to start is by being his/ her role model. Here are some tips on how you can be one.

Tip 1: Be consistent

Actions speak louder than words therefore, parents need to practice what they teach. If parents constantly fight/ stressed over money, their children are likely to overrate the importance of money. Similarly, if parents constantly splurge on luxury items, their children may never learn to live within their means.

Tip 2: Make the right buy

Teach your child to buy for quality and not price. He/ she should look for the most cost effective option and not the cheapest option e.g. a pair of $80 shoes that can last for a year vs. a pair of $20 shoes that can only last for 2 months. Prestige may not necessary be the best buy. While it is good for occasional self rewards with treats, it is important to be realistic and avoid too much of an extravagance. In addition, waiting for the right time helps in buying an item at a better price!

Tip 3: Decode advertisements

Advertisements are around us and pop up endlessly from the moment we step out of the house, from lifts, building facade, moving vehicles, bus stops to train interiors and even toilet doors and more! Most of the time, advertisements create “artificial social norms” and peer pressures create “artificial needs”. Run through the advertisements with your child to help him/ her understands what are advertisements all about and if the claims made are really true.

Tip 4: Set basic rules

Create basic money rules for yourself and your child to follow. When a trip to the supermarket is required, make a shopping list beforehand and stick to it. Determine if that pack of delicious chocolate milk is a need or a want. Have some fun “debating” it over with your child and take this chance to help develop his/ her reasoning, thinking and communication skills.

Tip 5: Pay attention to details

Do you know exactly what and how much you spent in total last week? Down to the cents? Set a household budget and take note of your actual spending and savings. Teach your child to compare prices among the different brands, clip regular discount coupons and take note of any special deals for potential great savings. Go through the household account with your child and have fun at by involving him/ her as your mini accountant to help with the recording or simple counting.

Tip 6: Be committed

"Like mastering a new language, developing athletic skills, or becoming a master musician, financial fluency requires time, practice, intention, the acquisition of financial language and values." ~ Joline Godfrey, author of Raising Financially Fit Kids. Indeed, forming a good habit takes time, effort and continuous reminders and practices with the children. Good money habits take more than just a few lectures on trying to get a child not to waste money or to save up more.

Positive Parenting Tips

Positive Parenting Tips

As children grow into early childhood, their world will begin to open up. They will become more independent and begin to focus more on adults and children outside of the family. They will want to explore and ask about the things around them even more. Their interactions with family and those around them will help to shape their personality and their own ways of thinking and moving. During preschool stage, children should be able to ride a tricycle, use safety scissors, notice a difference between girls and boys, help to dress and undress themselves, play with other children, recall part of a story, and sing a song.

Following are some of the things you, as a parent, can do to help your pre-schooler during this time of development:

• Continue to read to your child. Nurture his love for books by taking him to the library or bookstore.
• Show affection for your child. Recognise his accomplishments.
• Encourage your child to play with other children. This helps him to learn the value of sharing and friendship.
• Be clear and consistent when disciplining your child. Explain and show the behaviour that you expect from him. Whenever you tell him “no”, follow up with what he should be doing instead.
• Help your child develop good language skills by speaking to him in complete sentences and using "grown up" words. Help him to use the correct words and phrases.
• Help your child through the steps to solve problems when he is upset.
• Give your child a limited number of simple choices (for example, deciding what to wear, when to play, and what to eat for snack).
• Help your child develop a sense of responsibility—ask him to help with household tasks, such as setting the table.
• Talk with your child about school, friends, and things he looks forward to in the future.
• Talk with your child about respecting others. Encourage him to help people in need.
• Help your child set his own achievable goals—he’ll learn to take pride in himself and rely less on approval or reward from others. 

Child Safety First

As your child becomes more independent and spends more time in the outside world, it is important that you and your child are aware of ways to stay safe. 

Here are a few tips to protect your child:

• Tell your child why it is important to stay out of traffic. Tell him not to play in the street or run after stray balls.
• Be cautious when letting your child ride his tricycle. Keep him on the sidewalk and away from the street and always have her wear a helmet.
• Check outdoor playground equipment. Make sure there are no loose parts or sharp edges. Watch your child at all times, especially when he is playing outside.
• Be safe in the water. Teach your child to swim, but watch him at all times when he is in or around any body of water (this includes kiddie pools).
• Talk with your child about how to ask for help when he needs it.
• Keep potentially harmful household products, tools, equipment, and firearms out of your child’s reach.
• Teach your child how to be safe around strangers.

Healthy Bodies

• Eat meals with your child whenever possible. Let your child see you enjoying fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at meals and snacks. Your child should eat and drink only a limited amount of food and beverages that contain added sugars, solid fats, or salt.
• Limit screen time for your child to no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of quality programming, at home, school, or child care.
• Provide your child with age-appropriate play equipment, like balls and plastic bats, but let your pre-schooler choose what to play. This makes moving and being active fun for your pre-schooler.
• Practice healthy eating habits and physical activity early. Encourage active play, and be a role model by eating healthy at family mealtimes and having an active lifestyle.

Tips to Develop Your Child’s Financial Senses (Part 2)

INVOLVE CHILDREN IN PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS

• Teachable moments occur each time you are at a cash register with children.
• Children will quickly observe the exchange that occurs during the purchase transaction.
• This is a great time to explain the need to pay for items before we can take them home.
• When children want something in a store and the answer is "no," you may consider explaining that we don't have enough money for that item today and we need to save for it.
• Let your child hand over the payment and receive the change from the cashier.

MAKE THE PROCESS ENTERTAINING

• It is easy to integrate the building blocks of financial habits if they are part of your daily activities. Children love to explore uncharted territory. Make financial lessons fun like any new adventure.
• An entertaining and educational approach will help maintain a child's interest.

Boost your child's learning potential

As parents, we want our children to improve in their behaviour, make good grades, and clean up their messy rooms. It's nice to have high expectations and goals for our kids, but sometimes our correction can turn into criticism, and when this happens they don't get the encouragement they need.

Consistent focusing on what our kids have done wrong rarely works to improve learning or motivation at school. Similarly, comparing them to a sibling ("Why can’t you be more responsible like your sister?"), name-calling ("You are just lazy and childish"), and overreacting to mistakes are poor motivators.

Most children really want to please their parents, and discouragement and frustration set in when they think that no matter how hard they try, they won't be able to please Mom and Dad.

It's important to establish a home base where kids know they're accepted and loved not just for what they do (their grades, sports wins, and achievements) but who they are (the valuable person who is your son or daughter). We can always find fault since kids are works in progress, but encouragement to children is like what sun and rain are to flowers — vital and necessary if they are going to grow and bloom as they were created to.

In fact, studies show that students who are successful learners have parents who are involved in their lives and have built strong, loving relationships with their kids, set limits, and spend time together. This is because emotional security (the foundation of which is a loving, trusting relationship with parents) is at the core of students' motivation systems and what experts call their "availability to learn." There's a high correlation between emotional insecurity and the turmoil it produces in a child's heart and mind, and his inability to learn in the classroom.

At home

Encouraging children's efforts spur their learning. When a child grows up in a home with loving parents and an atmosphere of encouragement, it fosters mental growth. How can you apply this to your child and your home environment? When your daughter brings home a math test with a score of 82 (but you wish the grade were 90), you could say, "That's a real improvement, Honey; you got six points higher than last week."

About school

When her team doesn't win the debate, you could praise her efforts and the preparation that went into the event. When she does well and makes a high grade, praise effort, not just her intelligence. Research shows this stimulates more effort; but if we tell kids they are geniuses and the smartest person in the class and then they make a lower- than-expected grade, they'll reduce their efforts and thus learn less on the next unit of study.

So, when the school year begins, getting off on the right foot is important. Meet the teacher and let her know you're involved in your child's education at home. Help your child get organised and use study methods that work for him and build on his strengths.

Then, if a problem hits in math, science, writing, or another subject, you and your child tackle the problem together and come up with a solution to get her back on track. You don't waste time over- focusing on mistakes but notice what she's doing well or trying hard at and praise her for that. You don't have to wait till the highest score on the exams is made to encourage the right actions.
In a sense, you become your child's best encourager because if you don't accept and encourage your kids, they'll find someone who will, and that person might encourage them to embrace values that you don't share.

The most important tip

Let me encourage you along the way as you juggle work responsibilities, maintain the household, and drive your kids to and from enrichment programs — keep believing in them, keep sharing their enthusiasm for learning and life, and most of all, enjoy their growing-up years — they fly by so quickly!

Tips to Develop Your Child’s Financial Senses (Part 1)

FOSTER AWARENESS

• Children learn so much through observation. This may not be the age for detailed lessons, but this is a great age to introduce broad concepts.
• Children may begin to understand the difference between needs and desires.
• Patience and restraint developed in other areas should translate to responsible financial behaviour.

SOW THE SEEDS FOR LIFE-LONG HABITS

• As adults we work and earn money. As adults, we also should be saving and giving in addition to spending our money. These are the habits that we should be conveying to our children during teachable moments.
• A piggy bank is an effective and time-tested teaching tool for saving money.
• Involve children in your family's charitable giving.

ASSOCIATE RESULTS AND REWARDS

• This is a great age to set goals and establish rewards.
• Although an allowance may not yet be appropriate, it isn't too early to associate compensation with work.
• You may consider tracking progress toward acquiring an item that your child desires. 

Introducing kids to money

Money gives people decision-making opportunities. Educating, motivating, and empowering children to become regular savers and investors will enable them to keep more of the money they will earn and do more with the money they spend. Everyday spending decisions can have a far more negative impact on children's financial futures than any investment decisions they may ever make. 

Here are some simple ways to help educate children about personal finance and managing money:

• As soon as children can count, introduce them to money. Take an active role in providing them with information. Observation and repetition are two important ways children learn.
• Communicate with children as they grow about your values concerning money --- how to save it, how to make it grow, and most importantly, how to spend it wisely.
• Help children learn the differences between needs, wants, and wishes. This will prepare them for making good spending decisions in the future.
• Setting goals is fundamental to learning the value of money and saving. Young or old, people rarely reach goals they haven't set. Nearly every toy or other item children ask their parents to buy them can become the object of a goal-setting session. Such goal-setting helps children learn to become responsible for themselves.
• Introduce children to the value of saving versus spending. Explain and demonstrate the concept of earning interest income on savings. Consider paying interest on money children save at home; children can help calculate the interest and see how fast money accumulates through the power of compound interest. Later on, they also will realise that the quickest way to a good credit rating is a history of regular, successful savings. Some parents even offer to match what children save on their own.
• When giving children an allowance, give them the money in denominations that encourage saving. If the amount is $5, give them 5 1-dollar coins and encourage that at least one dollar be set aside in savings.
• Keeping good records of money saved, invested, or spent is another important skill young people must learn. To make it easy, use 12 envelopes, 1 for each month, with a larger envelope to hold all the envelopes for the year. Establish this system for each child. Encourage children to place receipts from all purchases in the envelopes and keep notes on what they do with their money.
• Use regular shopping trips as opportunities to teach children the value of money. Spending smarter at the grocery store (using coupons, shopping sales, comparing unit prices) can save money. Demonstrate how to plan economical meals, avoid waste, and use leftovers efficiently. Show them how to check for value, quality, warranty, and other consumer concerns. Spending money can be fun and very productive when spending is well-planned. 

Kindergarten Curriculum Framework (KCF)

With the growing demands and expectations on Singapore Preschool Education, the Ministry of Education (MOE) had recently published a refreshed Kindergarten Curriculum Framework (KCF) so as to enable the preschool industry to have a consistent desired outcome of preschool education and to manage parents’ expectations on the standards of preschool education locally.

In the framework, 6 key areas had been identified as the core competency a child should achieved at the end of Kindergarten 2:

• Aesthetics and Creative Expression
• Discovery of the World
• Language and Literacy
• Motor Skills Development
• Numeracy
• Social and Emotional Development

There are defined goals in each area of the holistic approach towards a child’s early education development. We shall highlight briefly on these areas.

1. Aesthetics and Creative Expression
Children should be able to:

• Enjoy art and music and movement activities
• Express ideas and feelings through art and music and movement
• Create art and music and movement using experimentation and imagination
• Share ideas and feelings about art and music and movement

2. Discovery of the World
Children should be able to:

• Show an interest in the world they live in
• Find out why things happen and how things work through simple investigations
• Develop a positive attitude towards the world around them

3. Language and Literacy
Children should be able to:

• Listen for information and enjoyment
• Speak to communicate with others
• Read with understanding and for enjoyment
• Use drawing, mark making, symbols and writing with invented and conventional spelling to communicate ideas and information

4. Motor Skills Development
Children should be able to:

• Participate in and enjoy a variety of physical activities
• Demonstrate control, coordination and balance in gross motor tasks
• Demonstrate control and coordination in fine motor tasks
• Develop healthy habits and safety awareness at home, in school and in public places

5. Numeracy
Children should be able to:
• Recognise and use simple relationships and patterns
• Use numbers in daily life
• Recognise and use basic shapes and simple
spatial concepts in daily life
6. Social and Emotional Development
Children should be able to:
• Develop an awareness of personal identity
• Manage their own emotions and behaviours
• Show respect for diversity
• Communicate, interact and build relationships with others
• Take responsibility for their actions

At the end of pre-school education, children should:

• Know what is right and what is wrong
• Be willing to share and take turns with others
• Be able to relate to others
• Be curious and able to explore
• Be able to listen and speak with
• understanding
• Be comfortable and happy with themselves
• Have developed physical co-ordination, healthy habits, participate in and enjoy a variety of arts experiences
• Love their families, friends, teachers and school

Teaching kids about money

Teaching kids about money need not be tough and can be fun. Use of everyday activities and events can help young children to relate money much easier, eg buying food in the food centre or doing shopping in supermarket.

In conjunction with the learning objectives set by the refreshed Kindergarten Curriculum Framework (KCF), here are some tips you as a parent can consider using to help your children to learn about money management to prepare them for life.

• Ask the children to draw the different denominations of local currency to learn about recognition of money
• Get the children to draw and learn about the different currency used in the world
• Role plays and Storytelling about story of saving to help appreciate the importance
• Allow them to handle small amount of money to facilitate learning of spending money
• Discuss with them about needs and wants whenever they struggle with monetary decisions.