Dear Friends
I wrote this one when we were new to Singapore, a couple of years ago, when I felt that every part of this city-Country was built with love and thoughtfulness.
.....Its the little joys everywhere that make life worth living.
I wrote this one when we were new to Singapore, a couple of years ago, when I felt that every part of this city-Country was built with love and thoughtfulness.
"Ridiculous" was my first thought when I heard the word "Playdate".
Thought it was a term used where kids stay in houses isolated from each
other. "Why can't the kids just drop in and play? We live in apartments
and are so close to each other, so why the formality of setting
Playdates?"
That was many months ago, when my preschooler came back from school at 1.30 pm and had not much to do, except watch TV and play with whoever was playing outside. That's changed now. Wednesdays I take her to her ballet class, Fridays to her sports club, Thursdays she is practicing for her Diwali dance. Weekends she has to spend time with her parents, father especially (Meaning I am home 24x7). So that leaves us with practically Mondays and Tuesdays, where she is free to have Playdates, to play at the pool, or by the play area and that's how the routine of almost all the kids here is!
"Oh she has classes on Monday so we could meet up on Tuesdays. Fridays is her swimming lessons so we should set a Playdate on Thursdays" is how it goes here. Unheard of in India, for me, being a working mother and having only weekends to enroll kids in co-curricular activities :o)
I am not sure whether my children are going to be ballerinas or basket-ball players, but the idea is to make sure they have a fair idea about them before they decide their future. And of course, not forget to have fun doing such stuff.
While I am on this topic of enrichment (that's what they call extra-curricular activities here), allow me to talk of the state-of-the-art libraries they have here, in this tiny, ultra-modern country, which makes visiting libraries an experience in itself. No long queues for borrowing books. It’s automated, you borrow from a machine as against the older days, and you drop back books in a drop-box. You are tempted to have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie or curry-puff from the in-house cafĂ© that's spilling out fresh aroma into the silent library air. So you could browse the beautiful collection of books for all ages, and read non-stop while you are sipping away, seated on comfortable chairs and benches. It just adds to the feeling of well-being when the raindrops outside are pattering on the long glass windows. As with most public libraries in many parts of the world, there's not a penny to be paid to just enter and read. Just the thought makes me feel blissful, that there is such a thing as free lunches…
And this is just the neighbourhood library we
are talking about. I shall pen about spending a day at the National Library soon!That was many months ago, when my preschooler came back from school at 1.30 pm and had not much to do, except watch TV and play with whoever was playing outside. That's changed now. Wednesdays I take her to her ballet class, Fridays to her sports club, Thursdays she is practicing for her Diwali dance. Weekends she has to spend time with her parents, father especially (Meaning I am home 24x7). So that leaves us with practically Mondays and Tuesdays, where she is free to have Playdates, to play at the pool, or by the play area and that's how the routine of almost all the kids here is!
"Oh she has classes on Monday so we could meet up on Tuesdays. Fridays is her swimming lessons so we should set a Playdate on Thursdays" is how it goes here. Unheard of in India, for me, being a working mother and having only weekends to enroll kids in co-curricular activities :o)
I am not sure whether my children are going to be ballerinas or basket-ball players, but the idea is to make sure they have a fair idea about them before they decide their future. And of course, not forget to have fun doing such stuff.
 |
| Nina, pretty Ballerina...[ABBA] |
While I am on this topic of enrichment (that's what they call extra-curricular activities here), allow me to talk of the state-of-the-art libraries they have here, in this tiny, ultra-modern country, which makes visiting libraries an experience in itself. No long queues for borrowing books. It’s automated, you borrow from a machine as against the older days, and you drop back books in a drop-box. You are tempted to have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie or curry-puff from the in-house cafĂ© that's spilling out fresh aroma into the silent library air. So you could browse the beautiful collection of books for all ages, and read non-stop while you are sipping away, seated on comfortable chairs and benches. It just adds to the feeling of well-being when the raindrops outside are pattering on the long glass windows. As with most public libraries in many parts of the world, there's not a penny to be paid to just enter and read. Just the thought makes me feel blissful, that there is such a thing as free lunches…
.....Its the little joys everywhere that make life worth living.
No comments:
Post a Comment