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350 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 4 Mar \ parent \ on: How parenting changed me meta
Thank you for your questions! Glad to take a breather off work to pen this.
Infant care services are rather scarce in Singapore, but we are lucky that childcare services are readily available. However, given that we are a dual income family, we opted for the child care centre nearest our house. Proximity matters, especially since my wife needs to take our daughter to the infant care centre and THEN our son to his kindergarten.
There are schools that advocate play-based educational methods. However, I don't consider those schools because 1) they are far away, and 2) even if they are nearby, they are significantly more expensive than the ones heavily subsidised by the state.
I'm lucky in that my son goes back to Japan every December. His preschool is entirely play-based; I'm shocked by how nonchalant the teachers are. He doesn't even learn the Japanese alphabet! Experiencing that makes me feel okay about sticking to the status quo. After all, he kinda gets to enjoy the best of both worlds, with things being as they are.
Also, being Singaporean, I understand that the homework isn't busy work. My four-year-old boy will be expected to present his homework in front of his classmates later this week. Honestly, I value my limited time and would gladly talk to his teacher to let him just observe his classmates' presentations. But my wife feels strongly about him being left out, and I listen to my wife and so, I suck it up and go through with it.
To put things in perspective, he just has to do a project once a term. So once in ten weeks. I just like to whine. Haha.
Understood. Indeed proximity matters, especially for a busy dual income family. And price matters too, as I went to Singapore for a few days back in 2016 and learned that it is definitely not a cheap city to live in. I imagine the cost of living being even higher now compared to 8 years ago.
As parents, we all want what is best for our kids according to our subjective reasoning. Personally, I like the play based method for younger kids, because I feel at such a young age, they learn best when they play and explore the world around them through their senses. I also think that free play helps curate their creativity and not put their mind into a mold. Kids can probably learn any alphabet in a few days at an older age, but once they think touching mud is dirty, they will probably be afraid to touch mud for a long time. Just my subjective reasoning and personal preference for my kids, not trying to say which method is superior or inferior. And definitely not trying to tell you how to raise your kids. I guess I'm just a lazy and cheap dad wanting to throw my kids outdoors to play with mud and broken branches instead of paying for and driving them to tutor classes.
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