Our Story

Welcome to our blog

Being parents have been a lovely and enriching experience for us, and we would like to share our stories with you.

To help you find the stories which are most relevant to you, I have listed most of them here, as another story.  This story describes our philosophy in parenting and living as a family.

(Last updated 29 Apr 2014)

We give our children roots – the family

We give them parents who love each other (Give my husband a new wifeM.A.D. time. I cannot do it without you, We stay by God’s grace), and who stay connected with them (I will enter into your world).

We give them a father who loves them as a strong man (Fathers – Protect, Provide, Present) and as a grown-up boy (Father and Child Camp).  We give them a mother who constantly wonders whether she has done enough, or done it right (Whyforth art thou a SAHM, A good mother,  Mother who could not snow-plough, Mummy guilt, Forgive me), and a mother who loves the way only a mother can (I knew your heart first, Nobody loves them like I do, Motherhood is its own reward).

We give them parents who have their own identities, destinies  (Goodbye my love) and journey of growth too (Broken so I can be made whole).

We give them each other (It’s so funLiving together).

The children in turn give themselves to us, loving us the way that children do (I want you to say good night), allowing me to experience the joys of being a SAHM (One of those moments, The Sisterhood of Motherhood), and affirming us too (So my labours are not in vain, The best gift I have ever received).

We give them the family (Fun funny loving mineLevel 6 HappinessChoosing the better path, I love my family, Tomorrow is another big day) and a past (The Family Narrative).

We celebrate their uniqueness.

2013-01-24 20.17.04    2013-01-24 20.17.16   2013-01-24 20.16.57

For Elkan, he is bright and compliant (Living a dream).  With him we experienced Maths and Chess competitions (Formula for 11 times tableIt’s ok, let’s play again!) and the NUS High DSA Selection Process (What I learnt from the NUS High DSA Selection Process). Because he is so bright, our academic expectations of him is the highest among all our children, and so with him, we also experienced the struggles of letting the child fail (Allowing my child to fail), and managing disappointments (Walking in the Garden of contentment).  He was the first in the family to do his PSLE, so we first felt all the PSLE angst through him (Just get me the marks, PSLE – Social leveller, Today is my test).

For Elias, he is a maverick who often surprised us (My own “Ah boy” to Man) and is extremely affectionate, and with him we experienced the exasperation of parenting a child who requires a huge amount of love and yet often does things that makes him difficult to love (Laugh and cry).  With him we experienced music (Thank you mummy for giving me music, Can you hear it, do you see it?, Making me a performer) and nature (Another way I show my love).

For Samuel, he is independent and loves his brothers and his friends.  Due to his struggles with learning (Test Dyslexic, Different Learning Differences, Dyslexia) we learnt a lot about the need to give a child time (Planting and waiting) and we struggled with helping him manage the world’s expectations (Love my child – make him strong, A different sort of P1) and deal with rejection (不可全抛一片心).  He also humbled us, and opened our eyes to people who have a tougher life (With the much you have been given). With him, we had the fun of experiencing the cute things he says and does (Samuel is still a genius, Samuel the Jolly postman) and we had to learn how to teach the 3 Rs (Thank you mum, The story, A day at the zoo, Thank you God for the leaves) and to train children in their behaviour (The 50 cents lessons).

From all our children, we learnt how much it takes to be a parent (Babies come with a price).  We learnt the need to accept the child as the way he is (This is my child, as is given to me).  We learnt to affirm them (Recognition and purpose, Celebrating the child for life), to meet their differing needs (Weekly walks), and to love them deeply and forever (The baby in the child).

We give our children wings – the strength of character to live a good life

We teach them life lessons every day (Living as children of light Elias’ Pizza Financial Plan, A litter at a time, A child at a time, Loving and being loved). .

In the family, they learn how to manage themselves (Digital Timer), learn to wait (Why not wait?, Worth the wait) and how to relate to authority and to peers (How to deal with verbal bullying).  They also learn what loyalty means (Standing up for each otherMy son my hero, I am my brother’s keeper).

We show them how to live life richly today and in the now (Do you enjoy your children), because death comes so suddenly (Live and leaveMaking it countWill we find each other in heaven, Don’t waste my pain). We celebrate each day they are alive and well (Life worth celebrating).

We help them navigate through the school system and find the best way to grow and learn.  (What price creativity, Teachers, Children are meant to be loved, I will teach you in ways you can understand, Thank you and Sorry, The Great Cop-outThank you for the primary school years, Parenting continues after the PSLE)

We strive to build the kind of community and world in which we want our children to live (Going the extra mile, Singapore Kindness Day,  Hopes and DreamsWisdom of the crowdNeither too little nor too muchThat which money cannot buy, Happiness, Prosperity and Progress for the Nation, Parenting as a child of God, ), demonstrating it through our own lives (Singaporean of the Day).

[We started a work of loving children through fostering. Please visit my page “Fostering in Singapore” for stories related to fostering and our own fostering experience.]

The various parties which we organise (Party – pre-school editionParty –  4th edition), are not just for our children’s enjoyment, but because we believe that we have the responsibility of creating healthy communities (My little friends, We will walk the extra miles together).

We are learning to recognise when they are ready to go (When they are ready, Teenager no 1, Now I am a boomerang, They are growing, This is your pathSo this is how it all begins), and we try to teach them the meaning of freedom (To be born again).

We do all the fun things a family gets to do!

(Joyalicious June Holiday)

We read (Sharing beauty, A step at a timeBoy and his cardboard box, Literature, Art Life).  We eat (Rise and Shine Breakfast, Breakfast again, Easy breakfast ideas). We have holidays (IndonesiaMalaysiaUniversal StudiosIt’s the school holidays, New Zealand, Campervan Travel).

We do projects (In memory of RSS SWECS, Teach a child to wash his handsPaper Model).  We go outdoors (Exercising, The Ultimate Hawker Fest, Come Picnic with Us, I will enter into your world). We play (Happiness, Prosperity and Progress for the Nation). We celebrate (Howdy Cowboy,  We love Singapore).

The children go for enrichment… (My Baby Pirate at My Art Studio)

About Us

My husband, the children’s father – is an education professional.  I am a therapist teaching dyslexic children to read and write. I am a certified Parent Educator with the Touch Community Services (TCS), and my husband and I facilitate and conduct parenting courses (e.g. Growing Kids God’s way under Growing Families International) in our personal capacity.  We have three boys – Elkan (born 2000), Elias (born 2001) and Samuel (born 2006).

We started this blog because we love children – not just our own, but children in general.  Since we do not have the capacity to go out and love all children, we decided the next best way to love them is to befriend their parents, and the adults in their lives, and share with them our own experiences of how we loved our children.

Our site address is – Love Our Children Now:-

  • Love – because it empasses all that is true and good.
  • Our – because the children belong not just to the father, or mother, but the family unit as a whole, and humankind in general.
  • Children – because children are meant to be children – simple, trusting – to be protected and nurtured.
  • Now – because it is the best time – yesterday is over and tomorrow may be too late.

Have fun, leave a comment and let us get to know you too 🙂

Elisa

2 Responses to “Our Story

  • Hi Elisa,

    To begin with, I must say it’s kinda weird, but your site caught my eye when I was searching on the topic ‘Fostering’. I have been thinking of fostering for a while now and my husband fully supports the idea but I don’t know when. It’s kinda like ‘my call’.

    I read about your decision to foster and the approval from MSF. What happened then?

    For me, I have 2 boys – P6 and P2 and I wonder if it is too early for me to consider fostering. After all, it’s PSLE for my elder son this year. How did you manage to have 3 school-going boys under your care and yet foster 1 more? Aren’t you worried about their academic in school or stress keeping up with work? We have no more maids (maid issues) and are now living as a closely-knitted family of 4. The idea of fostering has been bugging me again and I don’t know how it feels to have another child in the family. At the same time, I wonder if it’s too late for me to consider fostering when my boys finish Secondary 4.

    Can you share more? Or a link to bring me to the day after the foster child arrives?

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    winth

    • Hi Winth

      Good to hear from you. I wrote about my fostering experience at http://www.loveourchildrennow.sg/fostering-in-singapore/ You can read all my stories there. My first story about after the child arrives is here. http://www.loveourchildrennow.sg/2014/02/02/precious-in-gods-sight/ I wrote a few more after that, you can follow the link from the “Fostering in Singapore” page.

      I always think that if we can give the foster child a family with brothers and sisters, that is the best, so fostering now with a P2 and P6 is not too early. However, it all depends on a few things – the strength of your marriage, how secure your children are, what are your values as a parent.

      How to manage? It takes a lot of skill (and prayer, if you believe in God). Am I not worried about their studies? Yes of course. But I deal with it. I let it go, because I felt giving another child a loving home was more important than my own children’s school results. It is a calling, as you said. It is borne out of a conviction.

      In reality, your convictions will be tested, say when your children start falling behind in their studies. So be very certain before you go into it. If that is not a price you are willing to pay, then I would suggest don’t do it. Your children may not get affected, or maybe they will. But don’t go into it hoping that they will not be. That won’t be realistic. Everything that is worth doing, is going to cost something.

      Drop me an e-mail if you wanna chat at a more personal level, although I would be glad to answer your questions here too 🙂

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