Our family had just came back from 4 days' Taipei vacation.
We brought out P2 daughter there and she enjoyed her trip.
I did the booking for the air tickets and hotel online.
The weather during March school holiday was around 15-25 degree.
so it is ideal temperature for traveling. Hooray! finally we got out of singapore humid weather!

We took the SQ flight (promotion rate: 664/person) and arrived at Taipei airport. We stayed at Sheraton hotel. As recommended by a Taiwan mum, we took a direct bus(大有巴士） from airport to hotel which cost NT225 (Adult:NT90, child:NT45) for a hour's drive. If you took a taxi, it would be a lot expensive (about NT1200).

Transportation:Just in front of the hotel, there is a mrt station called "善道寺站". There were day tickets which you can took as many rides as you can in a day that costs NT200.

This is what we did with our daughter's lazy eye... Hope it gives other parents a better idea of what to expect if they think their child have lazy eyes.

Getting a referral
It is best to go to a specialist to have your child's eyes checked.

You could go to the polyclinic to get a referral to KKH Children's Eye Clinic or NUH.

I sent my boy to childcare at 18 months old.

Although I have a maid and my dad can help to look after during the day, I still sent him to childcare. Why?

At home, there's hardly any 'meaningful activity' during the day. He just plays on his own while my maid is busy with housework and preparing his food/clothes/etc.

My dad is not trained in education and does not know how to teach or what to teach. All he will do is play with my boy, bring him down for walks and let him watch TV. Nothing much learnt at home during the day when we are at work.

This is a follow-up of the PSLE COPs thread that I started in the forum.  I have compiled the official COPs from the MOE for both 2009 and 2010 Secondary 1 intake.

Please note that all figures are for the Express Steam only and for Non-Affiliation Intake.   All COPs include  HMT bonus points.  Those schools with an * behind the COPs means that they only took in their own afflilated pupils from the Primary School for the Seconday 1 intake.

Not sure if the figure for ACS Independent is the IB COP or the O level route.  I simply copied from the MOE's website.   I am not very familiar with ACS Independent's system, so regret to say that I won't be able to answer anything relating to the COP for ACS Independent.  I am just doing my bit to compile a list to make it easier for parents to compare the COP for 2009 and 2010.  I seek your understanding in this matter.

Does your boy resist reading?  Having difficulty getting them to pick up that book? The solution? Laughter is indeed the best medicine.

Two years ago, when struggling with getting my then-K2 to start reading on a more regular basis, I picked out a "Humor book" from NLB. I still remember vividly, how ds1 complained that there were a lot of pages (about 60 pages) in that book. Pinning on the hope that he may be enticed by the funny story and finish the whole book in one sitting (actually there are only a few lines in each of the 60 pages), I merely told him that he could stop after 3-4 pages and continue the next day if he wished. 20 minutes later, he told me (proudly) that he finished the whole book and the story is quite funny. Bingo! So hence started our journey down the funny lane....

1.Horrible Series Handbooks (Suitable for K2 to P1)

Came accross this topic so thought of sharing it with you all...

Drinking cranberry juice can lower your blood pressure, according to a new research.

The study conducted by Roger Corder, professor at Queen Mary University of London, has appeared January 28 in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.

The Independent quoted Corder, the author of The Red Wine Diet, as saying, "...cranberry juice is a very promising alcohol-free alternative.

We have now identified oligomeric procyanidins as the specific compound in cranberries that can boost the health of blood vessels, helping to prevent blood vessel constriction - a leading cause of high blood pressure".

When helping your child to choose a tertiary institution for higher education, it is important to do your homework before you and your child commits on the university and course of study. Here are some suggestions on what to look out for if your child has just completed “A” levels or Poly diploma and wish to consider higher education.

1. Ensure that the local service provider (or private institution) is established
I know this can be difficult to determine, but visit their websites and their offices/ local campuses to have an idea on how big the campuses are. It helps if the service provider is an established brand name in Singapore and has been around for some time. You don’t want to sign up and they run away with your money.

However, having said that, nothing is guaranteed. A few years ago, even an established service provider closed down due to mismanagement.

Chamomile’s power as a stress-buster has been around for years. And now, two researchers are trying to find how much truth is there behind the old wives' tale.

In an evaluation for Faculty of 1000, Michael Van Ameringen and Beth Patterson have discussed the first randomized controlled trial of chamomile for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology , the study reports that "chamomile extract therapy was found to be efficacious for mild-moderate GAD".

Patients with mild-moderate GAD were included in the study and received either chamomile or placebo. Those that received the chamomile treatment were found to have a significant change in the severity of their GAD.

Van Amerigen and Patterson comment on the results of the study, saying that they "suggest that chamomile may have modest [anti-panic] activity in patients with mild-moderate GAD and may potentially be used in those who are averse to traditional pharmacotherapy".