Protect Your Marriage & Protect Your Family

A website that promotes extra-marital dating is currently gathering members (over 21 million) and is soon finding its way into Singapore. “Life is short. Have an affair.” is the slogan now advertised by this online dating website and social networking service marketed to people who are already in a relationship.

Putting aside religious factor that all fornication or adultery is a strict NO. But why would anyone encourage others to have an affair which is essentially a marriage breaker and family destroyer?

Posting on his Facebook, Minister for Social and Family Development (MSF) Mr Chan expressed his views that he does not welcome Ashley Madison website into Singapore.

There is also a Facebook page created that has so far garnered close to 13,000 likes.

On the blog page of the website, there is even a link to allow members to search for ‘married people’ in their area. How sick is this? Already the moral standards nowadays have been lowered, no longer like the era of our parents or grandparents, where family values like respect, love, honour, faithful, etc are being held in high esteem, but now the allowing of such website to surface (and mind you it has been around since 2001), is really a huge blow yet to the value of families all around the world.

I am not sure what can the government do about this. Can we prevent such harmful sites to be here? Or maybe it’s time we beef up the knowledge of the importance of family values in Singapore? Putting emphasis on family time is becoming more and more crucial for the ever-growing ‘busy parents’ now.

At the end of the day, much can be said and done, but if married individuals are not taking the responsibility to take care of their emotional needs, and build a strong married life with their spouse, then we don’t even need such a ridiculous website to destroy our families.

Burning: Aye or Nay?

I believe you must have read about the recent uproar among the netizens in regards to a group of children and parents appearing to be burning textbooks following the recent PSLE.

This really sparked a discussion whether the action was a form of degrading knowledge and education, while some questioned why the books were not given to needy students instead.

However, the parent who organised the burning to celebrate the end of his son’s PSLE clarified that textbooks had not been set on fire, but only assessment papers and schoolwork, as they were the sources of stress.

In our current society, we are getting used to comment quickly on what others are doing, without sparing a second thought on what are the consequences of doing so.

To be fair, the act of burning textbooks or assessment books is not something easily accepted in many context. Personally, the act reminds me of the infamous 焚書坑儒 (burning of books and burying of scholars) events that happened around the Qin Dynasty. Probably because of such historical tragic, the current books burning event brought about more heat than expected. Granted that the person who initiated the act, DJ Arnold Gay is not Chinese, thus he may not know the significance of doing such a thing.

A friend commented on his Facebook saying, “What the children and parents did could have been what we would have hoped to do at some point of our schooling days. Just that we didn’t have the guts back then.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am not for burning books. In fact, I am leaning towards the group that felt that pinch because the books (textbooks or assessments) can really be a blessing to many needy students around. However, I also feel that maybe some of us are too fast to condemn and may have posted certain remarks that are not necessary.

Just think of what would the involved children be thinking now? After a celebration party, now they are in the lime light for not respecting knowledge, for not being considerate to the needy, etc. Aren’t the children stressed enough from all the examinations (PSLE)? Why do we still want to add on to it? Of course, some may argue that the fault is with the parents, but again, who are we to comment?

Digging deep into the entire issue, maybe the root cause is the education system in Singapore. Is it producing educated children at the expense of having stressed out kids? Are we stifling the creativity of the children but setting a not so necessary examination bar?

I don’t know. What I do know is, in 6 years time, my Joey will be going through the same system and how will she handle it? Will I be like most Singaporean parents, sitting through PSLE again but this time with my child?

Oh God, please help me!

Haze - What Did I Learn?

Let me bring to you 3 things I have learnt during this current haze situation.

1. Learnt to spend more quality time with my girls at home.

Usually parents like myself would be busy looking out for different playgrounds or attractions to bring our kids out for some fun, but with the haze situation, going out is not a viable option (I know the indoor playgrounds are super-packed), it forces me to think of activities at home to entertain the kids. And this is not easy at all!

Let the girls read. Thankfully, reading is a habit both Joey and I enjoy a lot. It’s so nice to just sit with her and do our reading together. Occasionally, she will compare how fast we read though. Very competitive!

Let the girls explain who are the princesses. This is what I learnt from Jayne, the plastic girls are all different even though they all look similar to me.
From L-R: Princess Pop Star, Barbie in the Pink Shoe, Princess, Princess Ariel.
If you have boys, then maybe it would be trains, star wars, etc. Just learnt to differentiate and let the kids teach you.

2. Learnt more about NEA.

Many of us until now are still quite bewildered why NEA is providing a 3-hr average PSI reading on an hourly update. Why can’t it just be an hourly update? More straightforward right? Now we get to see the 24 hour PSI reading on an hourly update too.

PSI – Pollutant Standards Index, it provides a uniform system of measuring pollution level for the major air pollutants. It reports as a number ranging from 0-500 and is the air quality indicator.

Presently, the highest 3-hr PSI reading on record in Singapore is 401 on 21 June 2013 at 12pm. On the scale, this is Hazardous!

The National Environment Agency (NEA) was formed in the year 2002, it is the leading public organization responsible for improving initiatives and sustaining a clean and green environment in Singapore. In regards to the recent haze situation, NEA’s responsibilities were to control air pollution, and regulates hazardous substances through prevention, enforcement and monitoring.

In my honest opinion, NEA only fulfilled the role of monitoring and updating the public on the haze situation. Since this haze issue is not a new thing, then maybe NEA could have done some prevention by preparing the public on what to do before it happens. Like stocking up of face masks, what to do if someone inhales too much haze and causes discomfort like coughing, eye-irritation, throat irritation, etc. To be fair, maybe all these have been posted on their website, but a public reminder would be good when that time or season will begin.

3. Learnt that Singaporeans is a group of creative & humorous people.

A friend of mine wrote this Haze Song to liven up the situation.

Jokes on the net:

“Since Singaporeans are constantly complaining that cigarettes are way too expensive. Mother Nature is letting you guys smoke for free now.”

“Korea has PSY. Singapore has PSI.”

“Now the Indonesia maid next door says the haze is making her feel homesick.”

So, how to fight the haze? Buy your mask, stay indoors and be humorous about it all!