Being a first time parents, there is already so much for us to learn about parenting, not to mention child's health and to ensure a healthy development for them. Usually, my first source of advice would be from my friends who are already mothers or from the mummies group. Now that my girl is no longer a baby but a toddler, things seems to be much easier but there's still issues such as her bad sleeping pattern, and the long hours of screen time from using the handphone that bothers me.
The thought of working with paediatricians to guard against potential health challenges has never occured to me. I'm glad to be invited to attend the Start Right, Start Bright - a Children's Health Seminar presented by SBCC Baby and Child Clinic to gain some insights from the paediatric experts. The seminar focused on educating parents from an evidence-based and medical perspective and topics like common children's health issues and optimising childhood potential with regards to nutrition, sleep and learning were shared during the seminar.
Programme Outline
Nutrition in Childhood: Optimal Nutrition Practices and Common Problems
By Dr Nancy Tan (SBCC Baby and Child Clinic - Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Centre)
Sleep in Childhood: Optimising Growth, School and Play
By Dr Jenny Tang (SBCC Baby and Child Clinic - Asthma, Lung, Sleep and Allergy Centre)
Language in Childhood: Facilitating Communication
By Ms Ng Jia Yue (Senior Speech & Language Therapist, SBCC Child Development)
Early Childhood Development: Optimising Your Child's Potential
By Dr Wendy Liew (SBCC Baby and Child Clinic - Neurology Centre)
The seminar was held at Stephen Riady Auditorium @ NTUC and it was a very big auditorium. My girl had a hard time sitting still during the talk, I only managed to keep her seated for the first few minutes while she was munching on the vitamin gummy found in the door gift. After that, she just run up and down the stairs with CF's daughter. Kids really have unlimited amount of energy. After the last play date together with CF and her family, I think our parenting style and almost similar and I'm glad they met up again today! I'm also happy to meet the winners of the giveaway that I've organised. They came with their kids too!
During the tea break, we were served with some refreshments and a play area for the kids! Ball pit and some carnival games stations.
I was paying more attention when the speaker was talking about sleep disorder and I learnt the importance of limit-setting sleep disorder by positive reinforcement and removal of privileges. My biggest takeaway from the seminar is the segment where the speaker discuss about what are the type of questions to ask the children. It's important not to end up asking too many questions, to give child time to answer and to choose the type of questions asked. Instead of a "yes" or "no" question, parents can ask more open-ended questions for the older child.
We need to understand that the growing mind starts from a very early age. At my girl's age, she can imitate others pretty well and already have a mind of her own. She can specifically tell me what she wants and do not want.The speaker also shared with us on the different type of learning styles such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Play-Based. Play-based is the natural way to learn, as kids will always be kids.
Thank you for the invitation and the generous door gift. It was an educational seminar although I felt the duration can be shorter and more age specific.
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XOXO
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