Author Archives: mamawearpapashirt

Faith for the modern mum

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What fills the life of modern mothers? What takes up our time?

Facebook, Twitter and mobile gadgets have enabled us to get connected with ‘the world’, while Google, parenting websites and blogs have helped us to find answers and gain insights into everyday parenting issues.

But what gives us answers for our souls, and what truly comforts when we are falling apart?

Maybe the question should be ‘who’ and not ‘what’.

I don’t mean to sound cliched but there IS a hole in our hearts that only God can fill - I know because I once tried to plug that hole with all the wrong things.

Whenever I’m down and directionless, or losing my passion for my kids (I don’t mean I stop loving them, but there are times when I find it extra hard to love), I know that I’ve lost sight of God.

It is ironic that in our increasingly connected world, and the busy pace of life we lead, we’ve stopped plugging into the Source of life himself. We’ve lost the intimate connection with Him.

Why is it important?

Each time we give a status update on Facebook, or share a link, we hope to have as many of our friends view it as possible, and we enjoy reading their responses.

Well, connecting with God is a bit like that. Except that He already knows what it’s on our minds and what we want to update Him about. The wonderful thing about prayer is that it’s two-way; God ‘comments’ on our updates too. And more often than not, his comments are life-sustaining, through bibles verses, or even words that come through other people.

Since becoming a parent, it’s been a challenge for me to steal away to a quiet place. Yet it’s never been as essential as now. I know I can keep running on my own strength, and trying to accomplish never-ending tasks, and meet exorbitant demands (from a baby and a three year old) by my own abilities. But I know at the end of the day, God never meant for me to live this way.

He never meant for me to be running this course of parenthood alone. There’s so much I have to navigate, so many obstacles to cross, so many tear-soaked pillows, so much doubt to overcome…I can only get through it with God.

How can we get this connection back up?

I remember some weeks ago I was trying to migrate this blog from one platform to another. I was having some difficulty because what was meant to be accomplished in one click…well, let’s just say it didn’t happen that way. I sat through one harrowing hour staring at my empty blog space, wondering what had gone wrong. And friends were sending me text messages like ‘hey what happened to your blog?’ (which I really appreciated by the way.)

It was close to midnight and I was desperate because I didn’t know where to get help. Thankfully a dear friend I made through blogging was online at that time and she helped me to re-try the one-click (so-called) installation at her end. I was so grateful.

Within minutes of her trying, the blog (as in all my past blog posts) came back up.

I don’t think I’ve felt so relieved / revived in years.

Now, that story just goes to show the amount of importance we place on being connected to the world. So much so that we feel uncomfortable when our online selves are ‘missing’ or when our internet connection is down.

But do we feel that same sense of discomfort when our connection with God is down? It’s sad but true; I’ve been surviving on a high-speed connection with the world, but a minimally low connection with God. I spend 1-2 hours online every day, and only 5-10 minutes ‘online’ with God. And I trick myself by saying ‘that’s okay, I’m still connected right?’

So, over the next few weeks, I’m intentionally unplugging from the world, little by little each day, and plugging more into God. I’m going to make myself less busy online, so I can create more space for God in my life.

And more space to enjoy my family and the kids too.

I invite you to join me…

5 things I did not know about toddler’s teeth

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I recently brought Vera for her routine dental check-up. This was her second time visiting a dentist, but her first visit to this particular dentist called Dr Tay. (We decided to change because we found the first one a bit on the expensive side.)

Through the process, I found out some interesting tidbits about teeth and thought I would share them with you.

1) Don’t rush to switch to fluoride toothpaste for toddlers

Why? Fluoride causes fluorosis when swallowed, which leads to the discolouration of adult teeth.

So this dentist advised to wait till your child is more mature, closer to 4 years old or even above, as they need to be able to gargle properly (they should be able to swish water around the mouth) and spit out the toothpaste.

2) Pacifier is better than thumb

Why? Simply because the thumb is harder to wean off than a pacifier, and may actually cause the teeth to shift out of alignment if the frequency and extent of thumb-sucking is high. (In this dentist’s opinion at least.)

3) Gaps between baby teeth are good

As adult teeth are bigger than baby teeth, they will fill up more space than when the baby teeth were around. So if your child has gaps between his teeth now, don’t fret, it’s actually a good thing.

Vera actually has very little space between her teeth now, which looks good but actually means that the chances of having adult teeth that are overcrowded are high.

Read more: All about toddler teeth

4) You should floss your toddler’s teeth

This is something that most of us know we should do, but procrastinate. How many of us faithfully floss every day anyway? (At least, I know I struggle with that.)

But there are definitely benefits of starting to floss when young. First, you build a good habit for your child. Second, it gets rid of the icky stuff that hides between the teeth, which leads to better hygiene and less plaque/cavaries.

All we need to do is lie them down facing up, use a thread of normal floss and gently go in and out between their teeth. For starters, we don’t need to use any zig-zag action, nor do we need to go too deep beneath the gum-line.

5) Get rid of plaque using soft cloth

Vera has a yellowish stain on one of her front teeth, and initially we were quite worried that it was caries. Thankfully, it turned out to be a stubborn layer of plaque. The dentist advised us to use a clean cloth and rub against the tooth enamel area often. This is more effective and less abrasive than using a brush to brush against her tooth.

He also asked us to make sure that her teeth has a shiny surface after brushing.

By the way, I must say I really like this dentist. He’s everything a mum would want in her child’s dentist.

  • He’s gentle (this is top top top priority. Everything else falls flat if this first criteria is not met.)
  • He’s good with children (this comes a very close second.)
  • He’s thorough and detailed (he took the time to explain everything he was doing, what he was looking for, and what I should do on a daily basis with Vera)

Granted, his clinic occupies only a small space, and doesn’t boast added frills such as a dedicated TV for distracting the children while he works on their teeth. (There is a TV showing cartoons at the reception area though.) But I guess this is why his prices are very reasonable too.

I’m not advertising for him (and I’m not even sure he wants to be publicised given his rather long booking schedule), so I won’t be sharing his details publicly on this post. But if you’re really really keen to try him out, drop me an email to ask okay?

What have you learnt about caring for your child’s teeth?

The good, the bad, and the not so funny

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I’m away at Mum in the making today, talking about motherhood and how it has changed me.

Yes, I know, I wrote something like that not so long ago, but there’s really so much going on in a mother’s life, that the words just keep spilling over.

It feels like I’m on a journey of discovery, and each day I’m learning new things about my family and myself, and each day there are new challenges to tackle.

If that’s how you feel too, I hope you’ll join me there.