Date: Mar 5, 2013
From some of the famous online forums, I see a lot of parents are talking about enrichment classes. Most of them are actually talking about classes related to educations, such as Mind Stretcher, Learning Lab, etc etc. When I hear 4 hours weekend sessions…. wow, I stay away from those classes. I am sure my Jay Jay also not willing to go there.
Some parents let their kids learn "extensive" swimming, chess and so on. I am not talking about just playing chess for fun. I am talking about real competition chess. As for the swimming, may even go up to few days a week for training. wow, I also stay away from those at the moment. But may be in future, let him decide when he really have interest in those.
Nowadays, I think the kids are quite Lucky (幸福) to have parents like us. I remember the days that I spend lots of $$ on gadgets, and how these gadgets slowly becoming a white elephant at home. Now, a geeky parent like me, rather spend the $$ on our kids. Let them have all the fun while they still can. I guess this is what it meant by happy "Childhood" of the new era. This is what I also call, money well spent! I guarantee you that your wife will love it!
Jay Jay is very happy. Because he gets to choose and pick the enrichment fun that he likes. Let's see what he has… And see how he is doing in his classes.
1. Taekwondo
Every week, he attend an hour of taekwondo. He came back from school one day back in K2, and asked if he can learned taekwondo or not. So, we signed him up. Since then, he went to three grading, and slowly promoted to green tip. He is learning from JH Kim @ Millennium Walk every Sunday 12noon.
He is now a green tip. In this class, he made a few good friends. His Korean classmate Rachel just love to play with him. So, he is really happy.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/VsxGHSwLsLg
2. Badminton
I have no idea how and why he likes badminton. I think it is because that Riandi (his friend) invited him to play at Clementi Sport Hall. And then, his good friend Lukas play quite well in the game, and because of the peer pressure, he wanted to learn badminton. So, my policy is, if he asked for it, let him learn. So, I enrolled him at Singapore Badminton School where the classes are taken place in Nan Hua Primary School sport hall every Saturday 11am. This is probably the longest class he is attending. 2 hours.
So, after 4 weeks of lesson, you can see that his ball sense is getting much better. And he is comfortable hitting the shuttlecocks.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/lM6RIQ_hsX4
This week, they learned the forehand, although it is a new thing to him, but he can coordinate his hands and legs and pick up a few shuttles and he is very proud of it.
Jay Jay even wrote in his journal saying that "He is good in badminton". Well, he is getting there learning the sport, not very good at it yet. But at least he had fun!
And this is a way how he socialise with friends. I see him now becoming very talkative in his badminton class too. But he had fun! And he pretty much looking forward to go to the badminton class on Saturday.
In addition, if I can book the badminton court on Sunday, I will bring him to play at Clementi sport hall with his friends. But it is so hard to book the court. :( My domestic helper was a PE teacher which specialise in badminton and volleyball. So, she too help in playing badminton with Jay Jay at home too.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/c_RKMOXzCKw
3. Golf
This is a new class I have enrolled him. It all started with this putting matt. And sometimes, I will bring him to the golf range to hit some few balls.
Got one time, he saw a lot a lot of young kids learning golf. So, he asked, can he also learn golf. I explained to him that, he can, but I asked him to think about it, because he seems to have a lot of sport activities in a week. And he said, he is OK, and he promise will do home work promptly even though got this training.
So, I got him a coach - Mr. Veandhan @ Fairway Golf Academy to teach Jay Jay. Veandhan is a USGTF Teaching Pro at Fairway Club. His father Jeffrey Sinniah is the one who oversees my Golf Alliance handicap test. So, he recommends his son to teach my son. And while Jay is learning, I also take a refreshment course from Jeffrey too. This year, my aim is to improve my golf swing.
Seeing your son learning golf is indeed a good feeling. Next time, when you go to resort hotel, where there is a golf course near by, you know you can go play a round of golf with your son. I am looking forward to that day.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/OZA2h0Ko5fU
And after the first class, he seems to enjoy it. And I am sure he will talk about this in school.
I got a feeling that his self-esteem is strong because of these sports and these opportunities that he has been given and exposed to.
So, in adult, we always talk about work life balance. For kids, I want to give him Sport-Study balance or Fun-Learn balance.
Jay is learning Golf on Tuesday 3PM for an hour to two. The coach is too good that they tends to give extra time to train him without extra cost. That is why he is here to learn. (if they do not have the next class).
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/zWRGNGpJJDo
4. Tennis
Kids today are special. They went to pre-school when they are 18 months old. They make very good friends in their kindergarden. Unlike us, we are still trying to search for Primary School mates up till today. For for them, all the kids parents are well connected. I am sure 30 years later, they will search for their "Kindergarden" friends for reunion dinner. haha So, this tennis is an activity to play with his K2 friends.
Jay Jay learned how to place tennis with three of his K2 friends. So, he definitely have fun on Tuesday 5:15pm tennis lesson at our place there.
He has to learned to use wrist to hit a badminton which is different from locking his wrist for tennis returns. And I must say, he did very well in that to differentiate both the games.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/kLtAQbInXV8
5. Swimming
Every Sunday 4pm, he will go to his swimming class together with Conrad. I am glad that he is now not afraid of water. So, he can swim a little, not that good. But good enough to survive.
6. Violin
Remember, this is a music he asked to learn too. All decide by him. So, he is very proud of playing a few songs without seeing the notes. He is learning Violin with Elite Music @ Sultan Plaza every Sunday morning 10:30am.
Of course from time to time, we will bring him to bicycle, soccer, basketball, skiing, roller blade, etc.
I got influenced by this book greatly. If you have a chance, take a copy and read it. It is a fun book. And always remember, there is no many genius. Practise does matter. 10,000 hours spent in any subject or sport will make you a pro. And the most important thing is…. opportunities. Read it and you get what I mean.
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