Give them roots and wings

We have been celebrating National Day for as long as we can remember.  For Edmund and I, it is important for us that our children love the nation in which they live.

Elias at 1+ year.  He likes waving the flag. He just did not like standing in the sand.

It was easy for them to love Singapore.  They loved Singapore simply because they loved themselves, and whatever that belongs to them.

Each year in August, when we put up the flag, they would enjoy looking at it and saying with pride – “That is our flag.”  I don’t think they are being patriotic when they say that.  I think that they are only enjoying the familiar – recognising the window of their home, and seeing the flag which their daddy put out.

I would bring Samuel to “join” his brothers in their school’s National Day Observance Ceremony (We stay near the school, and would go up to the HDB block next to the school to watch. This year, two other families did the same! Some teachers and students noticed us and waved! So cool! Elkan and Elias also spotted us and waved.  We had lots of fun).

Samuel does not really understand all that is going on. But he enjoys seeing the Singapore flag, hearing the national songs (He would say “It’s the same as ours! I know!”), and spotting his brothers among the sea of red and white.

I enjoyed the short appearance of Dr Jiajia in this year’s National Day Parade (NDP).  In it, Dr Jiajia’s brother asked : “Do you love me?”.  Dr Jiajia said, “No”.  Brother asked, “But why?  I am your brother, and I love you”, whereupon Dr Jiajia immediately said, “Ok, then I love you”.

No doubt the script was written by an adult, but perhaps inspired by a real life interaction.  Whatever it is, it is incredibly perceptive.  That is how a child is.  He simply “loves back”.

It is not really my way of teaching my children to love, but I have observed that young children are impressionable and naive.  Therefore, an easy way to help a child develop emotional ties, is simply to associate the “subject” with good experiences.

So each year, we would celebrate National Day with lots of fun and laughter.  This year, it was no different, and we went kite-flying at Marina Barrage from morning till about 4pm.

Elias made two friends quickly. Samuel is getting good at flying his own (Angry Bird) kite! And that is Elkan is sitting on the grass, having got his kite up. (“What else is there to do?”, he would say)

Elias discovered that he can fly his kite like a paper aeroplane!

Elkan brought a “spot-the-pictures” game to play during “boring” times.

Samuel played with it too 🙂

Samuel learnt to play the frisbee with Daddy

Hey, you are holding it the wrong way!

For lunch, we had what we call a “Chinese burger” – Ba Chang aka Rice Dumpling! They sell Ramli Burger at the Marina Barrage carnival. Edmund and I would have loved that, but the kids find that a bit spicy. Oh well, we shall wait for them to grow up a bit more…

We had so much food at the picnic. After the lunch it was apple followed by potato chips. After that we had these circle biscuits (do we remember these?  We grew up with these!) We had packet chrysanthemum and chocolate milk too.

But nothing, really NOTHING, beats the cup of free Milo (We grew up with these! It was the highlight for me when I was in Primary school. I remembered that one year, my brother who was in the same school, did not attend the Sports Day and gave me his coupon.  In that same year, another friend gave me his coupon too.  I was a really happy girl that day).

There was a puzzle game and after completing it, we would be given pack of “3-in-1” Milo Peng. We played it a few times and earned eleven packets! Isn’t that really Singaporean?? 🙂

Like a typical Singaporean family, we queued up to take photos. Edmund, Elkan and Samuel did one first.

I must say that the photographer is quite good.

Back home, we got ready to celebrate National Day with the participants of the National Day Parade. In previous years, we have had chances to watch it live at the venue itself (even Samuel got to watch it at least twice). Now we watch it at home, waving the flags and singing the 爱国歌 with gusto!

One of the rare times when we have dinner in front of the TV. We always order from Rite Pizza.  They have the best. We started ordering the Medium size, but nowadays only the Large pizza is sufficient for us. The boys are growing!

We participate as much as possible, even looking out for the passing fighter jets! Hey, fighter pilots, you are cool!

Elias did this as a school project when he was 10. His was selected by the teacher to be displayed for the other students to see. He was very proud of himself, and we were very proud of him.