“Oh Tommy!” Mummy said, “It’s okay. Mummy is here. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

At this moment, Tommy cried even louder. “You fall down on this floor?” Mummy tried to calm down her son. “Okay, mummy hit this floor for you!”

Piak! Piak! Mummy hit the floor hard with her hand. In fact, Mummy hit it until her hand turned red. Tommy sat on Mummy’s hip, watching her hitting the floor. But later, he joined Mummy and hit the floor himself…

“I hit you! I hit you!” Mummy pretended to get angry. “You let Tommy fall down. Bad floor. I hit you!” Eventually Tommy stopped crying. Mummy was relieved.

Sounds familiar to you?

I’m not sure about other culture. But we Chinese has the tendency to do this hit-the-floor action to calm down crying kid due to a fall. This idea should have been passed down through many generations.

A simple and innocent action it may seem. But do you know this little act sets the early path for your kid’s character destruction?

Usually, most parents don’t care much about how their simple action affect their kid.  “My kid is still small”, they thought. “I will teach him later when he grows up.”

However, this is often too late. Bending and setting a new growth direction for a young sprout is easy. But bending the trunk of a grown up tree is impossible.

What will your kid learn when you do this hit-the-floor stuff?

The floor had been sitting still for many years. And one day, your kid walked on it and fell down accidentally. Suddenly, the floor became the culprit and got hit by you and your kid.

So firstly, your kid learned he can blame others for his own mistake. Worse still, he can hit it too! Mummy is doing that. So this should be the right thing to do.

When your kid get used to hitting the floor when he falls, you may realize something new. Let say you are cooking in the kitchen and your kid is playing in the living room. Suddenly, he has a light fall. He barely feel any pain. And your kid doesn’t cry at all.

But then, he may walk to you and point to the living room. He brings you to the spot he fell down and asks you to hit the floor!

“Oh!” You got it. “You fall down, isn’t? Okay, Mummy hit the floor for you!”

“I hit you! I hit you!”

There you are, performing your magic act again. Your kid joins you hitting the floor. After a while, your kid continues with his activity and you are relieved once again. You may feel proud too.

But what your kid has just learnt? Revenge!

Imagine what character your kid would develop when he grows up?

What can you do when you kid falls down?

When your kid falls down and cries, kneel down besides him but don’t touch him first. Let him cry for a while. Sometimes, little kid may get shocked when falling down. We should give them some time to calm down on that spot.

Then, tell your kid: “It is okay boy. You are alright. Now stand back up yourself. I know you can do it.”

When your kid slowly stands up again on his own, his crying should gradually reduce. He would concentrate more on standing up rather than his pain. And when he stands up again, you can slowly give him a hug and say: “Good boy. I know you can do it. I love you. Next time remember to be more careful.”

An extra step

Mr Ling, the founder for Deep Level Communication (DLC) suggests an extra step for your kid. Ask him to say sorry to the floor (or table if he hits the table).

Your kid may ask you, “Why should I say sorry to the floor? It doesn’t even feel the pain.”

You can answer, “You are not the floor. How do you know the floor is not in pain?”

With patience, encourage your child to face the floor and apologize. For example, he can look at the floor and say, “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry…” Treat the floor as a living being.

After this step, some parent may realize an unbelievable change to their kid. Let say your kid’s head hits the floor and develops a bump on it. From your experience, he would need 1 or 2 days for the bump to disappear completely. But after your child’s sincere apology to the floor, his bump may disappear in as short as a few hours.  Believe it or not?

This final step is an extra suggestion where you may want to try. But remember that above suggestion is only for light fall. If your child bleeds with serious injuiry, do you still want to say to him: “Come on! Stand up on your own! I know you can do it!” I hope you know what is the appropriate action to take.

What is the lesson?

For this recommended action, what will your child learn?

• Have the courage to stand up again after we fall down
• Take full responsibility for our own action
• Learn from our mistake
• Apologize when we hurt others

Now you may ask, “Can my child learn all these? He is still a small kid!”

Believe me, your child can. He is absorbing and learning much more than we think.

Final note

Remember to always treat your children with love, respect and patience. If you only show your greatest love and care only when he falls down, one problem may arise. Your child will fall down often to get your attention and love. And you will be very busy.

If your kid only has a very light fall without knocking anything, pretend nothing happens. Soon, he will stand up again and continue playing.

But if you rush to him and cry, “My dear! What happen to you? Are you hurt? Oh! Mummy’s heart is so in pain to see you fall.” If you act as if your kid has broken a bone, he will cry as loud as he can!

Being a parent is not easy. I hope you can realize how your little action matters a lot to your children. And this includes your other daily interaction with them too.

“Who are you?” he asked curiously.

“I am your future,” the butterfly answered.

“How can that be?” the caterpillar said. “You look so different from me.”

“It’s true,” the butterfly explained. “Soon, you will become like me. You can fly around with your wings. You can explore this vast and beautiful jungle. It is indeed a very different world out there.”

“Sounds impossible to me,” the caterpillar said. “I thought this tree is my only world.”

At this moment, the butterfly flew away from the caterpillar.

“Hey! Where are you?” the caterpillar asked. He looked to his left and right searching for the butterfly.

“I am up here!” the butterfly screamed.

“Where? I cannot see you!” the caterpillar yelled.

The butterfly flew back to the caterpillar. “Here I am!” he said.

“How can you disappear and appear back again in a second?” the caterpillar asked.

“I didn’t disappear,” the butterfly replied. “I am still here around you. It’s just that you cannot see me. But I still can see you clearly.”

Transition to a new dimension

This is a story showing the transition from 2D to 3D world. It is estimated that by year 2012, we human will also undergo this transition. But this time, it is from 3D to 4D. It may be hard to imagine what it is like in a 4D world. Remember that the caterpillar also had difficulty in accepting the new 3D world which we are used to.

Nice bread

Can you imagine how loud baby screamed?

A new smile

As people says, growing new teeth can be very uncomfortable for baby. For our baby, he had fever for 1 day, without much appetite for milk. Instead, he prefer eating cooked oat.

He also drooled more for a few days. And on the day of his fever, his saliva was quite smelly. But after the fever, he returned to normal again.

We didn’t bring baby to see doctor. He went through it naturally. We just applied some wet towel on his forehead, hug him more and accompany him patiently.

In this video, baby even said “daddy” several times. Unfortunately, he hasn’t learn to say “mummy”.

Not long ago, I was invited to give health talk in China. Almost everyday, the mass media kept reporting about the problem of too much whitener in wheat flour. Unethical manufacturer added too much Benzoyl peroxide in the flour for a better looking appearance. And within that week, I ate a lot of noodles due to tight schedule. This made me feel bad.

Why add Benzoyl peroxide?

In the past, Benzoyl peroxide was not added into the flour. The processed flour must be stored for 20 to 30 days. This allowed the air to oxidize beta-carotene in flour. Only then we can use it to make bread and other flour products. That is why flour gradually gets whiter as time passes.

By adding Benzoyl peroxide, manufacturer can reduce flour maturity period from 20-30 days to 2-3 days.

What is Benzoyl peroxide?

This substance is a type of food additive used to improve flour quality during factory processing. As it is not stable, Benzoyl peroxide will convert back to benzoyl and stain the flour. Since this substance is a strong oxidant, it is also used as chemical whitener. WHO suggests daily dosage of only 40mg/kg. And the European Union banned the use of Benzoyl peroxide in 1997.

Whitener’s harm to our body

1. Upon entering our body, the liver has to neutralize Benzoyl peroxide. This is the reason why this substance is bad for those with weak liver.

2. Benzoyl peroxide also contains some selenium and lead. That is why EU banned its use in 1997.

3. This additive will destroy nutrient content in flour. It oxidizes beta carotene, affect vitamin A content and causes the loss of vitamin E and K. It even has some influence on vitamin B1 and B2.

4. Long term consumption of flour and its products which contain Benzoyl peroxide may cause chronic intoxication. This is especially harmful for the liver.

5. Beijing Medical University and Xiehe Medical University’s joint publication in 1997 stated it may cause cancer.

Additives are found everywhere. We must be cautious of these additives to reduce risking our health.

Dr Qiu said our mouth is the dirtiest place of our body. When brushing your teeth, germs will accumulate in the toothbrush. If there is any injury in mouth, germ will infect those with weak immune system. It may cause other diseases like gingivitis, fever and heart inflammation.

In a press conference, Dr. Qiu discovered that compared to one dollar coin, water hose and cloth for mobbing, toothbrush has the highest germ count. According to a research, bacteria on toothbrush can grow rapidly every minute. In damp environment, it can even multiply to several millions.

Once there was a patient who went to see a dentist. The dentist found his tooth brush was in bad condition and he did not brush his teeth properly.

Therefore, remember the following tips:

1. Do not dip your toothbrush in a glass of water

2. Do not place your toothbrush in a highly damp room

3. Change your toothbrush at appropriate time

4. Do not place several toothbrushes together to avoid germ contamination

5. Do not share your toothbrush with other family members

How to keep your toothbrush clean? Dentist suggests it must be placed in dry and ventilated place. After brushing your teeth, dry your toothbrush and keep it in proper place. Preferably, change your toothbrush every 3 months.

Source: Dr Lee health newsletter

Here’s the content of the email. I got stuck in 2 or 3 words. Eventually I figured it out and read the rest email like normal text. See whether you can read it too

Only  great minds can read this. This is weird, but interesting!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed tihs forwrad it.