Month: February 2023

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Parents Zone

Children often shirk their responsibilities, and parents should be held accountable?

Parenting Tips

February 2023

Source: Psychotherapist, Lee Wai Tong

 

Whenever something happens, children will use different excuses to shirk their responsibility toward others. Parents may then scold the child for this, but this may make the child avoid taking responsibility. Faced with this situation, what can parents do?

 

First of all, when parents ask children, “Why didn’t you finish the work?” or “Why don’t you understand?” Parents want their children to take responsibility. But at this time, the child will want to shirk the responsibility and give it to someone else, but at the end of the day, the parents actually want the child to take responsibility. You should know that responsibility starts with the child having the time to make decisions because having the time is called having a sense of autonomy. If children can have a sense of autonomy, they will be more likely to be responsible.

For example, if he does not know how to do his homework and is asked why he does not understand, he will say that the teacher did not teach him, the teacher did not teach him well, or that the other students were noisy. At that moment, if parents continue to say that he is not concentrating in class, they will only make the child throw the responsibility further away. So at this point, we need to know how to do better since we are facing difficulties and then work with the child to figure out how to do it.

 

The child will feel responsible for doing a good job, so naturally he will put the responsibility back on himself and let himself do it. And when children can do things on their own, they will be more willing to take responsibility. This is why I always say that the most important thing for parents is not to be accountable because accountability only teaches children to unload their responsibilities, while we can help our children take responsibility and accomplish things together. This is the most important lesson we often teach our children about responsibility.

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Learn to shop with real money

Parenting Tips

February 2023

Written by : New Horizons Development Centre

                   Registered Educational Psychologist Pang Chi Wah

 

Under the epidemic, many families have become accustomed to shopping online, which is convenient and fast and frees up more time for other tasks. Even in everyday purchases, there is often no need to pay cash directly, for example, when taking transportation or shopping at convenience stores, you only need to use your Octopus to complete the payment process without using any coins. When everyone is used to it, and children already know how to use this kind of electronic money, is there any problem? In fact, “convenience” can sometimes stifle the knowledge that can be gained in the learning process.

 

Just think about it, the use of credit cards by adults is also convenient for shopping, but it can be a big challenge to our financial management skills because we need to be very disciplined in order not to exceed our budgets or “spend money in the future”. A young man once confessed that when he was growing up, his family was richer, and when he saw his family paying for things after dinner or at the department store, all he had to do was sign for them; when he wanted to buy something, his family would also go along with his wishes and sign for it. But it was not until he started working that he realized that he still needed to pay for something other than his signature. Money is found to be limited. Is it too late to start learning financial control at that moment?

Parents are encouraged to give their children opportunities to make actual purchases in their daily lives when they are young. This helps to enhance their cognitive understanding, mathematical concepts and, more importantly, their general knowledge and habits of financial management. For example, ask them to pay in cash instead of electronically when buying food from convenience stores or subway tickets. Even though parents may need to spend more time in the process, they may not have a complete concept of money yet, but their actual participation can easily generate curiosity and observation, and gradually feel or understand the value of different items.

 

Parents can teach them to recognize money at different levels as they grow up, and when teaching them to actually buy things, they must add fun learning or activity elements. First, parents can provide them with opportunities at home to learn about different coins or bills, such as the difference between one and two dollars and the colors of different bills. Second, when they have mastered the basic concepts, parents can ask them to change the coins or bills that they are instructed to change. Further, once they know how to pay in one direction, parents can guide them to take back the money they have redeemed. Finally, when they are learning to buy, they need to know if they are getting the right amount of money, and the amount or complexity of the amount can increase as their cognitive level increases!

In general, parents do not need to give up paying electronically in their daily life, as long as they have enough coins or banknotes for learning on weekends or when appropriate. For example, when taking a bus, take out the coins and actually check them, or when buying something, count the money provided by the parents and try to feel the actual purchase, if it is really inconvenient, parents can use electronic means to complete the transaction simultaneously.

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Can eating fruits cause fat? How much is the right amount to eat?

Parenting Tips

February 2023

Written by : Registered Dietitian (Australia) Chung Yong Man

 

Everyone says to eat more fruit, although fruit is beneficial is a cliché, but at the same time there are a number of mysteries: fruit is not very high in sugar? Will eating it cause fat? Is it necessary to eat fruit before meals in order to absorb the nutrients in the fruit? Let me break it down for you one by one.

 

Fruits can cause fat?

Yes, because fruit contains natural sugar – fructose, can provide calories, so a lot of fruit will intake too much calories, resulting in obesity. However, in addition to fructose, fruit also contains other nutrients, which have great health benefits. For example, oranges, kiwis and strawberries are rich in vitamin C, which helps to strengthen resistance. Bananas, melon and raisins are rich in potassium, which helps stabilize blood pressure. In addition, the dietary fiber in fruits can help prevent constipation and maintain intestinal health. I still encourage people to develop the habit of eating fruits every day, as long as the amount of fruits consumed is controlled, it will not lead to fructose overload.

 

According to the recommendations of the Hong Kong Department of Health, the daily portion of fruit intake is as follows.

Children aged 2 to 5 years: at least 1 serving per day

Children aged 6 to 11 years, adolescents, and adults: at least 2 servings per day

 

1 serving of fruit =

2 small fruits, e.g., kiwi, plum

1 medium-sized fruit, e.g. orange, apple

Half a large fruit, e.g. banana, dragon fruit

Half a bowl of granular fruit, e.g., lychee, grapes, longan, or cut watermelon, melon

1 tablespoon of dried fruit without added sugar or salt, such as dried raisins, dried prunes

 

I recommend that you eat 2 to 3 servings of fruit daily, and that you choose more fruits of different types and colors to get a more comprehensive intake of different nutrients.

 

Eating fruit before meals is the most “nutritious”?

There is a popular belief that eating fruits before meals is more nutritious. In fact, there is no scientific basis for this view, healthy people can eat fruit at any time. However, for some people who are in the process of weight control, adjusting the time of eating fruits may help, because the dietary fiber of fruits can increase the feeling of fullness, and eating fruits before meals can help them avoid eating too much during meals, or they can arrange to eat fruits after meals to prevent eating other high-calorie snacks due to “feel peckish”. However, people with diabetes need to pay attention to the amount and timing of fruit intake, please consult your doctor and dietitian for advice.

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