Goopy Goodness! (Indoor Activities for toddlers)

This past long weekend we had grand plans of bringing Elliot to the zoo and to various outdoor playgrounds to enjoy time as a family. Alas, the dreaded haze returned to Singapore and clouded what was meant to be a wonderful weekend together, casting a shadow over our outdoor plans.

But no matter. We didn’t want to let a little haze get in the way of family time. Friday was spent roaming around Plaza Singapura super duper early. Let me share with you a little tip, that I noticed a few other families also seemed to do: Malls in Singapore are mostly empty before 11 am. Go to a mall early and you get the whole place to yourself. You can run like a crazy toddler (or woman) through an empty floor, sit for as long as you want on the coin-operated mechanical kiddy rides. Because Spotlight opens early as well, we enjoyed roaming the aisles looking at the colourful fabrics and home crafts. We left just before 12 noon and hardly encountered much crowd.

E having fun at Spotlight!

On Saturday, we got up early and spent the entire morning making goop.

I found the recipe on my favourite parenting channel on YouTube, What’s Up Moms – they called it Non-Newtonian Fluid, but I just call it goop!

Goop is incredibly easy to make. To me, DIY kids activities need to require as few ingredients / materials as possible, be as easy as possible to make and quick and easy to clean-up afterwards.

So after researching many, many, many DIY kids activities, I finally settled on making GOOP!

The result was SOOOO much fun, I really can’t wait to share it with everyone.

Ingredients
1) Corn starch
2) Food colouring
3) Water

Method
1) Measure out 1 cup of corn starch into a plastic bowl
2) Mix the food colouring with 1/3 cup of water
3) Pour the coloured water into the corn starch
4) Use a tablespoon to mix it up
5) PLAY!

I know it seems extremely easy. It really was! And it was so much fun. The end result is this gooey viscous liquid that “solidifies” when you touch it or hit it but then melts when it is left alone. Maybe some of you might have made this in school, unfortunately I didn’t!

E loved playing with it, because in his own words, he was “making cake”. But he didn’t like touching the goop with his hands. That’s why he decided to use a spoon and a measuring cup instead. I, on the other hand, was content to dig my fingers into the thick liquid – playing with the unique viscous texture! Needless to say, it was fun for everyone!

The viscous liquid took shape in my palm

E spent about 1.5 hours playing with it. He said he was “making a cake”.

It looks like a liquid, but it’s pretty thick!

Do let me know in the comments if you have tried this out!

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To my fellow Mothers of Boys: We need to take back our boys

Fellow Mothers of Boys.  It is time we stood up for our sons, and with our sons, so that we can create a different tomorrow.

I am tired of hearing people say Be a Man and Big Boys Don’t Cry.  I am sick of it.  When we tell our boys this, they internalise their frustration and their emotions which can, at the very worst, result in abusive, controlling a**holes.  We confuse our boys.  We tell them not to cry, then we call aloof.  We tell them to be good to their mothers, then we call them mama boys.  We tell them to be gentle, then we call them a wuss.  It’s wrong.  It’s insulting.  It’s hurtful.  And it should stop NOW.

To be honest, when I found out I was having a boy, I felt like all my dreams of princess dresses and dainty tea parties went out the window.  I don’t have brothers and most of my cousins are girls.  So I’ve never grown up with a boy (except for my cousin Matt who is much younger and we just made him do whatever we did).  I don’t know how little boys play.  I’m not a sporty person and the idea of driving around in a car filled with dirty rugby jerseys and socks is not something I ever envisioned as a mother.

Of course, Baby E could grow up to love tea parties and that’s fine too.  He might like to be part of his school’s dance troope or like cooking.  It would be pretty cool if he did — imagine all the dinner parties I could throw with my son as chef!

So here I am with my son.  My extremely energetic son.  With him, it’s NON-STOP.  He needs to move, to stand, to explore, to touch, to taste, to break.  He cannot sit quietly for a second.  He cannot stand being still.  He is charged with testosterone that’s for sure.  After speaking with other mothers and on forums, I realise that yes, boys are ALOT more active and curious than girls.  There are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule, but in general, boys have way more energy to spend.  It’s evolutionary – they were the hunters, girls were the gatherers.  Hunters need to constantly be looking for prey, they need energy to run after animals, to run away from animals to FIND animals.  

So as a mother of a testosterone-charged boy, I need to ensure that this energy is harnessed positively, not negatively.

I have a lot to be thankful to my feminist predecessors for.  They have been responsible for giving me suffrage, giving me the right to earn a living outside the home and for giving me the confidence that I have to speak my mind.  To them, I am forever grateful.

But now, I feel we need to take back our boys. 

Our men have all this energy and strength and yet we emasculate them.  Mothers of Boys, we have our work cut out for us.  Hear my battle cry!!  We need to teach them that there are times to be gentle and times to be tough.  We need to teach them that it is ok to cry.  We need to teach them that women are both the weaker AND the stronger sex.  We need to teach them when to stand their ground and when to give in.

Men who have unharnessed energy and strength sometimes end up with bad company.  According to Google, there are 14 times more men in prison than women and men are nine times more likely than women to join a gang.  These statistics are startling.  The recent incident of Elliot Rodgers who killed six people last Friday night did so because he was frustrated he was still a virgin at 22.  Then just today, I read that a 24-year-old man attacked members of a J-Pop band with a saw during a concert.  From Columbine to Newtown to Anders Behring Breivik to Elliot Rodgers – all these mass shootings have been carried out by psychotic men.

Big boys don’t cry, big boys don’t whinge, big boys don’t show weakness.  Boys play with guns, not dolls.  Boys play fight, not play house.  All the games that are marketed to boys are about shooting, killing and fighting, and you wonder why our boys are violent.  We made them that way and now, we have the future in our hands.  We can change it.

We can teach them to love music and dance to the rhythm of the strumming guitar.  We can teach them to create works of art that we can hang on our walls.  We can teach them to play in the rain.  We can teach them to explore the world around them.  We can teach them to cook by stirring a pot filled with flowers.  We can teach them how to enter a world of make believe.  We can teach them how to keep a good and tidy house.  We can teach them to read and write poetry.  We can teach them how to help others who are in need.  There is SO MUCH we can teach them!  The options are endless and the potential is limitless.

Imagine a world filled with men who are kind, gentle, grateful and loving, but with the energy and strength of an army.  Imagine the good that can happen.  It starts with me, and it starts with you.  

Mothers of Boys.  It begins with us.  Let’s take back our boys!