A visit to Eldercare Centre

Its tea break time

A couple of months ago I accompanied Primary 6 children from the school that my son is attending to an Eldercare Centre. I was in my capacity as a parent volunteer. I myself have never been to an eldercare before, so I was as excited as these kids! 

As the nation is ageing, Singapore government put a lot of attention in making sure that their golden citizens is ageing comfortably and gracefully. Taking care of the health matter is important, however paying attention to the welfare and mental health of the senior citizens is equally crucial. 

The daily schedule

An eldercare centre like the one we visited that day helps take care of the mental health of senior citizens. Everyday, a number of senior citizens arrive at this centre to socialize and mingle with other seniors. Some of them are sent by their family members and some of them were fetched by the centre's shuttle van. Soe of them are in good health and very talkative, some are in wheelchairs and very reserved. Some of them have good memory, some have started to show forgetfulness.

An elderly lady is being fetched to go to an eldercare centre.

Prior to coming to an eldercare centre like this one, the elderly need to be registered and pay monthly fee to enjoy the facility. The fee for such centre varies, depending on the condition of the elderly, the facilities and perhaps special treatments they need to get. However as a guideline the monthly fee is roughly around $700 per month for Singapore citizen and PRs, excluding transportation (if needed). You can click this for more info. Some elder care centres (like the one we visited) do accept foreigners but most of them only accept citizens and PRs.

Serving food and drinks to the elderly

So what do these kids usually do during their visit to the eldercare centre? They usually would set up performances to entertain the elderly. Singing, dancing, doing magic or games involving the elderly are so much fun :) 

This is also the time for the students to learn to communicate with people of very different age. From what i observed, these kids very much wanted to talk and share their world with the elderly folks in this centre, which was good of course. However, I reminded them to also make effort to find out more about the elderly and listen to their stories. Well, it is human nature that people want to be heard. The same case as these elderly. So on that day, I asked these kids to exercise their listening skills.  :)

Playing a card game! Who was the winner? :)

So how do i feel after our visit? The visit really humbled me. It serves as a good reminder that we all are going to be in their shoes one day. It made me miss my mom! Yes, my mom is at home safely but I suddenly had the urge to go home and hug her! The visit also made me want to show to my mother how much I love and care for her. I promise myself that i will spend more time with her, whether it is simply having breakfast together or go jalan-jalan with her. 

Ultimately, what the elderly need in their golden years is to spend precious time with their loved ones. Eldercare centres help the elderly go through the day with supervision but nothing can substitute the happiness of being surrounded by their own family. 
So....love thy family love thy mommy and daddy :)

The Emperial Flagship

The Emperial Flagship, a photo by duniaqila on Flickr.

An old photo taken around end of 2011. Aqila was crazy about Pirates and Sailships...thanks to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

Here he was drawing and painting the Emperial Flagship, one of the ship in the movie :-)

7 Habits of Happy Kids

 

Siapa yang tidak kenal buku laris dari Stephen Covey yang berjudul 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Ahaaa....jadi ingat jaman2 saya ikut satu MLM yang menjadikan buku ini satu pegangan bagi para anggotanya untuk mengolah sikap, terutama dihubungkan dengan bisnis MLM yg mau dikembangkan. 

Nah, satu-dua minggu lalu saya kebetulan melihat buku ini : 7 Habits of Happy Kids; di toko buku. "Hm...bagus tidak ya? Jangan2...isinya memaksa?" Mau tahu kan?

Buku ini ditulis oleh Sean Covey, anak dari Stephen Covey, dan diperuntukkan bagi anak di bawah umur 12 tahun, untuk memperkenalkan ide2 dan pemikiran Stephen Covey. Jadi topik di buku terbagi dalam 7 bab, antara lain: Be Proactive, Begin with The End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek first to Understand and then Be Understood, Synergize dll.

Wah wah...kedengarannya berat ya? Tapi...menariknya buku ini bisa mengangkat tema2 tadi dalam bahasa sederhana dan cerita yang menarik bagi anak2! Ada tujuh karakter anak pemeran utama buku ini, masing2 dengan keunikannya, ada tokoh anak yang lebih condong ke arah seni, olahraga, musik, tokoh anak yang senang membaca dll. Jadi...saya pikir, anak2 yang membaca buku ini bisa mengidentifikasi diri mereka dengan salah satu tokoh anak, pintaaaar :D

Saya suka cerita Lily Plants a Garden, yang mengangkat tema Think Win-win. Topik ini mengajarkan pada anak, kalau mau sesuatu tidak bisa memaksa, harus think win-win situation. Lumayan...setiap kali si Raja kecil minta sesuatu yang bombastis, kita bisa ingatkan kembali pada topik bacaan ini, apa konsekwensinya, apa tanggungjawabnya...hehe. Lumayan, agak berhasil lah, ini kita bicara pada anak umur 4 1/2 tahun lho.

NIlai tambah buku ini: pada setiap akhir bab ada bagian diskusi dan baby steps, atau saran kegiatan lanjutan yang bisa dilakukan bersama anak untuk menguatkan penanaman nilai yang diajarkan. Bagusss!!!

Ohya...satu lagi, bahasa buku ini benar2 bahasa sehari-hari dan sederhana. Anak yang baru bisa membaca spt anak saya, langsung 'ketagihan' dan senang membacanya!

Kesimpulan? Saya rekomendasi buku ini sebagai bacaan bersama dengan anak anda! Semoga bisa bermanfaat! Selamat membaca!!! :D