26 May 2016, by Mandy Loh

When I grow up…

This past week, my kids have had a lot of fun with role-playing. At this age, its great for them to imagine all the things they could be when they grow up.

It seems there was a spike in the number of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) cases all around Singapore recently, and there were 5 cases in the preschool that my kids attend. Thus, the teachers requested for us to keep our kids at home for a few days last week, so as to prevent further cases from occurring.

Since we had the mornings free, I decided to bring them out to have some fun. One of the first places I brought them to was Diggersite, where the kids get to operate kid-sized diggers and construction machinery!

It was Cristan’s dream come true! He was so excited to wear the safety helmet and couldn’t wait to get onto the digger! Thankfully, as it was a weekday, it wasn’t crowded at all so he could play immediately!

Caris was a bit more hesitant initially, but decided to join in the fun later on, after seeing how much her kor kor enjoyed it!

At almost 5, I think Cristan did really well operating the machine on his own. Honestly, I found it rather tricky myself! Thankfully, the staff were extremely patient in guiding us with the controls, and Cristan felt such a sense of accomplishment when he could fill the buckets with sand!

Another morning, we visited the Singapore Maritime Gallery, where the kids could pretend to be ship captains and marine engineers!

There was also a kids play area with interactive displays, blocks, and colouring materials. It was nice and quiet, and we mostly had the place all to ourselves!

The biggest outing of all was on Saturday, when I braved the crowds and brought both kids (without hubby) to the RSAF Open House!

Quick tip to other mums contemplating such a crazy endeavour: bring at least one friend along! It is SO MUCH EASIER to manage, and the kids can play amongst themselves!

Not only did I have someone to chat with during the wait in insanely long queues (2 hours for the shuttle bus into the airbase, and 1.5 hours to wait for a photo opportunity inside the F-16), it allowed me to run to the food stalls to grab some finger food aka lunch while she stayed in queue with all 3 kids.

After all these outings as construction workers, ship captains and fighter pilots, guess what the kids still want to be the most?

Well, don’t grow up too soon, my darlings! And my wish for the two of you is this: that however outrageous your dreams may be, both of you will always have the courage to reach for them and make them come true!