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Testimonial from Eileen and Louis (Founders of SGParenting) | Mummy: Come on, baby, share the toys with your brother. | | Child: No! It's MINE! | | Mummy: Please... can you please share with your brother? | | Child: No! Why must I share? | | Mummy: Please... | | Child: No! I won't share with him! It's MINE! |
Sounds familiar? What do you do when your child refuse to take responsibility for tasks that are entrusted to him? What do you do when your child does not follow the rules? What do you do when your child tell lies? What do you do when your child got into a fight? How do you encourage your child to think before acting? How do you encourage teamwork? As parents of two children, Ryan (aged 6) and Claris (aged 4), these are the challenges that we face frequently and we have spent a lot of time searching for interesting books and materials on character education for young children. We needed resources that are able to engage our children, teach them values such as honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, friendship, perseverance, respect, responsibility, cooperation, generosity, self-discipline, self-control, acceptance, compassion etc.
Our search was greatly rewarded when we found the Character Builders series. The sets consist of interesting easy-to-read books with corresponding audio sing-along CDs with catchy tunes, easy-to-remember lyrics and adorable pictures. We enjoy listening to the songs in the car and very often, I can hear both Ryan and Claris humming the tunes and lyrics while they are playing. Surprisingly, we have heard ourselves singing these songs too! Whenever Claris refuses to share toys with Ryan, I would sing the song entitled “Sharing is Caring” which works like miracle and encourages her to share. Part of the lyrics of this song are as follows: “Sharing is caring. Be generous every day. Be generous with the things you own. It’s always wise to share….” As for my mischievous Ryan, who loves to constantly challenge the golden rules at home, we would encourage and remind him to observe the rules by singing the songs entitled “You Can Count on Me” or “Following the Rules”. Part of the lyrics of this song are as follows: “I am responsible for all I do. You can count on me. I do my class work, my homework too. I try to practice the golden rule….” “I know rules are good for me. I can show respect. I look at others when they talk to me. I take good care of property…” During trying moments when we hope that our children will confess their wrongdoings and admit their mischievous acts, it helps greatly when we sing “Integrity, integrity, tell the truth, that’s the key. Integrity, integrity, be the best you can be! When someone asks a question, answer honestly…” There are many other scenarios when we use the books and songs to “solve” our problems. To us, this is the best Character Education series that we have found so far! The twelve stories cover almost every aspects of the character traits that we hope to instill in our children and as the storylines (or lyrics of the songs) are simple to remember and understand, we fell in love with this series instantly! As parents of two children, we strongly recommend parents to get a copy of this Character Education series and share it with your little ones. To find out more on how you can purchase a copy of this set, click here. |
