Are Your Little Ones Wearing the Right Footwear?

Flat feet, pronated feet.. 扁平足，内弯腿You probably have heard of these terms, or not, but think they have nothing related to you or your little ones? Just don't be too sure, these conditions quite common yet many of us may have omitted.

Recently I noticed something unusual in E's and C's posture. When E stands on both feet, the arch of his feet is not quite visible while for C, her feet tend to collapse inward when she stands (instead of firm on the ground)

So we took the duo for foot diagnostic.. Initially at a temporary setup by MyOrtho at Desa Park City (coincidentally they had a promotional booth there) and subsequently to Foot Solutions located at the Curve.

 

Foot Solution is equipped with a machine that can detect the contour of the feet during resting (relaxed without pressure) or standing position. Hence allowing accurate assessment of the feet's condition - whether is low arch (flat feet), medium arch (normal feet) or perhaps, over arch (discover this is also an abnormal condition during my own reading).

This picture better explains better:

Photo Source: www.feetgenius.com

E getting his feet diagnosed on the machine.

The foot contour was reflected on the screen while the staff explained what each of the color means..

The diagnostic confirmed that E indeed has flat feet condition, but the good news is that it can be corrected with the right shoe insoles with arch support. We decided to get him a pair of insoles which he can wear daily to correct his posture and improve the arch overtime. 

Choosing a right size insoles - this can be added into existing pair of shoes to create better arch support.

Various choices available.

We are advised to let E wear the insoles for 1 hour on the first day, and slowly increase by 1 hour each day until he finally gets used to it. It does feel quite uncomfortable wearing it at first so need sometime to get used to. 

 

As for myself, which I too have a condition of pronated feet, I decided to get a pair of proper running shoes with arch support since I have plans to participate in more marathon runs. There are few recommended brands that design shoes for people with flat feet conditions - Brooks, New Balance and Sketcher (there are a lot of other brands available but these are commonly available in KL). I got myself a pair of Brooks Transcend after visiting the store and tested out all the arch support sport shoes. ;-)

My handsome aids..

Is it really necessary to treat flat feet condition?

From what I've read, it is not a must to treat it since it is non threatening. However there are some problems associated to flat feet or over-pronated feet:

• experience pain in feet, ankles, knees, lower legs, hips. 

• shoes wear out faster due to the inappropriate distribution of pressure and prone to injuries.

• gets tired faster

You may read on more yourself (links provided below), or seek consultation from orthopedics. I'm just purely sharing from the point of a consumer :)

One of the advise shared with us, on how we could prevent false flat feet for toddlers is to avoid wearing slippers for long hours. They are light by design, but do not provide adequate support for the arch. 

So for your young kids, let them wear proper shoes - sports shoes, walking shoes... those with proper support. 

That's all peeps, I'm just glad that we detected it earlier in my duo and their conditions can definitely be corrected. As for myself, since I'm determined to continue my running routine, getting a right pair of sports shoes will certainly help!

Keep calm and run on!

Xoxo,

PH

Useful link:

Flat feet explained

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flatfeet/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Selecting the right foot wear

http://www.runnersworld.com/shoe-guide/runners-world-2016-spring-shoe-guide/slide/3

Exercise for flatfoot / fallen arched

https://youtu.be/2AwRK3js5dg

{Travel Special} East Coast Park @ Singapore

We had a short family visit to Singapore during the weekends, we did not make plan for sight seeing since we intend to have some quality time with the family. 

However, as East Coast Park is just on the way from our hotel to the relative's house, we decided to take the duo for some play time at the park in the morning. 

East Coast Park is located next to the beach and has a wide open space that span across 185 hector of land and 18km of coastal line. Most part of the beach have shady trees so the park packed with joggers and cyclists during our weekend visit.

On the first day of visit, we had our breakfast sets at the Starbucks cafe. It was a breezy morning, so we picked the outdoor long bench facing the sea. We were sipping our drinks, enjoying the soft music playing in the background and doodling at the same time. Just a box of color pencils and some papers, and we had really cozy start for the day.

The next day, we returned again with the duo and this time we came preparedwith  extra clothes for changing. The duo dashed to the beach and started playing with sands right away.

They had so much fun walking along the beach and kicking the wave that they almost refused to leave. 

If you have more luxury of time, you can rent a bike, a scooter or a skateboard at the nearby cycling shop. They have something to offer for every age.

We stopped by St Marc Bakery & Bar for a late brunch. The restaurant setup was warmth and welcoming.

They offered a pretty good selection of sweet savory. They served weekend brunch between 9:30am to 3:00pm and with reasonable price range - around SGD$9.80 (French toast) to SGD$21.90 (Wagyu burger). However the cafe latte was rather mild and personally I find Starbucks breakfast set a much worthy deal - only SGD$6.90 inclusive of a breakfast meal (quite some choices) and a mug of brew of the day. 

E and I shared the buttermilk pancakes. The pancakes were fluffy but overall too dry to my liking, perhaps it will be more awesome if they provide some maple syrup or honey, instead of the fresh cream.

Big Guy and C shared the American breakfast set. Again, I thought it would be nicer to serve with some sauce and we would preferred some thick fat fries...

According to the directory, there is supposed to be a children playground somewhere in the park but we did not managed to find it, even the waiter has no idea where it is located. So we had to give it a missed.

Our little girl was curious about anything and everything.. She spotted someone holding a yoyo in there.

However overall the park is a really friendly place for the whole family. We met a lot of the locals and expats that brought their family here for cycling, jogging, barbecuing (need advanced booking for the barbecue pit), camping (need permit), cricket / frisbee game, or just sun bathing on the very clean beach (just so you know, never ever litter in Singapore unless you are looking for trouble...).

Besides, from the official website I found that they offered watersports / water activities and there is also a holiday chalet available for rent. This is probably the urban gateway for the local Singaporeans or Johorean.

So, what do I like about this place?

I liked that they have easy access for stroller / wheelchair, spacious washrooms right next to the beach (equipped with shower facility) and shady beach that allows a comfort walk. There is also abundance of cafes and restaurants to choose from and most of them are facing the beach. 

So if you have some spare time when you visit Singapore, so drop by to East Coast Park with your kiddos and have a fun-filled day!

Important note... 

Make sure you come early to avoid the burning sun and bring along your sunblock, hats and loads of water. 

Here is the piece of memory that i took home with me.

Where I drew my inspiration..

More Information..

Entrance: free

Operating hour: 24 hours, lighting from 7:00pm to 7:00am

Direction: public transport and onsite parking a single. You may refer to the google Map.

For more information, refer to the official website here

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{DIY Craft} Let's Go Fishing!

My duo love to play pretended fishing, I had to join them to be on a pretended boat (our bed), sail on a pretended sea (the floor), eat pretended fish (non existence). So I thought to make them a DIY fishing game since we managed to find some small magnets from the RM5 store, Daiso. I knew what to do with them the moment I saw them.

My duo totally IN LOVE with this gam. Played for over an hour. Played before lunch. After lunch. Before shower. After shower. Just non-stop fishing. 

But it's more than just a game.

Noticed all the colorful fishes? I used this game to train my 3yo little C's color recognition, counting and eye-hand coordination.

Here's how we play. I gave each of them a fishing rod. When I call out a color, they have to catch the fish in the right color, else they have to return it into the pool.

If the color of the catch is correct, the fish is theirs to keep. At the end of the game, they will count their catch and the one with the most fish, wins. I purposely made odd number of fishes so it's impossible to have a tie game. Hehe.

Wonder why I placed the fishes on a Lego board? I spun it around as if the fishes were moving around. This really made the duo super excited as it just got harder to make a catch. 

Next I intend to create a score chart, so each colored fish has a different score, this is for my 6yo captain E who is fascinated with mathematics, he loves it when I challenge him with arithmetic game.

Here's what you need to DIY:

• Felts (or cardboard cards)

• Rod (I used ballon stick before hub upgraded it to a proper stick)

• Strings or ropes 

• Paper clips

• Small round magnets (attach the string with glue or epoxy)

30 minutes of preparation, endless weekend fun. 

That's it. Let's go fishing!

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Painting Fun.... Of Colors & Brushes

Little ones and I have been painting again lately. I have stopped it for the past few months as my little girl can be quite a messy queen and leave behind a huge scene for me. Not that she is any less messier now but at least she will take instructions better and know how to clean up after herself and tidy up the 'crime scene', so I decided to start the weekend painting / crafting routine.

I shopped for some new paint brush to teach my little handsome the different brushing techniques which I could still vaguely recall. I attended drawing classes ages ago, when I was still a primary schooler myself. 

We setup the table and tools, and they could not wait to get started. To avoid fighting, each have their own set of water colors and palette. I used the disposable kitchen tower we bough from the RM5 shop to dap the brush, very absorbent and no washing required afterward! 

For little C, I let her paint on pre-printed A4 papers while for E who's already 5.5 years old, I let him draw on the drawing paper and choose his own colors. I then guided him how to make use of the different brushes like how my art teacher used to guide me..

• Round point - used for strokes, lines and coloring large objects

• Liner brush - for fine lines,detailing and outlining

• Flat - for creating texture effect like wood, water, grass, clouds.

Unfortunately my little boy had much shorter patience than me, after spending a min listening he showed me that bored face and couldn't wait to start painting right away. LOL, I love to annoy him sometimes, privilege of a mom. *evil laugh*

The result? To my surprise they are bad at all. I love their use of colors, bold and eye catchy.

Painting by my little E. I love those multi-colored trees and the multi-level super market (it's not a tower as he claimed its too small to be one). I helped him on some of the objects in order to explain the different brushing technique, but the choice of colors was solely his. Can you tell which cloud was mine or his creation? 

Painting by little C. This is the 3rd of her painting and she has finally learnt to control the paint brush better without smudging too hard till the paper is torn. That is one big improvement if you ask me.I don't care so much if she colors within the line, or use the "logical" color of the object. Just want to let her express her creativeness and enjoy the fun of painting. After all this is her artwork, not mine. I think she deserves a star for this piece. :)

It's a fruitful 60 minutes spent and I honestly look forward for the next weekend..

Happy Sunday!

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{Toy Review} Bunny Boo Peek-a-Boo, Smart Toy for the Toddler!

Looking for gift for your 2 or 3 years old? Look no further, this is an ideal smart toy for the little ones.

Bunny Boo, little bunny and the 3 little wooden blocks.

It comes with a set of 60 cards of 4 levels with pictorial instructions. You are supposed to arrange the bunny and the blocks to resemble what you see in the picture. Begin with the easiest level (green) and watch your little ones gradually proceed to the expert level (blue). 

Solved, by my little bunny girl who was 2.5 year old then.

Beginner level. I got my girl hooked by playing peek-a-boo with the bunny first. Subsequently she went on an auto-pilot mode.

This game may appeared to easy for the elder kids, e.g. I let my 5yo began with the intermediate cards and found he actually able to solve all cards, including the expert level unassisted, so I am not surprise he grew bored of it pretty soon. 

What I like about this game?

It teaches concept of problem solving, imagination and encourages the creativity to think out of the box. It is easy to understand so the little one can self entertain after few rounds of coaching. I love to see that proud smile on my little bunny's face when she managed to solve the puzzle all by herself. She was so so proud and look around to make sure everyone in the room acknowledged her achievement. It may look simple to us, but it sure is one big step for the little mind. :)

Besides, it does not contains small parts so make it suitable for the young toddler (except for the leaflets which I tie them up using elastic band to make sure they won't get spread around the room.)

Where to go get one?

Visit any Popular book store and look for the Fun Learning booth, or just visit their website here. It's that simple. :) If I remember correctly, it cost me RM89.90.

Is it suitable for My little One?

I would say this is suitable for 2 years old to 5 years old, although it is very much dependent on each child's development and readiness.

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{Random Art} Flying Colors

It's raining, the weekend swimming class had to be called off and kiddos were so bored while I was busy in the kitchen. How to keep them occupied and lift up their mood?

Then I saw the bottles I bought for my cookies decoration awhile ago, and an idea struck.  

"Flying Colors", I told him, "we are going to make the colors fly today."

"I'm not interested.", he said with such bored looking face as if it's my fault it rained. 

I ignored him and proceed to bring out the fondant coloring kit in my kitchen drawers.

He lifted his eyebrow, "what do you need that for?"

"Would you like to help me squirt some color into the bottle?"

"Sure, maybe I will just give it a try.."

That moment onward, he was doing everything with excitement. From the moody sour face, my little boy transformed into little bubbly angel who was smiling all the way.

What did it cost me?

• few drops of food coloring
• few sauce bottles
• a long roll of paper
• some old newspapers (to protect the floor from overflow of watercolor)

1. mix the food coloring with some water, shake well and put few drops of colors onto a large piece of paper. Make sure you put newspaper underneath.

2. Start blowing the color from any direction, and watch the it "flies".. We even did color racing - see which one travels the furthest.

3. Then, we experience with color mixing. I just couldn't held them back from squirting more colors before I finished spelling out the instruction.

Blow blow blow, watch the color flies! 

My little bunny enjoyed squirting drops of color instead of following my suggestion. I'm totally fine with that, I love her beautiful mess. :)

Ta-da, their masterpiece is done!

It may be a cheap play but it sure made the kids very, very happy, and I get to work in the kitchen, uninterrupted. So it's a Win-Win for us, home alone with kiddos are not so scary after all. :)

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.