Keeping A Boy Occupied
It can be hard to stop a child from being restless on a journey, right? It's not so bad if we are travelling in our car and he started being restless and whine and such because he would just disturb us and I can just scold him of being annoying. But if we are using a public transport, keeping him in check and making sure he didn't disturb other commuters is important. Sure don't want people to be annoyed with us.
How to you keep your child occupied on a long journey?
For us, because Raimie and Zaini are both gamers, whenever he gets bored of the scenery or the waiting, we'd allow him to play with his Nintendo DSi, provided he has a seat to sit on first! He is not allowed to play with his game while walking around! No, no, no.
And like whatever treat we give him, playing with games comes with a condition. He has to behave nicely to get the privilege to play it. No whining, no tantrums, no annoying behaviour. Do it and the game will not be at his disposal to play.
When he was smaller, whenever we are on a plane, he loves to check out the seats in front and at the back. To make him stay still, we used to bring magazines and books and even colouring books to keep him occupied. Now that he is bigger, he is just content playing and checking out the entertainment system on the plane.
He'll immediately put on his headphone and look for the remote once he was seated in his seat! However, no such luxury when we are flying to Japan with AirAsia this year-end. I'm so not gonna pay anything extra for entertainment. He'll just have to read a book!
That said, it's nice to see him using his imagination to keep himself occupied on long journeys at times. Shows that he doesn't need technology all the time to stimulate him.
We pamper him, we do but I think we are strict to him too. I just hope we are doing it right. ^^
Well, least you all made sure he only gets to play it if he behaves. I have seen alot that plays and fight with the siblings. Then cries, then fights, then cries more... zZZz
ReplyDelete@LV,
ReplyDeleteQuarrel between siblings is what made them closer. Of course, headache to parents lah. LOL
I think that's good parenting :) It's takes patience and creativity to keep a child occupied
ReplyDelete@sriyany,
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed. And it can get tiring at times. ^^!
Looking at the pictures, i am convinced that Raimie shall grow up to be fine handsome young boy,,oops i mean young man.......
ReplyDeleteI am sure you have and shall continue to bring them up well, you know it is good to let the children play games but we must also like you say, set rules for them to abide to, otherwise,pengsang lah,,,,,,,,,,
hey Lina, have a great weekend ya
@eugene,
ReplyDeleteWe try as best as we can to set good examples to them. And to let them grow up to be a good human being.Isn't that right? All parents wish the same for their children regardless of our race or religion.
Let's hope our children grow up to be an upstanding human being. :)
You and your family have a good weekend too!
Don't you worry la, Lina. I'm sure he's gonna grow up to be very responsible young man :D
ReplyDeleteKids will always be kids and will annoy the heck out of everyone when they're young but with the proper guidance, they'll grow up just fine, look at me ... hahaha ... damn perasan one la this Nick fellow!
hehe, you are absolutely right, not only for Raimie but i guess all kids nowadays will be obsessed with games and that could really keep them occupied.. successfully!! hahaha~~
ReplyDeleteand i always see toddlers at the age of as little as 2, already know how to play with their parent's iPhone or iPad.. swiping their fingers left to right as if they are the pros.. :D
ReplyDeletebut i think you really need to find something that he's into, great that digital games is not the only thing that can keep Raimie occupied.. you should feel so lucky..
ReplyDeletecos i've seen kids who will ask for their parent's iPhone the very first thing when they are back from work.. and will never want to let go until they are forced to.. sigh~~
ReplyDelete@Nick,
ReplyDeleteHa! So you were one annoying kid lah! LOL
I sure hope he will grow as a good man. Dont know how he will be in his teens. Will we be arguing lot as he is having his teenage angst? XD
@SK,
ReplyDeleteWe dont have iphone for our son to play with! LOL
Yeah, Ive seen kids hogging their parents phones once the parents came back from work. XD
Its important for me that Raimie doesnt just become fixated with games and the idiot box. Need to exercise his imagination too. ANd exercise his body too.
Giving them an Ipad does help to keep children occupied. I see adults and kids toting them these days! :)
ReplyDelete@Mei Teng,
ReplyDeleteI am not rich enough to allow my son have an iPad! LOL
Hi Lina! Mommy ayie sneaking a lil blog time. How are you?
ReplyDeleteI know how hard to keep a lil boy stay still. Jariel never stays still. He's so hyper now and I am getting a whole new workout with him. I can tell how much you pamper Raimie and I think you are doing great with his discipline too.
Anyway regards to both of your boys!
@Ayie,
ReplyDeleteHi dearie! Long time no hear from you!
Jariel sure is making you super busy. ;) He wants to ensure Mommy doesnt work, work, work all the time and get some exercise, I bet.
Hugs to Jariel from all of us! :)
Interesting parenting... I have always that fear, that one day, when I will have my child(ren), I am preoccupied on how to deal with them/him/her.
ReplyDeleteI mean, what's the correct mix? Not too strict, not too loose or something like that...
Your kid looks sweet, contented and happy...You must be really giving the great parental mix. Congratulations!
Webbielady
@webbielady,
ReplyDeleteand despite what we tried to do, they may turn out the opposite of what we wish for! Esp if they mix with the wrong company. :(
Ji Lina,
ReplyDeleteThat's true. I think that would always be a factor but parenting is also very essential. I mean, there are kids who really show who theirparents are: confident and strong and they don't get influenced by bad companies, especially the not so good ones.
Webbielady
@webbielady,
ReplyDeleteWhat you said is true. I hope my son would not be swayed by negative influences as he is growing up. ^^
Nintendo can really keep the boys occupied looks like :) It's great that they're learning how to behave in public. When we went to Bangkok and a trip to the province, both by plane, I made sure to bring my daughter's favorite toy of the moment. The clouds kept her occupied some of the time too.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about flying is the planepressure...even kids can talk and you don't get disturbed so fast because your ears are with pressure..:=)
ReplyDeleteSome planes, especially long flight ones have play stations for each seat... and they have films and music videos and games and it's really cool for adults too! :=)
But Bangkok is near Malaysia so shorter flights, in my experience, usually don't have these entetainment devices.
I replied to your question here
Webbielady
@jellybelly,
ReplyDeleteWe need to bring along something to keep them occupied and that should be something they like. Do that, and we can get a relatively stress free journey, don't you agree? :)
Via behaved nicely on both trips, right? :)
@Webbielady,
ReplyDeleteI always like long haul flights. I catch up on movies on the plane! ;)
Of course on short plane trips, there aren't enough time to be allowed to access such entertainment system. ^^
Raimie seems like a great kid, Lina. Which only means you and Zaini are doing great as parents. Happy Sunday..
ReplyDelete@HappySurfer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying that. :)
Means a lot. ^^
@ Lina,
ReplyDeleteThat's true... the only occasion I had those gadgets to play with was when I had around five hours or more flights... and in Asia.
I have not seen those stuff yet here in Europe, my logest flight hereI think was for only 3++ hours..
Webbielady's Places
don't worry, i think you are doing a awesome job! so often we were reminded how difficult it is to keep a child occupied during these boring moments, especially when wen get to see so many kids running around or even screaming for attention!
ReplyDelete@levian,
ReplyDeleteI sure hope I'm doing a decent job raising my Son. ^^
Keeping children behaving and ensuring they are occupied enough not to disturb others is sure not easy.
To keep myself occupied on long journeys, I read a book or newspapers. I enjoy looking at the scenery as we pass each town or city.
ReplyDeleteFor my son, he's very easy to care for. Whenever we go on a long trip, whether we are in the car, train , bus or airplane, he would go to sleep. Then when we reach our destination, he would miraculously wake up. Hebat yah. :)
@ECL,
ReplyDeleteI wish my son can go to sleep that easily. ^^