Nourishment of a different kind

Food for the mind

It's been 10 years since I started this blog - with its one and only post about my food battles with M1, who is now a strapping 1.5m, 44kg 12-year-old. The turning point came at around age 5, actually, when she discovered spaghetti bolognaise. M2 was a similarly skinny toddler, who also expanded dramatically when he discovered burgers at age 6. Common denominator seems to be beef, so I'm crossing my fingers for M3, who is developing a liking for beef noodles. Here's hoping this will transform this little mite (age 5.5, 1.06m, 17kg) before he enters primary school and turns into a beast of burden (read: impossibly heavy school bags).

Now I face battles of a different kind - how to nourish their hungry minds and turn their mental tastebuds away from media fast-food. Cartoons, comics and video games are fun but like candy, need to be taken in moderation lest it creates an unhealthy craving for easy, shallow and superficial entertainment. It takes perseverance (now) to pick up and finish a book (specifically one with no pictures and many pages!), and even more dedication to read every word rather than skim for plot and story. So this blog will now chart the kids' readings - and writing - efforts, to motivate them to delve deeper into the mystery and beauty of words that have the power to shape their world.