Sponsored Video: The very precious early years of a child. #helpachildreach5

With two young boys at home, you can imagine the amount of germs, dirt and unhygienic acts exchanged between the two. In Singapore, we are blessed enough to have ample liquid hand soaps, sanitizers and antibacterial sprays selling at the supermarket at affordable prices. The children are also continuously reminded in schools to keep their hands clean and are taught the proper way of hand wash. We are luxurious enough to keep ourselves healthy, and illnesses at a bare minimum. Still, the smallest sickly affair gets me all uptight and edgy each time my boys fall ill, especially if it's a virus attained by the overlooking of a simple act of washing our hands. Remember the time both boys were down with HFMD? It took a long order of constant washing of hands with the right liquid soap, and sanitizing with the right anti bacterial sprays before we got over that period. It is definitely NOT something I want to go through again.

While we are fortunate enough to be able to keep our kids healthy and safe from viruses, children in other third world countries are not as fortunate. Because of their living conditions, many of them as young as infants fall dangerously ill and lose their lives over illnesses like diarrhea and pneumonia. I cannot imagine losing my child over something that could be easily eliminated over simple acts of keeping oneself clean. Which is exactly why I emphasize a lot on hygiene with my children. Nothing can surpass the love of a mother for her child or the sadness of losing a child, especially if we have the power to control such loss.

Lifebuoy is on a mission lifesaving mission to spread the importance of good handwashing habits around the world. Most importantly, a mission that will help more children reach their 5th birthday and celebrate every child’s fifth birthday, by stopping the spread of preventable diseases which cause 5,000 children under five to die every day.

In Utari’s village in Indonesia, a tree is planted at a child’s birth. In such villages, many children lose their lives before their fifth birthday to diseases like diarrhoea that could be prevented through washing hands. All that remains, as in Utari’s case, is the tree. The simple act of hand washing can prevent many life-threatening diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia. Last year, Lifebuoy adopted Thesgora, India and by teaching healthy hand washing habits, reduced incidents of diarrhoea from 36% to 5%. 

This year, they will adopt Bitobe, Indonesia. Watch this video, and you will see just how important a simple act of washing the hands is, and how it can save millions of people especially children just by spreading the awareness.




Do your part to help children reach their birthday by sharing this video and Utari’s story on social media with #helpachildreach5. 

'Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,Nothing is going to get better. It's not.'

*This is a sponsored post by lifebuoy, but all thoughts are solely mine. I feel very strongly for this campaign, and would like to urge everybody to their bit for it.  

The bad month of September, has and shall now come to a close.

It was a rough September for me, as each household member took turns to either fall ill or hospitalised. It started with me, when I was hospitalised for sudden excruciating pain in the abdomen. It happened one weekend midnight just as I was preparing for bed. It came all too sudden, and I was crunched up in pain, like I was in labour. Believe me when I said it was worse than labour pains itself. An immediate painkiller was administered into me as soon as I reached the emergency department, and the doctors and specialists took almost a day to figure out what the pain was all about. After many tests and scans, I was finally diagnosed with a cyst rupture in the ovaries. Ah-huh, that fully explained the crazy labour pains I experienced!

A week after I was discharged, the husband woke up one morning totally immobilized by a sharp pain in his upper back. I had to rush him to the A&E, with fears of all the illnesses coming to mind. Slipdisc, stroke, paralysis, what exactly was causing this immobility! Fortunately, he was diagnosed with accumulative muscle strain on his upper back and was advised by the kind doctor to have plenty of rest and do nothing that was strenuous or exhausting. We decided to seek traditional chinese medicine for his situation, to help ease up the strain and allow for quick recovery. Who would have thought, the acupuncture caused further immobility for another five days, but it was all worth it. The husband was granted a "new" back after that.

Just as we thought September would ease up already, and we could jolly well head out for a good much deserved family outing... our boys were struck with the all dreaded Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. It all started one night when the littlest one was awoken up from his sleep with a 39 degree fever. Then came the loss of appetite, which we taught perhaps was caused by the fever so we did not think much about it. And then the loss of appetite became NO appetite at all, and we almost rushed him to the hospital for fear of dehydration because he was not eating nor drinking anything for almost a day. The husband, a paramedic, used his knowledge to good use and checked his tonsils for signs of a sore throat. Alas, he confirmed that the son indeed did have sore tonsils so we brought him to the doctor that very day.

After a thorough check, the general practitioner informed us that our littlest is down with HFMD which caught me by total surprise because I have always thought that these sicknesses are only rampant in schools. My sons are not attending school, neither have they been playing at the playground so I was baffled that they could actually catch it still. Well, apparently the doctor informed us the HFMD is on the rise now, and can happen to anyone who does not practice hygiene. I guess that summed it all up, because this particular son of mine is a very dirty sensorial boy.

So we ended our September with a ten day quarantine which is quite the bummer because Children's Day is just around the corner, and there are activities catered for little children all around our sunny island. We are definitely keeping our fingers crossed that the boys will be cleared of HFMD as the weekend approaches! To think I was chanting Wake Me Up When September Ends the whole month, and here it is, October is finally here. I am hoping for a robust October ahead!

Keep Calm and Breathe: How to stay calm amidst the haze.

The haze has been the talk of the town for the past week, as Singaporeans go through a roller-coaster ride of PSI figures. I remember the last time I was this "excited" about the haze was when I was in school, and every classmate of mine was looking at the daily PSI in hopes for school closure. Well, that clearly never happened.

On Monday when the haze started becoming really apparent and looking like it is here to stay for awhile, my mind started being filled up with a couple of worries.

"Dear me, my whole family is asthmatic! How now brown cow?"
That was my biggest concern when reading endless news about the imminent haze. My husband, myself and my two boys are asthmatic and among us all, I am the worst when it comes to keeping my asthma conditions under control. In fact, just as the haze hit us, I was already having an asthma attack and had to go for a nebulizer session at the clinic to clear up the airways. The other three boys are doing fairly well, although the younger ones are coupled with a bad cough the past few days as well.

So how do we minimize falling ill, and getting asthma attacks during this season of bad air?

+ We stay indoors and avoid bringing the children out unnecessarily.
+ We minimize strenuous activities even when indoors so that these children need not huff and puff all the bad quality air at double the speed.
+ Keep the children fully occupied with activities and play that are not exhausting.
+ Increase our immune system with anti-oxidant fruits like blueberries, strawberries, kiwis and grapes.
+ Keep ourselves well hydrated with water and fruits.
+ Practice good hygiene, by washing our hands and feet when we come indoors and after play and dining.
+ Regular vacuuming and mopping of the home will clear the house of rampant dust particles.
+ Have an air purifier to keep air quality clean and safe.

"It's the June holidays! What are we going to do indoors with the children?"
Fret not, for there are always plenty of fun things to do at home with your children! It only takes a little bit of spontaneity and a whole lot of patience, but it beats boring the children silly when keeping them indoors.

+ Build an indoor tent with gala poles and a bed sheet!
+ Play indoor hopscotch with scraps of paper!
+ Open the kitchen and let the kids show off their masterchef skills!
+ Indoor water play in the bathroom with pails and scoops!
+ Bang and Clang away with pots and pans, make a musical festival with the different sounds they make!

"I am having a panic attack, why is the haze so bad?"
Breatheeeeeee. I do find myself in such situations sometimes, when I worry too much about my health and my family's too. But then I realize there really is not much that we can do except make the best of such situations. Avoid going onto NEA to find out the hourly PSI, or Facebook to read about what those SGAG or TOC pages have to say. More often than not, the situations are exaggerated and people tend to stray away from the real situation. I am not saying that haze is good, but neither am I saying we need to panic, and start pointing fingers over whose fault it is. I'd like to think everybody plays a part in making mother earth this unhealthy and unpleasant sometimes. So stay positive, and we shall all hope this is but a phase that will go away quicker than we get to say shooooooo. :)