Preparation for any event is necessary.

Recently, I attended a talk by a lady too enthusiastic to become a speaker. It would have been well and good, had she prepared herself well for the occasion. Unfortunately, she was far from ready with too little knowledge to dispense to the people who attended her talk. Not only that, she even did not realise that some displayed words had no connection with her talk for the evening. There was certainly weaknesses in her preparation. I believe she has done herself and her future as a speaker on the particular topic more harm than good in her impatience to be known to the public.

To be a really good speaker, one must have sufficient interesting material to keep the audience appreciative of the knowledge divulged to them. Certainly, no ordinary common-sense knowledge would be of great interest to people. Such knowledge must be sufficient to bring about a change in either the thinking or the behaviour of those who attend the function.

Besides knowledge, there is stage personality; how an individual present himself or herself on stage. If it is a talk, is her voice attractive enough to catch the attention of the audience? Her movement and direction of vision are just as important. Does she look at the people to whom she is conveying whatever messages she intends? Does she have to look at pieces of paper to remember the points she expresses? Is she talking or reading to the people? The above points are important in holding the full attention of the people in attendance.

As my aim in this blog is more to share and inspire, I have waited for some time before I write this so that probably no one would know which person or talk I am referring to. Who the person is is of no importance. If she can learn from this and improve, one day she may turn into one of the better known speakers in our midst. That and our hope to be better people in any field are the most important aim.

Almost impossible to be clean. And that is why he is sick.

"He's sick again. He's had fever since yesterday and he does not like to take medicine. He's so difficult when he is down with fever! And, obviously, we are all very worried about his health."

Who, among us, has no fear of sickness? Who is most unconcerned about bacteria and knows nothing about them and the threat that they post? A child, of course! And so it is that unless the child has sufficient natural immunity, which he seldom possesses, he is bound to fall sick so many times unless he has parents who consistently look into his cleanliness.

In his curiosity, the child explores the appearance, the textures, the sounds, the smell and the taste of everything in his environment. And all those actions are good for in such a manner he learns and knows everything he comes into contact with. It is knowledge that he acquires.

However, whenever he puts something into his mouth, along goes the bacteria which moves in fast to multiply and increase in number to invade his body. To the body's defence comes the white blood cells and this 'war' activity against the invaders causes the body to heat up bringing fear to the parents.

Actually, we should not get the child immediately to a doctor unless the temperate is very high. If the child's immune system is strong enough, it can destroy the invaders and learn from experience how to tackle such invaders in future. However, should the temperature goes too high and a doctor is unavailable,we can bring the temperature down by swabbing the body, especially the head, around the ears, the face and the forehead with a wet towel.

Not allowing fever to go too high is important as fever has often affect the brains of children. It is so important that I do not sleep but control the temperature throughout the night, should a child of mine comes down with high fever. Twice had I found that fever went away after a night of swabbing.

In fact, parents should be more careful and ensure that toys or things that the child comes into contact with are clean. And if it is something that cannot be cleaned, never allow it to enter the mouth. Of course, if the child touches such an object, make sure that the hands are washed at the earliest possible moment.

I never said having to be so cautious is easy because it is indeed a lot of work. Fortunately, love makes light such precautions that we have to take for the safety of our child.

Beware! A new technique by robbers.

Nowadays, there is so much to be wary of. However if we have the knowledge we are fore-armed and therefore are well prepared for all eventualities. Of course no one is so knowledgeable as to be ready for everything. Therefore, whenever we come across important or necessary information no matter how simple it may seem, it is good to disseminate the knowledge to all our friends. So....

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS LATEST INFORMATION which a friend sent me:

You can't clean away smashed eggs on the windscreen of a car with the wiper and sprayed water. Please take note of this as it can come in useful one day.

If you are driving at night and are attacked with eggs, do not operate the wiper or spray any water. Slow your speed and drive on carefully with your doors locked.

You can drive with whatever visibility remaining until you reach a safer place, where there are more people, at a petrol kiosk or a police-station.

Do not use your wiper or spray water onto your screen because eggs when mixed with water becomes milky and block your vision up to 92.5%. That would be an effective way to stop your car and have you come out of it.

When you are forced to stop at the road side to clean off the mess from your wind-screen, you become a victim of robbers planning to attack at such a time.

According to the email, this is a new technique used by robbers in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Please inform your friends and relatives as robbers cheats are getting more creative these days.

Defense for a woman, perhaps even for a man.

Here is an interesting email I received recently. It is helpful in instances where the attacker is stronger or better armed that you. So, do read on and if you follow the advice, it may save you from danger someday.

I know some of you own guns but this is something, especially for the ladies, to think about.

If you do not have a gun, here’s a more humane way to wreak someone’s evil plan. Do you know anything about a wasp spray? I didn’t. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the heavy, difficult to manage baseball bat or whatever that I had thought of.

You see, a friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended that she get herself a can of wasp spray instead.

What’s the difference, you would likely ask. Well, the wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, the attacker would have to be close to be effective. He would be too close to you and there is the possibility of overpowering you. The wasp spray temporary blinds an attacker until he can get to a hospital for an antidote.

The above receptionist keeps a can of wasp spray on her desk in the office and it does not attract any attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Well, this wasp spray ought to be of use someday.

On the heels of a break-in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self-defense experts have this tip that could save a life.

According to the email I received, a person who teaches self-defense to students at a certain high school had for decades suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near the door or bed.

This instructor has said, “This is better than anything I can teach them.” Well, if he did say that, I must admit that there is a lot of truth and wisdom in those words. And to say that requires great courage.

This instructor considers the wasp spray inexpensive, easy to find and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The can typically shoot twenty to thirty feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, spray the culprit in the eyes. It is a tip he has given his students for decades.

Using the spray will give the possible victim a chance to call the police or maybe escape from the attacker, and this can possibly save a life.

Since such a wasp spray can come in useful especially in our present times when danger still lurks at unknown places in our lives, there is not harm having one ready just in case.

Of course, we ought to test it for the accuracy and distance it can be effective perhaps on a pole twenty feet away. Knowledge of this would give us the ability to judge when and at what distance we can really use it.

According to the email, the wasp spray could even given protection against a snake besides the wasp.




.

Beware of con men.

I received this email from a friend. As it is of interest to people in Malaysia, I am putting this here as to forewarn is to forearm. As for others outside Malaysia, this is knowledge which shows crooks are certainly not stupid and they are getting smarter and better at their 'job' by the second. If it can happen here in Malaysia, it can happen anywhere else. So, take care.
*******************************

(This happened in April, 2010.)
This just happened a few minutes ago. Somebody by the name of Inspector Chew King Hwa from Bukit Aman called my husband's hand phone and was looking for me. He said that I was implicated in some money laundering cases (I really wished that I had those money). He gave a contact number which was 03-2262 6222.

when I checked online, it is true that the number belongs to Bukit Aman HQ. So I called using my office phone to the number and I was told by the operator at the Bukit Aman Headquarters that there is a syndicate with inside people from Celcom and Telekom who are running these scams. They offer to settle your case outside and ask for money to bank into certain accounts. The operator said everyday the Bukit Aman HQ receives 40-50 calls from the public, from people like me asking for verification. Bukit Aman said they will change their phone number soon because of this scam. (So, the number given may be the different next time. Caution and confirmation with the proper authorities or using a fixed line phone is necessary to ascertain the true identity of the caller.)

The clever thing about this group is that, when they call you on your hand phone, the number shown would be 03-2262 6222. I guess if you call this number from a hand phone, or directly pressing on the number received on your hand phone without re-keying in the numbers again through the keypad, you will reach the syndicate as they must have manipulated either the caller identity and created a fake line with the insiders' assistance from Celcom, Maxis or Digi. But if you call the same number using a fixed line (Telekom) as I did, then only will you be able to reach the real Bukit Aman Headquarters.

So it looks like the con men are also getting smarter. But you can straightaway tell from the way the caller speaks, that he is not very educated and hence not likely to be of the caliber of an officer.

Hope you will tell your family and friends.

When man uses trees not planted from seeds,.....

Immediately after the storm, with the last tiny drops of rain petering out in a few minutes, the rain-water flowing slowly into the drains, I went to look at the damage nature has wrought and the amount of work that has to be involved to put things right.

As I surveyed the damage wrought by the strong wind during the storm I noticed something peculiar as I looked at all those uprooted trees. All those big trees which were uprooted by the wind and rain had no main root. The exposed roots beneath the trunks were merely about three or four feet covered with soil. This implies that those trees were planted either from cuttings or grafted. That could be the only reason those trees did not have main roots. (Even if there were main roots for those huge trees that fell, although I doubt if there were any, the main roots must be too thin to anchor the trees strongly to the ground.) Without main roots to anchor themselves, it is no wonder those huge trees could be uprooted.

So, trees planted from seeds with their main roots strongly embedded deep in the ground could withstand the forces unleashed by nature from time to time. And that is proved and confirmed to be true when I went up the hill in the morning to see some trees with broken, even twisted, trunks and branches but with the roots intact although the assault on them by the storm was not less strong up there.

Actually, I do not need to go up the hill to know that seeded trees withstood the might of the previous day’s gale better than ‘man-made trees’. I refer to those trees as man-made because nature meant big trees to have main roots to not only be stable and strong but also reach far down for the necessary water during times of drought and perhaps certain nutrients found there. (The soil is fast being drained, deprived or emptied of natural nutrients from decaying organic matter as a result of humans removing trees and natural space to make way for so called progress.) Here, in my own compound, are trees planted from seeds. There are an Alfonso mango tree with the seeds originating from the middle of a plantation in India and a star-fruit tree from the seed of an earlier plant. They stood strong against the power of the other day’s blast.

Thus, the next time we wish to plant a fruit tree which can grow tall and is situated very near to the house, a seeded plant would be better as it would be stronger and more stable with no chances of it being uprooted. Of course, with a seeded tree, we can never be sure of the taste unless it is obtained from the middle of an orchard where all the trees bear similarly good taste. Furthermore it takes longer to bear fruit.

Of course, we could still ensure safety by trimming the bud-grafted tree so as to ensure it would never grow too tall or big to cause our property or us any harm. That is the preventive measure we have to take for grafted trees, failing which another storm may appear to have the owner of such grafted trees pay a price for his unpreparedness.

A few days after the storm, I saw trees being removed or cut. Grafted trees that had grown too tall were quickly trimmed or removed. Humans react only when lessons are well taught. Nature has taught us many lessons but humans are slow at learning especially when the effects of nature's lessons are not felt. They do not react unless they feel the heat.

Talking about the heat, Northern Malaysia is experiencing one of the hottest spell it has ever had for some time. Humans complain but there are still those who continue clearing forests and burning unnecessarily. Sometimes, it takes extreme circumstances to awaken the need to save Mother Earth. Mild lessons are sometimes not heeded or learned. Perhaps, they live too much in the present moment and forget that there is a future for the human race.

The lessons from the storm.

A hero comes along to make sure the things in his house do not get any wetter than they already are. This brave man rises to the ocassion and was up the roof in a jiffy to repair as well as replace blown away tiles. However, being such a hero is not to be encouraged. Leave such tasks to the experts.

And here's a big awning of approximately 3.5 X 6 meters blown by the strong wind taking it from the front porch over the roof to the back of the house four doors away and placing it in the middle of the back lane.

Look at the roots beneath this huge tree. No main root is seen.

Fallen plants

and branches.

A fallen tree across a road.
***************************

Immediately after the storm, with the last tiny drops of rain flowing slowly into the drains, I went to look at the damage nature has wrought and the amount of work that has to be involved to put things right.

I noticed something peculiar when I looked at all those uprooted trees. All those big trees which were uprooted by the wind and rain had no main root. The exposed roots were merely about three or four feet in the soil. This implies that those trees were planted either from cuttings or grafted. That could be the only reason those trees do not have main roots. (Even if there are main roots for those huge trees that fell, the main roots must be too thin to anchor the trees strongly to the ground.) Without main roots to anchor themselves, it is no wonder those huge tree could be uprooted.

So, trees planted from seeds with their main roots strongly embedded deep in the ground could withstand the forces unleashed by nature from time to time. And that is proved and confirmed to be true when I went up the hill in the morning to see some trees with broken trunks and branches but with the roots intact although the assault on them by the storm was not less strong up there.

Actually, I do not need to go up the hill to know that seeded trees withstood the might of the previous day’s gale better than ‘man-made trees’. I refer to those trees as man-made because nature meant big trees to have main roots to not only be stable and strong but also reach far down for the necessary water during times of drought and perhaps certain nutrients found there. (The soil is fast being drained, deprived or emptied of natural nutrients from decaying organic matter as a result of removing trees and natural space to make way for so called progress.) Here, in my own compound, are trees planted from seeds. There are an Alfonso mango tree with the seeds originating from a plantation in India and a star-fruit tree. They stood strong against the power of the previous day’s blast.

Thus, the next time we wish to plant a fruit tree which can grow tall very near to the house, a seeded plant would be better as it would be stronger and more stable with no chances of it being uprooted. Of course, with a seeded tree, we can never be sure of the taste unless it is obtained from the middle of an orchard where all the trees bear similarly good taste.

Of course, we could still ensure safety by trimming the bud-grafted tree so as to ensure it would never grow too tall or big to cause our property or us any harm.

Warding off the beasts.

During the last few months, I have read in the news about a tiger being warded off by a man and a shark fought off by a fourteen year old girl.

In the first true story, the man dug his fingers into the eyes of the attacking tiger before much damage had occurred. The pain in the eyes caused the tiger to rush off in retreat. Imagine that! Sometimes, our fingers can be the best weapon we can possess at all times.

In the second episode, that young New Zealand girl was attacked by a shark while bodyboarding with her younger brother. In facing the danger of being bitten by a 1.5 meter shark, that brave young lass hit the shark repeatedly with her bodyboard until the shark could no longer stand the pain, released her hip to run off from the super girl.

No, she was no super-girl. she was just an extraordinarily bold child who just had the presence of mind to do the right thing.

What can we learn from these two incidents? As I see it, those two people had no special weapons to drive off their attackers. However, both of them had their presence of mind and were brave enough to act with whatever they had at that time to overcome their problems. And all the girl had was a bodyboard. The only difference was that she acted immediately and repeatedly until she was released. As for the man, he had nothing but his own fingers, something almost every human has. However, we ought to realise that the fingers were used against a most vulnerable spot, the eye.

So, if any man or woman is attacked by any type of beast, be it in the form of a man or an animal, we must understand that the eyes are the most vulnerable part, no matter how strong the beast is. All it takes are two fingers and some force. At this point, someone may point out that it is rather cruel to dig out someone's eyes. Well, it depends upon the situation. If the beast (man or animal) is out to maim or kill or do something even worst, then there should be no scruples with digging out his eyes to safe oneself.

With an animal, there is no time to think and any delay in action may leave us with no opportunity to save ourselves. However, if it is a man-beast, and the beast is much stronger, perhaps waiting for an opportune moment could be wiser and also allow us the time to recover from whatever panic the attack could have caused. In this case, even wiles of any kind could be used to put ourselves into a more favourable position to act for our own safety.

As the little girl has done with the shark, a land shark could also be caused to retreat if a bag or something at hand which is hard enough to be put into use. An umbrella besides the pepper-spray can become a handy weapon to ward off any type of beast.

So, if we are prepared through the experiences of others, we have a better chance of overcoming an attacker. Well, we can never know when such knowledge can be put into use. The best thing is to be prepared. If such things never happen, well and good. However, we can never know for certain our future, so be ready, just in case. Take care.

The time to do it.

To help our babies and young children get an excellent start in life is as easy as it is difficult. I must agree that that sounds complicated. What do I mean? Exactly this: those who have the time and know-how will find it easy while those who never have the time nor the know-how will find it difficult although I am talking of the same topic which is giving our children a headstart in life, physically, spiritually and mentally.

However, admittedly, every family is different. There are those families who have time for almost anything while there are those who just find it hard to have time with their families. How far is this true?

Well, like it or not, we have just twenty-four hours a day. Of course, even if all of us put in all that time for our families only, the quantity and quality of the things done will differ from one individual to another. Why?

First, there is the passion, the interest, the strength of the desire to do the best for the family.

Then, there is the attitude. What kind of attitude a person has towards responsible for the welfare of his/her family? Does he/she feel that whatever he/she does not do, will be done by the other better half? Then, what if both husband and wife were to think along that same line?

Next, what is our priority? Is the excellent development of our child our priority? Is it important enough to forgo other things? This is also part of our attitude towards the idea of family.

If our priority is the development of the whole family in a marriage, then we should have thought of the need for responsibility, time and expenses towards, first one additional person, then another as time gets on. If we have no time for a wife, then we ought not to think of marriage. And if we do not have time for children, we should not concieve our first child. When we, it can be between our partner and us, are capable of carrying out such responsibility, sharing time and having sufficient funds to manage a home, then can there be a successful marriage. Of course, there must be love in the first place for this dream to begin.

The dream of a successful marriage can start but it may be shattered if; like so many Hollywood marriages where time is insufficient to share as they put in every effort to reach even greater heights in their career, giving priority more to fame than marriage success; insufficient time and attention is given for the dream to materialise successfully.

Likewise, if we dream of having our children have outstanding success in life, we must put in enough time and attention to the dream for it to become reality.

So, we must have the time. It just means that we have to manage our time well. How do we do it. Thinking and planning, then acting on it, is how things are achieved.

We need about eight hours sleep and eight hours work to have sufficient rest and finance to support our family. (Here again, there are people who put in more time than that into their work.) Then there is time spent on the road, moving to and from work. Let us give a guy two hours for that. That leaves us six hours for the other things which could be done together with the family, such as eating, watching television, reading, story-telling, chatting, outings and other activities.

Obviously, the more time we have, the more we can possibly achieve. In fact, we, ourselves, may not have more than six hours but our children have more than twelve hours to learn and reach the highest potential possible in every sphere of life. You see, a child does not work during the first six or seven years of his/her life. Other than sleep, he has the rest of the time to learn. either from the parents, the guardians or a childminder.

In time-management, the hours available is the same. Only the activities can be changed. What activities can we forgo? What activities will not help our child and our family grow? Such activities can be struck off, at least for the first six or seven years of our child's life. Thus, if we had spent two hours on those activities, we can have an additional two hours to move our dream along. So, time and activities are up to us to manipulate so as to get the most out of it.

If we have guardians, relatives, childminders or whoever care for our children when we are not around, one criteria will be: How much time can these people give to our children? Are our children to be left to themselves most of the time? How much time do they get to learn things and improve themselves so as to raise their potential?

In all that we wish to achieve, we have to start on it and having no time is usually the worst excuse given. The time is ours to use. So, use it wisely.

Besides

Staying independent.

As parents we teach our children to grow up in order to be independent one day. We know that being independent is a sure sign of maturity. This is so as no one can be truly independent unless he/she is able to think, act and be responsible.

When we know our children can think, act and be responsible, then we ought to be proud that we have achieved the ultimate goal of parents. Of course, being able to think correctly, act possitively and be responsible for not just himself or herself but also for the people and things in his/her surroundings is essential to the progress of any individual, without which no individual can be considered well-developed in every way.This development of the individual not only brings maturity, it brings self-esteem, confidence and courage. No failure can stop such an individual and success in whatever sphere of life the individual wishes to participate in can be the only outcome. Therefore, the development of real independence is of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, as a person grows older and older, some individuals lose such independence. This can come about as a result of poor planning of those individuals. Or there was never any independence gained by the individuals concerned.

What do we mean when we say that those individuals did not plan properly for life's independence. Well, poor financial planning could lead to dependence upon one's children. Bad health mangement could be another factor. Poor parenting could be another factor.

Let us investigate each factor and see what could be done or where it could lead to.

When it comes to finance, my respected teachers, Napolean Hill, Dale Carnegie and Norman vincent Peale have taught me how money grow through savings made from the very first time we received a salary have a multipying effect due to interests earned on all addition money saved as well as interest derived from the previous savings made.

If we put aside a certain percentage of our salary consistently, we can be sure to find a big sum of money ready to help us through retirement at which time we can have approximately twenty-five to thirty or more years of savings and interests in our account.

Some would like to point out that there is no money to save. This is just like the guy who says he has no time to exercise. How much a person wants to save depends upon his expenditure. It is always possible to lessen that expenditure a little. As someone said,"We should live our lives according to the amount we have."

With sufficient money, and we do not need a lot in our senior years, we have the independence to decide how we ought to live.

Then, when it comes to health, look after our own health well from as early as we possibly can and we stay healthy enough to do all the chores that need to be done. Without health, we may have to depend upon others to do things for us. We may face the situation of being placed in front of the television to have it look at us.

We certainly would not like that. So, let's think of ensuring that we will be independent to our last day on earth.

When it comes

The Fort Hood Massacre: Being prepared as well as the right time and place ensures success; and even create heroes.

Yes! Preparedness as well as the right time and right place can and do create heroes.
Most of us had read about the extraordinary courageous civilian police officers, Sergeant Kimberley Munley and her partner, Sergeant Mark Todd, who acted instantly to prevent more casualties in the massacre of unarmed soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas. In the incident Sergeant Todd was just behind her and could possibly be the one to fire the last shot that brought down the gunman before handcuffing him.

Apparently, the Fort Hood’s Special Reaction Team had been practicing a new protocol whereby the first responder to a shooting scene must act immediately to eliminate the gunman to prevent more deaths.

Sergeant Kimberly Munley and Sergeant Mark Todd have been trained in this new protocol for more than a year. So, they were well-prepared to tackle the 5th of November 2009, Thursday afternoon massacre.

The above mentioned new protocol was put in place as a result of lessons learned from another shooting which took place at Virginia Tech in 2007 where 32 people died as a result of cautious first responders to the scene waiting for sufficient backup as the gunman went undeterred from classroom to classroom on a killing spree.

From the above, we ought to realize the present situation has improved because someone did learn from a mistake and acted on it by introducing a new protocol for such circumstances.

Another lesson we can learn from this episode is the preparedness of the officers. The scene occurred at the time and place they were available for action. As well- trained police officers, they were ready for it.

Coming back to us in our everyday life, how often are we ready for some of the things that happen in our lives? Apart from technical and professional knowledge which, of course, is out of our reach, what about daily happenings and opportunities?
Many things happen in our lives but, quite often, we are not ready for them. That is the reason we and our children should learn whatever there is to learn, as knowledge; even though such knowledge may seem unnecessary at the moment; is valueable and we can never know when fate dumps something into our path and such knowledge becomes useful. Preparedness for whatever we desire in life is necessary so as to be in the position to benefit from life’s happenings taking place at certain times and places in our lives. Can you think of the knowledge that may become increasingly important to you as the years go by?

Okay, back to our brave Sergeant Kimberly Munley. According to Sergeant Kimberly Munley, the scene was so chaotic that she did not think but responded with the training she was given, a training which requires automatic action of skill and courage. Her courage took her to face the gunman who was merely a few feet from her, without waiting for the fellow officer behind her. Her skill at handling her weapon resulted in her ability to bring the gunman down even as she was shot in her legs and knuckle. No doubt about it, she was obviously a courageous person ready to face death in the course of duty, certainly an exemplary law enforcer. Such an attribute ought to be immortalized in a film for our future generation.

God must have watched over her as she went into duty to save others even as she placed her own life on the line.

God bless her. May God bless every one of us too as we move forward towards our unforeseen future.

Be prepared for the opportunities.

As I have written before this, opportunities are always around. The only obstacles are our own differing inclinations and unpreparedness.

When it comes to inclinations, we may be born with certain talents at which we somehow find we are better at. To know our inclinations, our talents, we have to find our strengths and weaknesses, our potentials and our limits, we must be prepared to test ourselves. To do that, we ought to get involved in as many activities as time allows. The opportunities are always out there but if we grab those opportunities which coincide with our strengths and potentials, then success is easily within reach.

If we are prepared and know ourselves well, then, we; our precious children and us, will be ready to take up the opportunities as they are made available.

Recently, I was asked by some parents to tutor their children in the English Language so as to assist them to have a better chance to get the opportunity to be selected for the Asian Scholarships in Singapore.

The children also have to sit for a mathematics paper and an intelligence test. The children knew of their being selected for the qualifying examination only eleven days from the date. So, the parents searched for tutors for the various subjects.
This act of the parents indicates clearly that they realize the opportunities can only be their children’s if their children can prove they are well prepared for the standard expected of them.

Needless to say, those who are not prepared will have to face disappointment. Of course, those who are well prepared ought to be confident of a place.

Here again, we see how important it is to be prepared for any of life’s challenges. Thus, parents ought to know what areas ought to be covered in their parenting so as to enable their children to avail themselves of the opportunities that abound.

Art Excel: The fun way to develop.

Between the 4th and 7th of June, The Art of living Centre in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia held the Art Excel course for children below the age of twelve. It was four wonderful days of knowledge, exercise, games and fun. The above video shows one of the activities which brought the children so much team-work, so much joy and so much happiness during a learning process.(The teachers, volunteers and children spoke in Mandarin and English.)

Knowledge is one of the greatest thing on earth. With it, the future is ever so much brighter. Ignorance is swept aside. Knowledge improves relationships between peoples, countries, religions and cultures and they fall victim less often to fears, doubts and misunderstanding which are the results of false beliefs and presentation.

In Art Excel, children are taught breathing techniques which help them to overcome stress and depression.There is so much stress in the home and schools.

In an increasingly competitive world, competition for marks and grades in examinations puts great stress on young minds, with disastrous results. Yet, they seem to have become an undesirable necessity as examination certificates ensure our young children of places for tertiary eduaction. As stress become more and more unbearable, it's only right that parents give their children a way to relieve stress.

There are many ways to remove stress and one of them is through the breathing techniques taught in The Art of Living which has centres in more than 140 countries throughout the world.

In the course they are taught, through many interesting, enjoyable situations, ways to tackle life's problems. They learn to play and work as a team. They are given the ability to express themselves as individuals as well. They are given the opportunity to discover fun in learning. They are encouraged to discover the usefulness of knowledge.

On the night before the last day, they slept away from home. It was a kind of initiation into independence. They had to cooperate with each other to clean up a place and get themselves clean and tidy for the night without a mummy or a daddy to run to for anything necessary.

Besides all that they have learned, that which is even more important is the stronger, better and happier persons they have beome in those four days.

Look! Opportunities are everywhere!

Opportunities are always around. The opportunity to be a lawyer, a doctor, to be anything exists at all times.

However, that does not mean you can decide to be a doctor today, just open a clinic and become one.

That is because, to be a doctor, you have to earn a certicate to perform. The opportunity is there but you have to prepare yourself for it. Are you prepared for such an opportunity?

You are the one who decides what you want to be through your thoughts or someone else’s thoughts. You plan to be one. You have to prepare to be one. When you are prepared, you can grab hold of the opportunity as it presents itself.

Okay! You or your mother wants you to be a doctor. She prepares you in language proficiency; starts you with lots of talking to you in the language with the whole world as your audio visual aids. Then, as you grow older, she gives you the Lady Bird Reading Programme to improve your English. Next, she prepares you for the science stream with books and other materials that are suitable. As you grow older, if you agree with her, you study hard to ensure you get a place in the university to study medicine. Each year, those who are eligible because they have the best suitable results, find places in the universities. Of course, if at any time you change your mind, it has to be early enough to give you the chance to change to another stream of study.

Thus, if you are prepared and ready for whatever you want, opportunity is always there.

Tiger Woods was never handed the opportunity to be a golf champion. He planned for it by practicing golf. If he had never wanted to swing a golf club, he would not be where he is today. He went for competitions; competitions which emplaced him to be a golf champion. The opportunity has always been there and he reached for it with the right preparation.

I once taught the English Language to graduates who could not find jobs because the jobs or professions require a certain proficiency in English. Initially, they were not prepared for the opportunities offered them. By improving their English, the opportunities were within their reach.

One such student told me she found a job as an adventure guide. She was required to remove her head-covering cloth. Apparently, her boss believed that her attire did not impress anyone who needs an adventure-guide. However, as a Muslim, she refused to remove her head-covering which covers her hair totally. She told me that her boss was a Muslim too. She wondered why he could not understand the necessity for Muslim women to do that. She was told that she was not suitable for the job.

It was a delicate question as I was not a Muslim. I understood her boss’ view just as I understood hers. Her boss was thinking of hiring a person who looks capable of trekking the hills and jungles. With her shawl or ‘tudong’, she did not give tourists the confidence of going on an adventure trek with her as their guide.
I told her if she was not prepared to abandon her shawl, it was her right but that also implied that she was not prepared to have that Muslim man as her boss. She just was not prepared for that opportunity.

So, we have to be prepared in every way possible. You may be well qualified to teach English Language to others but unless you are willing to show your face and the movement of your mouth and lips, you cannot be a good English Language teacher.

To learn a language well, students must know how the words are pronounced. Correct pronunciation can better be obtained through not just hearing the sound but also through observing the movement of mouth and lips as well as the placement of the teeth and tongue. Thus, a teacher must be prepared to expose the face for students to observe while teaching a language.

So, despite the fact that the opportunity to be a language teacher is always present, if a teacher is not prepared to do the necessary to teach effectively, then the opportunity to teach will never be within reach.

Understanding this, we should realise we need not worry about opportunities. All we need is to prepare our children for whatever they want to become.

Give them language efficiency and all the necessary knowledge possible. Imbue them with the desire to improve themselves. All these can assist them to grab the opportunities they want.

Let your child be familiar with books.

Words cannot become a part of your child’s vocabulary unless there is usage by your child. If you hear your child using correctly the words you have spoken to him/her, then you can be assured that the words have been understood and learned.
Once your child is able to pronounce the words and speak to you with whatever language you have been teaching him/her, it is time to have your precious child become familiar with one of the most important things in his life, books. Let him/her be familiar with books and the pictures, colours as well as the words in them.

A child imitates in order to learn. You are the child’s role model. Let the child see you enjoy the stories in the books. Read to your child. Let him see your mouth form the words so that he/she can do likewise. Once he/she can read simple words, your child can go on to reading stories. Start with very short, simple stories. Such stories are easily obtainable from books from the local library.

That was how my wife and I taught my children and my nephew how to read English books. We took the children to the library, sat them down on comfortable little chairs, and introduced the pictures in the books available there. Before this, we had already talked to them, my children and my nephew, in English. By the time we took them to the library, they could talk with very simple vocabulary. My elder son could say “Water the plants,” as he walked unsteadily around the plants in our compound with a sprayer in one hand. My nephew, about two years older than my elder son, would laugh at him and tell me about what he saw in English. We would teach them the names of things by saying the words and sentences and they would repeat them. Very soon, we had them read words and very short sentences.

Once my precious children and nephew could read simple sentences, we bought the already well-known Ladybird readers. The ladybird series go from easy most often used words to more difficult once, introducing the words gradually and repeatedly use whatever vocabulary which has been introduced earlier. In this manner, a child effortlessly remembers the words.

With such a reading aid, I noticed that my children and my nephew progressed easily and the desire to read more stories in English was well established after a fairly short time, especially when they realized they could read well. My son told me, that realization itself gave him the incentive to want to read even more. Each night, just before bedtime, my sons and my nephew (whenever my nephew stayed the night at my place which was quite often) would eagerly start reading the next outing or adventure of the two children and their dog.

After being able to complete the ladybird reading series, parents ought to make available books with suitable vocabulary for the children to continue this pleasurable past-time.

From here onwards, all that are required are suitable reading materials, perhaps chosen by the children themselves, with praise of the children's capabilities whenever visitors to the house offer opportunities to do so.

And reading is obviously one of the most important ways to learn, to gain knowledge, to know other civilizations, to understand other humans on this earth and to harvest the benefits of other people’s experiences which may take too many life-times to experience personally.

Thus, I consider the ability to read and understand one of the most important ways to put our precious children on a strong footing for success in life.