#playingwithyourchild – Page 2 – Ask the Clueless Middle Age Dad

Kyoto Holiday: Plane Ride with a Preschooler

As a parent, we always discover new things about our child as well as new things about ourselves through different situations. Since Covid-19, our little family of three (Missus, Lil Missy and me) had not had a holiday requiring any long travel time. We’ve taken one in late-2020 but that required only a ferry ride and car ride. It wasn’t cabin fever inducing.

For our first faraway-ish holiday, we had chosen to go to Kyoto. It was a place that missus and me had fond memories of and wanted to create new ones with the little one. The first thing for us to prepare for and get through was a five plus hours plane ride from Singapore to Kansai airport and an hour plus commute from Kansai to Kyoto Railway Station.

Due to the high cost of plane tickets in general, we had chosen to go for a budget instead of full service carrier. The airline we chose was Scoot. Missus and me did some prep in anticipation of the Lil Missy wanting to climb the walls while the seat belt sign was on.

First Missus had heard from colleagues that to help young children get over the pressure in the cabin and the discomfort it causes to their little ears, it’s best to let them wear ear phones. For this, we got the JBL kids earphones.

Next. to have some content go with the ear phones, we downloaded some YouTube videos. To do this, we needed to get a YouTube Premium trial account. We downloaded the the little one’s usual staple of video content including Peppa Pig, Come Play with Me and old episodes of the Korean variety show, The Return or Superman. About the last show, our little girl has specific preference for old episodes with the Song Triplets (father Song Il-kook) and Choo Sarang (father Choo Sung Hoon / Yoshihiro Akiyama — who had a revival of fame by being a standout contestant in the Netflix gameshow Physical 100).

Not wanting Lil Missy to spend her 5-6 hours watching videos, Missus prepared sticker activity books, paper and colour pencils for scribbling and games.

In all the rush to try to keep the little one entertained, we actually forgot our own entertainment on the plane…. And I wasn’t going to pay for overpriced and slow as a snail wifi on a plane….

How the plane ride played out was that the little one came through it quite okay. Apart from some restlessness which saw her switch between the window seat and the middle seat with my wife, she was kind of well behaved. A pleasant surprise.

How did I fare in a budget flight without in flight entertainment and without any reading material which I neglected to bring on board? Happy to say, my sanity was intact though I had my moments which led me to laugh uncontrollably at the boredom.

Moment number one came when I saw a fellow passenger reading the in-flight menu as if it was the most revetting novel — I saw that he had a book with him and he resorted to this! The page he was “reading” was as below.

Maybe he really likes coffee or salty snacks…🤔

I found myself suppressing an uncontrollable chuckle at the sight of this. My daughter saw this and the curious little cat asked me. I didn’t know how to explain it to her so I just made up something about the passenger being very funny. At this time, missus was asleep I think and didn’t notice my descent into momentary insanity.

Moment number two: I started thinking about the message on the little piece of paper they placed over the headrest which read, “Feeling Restless?” My answer in my head was, “You bet!” Then I thought back to the moment when I chuckled at the in-flight menu reader and started a suppressed chuckle again….

Missus had been noticing my very feeble attempt at a digital detox and kindly lent me her AirPods for me to listen to some music. My sanity was restored…

All in, I thought that the little one and missus handled the longish flight way better than I did. My two moments of sliding into pseudo insanity were actually quite funny to me as they happened and just as funny when I thought back on them. They were, in fact, the two genuine moments of entertainment I had on this flight.

During this flight, I discovered that we underestimated the little one. I discovered that my wife is the calmest person in the family and finally, that I am quite hopelessly addicted to external stimulation due to my attachment to an internet-connected smartphone.

Thanks for reading. That’s it for another blog post. Stay healthy and safe everyone.

Farewell to Jurong Bird Park

Haven’t had the time to write anything for a while. So the next few articles may be about things that are chronologically a bit far back in time. Starting with this one.

One weekend in December 2022, we were looking for something new to do with the little one. Missus remembered reading somewhere that Jurong Bird Park was closing before relocation to Mandai and rebranded as “Bird Paradise” there was a significant discount on tickets. The little one, like all young children, is fascinated with animals and birds. So it’s something she’ll very likely enjoy. So we grabbed tickets for a Sunday afternoon.

We drove and when we got there, we realised just how popular the Bird Park was. The carpark was packed to the brim and we needed to head off further to a nearby industrial area to park along Tractor Road. Missus and I last visited the Bird Park some decades ago and she remarked that the industrial cocoa odour (turns out it wasn’t just chocolate) at where we parked brought back memories.

Upon getting there, the first birds we saw were some colourful macaws near the entrance.

Some very artificial looking tree trunks. I wondered what the birds thought of them….

We also saw some African penguins (below).

They were in a glass enclosure. We learnt on a placard that their guano was prized as fertiliser but it harvesting them was damaging to their habitat.

As the little one isn’t used to walking long distances yet and we’re not the stroller sort, we decided to take the tram as a way to look around the park. There was a long snaking queue. When we got within the front of the queue, the bad news hit like a bolt from the blue: the tram service is down…. We had invested 30 minutes of time waiting for it…

As we were near the bird show area and there was a Birds of Prey show starting in 40 minutes. We headed there for yet more waiting but were able to secure great seats in the shade. We were not disappointed. The show featured some spectacular flying by a sea hawk specie called Brahminy Kite, amongst others.

Not the Brahminy Kite but another specie of sea hawk… can’t remember the name.

Little one was really wowed by these high flyers. As were the missus and me! The hawks were really well trained. Birds like these were probably trained to assist hunters. I suppose now that no one is required to hunt for food, the same or similar sort of training is now used for entertainment.

I was kind of saddened by the sight of vultures at the show. The host / trainer explained that vultures at the park were those who got lost in Singapore while migrating. To see them hopping around rather than gliding in the sky was kind of depressing. They came out to music of the legendary WWE wrestler The Undertaker. I supposed it’s apt; that’s kind of like the role they play in nature.

After the show, we tried to get back on a tram but made the mistake of heading to the penultimate stop before the terminal near the entrance. Very few passengers got off so there was only room for Missus and Lil Miss. As it wasn’t a long distance I jogged my way back. Missus said the little one was looking out for me during the ride and didn’t really enjoy it that much as a result. Awwww…..

After reaching the terminal — I was only slightly behind the very leisurely pace tram — we bade farewell to Jurong Bird Park. Thanks for the memories for Missus and I. Thanks for the new memories and experience it’s given to our little one. Au revoir! See you in Mandai!

Till next time. Stay healthy and safe everyone.

Playground Review: Playground at 21 Telok Blangah Crescent

Telok Blangah Cres, Block 21, Singapore 090021 (link)

This post is a continuation from the Pirate Ship playground post. This playground was close by so we gave it a try as well. It’s another Playcraft System so oh well… This one is a typical generic design — functional but aesthetically boring…

It had quite a few slides, including a set of two which looked scarily steep. It’s designed for kids 5 to 12 supposedly. For them to relive falling hard on their bums as toddlers learning to walk?

Looked like it’s designed to drop you on your posterior…

The highlight of the visit had nothing to do with the playground but the local fauna. In the middle of the little one’s play, I noticed something bounding about on the tree above us.

It turned out that the little critter was after a bounty of treats left by someone as a ritual offering to their ancestors. Because of our presence as well as that of a few other kids and their minders, it was very cautious in approaching its objective.

It was a nice surprise. Worth the short walk from the pirate ship playground. The playground itself was okay — as Playcraft Systems playgrounds go…. The little squirrel’s antics really highlighted the whole experience — I think squirrels inhabit the area so you could expect a similar experience once in a while.

That’s it for another post. Thanks for reading. Stay healthy and safe.

Playground Review: Pirate Ship Playground (Telok Blangah Crescent)

22 Telok Blangah Cres, Singapore 090022 (link)

Haven’t written in a while and will be a bit rusty. Recently, the little one’s childcare centre took a break so we had to think of what to do to keep her occupied. Luckily, I chanced upon a somewhat unique-looking playground while catching a World Cup match at the Radin Mas Community Club. It was shaped like a pirate ship and in the land of generic playgrounds, it really stood out. Thought the little girl would like it so made use of the opportunity of her day off from school to check it out.

Little one nowadays still expected me to act as her pseudo playmate so some of the photos below were taken from the perspective of tagging along behind her. The playground consisted of a main platform (pirate ship) which had one slide at the top with various ways to reach it.

The playground manufacturer was Playcraft Systems. This was surprisingly not a cookie cutter playground (well done for them). So many of the playgrounds they installed in Singapore come across as super bland and generic.

A clever little stepping stone obstacle course with an alligator…

A nice little panel to add to the whole pirate theme.

Little one enjoyed the playground. There were enough manageable obstacles to challenge her. The slide was suitably paced for her age and size. I thought it was nice too mainly because Playcraft Systems really surprised me with a memorable design. But some cookie cutter stuff did make it into this playground which were incongruent with the pirate theme.

What’s a rocket ship doing next to a pirate ship?

Dinosaur tic-tac-toe — a feature of many a Playcraft Systems playground…

If I were to come up with a (farfetched) story to string these disparate elements with the pirate ship: Space pirates landed on a distant planet inhabited by an alligator and some dinosaur-like creatures. An adventure like no other…

Haha. I am being too critical on Playcraft Systems maybe. Just thought that it was a wasted opportunity that a potentially uniquely designed playground was marred by some mismatched features. I still liked it but it could’ve been so much more…

That’s it for another blog post. Thanks for reading. Stay healthy and safe.

Playground Review: Viking Ship Playground

82 Strathmore Avenue, Singapore 141082

This blog post is follow up from an earlier one on the outing to Dawson estate with Missus and Lil Missy in which we visited the “Alice in Wonderland” playground.

This playground was within the vicinity of “Alice in Wonderland”. Built for younger children, it didn’t have any high obstacles to overcome and it only had one slide — though it was quite a steep one.

The playground had what I saw as a Viking ship theme. Equipment was provided by Chinese manufacturer Qitele. Previously, we’ve also brought Lil Missy to playgrounds installed by Qitele. I found them to be thoughtful in terms of creating distinctive themes so that they don’t end up being cookie cutter — a beef I have with modern playgrounds.

An overview of the Viking ship — what I thought was a Viking ship anyway…

Lil one didn’t find the playground too fun. She went up once via some steps on a pole and slid down once and that was it. Maybe it’s because it was her second playground — is there such a thing as playground fatigue? Or that it was maybe too kiddish for her liking.

Even though she didn’t like this, I thought it was still a rather fun playground if you have kids which are a bit younger, maybe 2-4 years old. There are obstacles here which I think kids of that age would still find challenging and they’ll be rewarded with a relatively fast and zippy slide.

Thanks for the read. Will end this article with a few more photos of the playground. Stay healthy and safe everyone.