Longkang (Drain) Fishing

Brought the kiddos to do some longkang (drain) fishing the other day. Unlike back in the day, when kids used to fish in real drains for free, longkang fishing nowadays are more sanitised and commercial.

We first headed for Kids' Kampong, only to find out that they closed in December 2013. So we popped over to the nearby Mainland Tropical Fish Farm at 1 Pasir Ris Farmway 1.

Half and hour of fishing costs $4. We got a bucket and a small net to catch the fish with. Try as we might though, we ony caught one fish. They like to hide among rocks and plants and are really, really fast. A better tactic would have been to get two nets, and have one person chase them from their hiding place and the other person can then catch them as they try to get away from the first person.

Anyway, they don't actually give you the fish you caught. When we returned the bucket with our one lonely fish, we got a packet with 4 fish inside in exchange. I guess that's so that children won't be disappointed going back empty-handed when they did not manage to catch anything. I am not sure, but I would think that they would give you all the fish you caught if you caught a lot.

We also bought a packet of feed at $1 to feed the koi with. Both Little Man and Little Lady preferred to practice their fine motor skills by pushing the pellets through the netting, rather than to toss them over to the fish.

All in, it was a pretty fun couple of hours.

*****
Little Man: 3 years 9 months
Little Lady: 20 months
*****



Time For A Cuppa #4

What:

Time For A Cuppa is a weekly link-up here at A Cuppa For Mama. There is no set topic.  Simply grab your beverage of choice, link your post and visit the other linked posts.  I only ask that it is:

a) family-friendly,
b) something you have written for that week,
c) not a giveaway

How: 

1. Scroll down to the end of the post, past the other linked posts till you find the button that says "Add your link".  Click it.
2. Paste the URL of the post you wish to link.
3. Type in the name of your post and email address.
4. Click "Done".
5. Like my Facebook page, if you haven't already done so. :)
6. You may also add the Time For A Cuppa badge (code below) and add include it at the bottom of your submitted post, or add it to your blog.
7. Visit the other links and leave a comment or two! (Not compulsory, but nice to do. :) )




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Playing Together

It's nice when the kids play nicely together.

It is not easy for a toddler and a pre-schooler to play together. Usually, Little Lady sees Little Man playing with something, and she wants in on the action. Either she helps herself to the item or items he is playing with, and he protests. Or she points at whatever he is playing with and clamours to have a go while he screams or goes 'No, Mei Mei (little sister)! No!'

Sometimes, all Little Lady has to do is look in his direction to prompt loud 'No!'s or squeals of protest.

We did not want Little Man to always give in to Little Lady simply because he's 'older and should know better'. We did not want him to resent her. We didn't want to give her an entitlement complex either.

So we taught him to to offer her something else to play with, and taught her to wait until he was done with whatever he was playing with.

Every once in a while, Little Lady would be playing with something that would catch Little Man's fancy. He would then proceed to snatch it from her, which would, of course, result in her crying. Fair's fair, so Little Man had to learn to wait his turn too.

Sometimes he would anticipate that she'll want in on the action, and so he would pass her something even before he was all set to play.

This time however, there was no negotiation involved. They both just played nicely with the same toy! Of course, it helps that this particular toy has enough bits and pieces to satisfy both.

Of course, they were engaged in parallel play, rather then cooperative play, as Little Lady is not developmentally ready for that yet. But it was still very nice to have them play quietly together.

It was nice of them to let me in on the action too! :)

*****
Little Man: 3 years 9 months
Little Lady: 20 months
*****