The real benefits for whom lives in USA

Life is hard, right? No matter where you live, as long as on the earth, seems no big difference. But still there is some difference till the day you see the difference.

I haven't been back to China since I came to USA, it's been 3 years 3 months so far. But the connection never stopped, because my mother, my brother and my friends still there, and they are a part of my life. I complained a lot while things didn't work out like I imagine, you will never know your potential until you are challenged all the time. But is it only me feel stressed? Absolutely not, the answer is some people even more stressed than me. Or many many Chinese people they are stressed much more than me. Lucky me, live in a country has more freedom. Yes, that's the real benefits for whom lives in USA, even its freedom is being taken away little by little.

What my friends in China complained the most is kid's education, job pressure, missing the joy of life... I understand them, because I have gone through them. Again, lucky me. I am living in a country that I can make my own decision, make my own choice. I can choose where to live, where to send Sunny to study, what job I like, what kind of life I want.

I once read a word from a Chinese News, said "how happy you feel is not depend on how much you have, but depend on how much more you have than your neighbors." Sounds silly, but it's very true. People always want to be richer than others, better job than others, even they compare their kids with others. It's extremely obvious in those big rich cities. So the consequence is once someone did something, then others will all follow, will not consider if they like or not, but don't want to be left behind. It's called competition. I remembered when Sunny took daycare in China at age 3, 21 kids in her class, almost all kids took different classes, dance, drawing, math, calligraphy, chess etc in the Summer, I was not keen to let Sunny learn so early just because everyone was learning, but I prefer to wait to see what she really likes. So I asked her, and we didn't take any class that year. Later, another boy's mom told me the kids in her son's class are all learning playing chess, except her son. She is similar like me, positive of her own mind. But then she said one day her son told her requested to learn chess, the reason is when other kids talking about it, he knew nothing, he felt left behind. Can you see the big market in China? Once you have a good begin to provide a kind of study related service, then you will not lack of customer. I don't know if she chose to send her son to learn chess or not, but it's so annoying to her, I bet.

I can talk about all those kinds of annoying thing in few pages or even longer, because it happens everyday, everywhere. But nobody can change it, untill the day the government finds another better way to manage the country with such large population.

Embrace today...

Embrace today,
for today is real,
tomorrow is uncertain,
don't dream too much,
because it's too far to reach.

Embrace today,
thank God for your life,
enjoy the kid's smiles, hugs, kisses,
don't expect too much,
because future is too far away

Embrace today,
open your heart,
let God guide you, say a word to you,
give you peace, give you strength

Embrace today,
even if you will die tomorrow,
but no regret for you,
because you have lived for today.

--- In memory of Newtown Connecticut School Shooting

The real benefits for kids in USA

I always wondering why should Chinese parents sacrifice themselves to live in another strange country, one of the reasons is Chinese education has been crazy and force them to leave (including me), to any reason if you can, all for the sake of a more open, better education for their kids. But I didn't see any advantages from the public school system so far, and indeed I somehow miss the Chinese schools, even they are being too much to the students, compared with the American's schools.

But tonight I had a new evaluation of the real benefits for the kids in USA. That because Sunny complained she is tired of those books she borrowed from the library 3 weeks ago, she wants some new books. She is a girl whom is crazy on reading, she can read for the whole day except each meal I ask her to stop. And each time she will borrow around 20 books. Now everyday she reads 2 books at school which the teacher will sign, and she will bring home another 2 books to read at home. Yesterday she borrowed a really big book which is almost 100 pages and since she took dance lesson in the evening, so she didn't have time to finish it, because I rushed her to sleep. I am so happy to see she likes reading, I started to read her books when she was only a few months. It's very important to stimulate the kid's brain in the first 3 years, and reading is one of the best ways. If we are still in China, she definitely can't read as many as she wants, first not many books to borrow, most of books need to buy, not borrow from the library. Second don't have time to read, plenty of homework will not allow you to read. But since she came to the USA in last January, she probably has read five hundreds of book or even more! And now she is reading all the chapter books. Today no exception she borrowed 21 books and 3 DVDs.

In America, you can be very excellent, you can choose you own way, but all depends on yourself. I do appreciate all those public resources that share with everyone who is eager to learn. Don't waste them.

A fun game to practice math

Recently Sunny likes a game called "buy and sell" which she created by herself. The material is very simple, just cards. She pretends to be the seller, I pretend to be the buyer. And the products can be everything in your house, can be as small as a bottle of water, a box of cookie, can be as big as a fridge, a TV. The big price range can make the game more interesting and more challenging. Also it's a good way to practice add and subtract with the young students.

The value of the cards is each number under 10 represents $1-$10, and every picture cards represents $100, so enough money to buy stuffs!

The fun part is kid can quote whatever they feel comfortable, which they can handle, when they feel more confident of the numbers, then they will quote some big numbers to make it a little difficult. For example, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100 is very easy to handle, then maybe 9, 12, 36, 72. But still workable, the only thing is when I gave her a bunches of small numbers to match her big price, she has to add them first, so sometimes she may forget the original price. But it's ok, game is to have fun! Sometimes I will give her a little more or a little less to confuse her, but she will return the extra "money" or burst out "mama, it's not enough!" lol! I know, I am testing you!

I am so happy she likes this game, so whenever she wants to play, I will stop my stuffs and play with her!

A new challenge!

This is the ideal desk for kid! I have been looked for this kind of desk for long time, and finally found it, not too big, not too small, but has all the functions. I ordered online, and picked up at store, it's 70lbs! So I have to open the package and carry several pieces each time to upstairs. But it worthwhile! Then it took me almost 4 hours to assemble it, and glad Sunny was willing to help. I am pretty sure she will be much better than me when she grow up, and this is another skill I want to teach her!