Beginner's Guide to Parenthood 2.0 Malaysia

It's been awhile since I last went for parenthood workshops such as this, and it is always good to come back for a good refresher on parenthood just to keep ourselves in touch with what's happening in today's era of parenting.

The event today hosted by Parenthood Magazine Malaysia alongside with Sunway Medical Centre and Nippon Paint Malaysia; Provides a good range of topic of useful information in today's workshop takeaway for every parents and new parents-to-be.

Some of the topics today which I find really informative are, Raising A Balanced & Successful Child In The 21st Century by Ms Sam Jeng Mun a certified clinical psychologist who focused on the effects of screen time in children. She also discusses the best way to tackle the touch screen generation and the importance of free-play in a child’s development.

A simple guide of screen time for your child consists of the following infographic that you can refer too (can easily fish this schedule off from Google/Facebook). I always keep this in my mobile but then I seldom refer to it. So it's good to set it in your alarm instead, atleast no matter how busy or involved you get with your work or duty or tasks, the alarm will ring you out of it and takeover whatever screen time and parenting duty that should be done. Make it a good habit rather than ignore it. Start from 30 mintes then increase gradually but if you can avoid it, then avoid it as long as possible.

Image credits to CHOC Children's

After that, we were brought through a very informative yet funny topic that every parent will surely remember and new parents will be bound to be surprise; Understanding Your Baby’s Developmental Milestones by Consultant Paediatrician, Dr Cham Weng Tarng. It's a talk about the developmental milestones according to ages and stages together with ways to encourage a child’s physical and mental development. So this can range from the way we as parents potray or behave or even react and respond to infront of our child. Because our child from the moment they are inside our womb, they start to learn and pick up sounds and feelings. As they are born, they start to feel, touch, sense, hear, see and even taste. And all babies from birth are like sponge, they magically soak up everything they are able to learn and absorb with ease. So it's good to provide them with the best environment to grow up in! With that in place, you as a parent gets involved and monitor your own child's milestone to ensure they hit atleast most of it age appropriately, because if you notice a child for example, does not smile or responds back to you at 3 months of age, no expression at all, means it's a sign that your child should seek a specialists for further assessment.

Dr Cham also talked about Myth Vs Truth on Children & Ilnesses, which touched on
vaccination, contagious diseases, indoor air quality as well as viruses and bacteria that you
didn’t think would exist in your own cozy little home. One of the subject he mentions how bacterias spread easily, for example, let's take coughing in the picture. When one coughs, the bacteria spreads out for atleast 1.8meter in area and the bacteria's stays active for 48 hours. which is why disinfection and sanitization plays an important role today in curbing viruses from spreading.

And in today's session, the other highlighted topic when it comes to hygiene and family health, it will be the 'Indoor Wellness Program' by Dr Amir Hamzah who is the President of the Malaysian Society of Allergy & Immunology (MSAI) which talks about air pollution, especially indoors, where many of us think we’re safe. This is where it is important also for indoor cleanliness. Incase you are unaware, our walls traps dust and bacteria's too. And some walls traps moist which can turn into hazardous molds that is very unhealthy for anyone living there. I am currently experience this in my master room and it gets easier to fall sick. Which was why I had to invest in a air dehumidifier and an air purifier. But it doesn't solve the issue even after steam washing the mattresses and rainbow vacuum the bed whilst cleaning up the whole room from the ceiling to the floor. The issue lies in the walls against my bedroom where there are no obstruction on the outsides, leaving it open to the wind, rain and sun. So when it's hot, the walls in my room heats up super quick and when it is cold, we don't need an aircond at all.

Basically, a good well-ventilated and furnished room is ideal for a better living condition. Now I have to re-renovate my room and re-paint the walls with Nippon Paint Malaysia, virus-guard and maybe weather-guard if they have it. Have to go check it out in-stores.

The session today, was a fun session where two lucky couples on themselves a free painting package worth RM1500 by posting their most creative photo of them on their social media at the Kid's Room Installment that was set up behind in the workshop hall. And participants raced to the stage to get the right answer for take home with a cute little Blobby Doll by Nippon Paint Malaysia.

For more info on the next Parenthood Workshop for all parents & new parents-to-be, please visit :

Parenthood Magazine Malaysia

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