Today was a very scary, death-defying day for the Tay family. Do read on to find out more about the intimate details…:)

This morning when we woke up in Club Med Bali, we decided to bring Nicole (Our 5 year old daughter) to try out the circus trapeze on the resort.

Being young and untainted by fear, she was naturally very excited that she could be like a flying gymnast soaring through the Bali skies…

In fact, she was still very excited, as she climbed up the ladder towards the platform

As she made her way to the top…her fears were beginning to show, and she had to be “yanked” across to the platform.

And here she was, looking apprehensive before the “launch”

And the moment Nicole was “launched” from the platform…

She shouted…

“LET ME DOWN!!!” 

It was really quite funny…as the Whole Peaceful Bali Morning…was broken by the continuous shouts of “LET ME DOWN…”

As you can see…its actually quite high…so who could blame her!

Naturally, she was more than happy to be safely down on solid ground!

However, our adventures did not stop there. Seeing that Nicole displayed such bravery on the trapeze, Mummy managed to get Daddy to try out the circus in the afternoon. She said that Daddy had to go up there, to show his daughter how it is done!

Daddy was not enthusiastic about it at all…

First up, Daddy had to go for ground school training. I had to get used to having myself outside down… A great feat for this out of shape Daddy.

Here is Daddy with his instructor from New Zealand. Soon, it was my turn…and I had a date with destiny…

Find out what happens next on the Maybe Baby Blog!

My adventures at Club Med Bali continue on…

Today was our 1st full day at Club Med and we were excited!

The very first thing we had to do at the resort, was to get our kids used to the child care services provided by Club Med.

Club Med Petit Club is a Full Day childcare service for kids between 2 to 4 years old, and a really essential service for families that want to maximize their holidays.

Parents need to make sure that the children have to take all necessary injections before they are allowed to enter the centre, and they have more than enough workers to take care of the kids. In fact, Club Med is so multi-national that they have special workers who can speak languages such as French, Mandarin and Japanese.

We dropped off the kids during “Water and Beach play” period, and the excitement of the event, did help erase some of their fears.

However, my youngest girl did cry when it was time to separate, and she took some time to adjust to the new environment. All part of growing pains!

Nicole who is 5 years old went to Mini Club Med instead. Located on the other side of the resort, this centre is meant for the older kids.

What’s great about these facilities in general, is that they are packed with activities. In Mini Club Med, Nicole went for tennis lessons, had beach play, and could even be sent for circus training (we woke up too late for that!) . Here, she can spend time doing somersaults and fly on the trapeze. In fact, Club Med Bali is one of the few Club Meds that has a “Circus” curriculum for children and for the adults.

To tell you the truth, the kids and myself have not tried it out yet…looks a bit scary to me!

After dropping the kids off,  Mummy and Daddy headed to the swimming pool for some aqua aerobics!

The GOs are really the life of the party at the resort. At every activity they are the ones who make things happen, and here they were leading a mass dance at the pool, after the aqua aerobics. They even had golf at the pool, where men and children “chipped” a tennis ball into a life buoy.

With the kids off our hands, we were also able to have some “couple” time together and we went snorkelling in the ocean. It was really cool, as we saw many colourful fishes, and they really swam very close to us! Bali is really a very nice island!

We went back to look for the kids in the late afternoon, and they were having a children’s soccer tournament. Nathan’s age group was too young to play, but they still managed to have a kick around…they even had mini goal posts for them

Check out the full article at Maybe Baby’s Blog…or just click on the link.

This is so exciting! We have landed, and we are now taking our half an hour taxi ride to Club Med Bali.

Situated on the part of the island called Nusa Dua, the Club Med experience provides an extensive list of services and activities in one single package. The best thing about Club Med is that the resort is ALL- INCLUSIVE!

With Buffet Meals all day, sports activities such as Archery, Tennis Golf, Windsurfing and even the circus– this is the place to be…Hey! even the Beer is Free Flow.

Check out the full article and pictures at the Maybe Baby Blog!

Wohoo….This week promises to be a really exciting time for the family!

In a few hours time, we will be flying off to Bali and staying in the really ‘happening’ resort called Club Med!

Thanks to the folks from Maybe Baby and I Love Children, the whole family will be staying at Club Med Bali for 4 Days and 3 Nights! It’s going to be exciting, as we have heard so much about the Resort and how it even has child minding facilities for the kids!

Sounds cool right! So stay tuned, as I will be Blogging “Live” from the resort, to give you a review about Club Med from a family perspective!

Watch out for my next post!

Have you ever been to a hotel room that cost $3000 per night?!?

Yes…One of our friends invited us to her Hotel Room in the Marina Bay Sands Resort on the 54th floor…and we were treated to an opulent experience in this World Class Hotel.

At $3000 per night, this was definitely not going to be ordinary hotel room.

In fact, I thought that it was just like any other wedding suite found in a 5 Star hotel, but I was shocked at the size of the room.

This is the hallway from the door:

Entering the first doorway on the right, I found that there was a gym in the hotel room….Yes…Not downstairs…but IN THE ROOM!

The main room is equipped with its very own study or conference area:

This is its own Dining area adjacent to the suite. (Btw, the bar fridge found in the hotel room has little bottles of champagne, and premium grade tea/coffee found in the pantry. Don’t expect to find Lipton Tea or Ice Mountain Mineral Water here)

This is an overview shot of the whole Sitting Room Area:

This area was already approximately the size of a HDB 5 room flat. However, at this moment of time, I had not even ventured into the Master Bed Room area yet.

Check out the huge bed in this bedroom:

The room comes equipped with its own walk-in wardrobe…

Coupled with a huge toilet complete with vanity top and bath-tub

and with ample shower room space…

I was totally blown over by the size of the room and if you are wondering who can afford to stay in a room such as this…

Well, this is the my friend’s bill…just for having drinks at the Marina Bay Sands.

They paid $45, 515. 17. (Yes..the commas and the full stops are in the right place. And this is just for drinks!)

That is someone’s University School Fees spent in 1 night!!!

If you can pay for those drinks without batting an eyelid…I am sure that you can afford staying in this hotel room!

And, you can also go to the Marina Sky Park for FREE, if you stay in this room!

Sooner or later, every parent faces the trauma of Tantrums, and many times, we don’t really know how to react.

Advice from the Experts:

I put this question to the experts at Chiltern House and Julia Gabriel, and this is what Fiona Walker (CEO of Julia Gabriel for Learning, Chiltern House Child Care Centres and Julia Gabriel School of Education) has to say:

Children are Individuals:

The most important thing is to understand your child’s temperament. Some children will have a more fiery character than others. These children may become more easily frustrated and not be able to handle disappointment as well as easy-going children.

If you know this about your child, you can try to minimise situations that could lead to a tantrum.

Remember for a 2 or 3 year old it is all about NOW. It is very hard to explain that you can do this later. For about a year, I would go right out of my way to avoid ride on toys in shopping malls unless I was prepared to stop while my son had a play.

The common age for tantrums is between 18 months and 4 or 5 years old. The older the child the easier it is to reason with them, after their temper has subsided. Remember it is perfectly natural to get angry, but it is how we handle that emotion that is important.

What do I do when they my child throws a tantrum:

Remember to always remain calm!

This is not always easy in the face of a screaming, pulling, red – faced child who is doing everything in his or her power to embarrass you!

Once a child is having a tantrum you can either stand back and let him roar and kick or very calmly pick him up and walk briskly away. You are very unlikely to be able to reason with him or her at that time. Just wait – the storm will pass.

Do not give in to whatever it is that has triggered this. They will very quickly realise screaming and kicking gets them what they want!

Afterwards you can talk about how it is difficult when you really, really want something and don’t get it. It can be comforting for them to know that you understand that.

*End of Interview*

Ed Speaks:

I think that the most difficult thing about these public tantrums is remaining calm and not losing your cool!  That is why Parenting should not be done alone, but with your spouse as well.

There were times when I wanted to relent, but knowing that my wife was there to back me up, gave me the determination to see the ordeal to the end.

When they eventually calm down and receive their hugs and “pep-talk” from Daddy and Mummy, they will understand that throwing a tantrum, is not the answer to their problems. Doing this consistently is an important component in good parenting.

If this interview has been helpful to you, you may want to check out other questions that I posed to the educators at Julia Gabriel/Chiltern House. Fiona has also dealt with questions like Separation Anxiety, the need for Enrichment Classes or click here to see the full list.