November 2024

Written by: Pang Chi Wah, Registered Educational Psychologist

In recent years, environmental awareness has been on the rise. As a parent, you can cultivate an eco-friendly and meaningful hobby like stamp collecting for your child. This can also serve as a simple and convenient parent-child activity.

Parents who work in an office often need to open various types of mail, which often come with used stamps. While we may think those stamps are worthless, they can actually be great materials for a free parent-child activity. We can bring the different types and sizes of envelopes and stamps from the office back home, and let the children go through the whole process of stamp collecting:

Cut the stamps off the envelopes.

Soak the stamps in water for a while.

Slowly peel the stamps off and let them dry.

Once the stamps are dry, they can be placed in a stamp album.

This process of handling the stamps can not only train the children’s patience and focus, but also enhance their self-management abilities. They can also learn different information from the envelopes and stamps, such as the names of different countries and regions, various denominations, and stamp designs, thus developing their multiple intelligences.

Some parents like to use toys as rewards to encourage their children, such as rewarding them with stickers after they finish their homework. Stamps can actually be more effective rewards. Whenever the child completes certain tasks, they can be given a stamp as a reward, and the more beautiful or rare the stamp, the more effective the reward will be. This not only reduces the negative impact of material abundance on the children, but stamps also have aesthetic value and can be stored for a long time. Most importantly, we can appreciate the stamp album together with the children, which can serve as a tool for parent-child communication

Additionally, Hong Kong frequently launches new stamps and themed first-day covers, which parents can acquire at reasonable prices to greatly expand the variety of stamps, designs, and sizes for their children. If parents travel or go on business trips abroad, they can also collect local stamps, especially the cheapest ones, like the one-penny stamps in the UK. Parents can also ask their relatives, friends, and colleagues to bring back stamps from their travels or business trips, which can greatly diversify the stamp collection for the children through different acquisition channels.

Why not try this meaningful reward system and parent-child activity with your family?

Parenting Articles

November 2024

Written by：Yiu Yee Chiu, Chinese Doctor

Every parent hopes that their child will develop well and quickly, even if they may not surpass others. In medicine, there is a condition that falls between “disease” and “physiology” that greatly troubles both parents and children. This is “pediatric nocturnal enuresis.”

Pediatric nocturnal enuresis is a stage in physiological development, but if a child is still unable to control their urination and wets the bed after the age of 5, it becomes a problem. Pediatric nocturnal enuresis can be divided into two types: primary and secondary. The former is due to pathological reasons, such as spina bifida or developmental delays. The latter refers to when a child has previously gained control but then loses it for some reason. The most common cause is an unexplained developmental delay.

Medication, Physical Therapy, and Lifestyle: A Tripartite Cooperation

From a Chinese medicine perspective, the generation of urine is related to multiple organs. The main causes are kidney qi deficiency, spleen and lung qi deficiency, and liver channel stagnation and heat. Clinically, kidney qi deficiency is the primary factor. Unlike adult enuresis or secondary enuresis in children, the condition generally improves after a few months of treatment. However, the treatment must involve a combination of medication, physical therapy, and lifestyle adjustments.

Chinese Herbal Treatment: The main herbs are Mulberry Twig, Medicated Leech, Rougan, Schisandra, Yam, and Mulberry Parasitic Plant.

Physical Therapy: Acupuncture and massage, focusing on the bladder and kidney channels on the back.

Strict Diet: Avoid cold, raw foods and beverages to prevent further damage to kidney qi.

Diet Therapy: Incorporating walnuts, lotus seeds, and Dioscorea as side dishes or desserts.

Pre-Bed Warm Compress: Every night before bed, use a warm compress on the bladder shu points along the bladder channel. For better results, you can wrap the compress with a cloth bag containing roasted fennel, white pepper, or Sichuan peppercorn.

In fact, nocturnal enuresis is not uncommon, and the vast majority of children will fully recover. Therefore, the most important thing is how to help the child smoothly transition through this stage. If parents handle it improperly, it may affect the child’s self-esteem. Therefore, it is crucial to consult a doctor for a proper examination and diagnosis to truly help the child.