What is in a name?

How long does it take for you to name your children? Took us the whole pregnancy and a few more days after birth. Actually, maybe even before pregnancy. When we decided that we'll try for another baby, we started throwing out names once in awhile to seek each other's opinions.

We always come up with both boys' and girls' names. Just in case. It's fun to run through names and check out each other's responses. I think it's very stressful to be dealing with children and names at the same time.

For both our children we have names ready for the hospital. A few of them, in fact. I'm glad we both are parents who need to see their children first before naming them, because I am this kind of person. If my husband wasn't, I'd be living in frustration and doubt throughout the pregnancy wondering if the name fits my child.

There's been quite a lot of news about celebrity baby names and to be honest, I sympathise with the children. Why do celebrities' children have to have odd names?

Was it last year that a Chinese couple wanted to name their child @. Then another couple wanting to name their child Facebook?

It really took us a good 6 months to come up with a list of names and then narrowing it down to final three. For both girls. The first one was easy as we already had names in mind. The second one was trickier as our favourite girls' name was taken.

Some have asked why it took us so long to decide upon a name. I always respond with this : A name is for life. It has to be fitting, meaningful, and the child proud to be called by. They will be using their given name the rest of their lives. Why make it difficult for them?

We are all called by God to be His children. He knows us by our names, our characters, our thoughts and deeds. God has put in a lot of thought into the making of a baby that will one day grow into an adult. Then, shouldn't we, as stewards of God, should put in a bit more thought into our children's names?

A friend inboxed me recently asking how I gave my girls their Chinese names. One of the suggestions I gave to her is to pray about it. Not trying to boast of how holy I am, which I can tell you I am far from! But that if God had given us this kicking little life to be brought up, I'm sure He has in mind a name for him/her. For both my girls, God has placed circumstances in our way to guide us in naming our children. He cares for all our needs, every little thing. If God can give names to people in the Bible, He sure can do it today.

The next time you're pregnant and is stuck for names, pray. God will provide.
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Learning to read

Ever since Miss 4 went to childcare, she's had a lot more exposure and opportunities to sing, read, write and learn about the English language.

Over the last 1.5 yrs, her English vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds, which led me to believe that it is not necessary to teach my children English as they can pick it up very quickly when with peers.

Maybe this one is just a high-achiever, but she has a very good memory for learning new things. And when it comes to languages, she just needs to hear it a few times, practice it and it's perfect. Teaching her to read her Chinese characters were easy too. As Chinese characters stem from drawings in the early days, I draw out words and that helped her to remember the meaning and the word.

She now has a word count of over 80 Chinese characters, much less than her asian counterparts, but it's not important to me. She enjoys learning new words and will not hesitate to ask how to read a new word and its meaning.

I have not been teaching her English and all her English words and recognition came from childcare. They are learning some phonics and she comes back asking how to sound a letter. I took the opportunity to teach her the sounds of the letter in both English and Mandarin. Surprisingly, it does not confuse her. It would have confused me as an adult, but I suppose children have no pre-conception of languages and just take in whatever is taught to them.

So, Miss 4 is progressing well in her language skills, both reading and speaking. I've not pushed her to write in Chinese, so she really can't write. Probably time to put in more effort on my part.

And now with Korean and Japanese dramas going crazy around the house, she has picked up quite a few phrases and enjoying it. Who knows, we might have a linguist in the future! Sphere: Related Content