Train + Sleep = Learn

Do you recall the many times when your classroom teachers told you that having enough sleep is really important. That not having enough sleep and not eating healthily are just as detrimental to the body of a young boy or girl, as not going for all those piano lessons or extra-curricular activities. Yes, I do remember. But what I remember more vividly were those life-sapping marathon burn-them-midnight-oil sessions right before exams. Yes, during those very hard times, all words of wisdom were forgotten, as happy-go-lucky days were turned upside down.

Well, did you know that there is a scientific reason for needing that golden sleep. In my previous post, I talked about how punishment reinforces learning. Apparently that's not the whole story. In trying to expose the secrets of the brain, scientists have found that sleeping actually plays a major role in helping us remember what we have learned during the day [1].

Unlike the computer hard-disk or flash memory, which can save information in an instant, the brain needs time to process and carve our experience as memories. For the brain, this happens when we are asleep. So just when you thought that sleeping is needed only to regain physical strength, out comes a revelation that it is good for mental growth as well.

So, in case your 6 year old finds out about this little article and tries to be a smart alec when questioned about his/her excessive sleeping. Just tell them that, "No sleeping doesn't make you smarter. First of all, you must put in the effort to get those information in the brain (for sleep to do any good)".

[1] G. Cacalano et al., "Neutrophil and B cell expansion in mice that lack the murine IL-8 receptor homolog," Science, vol. 265, pp. 682-684, Jul. 1994.

Should I expose my 6 year old daughter to video games?

There have been many arguments going back and forth about the effects of video games on young children. I was blissfully ignoring this problem, until now. Phoebe, who will turn six soon has been bugging me to get her a DSlite, ever since last Christmas. Should I get one for her? What do I do? At wits end, I turn to fellow gamers for advise. I found a lively discussion on the internet regarding putting a gaming console into the hands of a young child. And I agree with this poster that the parent should remain in control of how their children spend their time. I quote,

Now, I know for a fact that she would love to play Animal Crossing on the DS. But whether or not she will love it is not the point. She would love to eat potato chips and ice cream for every meal, but being a responsible parent is not about giving your kid what makes them happy moment to moment...

What insight. How can you disagree with that. But then, I cannot agree with the same poster regarding the ill effects of electronic games on the development and creativity of young and impressionable kids. Yes, the time spent on playing games takes away the time for other "more productive" activities like drawing, writing and reading. I myself being a young gamer, was exposed to computer games at a young age. I feel that computers is a modern tool, just like how the pen and brush was to children many ages ago. I think that computers should be explored and taken seriously, even for a six year old. In the past, they say that the pen is mightier than the sword. But if we look into the future, I see that the keyboard will definitely be greater than both.

As such, I have decided go ahead and get her that DSlite for her 6th birthday. It will surely make Phoebe (and me?) happy, I hope...

Children + Alcohol = Dopeys

I was curiously sniffing the Guinness Beer can that my dad left on the table when suddenly I heard grandma barked, "Drink that and you'll become stupid!" When I was young, I often hear my parents preach to me about the evils of alcohol. Alcohol makes children stupid, is a phrase I hear all too often. I never really understood and just take their word for it. Not until today. I finally found out a scientific reason for this old adage.

A recent research article [1] pointed out that there is a direct link between alcohol consumption and brain damage, or more specifically neurons (brain cells) being wasted. Scientists have found a direct correlation linking alcohol content in the body to neuron degeneration. The non-too surprising finding revealed that the younger a child is exposed to alcohol, the more severe the effects are on the developing brain. And this effect is very pronounced even before the child is born. So expecting mothers, please listen to your doctors when they advise you against drinking.

Although the study was based on laboratory rats, being mammals, we have to only extrapolate the results to figure out the effect of alcohol on human beings. It was mentioned that various parts of the developing brain of the rat fetus, a few days before and after birth, suffer from deleterious effects of diluted ethanol injected into the blood stream. Let's assume that a day in the life of a rat is roughly equivalent to a year for a human and you will see why a child should not be consuming alcohol before he is old enough, at least not until the brain has fully developed.

Now you know why there is a law prohibiting sales of alcohol beverages to under-aged kids. And you thought there were only social consequences. That was my impression, until I read the article. As for the effects of alcohol (read, beer and accompanying tit-bits) on adults, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Just look at Homer Simpson's waistline, or the mirror. I know, I know who wants to be a 60 year old super model, right. So go ahead and indulge yourself, just don't let the kids see you doing it.

[1] C. Ikonomidou, et al., "Etanol-induced apotoptic neurodegeneration and fetal alcohol syndrome," Science, vol 287, pp. 1056-1060, Feb. 2000.

2008 New Year's Card

As with previous years, the main theme of 2008 New Year's card is about our children, Phoebe and Ernest. Because, they spent a whole lot of their time away from their home country, I wanted something that depicted these international kids, enjoying themselves wherever they be. And where else can kids enjoy themselves most, but in the land of anime. Kids here practically grow up with their favorite TV characters. Frankly, parents here are fighting an uphill battle with these non too fictional characters which pop up ever so often in various forms as toys, children clothes, and even food (yes, food!) at the shopping mall.

Happy New Year!

For a little bit of background about the Japanese custom of sending New Year's card, see here.

End of the year nursery performance

It was time again for the kids to show-off what they have practiced very hard at the end of the year performance (保育園生活発表会）. Ernest was a little blue mushroom. He tried really hard to be a real mushroom and hardly moved at all. All the other kids in his class had a wonderful time dancing to the tune. Next, it was Phoebe's turn. She did her China Doll routine pretty well. We were really surprised that she pulled it off really well. We didn't expect such a good performance from Phoebe and her friends. At the end of the day, we were very proud of them. Their teachers must be really proud of them too. When I show the kids these videos, they seem to recall their day pretty well, especially Phoebe.

Mega-Slide fun

Very near to our place is a huge and expansive park. At its very edge is one humongous slide. The kids were having fun there the other day. Ernest was apprehensive about riding it at first. But Phoebe got him to tag along and they really enjoyed it. By the way, I did try it myself. It was really fun. I don't remember doing anything like that when I was a kid. In the video, I was putting in my impromptu commentary. It goes something like;

Can he do it, is he afraid,
Great!
Here they come.
Quickly, behind you.
One more time?

Medicinal Cake (くすりケーキ)

A few days ago, we were talking to our daughter regarding her future aspirations. You know how our school teachers or mothers always asks us when we were younger, "What do you want to be when you grow up dear?". And Phoebe seems to have made up her mind to open a cake shop. Her favorite times are those in which she helps her mom to whip up a delicious chocolate cake for the whole family. We always enjoyed her cakes. I guess that sort of helped her decide her future career option.

Yesterday night, when tucking her to bed, her mom posed to her a question that will surely stump even Einstein. "What will you do for mom when she gets sick, dear?" "Not a problem, I'll just make you a kusuri-keiki (lit. medicine cake)," answered Phoebe nonchalantly. I was really taken aback when my wife related that to me. That is a fantastic idea, I said to myself. Kids around the world would never fear taking their medicine again.

I wonder if such an idea can be patented. Although there may be many problems, wouldn't you think that parents would be really glad to be told that it is time for their medicine, by their own kids! It would save us a lot of headache and frustration.

Punishment and the Amygdala

The other day, I gave Ernest a slap on the butt for peeing in his pants, moments after he said he didn't want to use the toilet. I was pretty angry that I had to clean up after him, and that he forgot about not using diapers again.

A few days later, I was reading about the part of the brain called amygdala. Most of us may have heard about the term "fight-or-flight". It is a response which is inherent in all of us when we are confronted with a life-threatening situation. This response is built into our brain when we were born. When a loud noise is heard, our pulse rate immediately shoots up, we are suddenly alert of our surroundings, ready to flee at the slightest signs of danger. The part of the brain which controls our reaction is the amygdala. In fact, research has shown that the amygdala also plays a pivotal role in the formation and storage of memory associated with emotional events. In other words, it not only has built-in default functions such as fight-or flight, it is capable of learning new functions which is based on emotional events. For example, if we experience a horrible traffic accident, we will be extremely cautious when we next get behind the wheels. In extreme cases, driving-phobia may result.

So armed, with this new found knowledge, I try to explain why physical punishment (of toddlers) still has a place at home. Punishment, reinforces learning in a way that repeated reminders cannot accomplish. I totally agree and understand anti-punishment supporters in using the soft-approach to teach youngsters. This method works because, repeated action (stimulation) will instill memory when it has reaches a certain threshold. The keyword here is threshold. In the real world, however, time and resources (read: patience) is limited. So, we need a more efficient method to instill memory i.e. make children learn. Besides repeated action works only when it is repeated between an interval where the first action has not been totally forgotten. This means that we need to continuously reinforce learning. The problem is that we may not be presented with a similar situation which enable us to convey our message at optimum intervals. What I have just described is another form of learning mechanism called Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). But, I am digressing. I am sure I will talk about LTP in the future. For the time being, let's return to punishment.

When punishment is immediately followed by a stern lesson, it causes our words to be associated with the punishment and of course the customary crying which ensues. This crying episode is acceptable because it reinforces the lesson to be learned. This leads to a lesson which will be less prone to be forgotten, just like the traffic accident event. I think that when used sparingly, physical punishment can be very effective in teaching children. Different parents have different techniques. For those who have 'heavy hands', I suggest raising your voice to an unusually high level. This may not be possible in a quiet neighborhood, less people might think you are a child-abuser. So, you may have to use a combination of not-so-high voice with a somewhat physical treatment. When administering such a punishment, I urge caution. You don't want to cause permanent physical or emotional injuries. I recall my own parents saying, "You may hit a child anywhere except the head."

That same evening, Ernest requested to be brought to the toilet. A little punishment does go a long way, I thought to myself as I hurried him to the toilet. I was pretty glad and I made sure he knows how mommy and daddy felt that day.

Disclaimer: I do not condone child abuse, nor is this is an article that delivers the same message.

Mirror Image

Recently, I can't help but feel that I'm looking at a splitting image of myself when I see my daughter. Not only is her disposition, her habits and even her response, they are just like her dad, me! I have heard that kids mimic the behavior of adults but the level which she does it, it's uncanny.

Let me give an example. Mom tells me that when I was young, I used to come back from school and finish my homework even before I had lunch. I was the kind of kid that couldn't relax when there is a job at hand. Even now, I think I act the same. Somehow, this must have rubbed-on Phoebe. She would come back from school and pull out her unfinished origami and work on that when we are all at the table having our meal. Nothing could pull her away, unless it was a threat about not giving her ice-cream after lunch. Not that this is a good thing at all. I am trying to shake this bad habit of mine so that hopefully she will do the same. Come to think of it, all my bad habits like lazying on the bed in the morning, shyness, and a weakness for ice-cream, all has a little mirror image in my daughter. Wait a minute, a weakness for ice-cream. That, I think, we have her mom to thank for.

I think children are the best artificial learning machines in the world, if you see them from an engineering point of view. Mimicking their parents from birth, nothing tickles them more than making fun of mom and dad by talking like their parents. And they will beam with pride too, if anyone were to tell them they are just like their parents. It simply means that they are doing a good job trying to look like adults.

Me somewhere at Bellecour, Lyon (2007/6/13), and always thinking of Phoebe

Head louse (頭虱)

Head lice, I don't see any head lice. Do you?

Phoebe was infected with head lice the other day. We found that out yesterday from the nursery. We have to quarantine her for a couple of days, and try to get rid of that nasty bug from our house. Worse of all, mom was infected too. Mama was really embarrassed with this problem as a few other children caught head lice at Phoebe's nursery as well. We think that Phoebe might be the source. Everybody had to be disinfected including poor Ernest and papa. We were the innocent bystanders as we weren't infected at all. Besides, I don't think the lice have anywhere to hide on my head. Anyway, with the head lice problem was solved, the whole family is back to normal once more.

We learned a few things from this episode.
- Head lice in Japanese is called 頭虱（あたましらみ）
- It takes about 3-4 days to get rid of this problem.
- Head lice is almost an unheard of problem in Japan.

This was the shampoo which neutralized the lice threat to the family.
It's called sumisurin L (スミスリンL)

Tough Dad, Soft Dad

I heard that 3 year olds can be quite difficult. It's because, this is the age where they are building up character and testing the will of their guardian. Recently, Ernest has become more and more intolerant towards our wishes. He's got to have it his way or non at all. Of course, as parents, we should not give in too easily as this will give the impression that we are weak and meek. How do you get a 3 year old to be on time, listen to you and not throw a tantrum all the time. That's a difficult question.

The other day, I was struggling to feed Ernest during dinner time. I was somewhat successful at the dining table, but all efforts to get him to brush his teeth were in vain. He just refused flatly. This was followed by about 10 minutes of power struggle before mom finally came to the rescue and took him away. This morning, I was trying to get Ernest to put on his trousers for school. Alas, he refused every single piece of it. This went on for some time, having exhausted his collection of pants which amounted to 5 pieces, over and over again. Finally, at wits end, I held him near, consoled him as he was every bit as tired as me after that endurance test and finally managed to put it on for him.

All these episodes, brings me to realize that a 3 year old's vocabulary is really limited. They have many feelings that they cannot described fully to us and that we just fail to recognize the signs. Being a parent, we need to see them and react accordingly. Sometimes, by loosening up a little, we can be more effective in persuading the little one to our wishes.

Happy parenting!

Ernest enjoying a burger in his favorite Boukenger sweater

Tokyo Disney Resort

The whole family finally made our pilgrimage to Tokyo Disney Resort last week. It was really wonderful to be able to take a breather after a long period at home and from work. The last time we made a trip like this was in 2005 for the Aichi World Expo. We went to both DisneySea and Disneyland. DisneySea being newer, was really beautiful. The props and the buildings were really authentic. All the characters that the kids loved were there too. Too bad, the weather was not that great when we went to Disneyland. All in all, it was a memorable trip.

First stop DisneySea. Posing with Pinocchio.

It was raining when were at Disneyland the next day.

Kids at See You

The kids were having a good time while we were checking out the clothes at the local recycle shop. They looked really funny trying out adult clothes and making funny faces.

Brushing teeth routine made easy

I got a remark from a parent the other day saying how nice and white the children's teeth are. As any proud parent, we beamed with pride inside but just brushed off that as a 'that's nothing' remark.
Do you ever have problems getting your children to 'want' to brush their teeth? I just found out a neat trick. It has to do with the toothpaste. I recently got a toothpaste that the kids just loved. It's from Kao. The paste itself is colored and although I haven't tried it, I guess it must taste more like fruit jelly than your normal toothpaste. Nowadays, I don't have to force them to brush their teeth, they do it all by themselves. Of course, I help them with the more thorough cleaning after that.

p.s. No, this is not an advertisement for Kao. I am pretty sure other brands are just as good, but for the kids, they particularly liked this one.

Boys and girls are wired differently

OK, today I talk about how boys and girls are different. You already know the difference between boys and girls in terms of physical build, anatomy etc. And then I am sure you also hear scientist argue how the brains of girls and boys are programmed differently. I got a first hand look at the results of this theory. I got a dinosaur and a doll for my two children. Can you guess which one they choose to play with. Ernest is just so fascinated with dinosaurs and Phoebe, she sticks to dolls and pretty dresses. Actually at one point in time, Phoebe actually played with animal toys, but over time, she just don't play with them anymore. Maybe it has to do with the environment as much as it has to do with DNA. Any comments.

The Science of Raising Kids (The hyperactive-type)

Have you ever wondered how an ant can carry more than 50 times its own weight. Or how it seem to run so fast, it looks like a bouncing bullet in perpetual brownian motion. The simple answer is because it is so small. The scientific answer has to do with its body surface area-to-body mass ratio. But I will spare you the mathematics. The thing is, the smaller you get the stronger or faster you will seem to be.

Knowing this fact does not make it any easier for you to chase after a nitro-charged 3-feet tall monster. But after thinking hard about why I am bummed-out even before I start my work in the morning because I have to rush the kids to school, I came up with this trick that may just work.

Let's pretend you are a car running on 50 liters of gas. And your kid is actually a bunny running on energizer batteries (the long lasting type). For the sake of argument, let's make him run on gas too and that his full tank is a mere 3 liters. Although a direct relationship is difficult, it's easier to work things out if you imagine that your tank capacity equals your age. Ofcourse, this does not work for a 77-year old grandpa. I am assuming that you have not yet reach midlife crisis and that you still eat a healthy meal. OK, back to our story. Altough you have the bigger gas tank, you have to unfortunately lug around a lot of weight too. In comparison, a little child has a smaller tank but his weight is much smaller. One good number that comes to mind is mileage. A sub-compact gets so much more bang-for-buck compared to a 3.0L grand tourismo class vehicle. So that little car can just zip around town without burning too much fuel. The same applies to people too. Although kids are no good for 20km marathons, they are deadly when confined to a small room for anything longer than 30 minutes. So how do you handle the 3-year old kid. Just confine your movement to sporadic quick bursts.

Look at this graph. Here hyperactive kids are always on the move and they spend a lot of power during their running-stopping motions (orange). Meanwhile, adults who don't move so fast, can conserve energy. We know that energy reserve expend fast for kids as energy, E is a product of power, P with time. So if we were to limit our movements to brief spurious motions, like that of a crocodile lurching at its prey, we can then beat those nasty kids.
Try it and let me know how well you fare.

My, the kids sure grow up fast

I didn't fully understand it when they say how kids grow up so fast, they'll be in college before you know it. That's exactly how I felt when I looked back at the old pictures of the kids. How fast they developed, and changed, right before my very eyes. Take a look at these pictures and I'm sure you'll agree.

Phoebe when she was just born.













1 year old
















2 years old

3 years old

4 years old













Newborn Ernest




1 year old

White Christmas at NAIST

(2005/12/20) It snowed somewhat heavily the other day. Normally we don't get so much snow here. But the kids really enjoyed seeing so much snow. Usagi Phoebe and R2D2 Ernest was out happily making snow balls.





(2005/12/20) Koi pond at the center of the university

(2005/12/20) Looking out the university entrance from inside

From the Photo Archive

Here are some pictures of Phoebe and Ernest taken at home.
(2004/10/26)
(2005/3/31)
(2005/4/15)

This one taken in Kemaman.
(2004/11/24)

Some gif composites that are pretty funny.
(2005/6/19) Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack went up first while Jill's busy with the grasshopper. But they all went home happily after.
(2005/7/11) Things are better if we put our heads together. Ouch!

Kai Xin

Cute isn't she. : D
Picture taken with my N6230i at our house.
Wonder what was she thinking looking at me like that?