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One of the concern of couple is how to have a baby boy/girl.

The first baby, parents won't be so stress or care much. After having the first one, most of the parents, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, would like to have second one of opposite sex.

Thus, it will create some 'stress' and cause most parents to find methods, nutrient, medicine, potions to increase the chance of hitting the right one.

I am no expert in this, but I would like to share some I read or heard. I hope my post will not be categorized as PG later.

In theory, sperm carrying "Y" (or boy) will be more active and strong. Sperm carrying "X" (or girl) can last longer. Meaning, if there is an egg coming out fresh from mother's ovum, the "Y" sperm will swim the fastest to reach the egg.
If the egg come out days after you have intercourse, most likely the sperm "X" will last longer to fertilized the egg.

Based on this theory, there are a few methods you can try.
1. Ask your wife to get both her legs up high while lying on the bed after intercourse for a while. This (gravity) will help the sperms to get closer to the egg if there is ovulation. Chances to get a boy will higher. Don't blame me if your wife sprained her back!

2. Monitor and measure your period. Try to get the ovulation date as accurate as possible.
Usually your body temperature will be higher when ovulation. You will need to measure your body temperature (up to 2 decimal points) for a few months and chart it. After getting a consistency in the chart, you will know your ovulation time.
Based on the above theory, to get a boy, you will need to have intercourse when wife is about to have ovulation, vice versa.

3. The less frequent you have intercourse, quality and quantity of the sperms will be better. Hence to get a boy, save your stock, do it the right time! Sorry guys.. hold your horses..

4. The stronger or excited intercourse you two have, the furthest your ejaculation. Boy will be more likely. :)

5. Sweet food will increase the chance of having baby girl, salty food will increase the chance of baby boy.

6. Diet rich in calcium and magnesium will attract "X" sperm, while diet rich in sodium and potassium will attract "Y" sperm.

These are some of the methods or myths I read or heard about. Believe or not, it is up to you.

Happy trying and accidents do happen!! :)

Cherish your children whether it is a boy or girl!

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It is father's day. Father's Day usually has been celebrated in lesser scale than Mother's Day. But father role is as important.

My father was a hawker. He was selling clothes in the wet market and also night market for over 30 years. With his sole income, he needed to feed himself, my mother, my grandmother, and six children. He didn't earn a lot, that's why he needed to work very hard. He cycled to wet market in the morning and night market during evening time in his trishaw with six boxes of clothes and metal stands and a few planks. Sometimes, he had to cycle up to 8km per trip.

When I was young, I seldom talk to my father due to he needs to work from 7am to 12+ noon, then 630pm till 11+pm. That time I remember he was a strict person. With so many people depends on his income, I think he hardly had time to relax.

Nonetheless, he showed us great love. I remembered the first gift they bought for me when I was a kid. I was asleep that time, at night. Father and mother came home from night market. They bought me a teddy bear soft toy. It wasn't soft actually, not like those now. But I loved it!
I kept it for a few years before I was too old for it.

When I was older, I remembered another gift from him. A jigsaw puzzle, 24 pieces, if I remembered correctly. It was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle jigsaw puzzle. I kept playing and playing. I didn't know someone was observing, my father. He noticed that I liked it, so he bought another one for me. I didn't play these two for long though.

Although he didn't earn a lot, he and mother always reward us if we did well in our school exam. Every year, if my brother and I did well in our school exam, they will buy us whatever gift we want. Instead of spending the money on themselves, they will keep the money and buy the gift for us. He never celebrated his birthday, father's day, in fact, I know he worked almost everyday, unless he was sick.

My father seldom scold me. But I remembered he raised his voice on two occasions.

First occasion when I was in primary 6. I was invited as a school leaver representative to give a thank you speech in one of the scholarship award ceremony. I scared of public speaking and shy. I asked my father to reject them. My father advised me to try and tried to give me confident, but I was very stubborn and persistence. My father finally fed up and asked me to call the organizer myself if I didn't want to give the speech.

I gave in finally, and the speech went smoothly, not as bad as I thought of.

Second occasion when I was in university. I was back home for summer break. During that time, long hair and dye hair were popular. I said that I wanted to keep long hair and dyed my hair dark blue. As a conservative father, he objected and advised me not to. Not sure why, I dismissed him and said he is outdated and old-fashioned. I think he was quite sad, and replied "yeah, you are the smartest".

I didn't keep long hair nor dye my hair.

As time goes, my father got older. I started to understand the sacrifices of father are as great as mother. As his youngest son, I graduated from university, he also retired from working hard. He enjoyed his work, but age has catch up on him.

He passed away after just retired for 10 years. It is kind of sad that he didn't have much chance to enjoy as his kids are all grown up and independent.

It was also sad that most of his sons were working overseas and not with him when he moved on. I was also quite regret that I failed to notice my father was getting old that time. In fact, the last sentence he told me was "I am old, I won't have much time, I don't need another surgery to remove cataract."

So, do remember to take this chance, Father's Day, to celebrate with him and cherish every moment with him.

A tribute to all fathers....

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World Cup 2010 is just around the corner. Daddies will be watching World Cup from all over the world. It would be great that daddy and kids sit down and watch together! Mothers are welcome to join too.

I am not going to discuss the teams or predicting which team will win, though I would love to. This is a blog about parenting.

It was World Cup 2002, hosted by South Korea and Japan. As it was held in Asia, the timing was right and created craze among Asians. Everyone was talking about World Cup, from young to old. That was the first time that I saw so much madness for World Cup. Those ladies and aunties who never watch soccer in their life also chipped in to watch. Community dinners and gatherings will show the matches live if there is.

This was the period that many started to gamble. I would like to share a story that happen to my friend then.
He was 17 then. He was not good in study, so he started work early. His income was low, and he was from a poor family. During World Cup 2002, he wanted to 'earn' more money. As most soccer fan, everyone think he is soccer expert. He followed friends in illegal betting. He won a few matches. He thought he understands soccer and his luck has come.

From betting with friends through illegal way, he started to collect bet. Each bet can up to thousands of dollars! Anything can happen in soccer. There were a lot of upsets in World Cup 2002. South was 4th, after beating the like of Italy and Spain! Argentina and France didn't qualify for 2nd round. These countries are famous with soccer.

Eventually he lost 30+ thousands. His debtors threatened him and harassed his family. His mother was too poor to pay his debt, went around for loan. Luckily he still has a sister who works a few years after graduate. She helped him to pay all the debt slowly, and had to postponed her marriage due to repaying the debt.

It is a lesson to be learned. Illegal betting can happen anywhere, over a meal, over a phone call. And now, with internet so popular, it is even easier to bet online!
There are plenty of websites that 'encourage' you to bet by giving you credits when you open account with them. And these websites can be found easily like on soccer players' jersey ads.

Online betting is just one click away. So, parents really need to monitor their kids, especially teenagers over potentially they involved in such activity. Before things get out of control, monitor and communicate with your kids well!

Have you ever attracted by some advertisement on TV?

I love this one! Their really know how to capture the parents' attention by showing a cute and pretty girl. You can watch the different version ads in YouTube by clicking HERE, HERE and HERE
The ads fulfilled most parents' dream to have a talented and pretty daughter. I am sure many will be enticed to sign up with them.

Can anyone tell me how to get my daughter to become the model in the ads? Or is there any audition for Singapore Kids Idol?