Experts say there are no hard and fast rules on when a child should be given a smartphone and that it depends on the child’s maturity   Published: 11 March 2018 Venessa Lee   Many children have their own mobile phones these days. But how young is too young for a child to join the […]

    Parents play an important role in reducing kids’ stress levels   PUBLISHED: FEB 4, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT Venessa Lee   An international study reported last year suggests that Singapore students experience higher levels of anxiety than those from many other countries. The study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) […]

    PUBLISHED NOV 26, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT Priscilla Goy   A student care service provided after office hours is being piloted to help parents from low-income families get respite from caregiving at night. These include parents taking night classes to improve their employability, those doing shift work and those who need to attend […]

    The number of people willing to give their time usually spikes during the festive season and charities in Singapore have learnt to re-channel the goodwill into other avenues   PUBLISHED: DEC 10, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT Venessa Lee   The Christmas season typically coincides with the jingle of more cash donations to charities […]

    Parents who spend time with each of their children say it helps foster bonding   PUBLISHED:  OCT 29, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT Venessa Lee   As Ms Annabelle Chew’s family grew bigger over the years, her ideas about spending quality time together evolved. Ms Chew, 46, a vice-principal of a pre-school, and her […]

    Some parents send their kids for etiquette training, but experts caution that outsourcing the job of teaching manners and social skills could affect the parent-child bond   PUBLISHED: OCT 8, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT Venessa Lee   Eight-year-old Ashley Ngeow knows how to have soup at a formal Western meal, directing the spoon […]

  With more Singaporeans marrying later, the number of new fathers aged over 50 is likely to rise. The Sunday Times looks at the highs and lows of late fatherhood PUBLISHED: SEP 24, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT Venessa Lee   By the time he was 50, Mr Vasu Menon had given up on marriage and […]

  PUBLISHED SEP 22, 2017, 12:31 PM SGT Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh   SINGAPORE – Domestic helpers, at-risk youths and seniors with dementia are some of the diverse groups who can find help under one roof at the Agape Village in Toa Payoh. President Halimah Yacob paid a visit to the centre on Friday (Sept […]