Drama Centre

25 May to 5 June 2016

From $30 per parent-and-child

Sharing-and-learning sessions by the many visiting artists and practitioners who will share expertise from their chosen art-form to conduct workshops on creative parenting, empowerment through artistic engagement, and how to value add to your child's development through the creative process. 

There will be eight workshops for parent-and-child groups.

Sweet: a 2-hour Sensory & Experiential Workshop

ION Art Gallery, ION Orchard

28 May to 5 June 2016, 10.30am to 12.30pm OR 3.30pm-5.30pm

For 4 to 8 year old

Held in conjunction with ACT 3i Festival for Children, Sweet is an interactive drop-off workshop comprising an art exhibition, art-making activities as well as drama workshop and art making activities. The programme is a brilliant learning process for the child as it ignites the imagination, inspires a multi-sensory creative process, as well as encourages artistic expression and participation. Inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweet will feature elements of storytelling, improvisation and even gelato-making. While the session is about using desserts to inspire art-making and to teach the values of kindness, it also highlights the importance of eating in moderation. 

• 15% current ACT 3 Drama Academy students
• 15% for a minimum of 12 tickets in the same transaction to the same show and time
• 10% OCBC Child Development Account (CDA) holders and Mighty Savers members
• 10% when 2 shows are booked
• 15% when 3 or more shows are booked

A Father's Diary (38) - No choice is a choice

That's one of the best Math lesson I had! No choice is a choice! Then my lecturer followed with the classic example," if your dad refuses to let you go for movie and you have to stay at home. That is a choice!" The whole lecture theatre objected the notion. We argued and by the second line, we knew we lost the argument.

Yes! No choice is a choice! And I taught that and choose zero is one.

We make choices everyday. Some choices are just by routine, almost mechanical. Ask some men what to eat for lunch and some will end up eating Hainanese Chicken Rice (easily 40-50% of the time).

Some choices are reversible but some are irrevocable. The choices all come with consequences. The choice of a bad outfit can be corrected the next day. But the bad impression due to the poor outfit (aka bad taste) is not so easy to to change.

The concern raised on the cross island line is one that we have to think very carefully. It is more than changing the outfit, more than choosing eating chicken rice or Mee Pok ta, hiam jio chor zui zui (aka dried fishball noodle with extra portion of chilli sauce and vinegar). A wrong move will lead to many downstream impact and sometime it's beyond our calculated risk and cost. Can we put up with the inconvenience? I think we should be able to.

In our family, we also have to make choices too. Some choices are good and lead to building a strong family culture. However, some bad choices are bad as they derived out of selfish desires. Then you can see some quibbling and squabbles. The consequences that birthed out of the bad choices maybe irreversible and the downstream impact may be worst than the cross island line.

In handling my children, we practice delayed gratification when buying toys. The result is that we can test their desire and see if it is just fickle wish or is it a deep sense of interest to buy a certain toy. Delay getting angry may help because that will give us a clear mind to think of another solution.

So for the cross island line, it's not a small matter. It's more than a child's toy! Since we all live in this island, and this is our home, then we need to make very very careful choice. The choice to delay the cross island may land a hefty cost that takes two decades or even a quarter century to recoup. But a irreversible choice means a point of no return, just like a broken mirror.

Now back to making choices at home. To continue to let the poor relationship develop at home or to allow bad habits to form without making a decision to change is not a no choice situation. Instead, it's making a choice. If you are hoping the change to take place but don't do anything then the change you hope for will not come. Einstein called this insanity if you are hoping for change.

Why do I toggle between the national issue and family issue. The magnitude of impact may not be the same but it is still going to hurt someone.

Borrowing a thought from my wife: Let the desire of change spur the determination to change, and delight of seeing the change is not far from the corner.

No choice is a choice but at times you can change the choice.

"What we focus a lot more on is pattern design, colour and the story or feel behind each of our collection. ... we get it wrong a lot. Many of our designs are discarded before we settle on one. Every iteration leads us down new paths."

100% linen cheongsam; fully lined in matching 100% cotton voile

Cap sleeves, pink piping detail on waist with a concealed zipper on back

Pink fabric shank button details on chest and short mandarin collar

Photo credit: Habitatnews

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