Pam's Blog (Life, Marriage & Parenting)

Blessed & Happy Lunar New Year to all! This holiday has been enjoyable and a little too long for me as I was on medical leave last Thursday and company was off on Friday so I had a grand total of six non-working days.  :x This year is the last year that I will be celebrating the Chinese New Year as a single.  For the past 2 days, I have been visiting relatives with Nat.  For some reason, this New Year felt different from the recent years.   Upon arriving at adulthood, I always question why do I have to celebrate the occasion.  (Just for your information, my nuclear family do not do much house visiting but we do have our usual reunion dinner.)  Therefore, to me, the CNY holiday is a time for me to enjoy with friends or alone.  Before I embarked on my house visiting this year, there was some inertia for me to urge myself to go around meeting people I do not know (or hardly know).  As an introvert, sometimes I'm not sure how to begin...

Mr Low's response to the Population White Paper. ~ I'm sure many of my fellow Singaporeans felt some unhappiness after reading through the White Paper or even by simply hearing the phrase that our population will surge to 6.9 million in 2030.  As for myself, I worry about the future.  My parents are old and they are still working really hard.  They have concerns about their healthcare costs and do not know how long more they can work.  As their only child, I really hope that one day I can support them financially but I am uncertain about when I can afford to do so.  Like many other twenty somethings, I have to work, pay for bills/household expenses and part-time studies loan etc.  As I am soon entering the next important stage of my life - marriage, I foresee that there will be plenty of challenges ahead. I do think that as a Singaporean, we need to be concerned with our state affairs as we are directly affected by the policies in place.  I used...

If you think that The Workers' Party is not doing enough, read this: Opposition Intellectual Disconnects . Pam

Yesterday evening I met the happiest 3 year old.  She has  Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency & Epilepsy which is a very complex condition.  Despite what the parents are going through, they are very positive and are doing everything they can to provide for her.  I feel so blessed to have met them and wish the family well. What I have learnt from them is that if I am blessed with a special child (in the future), I will do everything to provide for him/her no matter what.  :)

My response to MOE to scrap banding of secondary schools.  You may read about it here .   Personally I welcome the move to scrap the banding of secondary schools. I used to live beside a neighbourhood secondary school which accepted students with a specific range of PSLE aggregate score for their express stream. As I fell below the requirement, I had to go to a school that is further away (which teaches exactly the same syllabus). Since I used to study in a secondary school which accepted students with a lower PSLE aggregate score in their express stream, while some other secondary schools with 'higher academic standing' would have placed me in their normal academic stream, what good does it do to a student who shares a similar experience as myself? Was it to help the school achieve certain awards? And why do secondary schools have to be in competition?   Pam

"During the Committee of Supply (COS) debate on MOE in parliament in March this year, I had made a call to allow parents to opt out of the PSLE when I presented a proposal for primary to secondary through-train schools." - NCMP Yee Jenn Jong's blog Do you think PSLE should be scrapped? Pam Petite

Watch this if you have not.. :) Love, Pam Petite