Outdoorsy term break

We started this term break with Yang's shot put. Then it was Kai's NSI chess on Monday and Tuesday - this time, he went on his own so no photos. He got 6/9, same as last year. Placing was similar too but at a higher percentile given a larger turnout this year.

So it was on Wednesday that we managed to do something together, five of us - we headed to the pool!

Fave activity - Papa boat

This was at Clementi. I woke up that morning remembering that pools are closed once a week for cleaning. Indeed, Delta pool is closed every Wednesday! Lucky!

But no sheltered pool at Clementi so it was hot hot hot! At least the water was warm for a good swim? Got the kids to do laps before they could play with water. Kai and Yu stopped at six laps while Yang finished 10 laps, woohoo! Later coz Kai was too free, we got him to do another two laps.

When they looked too free again, aka disturbing each other too much, I got them to race each other. And guess what? They all swam continuously instead of stopping a bit here and there so they CAN do it!

Yang was in the lead but I think Kai saw that and swam harder! In the end, Kai won, then Yang followed by Yu then Papa. Of course Papa started later and slowed down along the way :p

That was the shallower pool. Later, they also went to the deep pool for a while. No playing allowed there so we left after a while.

Then it looked like it was going to rain so we left earlier than planned. In the end, it rained while we were having our late lunch/early dinner at Swensen's Unlimited at Geneo. Last we went there, it also rained...

What a lovely sundae!

Banana split!

Sito helped him cut the banana. He was very pleased until he realised he couldn't finish it. He had saved the strawberry for the last as it was his fave - and he didn't eat it :(

Papa's sundae, with Yu photo-bombing

Kai didn't make a sundae; he just ate and ate. My sundae wasn't pretty but my pulut hitam with ondeh ondeh ice cream was very yummy :)

Yu found claw machines in a corner of the restaurant. They convinced Papa to let them buy tokens to play as they brought their wallet with them. Kai didn't want to play so he helped them analysed the chances of getting a toy for each machine. 

Yu caught one!

We had wanted to go jogging on Thursday but the haze was quite bad that morning. So we went on Friday. It was very hot!

Found a throwing circle!

It must have been part of a school years back and very old. The track was tarmac and cracked, not the rubbery red thing. Sito brought Yang and Yu here a few weeks ago; Kai was at a chess tournament or not well - can't remember. So this was the first time for Kai and me.

Yang ran one round as warm-up and started practising shot put with Papa - Papa is both chess papa and shot put papa! Kai did six rounds with a few water breaks whenever he ran past me. Yu did two rounds. They all have NAPFA this year! 

Yu also tried shot put but the 3kg ball was too heavy for him. I also found it heavy, goodness. My Yang Yang is so strong!

Our next stop was Tanglin Halt hawker centre. After just a slice of toast before we went out, the kids had beehoon for brunch. Sito had mee and I had porridge from the same yummy stall. Unfortunately, the youtiao stall was closed for a week...

We then took a walk in Sheng Siong and bought some snacks and groceries. By the time we got home, half the day was gone! The kids didn't want lunch but they had their usual afternoon snack.

I took a nap due to a headache, probably induced by the tight hairband in the morning. But now I'm not too sure as I have a slight headache and a few blobs of green mucous this morning. Let it not be sinusitis...

Anyway, we went out for an early dinner at Le Shrimp and bought some baking stuff at Redman. Then it was movie night! But Sito started sniffling quite a bit at Redman and went to lie down early. I was thirsty from Le Shrimp and had a beer while the kids were snacking. I offered them beer and Kai said they were all underaged, hahaha!

And now it's our regular weekend. This term break is extended as it's Hari Raya Puasa today and the schools are making it up on Monday. But no plans to head out on Monday. Just let them do revision and play Nintendo as usual.

Throwing with all your might!

Yang participated in his first track and field meet on Saturday, first day of term break.

He was quite nervous. He had all of one shot put training session on Monday, with zero prior experience, so he likened it to going for prelims without doing papers, hahahaha! Ah well, he seemed to have thrown decently well based on the video the coach sent Sito.

Sito has been in contact with the coach but he hurt his foot during a jog on Tuesday. So I brought Yang to the meet. It was at Home of Athletics. Due to Circle Line works, we took three trains via Botanic Gardens and Promenade to get to Stadium station. Yang did his maths - time spent on trains was shorter than if we had taken the Circle Line all the way to Stadium. Even after factoring in transfers and waiting time, it was still a shorter commute.

Anyway, our first time there. Took me a while to find the place. We were early. Stood in the shade outside the changing room while waiting for instructions via WhatsApp. The place was nice and clean, a far cry from the grimy sports days I remember from my school days.

Eventually we found Yang's trainer, a Sec 4 boy wearing an Oldham Athletics tee, who took him for warm-up at the sheltered bus stop. A coach - not his shot put coach - came by later and gave him his bib.

It was very hot!

He reported to the call room - a tent, really - while I waited at the spectator area nearest the tent since it was out of bounds to non-athletes. Then the group was led to the shot put area, rather far from me. I saw three or four parents going in but I refused to show my kid such 臭款 behaviour!

I didn't have time to take a photo of Yang before he had to report for his event. So when he came out for a pee break, I tried to get him but he said he gotta go.

So I got this sweet 回眸一笑

The shot put area is on the right edge of the photo. Really far. There were two other boys in yellow tee but they were smaller in built :p Yang was one of the largest boys there. 

They had a few practice throws before the actual throws. I sat near the call room until it was time for shot put and went to the front just behind the barrier. It was quite crowded by then as heats for 80m dash were ongoing but those were very quick so parents kept moving.

I totally missed his first throw as I was fumbling with the video zoom while managing my umbrella! So pissed at myself that I closed the brolly totally and waited under the blazing sun for his next two throws! Yes, kena minor sunburn on my neck but thankfully only there as the sun was behind me.

I managed to take videos of his next two shots! But his second throw was a foul as he stepped over the line. So he was cautious in his third throw and did an anyhow throw instead of his usual stance.

And he throws!

At first, Yang thought he came in last. But turned out that he heard his distance wrongly! His first throw was the best at 5.04m vs. third at 4.10m. He came in 18 of of 21. Not last, woohoo!

Sito said his throw was at about the 60th percentile of 2025 NSG. And he did this with one training session and his natural advantage in built. So with some training, he can surely improve! We bought a 3kg shot put ball which arrived last night. It is small but feels really heavy. My baby is very strong!

Finally a shot before he changed!

We left after he changed his pants - he feels like he's not wearing anything in his PE pants, haha! - and bade goodbye to his trainer. I gave him a homemade sausage bun on our way back to the train station. It was already four hours since lunch!

We chatted while walking. Earlier, when I told him that many kids would be competing for the first time, I meant it in general. Now he told me many of the shot put boys had practised for months on end. Big oops... 

Anyway, we took the train to Clementi via Promenade and Bugis to meet the rest of the family. He got very tired and leaned on me for much of the way... But he was alert again at the library! Even told us about the story of Eighteen Chefs and we eventually went there for dinner.

After the meet, he still thought it was stressful to compete, with so many people looking at him. But I think after this first experience, he realised only his fellow competitors would see him up close. Spectators were far away and parents all looked at their own child. In fact, I wanted to cheer for him (but he told me not to) but couldn't as he was so far away...

Finally, last night before he went to bed, he told me that now that he thought about it, he felt quite good about the competition. So happy to hear him say that! :)

Update 17 Mar 2026

Just saw from PG that he has been selected to represent the school at NSG in term 2! So happy for him that he has something apart from PSLE to mark his final year in primary school :)

A stupid thing, and hopefully a lesson learnt

On Friday, 13 February, Kai's Chinese HOD called me to inform me about a case of leakage of WA questions/answers from the Wednesday batch to the Thursday batch.

Someone in the Thursday batch said Kai was involved. So she approached Kai on Friday morning to ask for a written statement on the matter. Kai wrote a note admitting that he gave the questions and answers to his friend S who was in the Thursday batch. She told me she was surprised at his honesty. But I said honesty had nothing to do with leaking the answers *.*

Anyway, she said many students were involved and the school would conduct its investigation before updating me on the consequences.

We asked Kai about it when he reached home. He told only S who didn't give him away. But Kai heard that another boy mentioned his name somehow. Ah well, he did it so let's just wait for sentencing...

Yesterday, the teacher in charge of exams matter called me to follow up on this. Kai would get (a) zero for that Chinese WA, and (b) a "fair" conduct grade possibly for the year rather than the semester. There were other cases outside of the Kai-S loop and those students would also get zero. Kai also learnt about this yesterday, and had to write a reflection letter.

When he came home, he told us he got 24/30 for his Chinese WA, top in class tied with this boy whom he thought was a good kid. But it would be reflected as zero. He also said some boys got off with a warning. We think teachers probably didn't have evidence that they were involved. Unlike my kid and his friend who had traceable evidence on the school laptop and Google account - he told us yesterday that he and S wrote the answers in a Google doc...!!!! Really 🤦‍♀️ 

Actually, we were not harsh on him when we first knew about it last month. Only told him to not do such things anymore. Why? This kind of thing has been happening since forever. I remember people sharing "tips" in secondary school. I found it unfair that my classmates who often didn't do as well as me, got tips to score better; whether they really did score better with the tips was not important. But in the first place, why do such tests take place on different days?? There would naturally be big mouths or pressure to share when a friend asked.

I asked Kel. He said something to the effect of not disrupting timetable by taking a week out for WA, leaving it to the integrity of students and taking the chance to correct kids if anyone should cheat. I feel like it's setting the kids up.. Or, some kids. Like mine. Who "helped" a friend. Who in the end still did badly though he passed; he failed Chinese last year.

Fine, I think Kai really needs to learn. No better time to learn than when he's still a kid.

But when we heard about the Google doc, Sito really scolded him - for being stupid on top of doing something wrong that did not benefit him or his intended beneficiary.

We accepted the consequence meted out by the school without contest since Kai really did something wrong. Rather he learn this lesson now than later. This is only Sec 2 and for internal exams, and the penalties are, in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential. 

But for a kid in school, these penalties are painful. And the zero was even more painful coz he scored so well. Also, with that conduct grade, he would not be able to get an Edusave award even if he continues to do well like last year. He likes his money :p

So yes, very painful. We really hope he would remember this pain and the lesson, and know what to do and what not to do in future.

Anyway, we made it clear that he should not give - or receive - answers. He has already proven to himself that he can do well all on his own merit. If this happens again, we would not be so kind. And of course, no stupid business, please!

We also shared this with the brothers with his knowledge. We can learn from each other's mistakes. This is called 前车之鉴。

Joining in the TFR talk

Recent news of TFR hitting a new low made me reach for the spreadsheets again!

The overall direction of the TFR trend (downwards) is indisputable but I already talked about how the actual TFR number needs to be taken with a pinch of salt - here. Quick recap, TFR is affected by numerators on number of babies and denominators on number of women; some years with an increase of resident babies do not have a corresponding increase in resident TFR.

Today, I want to look at births vs. immigration coz we have taken to importing people when we don't produce enough.

Overall, the number of Singapore citizen (SC) births had been declining for the past six years after a slight uptake between 2018 and 2019 (+1.3%). The latest decline between 2024 and 2025 was the worst at -10.4% since 2001 (-12.5% from 2000).

So 20-30y later, we won't have enough local workers. At this rate, native SC population will start to shrink at some point.

But fear not, we can import new SCs! Ready made workers! SC pop won't shrink (as much?)!

The SC population as at end June 2025 was of an older profile compared to the new SCs granted in 2024. In particular, the two largest groups of new SCs are at the prime working ages of 31-40yo and up to 20yo, probably children of the former. This should be the case since immigration is meant to augment the young and the working population. 

Note: The age group categories are different for the SC pop data and for the new SC data, but no choice, those were the only data I could find. But close enough to compare.

But what is the impact of immigration on TFR? Does it really help?

Firstly, I was curious about the TFR among the new SCs. If I assume the new SC children were all born in 2024 and that 50% of those aged 21y and above were women of childbearing age, their "TFR" would be a ghastly 0.85 in 2024, lower than local TFR of 0.97 in the same year. But the first assumption is not sound and the second also dubious. So maybe look at the number of added births rather than TFR. But before that, I want to look at correlation between TFR and SC population.

I plotted TFR against SC pop, new SCs granted and a derived variable assuming no new SCs from 2007, created by subtracting new SCs granted from 2007 onwards (that's the first available number) from the SC pop each year. 

Now, I'm departing from facts to inference. 

Visually, there seems to be some correlation between the increase in all SC numbers and the decrease in TFR. It's probably maths as highlighted in my previous post. 

But - visually again - TFR seems to decrease more in recent years, when the delta between SC pop and SEC pop less new SCs becomes greater. Dare I propose that besides maths, this also suggests that new SCs have a lower propensity for children? But then again, many may come here already parents so they don't add to the TFR. If they conform to local norms, they are unlikely to have more children than the average SC. So I guess that brings me back to number of added births.

By added births, I'm referring to how the new SC kids add to local birth cohorts of previous years. 

Since it takes time for a foreigner to become a PR and then an SC, I assume the new SC children are at least 5yo and they are evenly spread across the ages. So the annual average of 6,600 kids since 2012 (when age data were available) covers 15 years of births or 440 per year. Let's call these births "newfound births".

As we get new SCs every year, each cohort of new SCs bring 440 newfound births in each of the first 15 of the past 20y. This means:

• In 2021-2025, there are no newfound births from the new SCs granted in 2025.
• In 2020, there were only newfound births from the 2025 cohort of new SCs, i.e. 440.
• In 2019, there were only newfound births from the 2024-2025 cohorts of new SCs, i.e. 440 x2. 
• Thus, in 2006, there were 440 x 15 = 6,600 newfound births from the 2011-2025 cohorts of new SCs combined.

6,600 represents a 20.7% increase in the number of SC births in 2006! I thought that was significant. 

So to answer my earlier question, I think immigration can bolster our low TFR but only if we're selective about it. 

A similar calculation can show that new SCs of working age can be considered newfound births decades ago and are useful to augment our current working pop. But as we have a greater dearth of births recently, it is more worthwhile getting new SCs who already have children to augment our current younger pop and future working pop. Bonus: These children will grow up like native SCs. 

Conversely, it's not worthwhile getting new SCs who do not have children at the point of being granted new SCs because they will likely conform to local norms, i.e. not likely to have many children, if at all.

Of course, don't add to our ageing pop!

The other part of the TFR discussion is on increasing local births. I feel like this is another discussion altogether. Maybe next time..

References:

• New SCs before 2012: Population in Brief, NPTD 
• All other data generated in early March 2026: DOS search by theme

Lunar eclipse on 元宵节

Some weeks back, Yu read about an observatory in an English passage. So Sito told him about the one in our Science Centre and found that there would be a lunar eclipse on 元宵节！

After checking with the boys, we booked the tickets for four of us; Kai opted out and decided to go to Bishan for chess instead. The event was super popular. We booked the day after booking opened and all the shows were sold out! Nvm, we got the free tickets instead. But later, Sito found that they released a new show timing so we quickly booked that, yeah!

First, we had dinner at Ikea. There was a Ramadan special - rendang chicken, so good and so worth it compared to Yu's meatball pasta haha! The kids didn't eat as much as expected coz they had too much snacks after lunch! Sito and I had a lot of chicken...

Then we walked out to find that it was raining! Luckily we had two brollies, enough for four of us. Rain, a lack of brollies and that Science Centre junction are not a good combination in our experience...

The Science Centre was very crowded! We made our way to the omni theatre for the lunar eclipse show. It was only 20 min but it was also only $4 each. And it was a very good live show! Learnt a lot, got to see moon and planetary orbits, sun and a simulated eclipse. But gosh, wanted to puke so much 🤮

All ready to learn about lunar eclipses!

Sito said I was the most excited coz I was leaning forward the whole time. Well, I was excited but I leaned forward to avoid the tip of a foot from the seat behind!

It was a mess when we came out. No more rain but there were people and queues everywhere. Not sure where to queue for the telescope, we asked a few staff and got some snacks in between :p In the queue, we finished the snacks - mostly glutinous rice-based. Yang had three of the four mini egg tarts!

But Yu had a problem - he pulled the event registration ribbon wrist band to tight. We had a hard time finding a pair of scissors. At one point, Sito almost lifted Yu out of the barricades! Almost coz Yu is really quite heavy... My poor heart was pounding hard for both Yu and Sito's back as I was further in the queue with Yang...

Eventually, Sito got a guy to get a pair of scissors. Yang also had his cut. I wonder why they used such a contraption instead of the usual paper sticker wrist band that won't tighten.

Anyway, we were in the queue for maybe 30min. It really looked impossible as it was hardly moving and time was running. In the end, Sito pulled out the live stream on his phone. Then we left.

Full eclipse had passed by then...

At first we thought we were in the first half of the queue. But by the time we saw the queue extending to outside the Science Centre, gosh, we were probably in the first third of the queue.. I asked a staff on our way out and he said this was exceptional! Today, news reported that more than 6,000 people signed up! 

Since it's 元宵节 haha!

Kids were holding parents' ribbons. Made them throw them away when we got to the malls. Bought some curry roux and karaage at Donki before going home. The boys were getting tired but after showering, they didn't seem as tired... Anyway, off to bed!

Oh, we saw a partial eclipse after crossing the zebra crossing downstairs. Tail end already. Later, we saw it from our corridor too. Made me wonder - could we have seen the full eclipse at home?! Then again, the live show narrator said it would be low on the horizon so it could be blocked... Anyway, the trip was good fun! We seldom or have never been out late on a school night?! 

Kai came home later - he won the tournament like he did last week but this time, he gave his book prize to a friend who was there. He didn't eat much of the karaage so Sito and I finished it - we really had a lot of chicken that day!

One last (?) ride

After the grand celebrations for Founders' Day on Thursday, Friday was a rest day for everyone, i.e. no school! With our Legoland annual pass expiring on the Tuesday of the March term break when Kai would have his second day of chess NSI, Friday was our last non-weekend chance for us to use our pass.

The bus from Bukit Panjang was less crowded than our previous trips, even the one school day trip Sito and I took. The whole journey was very smooth. Left the house just past 8am and got past JB checkpoint by 9.40am - our earliest ever. Coming back was equally smooth - we left JB checkpoint just past 7pm and reach HV MRT by 8.45pm via Kranji. In fact, the bus at JB checkpoint was waiting for passengers!

We wonder why - was it due to Ramadan??

No surge pricing for our Grab ride to Legoland. Less crowd, good weather. And since the weather was good and we were hungry, we had a little brunch at Jubilee's Nanyang Coffee at Medini Mall. We were careful not to overeat - don't puke on the rollercoasters!

We ordered four sets of kaya butter toast (oooh the thick slab of butter!), two sets of half-boiled eggs, one spaghetti, one mee siam, two milo dino, one coke, one kopi and one barley. Guess who had what :p

Standard uniform for the boys :p

Took the above using my new selfie stick tripod. Didn't use the tripod function as the floor was wet from a night-morning rain. But it's still worth a mention coz I used the bluetooth remote control. I was very pleased with this new toy :)

While Sito went to the rollercoasters with Kai and Yang, I accompanied Yu on his Ninjago conquests. No queue at all just about everywhere. Only a few PRC/Korean families besides us. It was just like our early trips when Kai was still in preschool and we could go on regular days.

Top, second and fourth - all Yu!

He's so big now :)

Spent an hour racing!

It was a good break from the midday sun. And the races were fun with these fancy tracks and proper cars made from bricks of various shapes and sizes, vs. the old race room with only rectangular bricks.

Stepped out of one aircon place into the next - observation tower. Checked out the solar panels and "bushes" and the big Legoland sign. Which kid said it was like Hollywood?

And came down just nice for "Officer in Pursuit!"

Why this Yu so cool??

Went back to the Ninjago/Egyptian area to play more but we didn't let them go into the ball pit playground - that one sucks a lot of time!

Two teams this time!

Of course, Kai and Yang won. The staff directed us to the live show. Not our first or even second time but it was nice to watch. While accompanying Yang to the toilet to wash his bottle cap that he dropped, I found the popcorn kiosk open. The staff said we could bring popcorn to the show so I bought one - still warm!

Happy in front row with popcorn

Yu doesn't know why he showed his palm. Kai's gesture means ✌️ but instead of putting it behind a brother's head, he used his thumb to direct it to them instead!! Don't know what logic...

We didn't take the big train in the end as it was getting late... But must take another family shot using our tripod!

Never sick of this pose in front of the Singapore Flyer

Sito still has the 2019 version as his phone wallpaper! How they have grown...

Took a boat ride. While there was no queue, there were also very few boats. The kids got on three. There were only two others - one was just coming in to fetch another small kid for the ride while the other one was overtaken by our three boys... So Sito and I gave up waiting for a boat 🤷‍♀️ 

Candy floss bigger than their heads!

Can bury face inside, hahaha!

And so we left Legoland on a sweet note... Will we ever return? We shall see...

Bought some buns and candy at BIG before hitting the malls. Standard - foot massage + phone games, dinner at Zanmai Sushi, Ming Ang. Also checked out a mini pasar near the bridge and I ended up with a cup of cheese lekor for supper :p Also bought a new Tupperware water bottle for Yang - 750ml so that he has more water on CCA days.

That ended our excursion. No more such excursions for the boys this year as we prepare for Yang's PSLE!