Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Pinch of Sugar

My 6-year-old nephew was enjoying himself with the spread of scrumptious food in front of him, when joy turned into a mini crisis. His sudden cries shook our table and all of us turned our heads to see him crumbling into a pool of tears, when one second before he was still happily tucking into his food.

He had accidentally bitten on the steel fork which poked into his gum. Incidentally, the tooth that was affected was already shaking and threatening to come out since that morning – double whammy!

Kicking his feet and flailing his arms, my nephew screamed with pain, and tears gushed out as he cried endlessly. My cousin, his mother, was doing her best to console him, but nothing seemed to work. My sister and I were shocked, and as much as our brains were reeling to find a solution, they seemed to have gone for a short vacation - nothing came out.

Then, his dad suggested ice therapy to ease the pain. Immediately, my nephew’s eldest brother went to get it. Apparently, the ice left him, rather than the pain, cold. My nephew continued to cry hysterically.

I got more flustered.

In the midst of consoling and trying ways and means to distract his attention, my godpa sauntered over from the next table and said: “Give him some sugar.”

Sugar! That keyword immediately rang many bells - in my cousin, my sister and my mum’s heads.

That’s right! Sugar! My sister instantly recalled how my grandmother had once applied sugar on her lips when she fell and was bleeding. Sugar not only can help to stop bleeding, the sweetness is also a natural painkiller. Most importantly, kids love sugar, don’t they?

Without a moment to lose, my cousin-in-law sprinted away to get some sugar from a waitress. Then, I witnessed a moment of transformation – the second a pinch of sugar was placed at the affected area, the screaming softened to a mere sob. Shortly, this kid in pain stopped crying.

The adults in distress were all relieved. This episode showed me one thing – an elder is like a treasure chest. You never know when you can find a prize.

Parenting in this modern era has taken many turns since our parents’ days. As young fathers and mothers read up more about parenting, the gap between them and their own parents slowly widened.

No doubt knowledge is power, yet at the same time, nothing beats experience.

If you are a first time parent, often, it pays to hear some age-old wise advice from your parents, or even grandparents! They have many tricks up their sleeves passed down to them from their parents. Though these methods may not be acknowledged by western medical practitioners, they have been time tested for as long as decades! 

Just like that pinch of sugar.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The X “M” Factor

The boys ate sparingly during dinner, because they were saving their stomachs for a treat later.

Surprisingly, so did we – my sis and I.

Impatiently, we counted down to our planned supper as the clock ticked away. When the bill was called, the anticipation grew.

Finally, we arrived at the all-too-familiar place where we were greeted by the all-too-familiar Uncle Ronald McDonald with his big cheesy smile and wave.

Loading up on the burgers, fries, toys and desserts, we happily took off in our car and headed home. 

Everyone sat around the table and we started our supper party. As we eagerly tucked in the spread in front of us, memories of our dinner just thirty minutes ago were cleaned away as the crispy fries went down into our stomachs.

I sat there, eating my fries and couldn’t help thinking – why do kids love McDonald’s so much? And I realised that not only children love it, this fastfood restaurant has been with me throughout the years.

I remember how I used to hang around McDonald’s when I was an undergraduate. All my friends and I needed were an order of fries and Coke and we were good to stay there for 5 hours. 

I remember how McDonald’s was, by default, the breakfast place when I stayed up with my friends over a sleepless night – studying, playing mahjong or having a barbeque during my teenage years.

I remember how my eyes would light up each time I passed by McDonald’s when I was around 8 years old.

And now, McDonald’s is a place where I please my little nephews and nieces with the Happy Meal toys, those French fries, burgers and ice-creams.

McDonald’s is really not just a fastfood chain. It has been there in my generation, is here in this generation, and I believe, will continue to be here in more generations to come.
It is, as what my cousin puts it, the only food that we know is certainly safe to eat (in terms of food hygiene and taste) when we are overseas and everything look foreign.

I totally agree.

McDonald’s has kept up with its unique ability to continually attract people of all age groups. I call this their X “M” factor.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Paradox of Instant Communication

Even as the drama wasn’t yet into its second commercial break, talk about it has already begun – in Facebook, and maybe some other corners in cyberspace that I haven’t know of.

With wireless technology, it has brought one more vice onto the dining table. While we used to eat our dinner and watch TV at the same time, now multi-tasking means more than doing two things concurrently. If we can manage three, we go with it. 

Watching TV, surfing the net, eating, chatting with friends online and playing games (handheld PSP, online etc) – what else can you think of?

While this new generation of geeks (I mean, there has to be a certain level of aptitude to handle all these gadgets and integrate into each activity seamlessly, right?) feel that squeezing more tasks into one same minute is more productive, their appetite for efficiency overflows to speed in communication too.

They talk – in big and small sense, and they talk fast. 

The availability of internet has given a huge space for people to show their likes and dislikes. In the entertainment industry where consumers’ tastes and opinions are highly sought after, this new media has proven to be a bonus.

No longer is the painful wait for an artiste to see how the consumers are responding to a new song, drama or movie. But now that the comments are coming non-filtered and totally raw, can they take the awful ones? Would this be more agonising?

I guess it’s no longer their call. The internet is there like a big, bottomless hole, waiting to take in anything and give you back – ready or not to receive regardless.

Is this the paradox of fast and instant communication? Hmm …

And the drama that has been receiving the attention (and flak?) is none other than the one that reunites the reigning queens of Caldecott Hill - The Ultimatum on the first night of its run.

And all these bits and pieces of gossip, information and latest updates are not the sole territory of celebrities only. Normal people aren’t spared this attention too.

A friend was recently shocked to learn that he could be found on Google. With no memberships in social networking sites (Facebook, Friendster or MySpace, you name it, he’s not in it), no blogs and simply no place or corner to call his own in the cyberspace, how could his name crawl into this big web? It did, though by no means of his own effort.

Fortunately, friendly notes about this guy were made by his friends who deemed him worthy enough to be mentioned. But, imagine if the opposite were true. Quite a scary possibility, isn’t it?

The speed in the modern world of communication: is it here to make or break?