Thanks. I guess ultimately depends on individual child's character and development.  

Big karma to u Kezia. Thanks. 

thanks kezia. 
it was set as video audio so i changed it to pronunciation audio. 
can i ask if there's a quick way to check if all audios are selected as pronunciation audio? or i have to do the same for those that came up in LR?
big thanks!

Hi, I bought LR UK version recently. When I play the slides, especially during the multisensory part, for e.g. chicken (audio) -> photo of chicken with sound of chicken or description of chicken (audio) -> chicken in animation (no audio in this part???)
when i trialled the US version, there's audio or pronunciation in all animation slides, is the UK version different? I have 40BG free space and running windows XP (i think).
Thanks.

I am looking for some parenting advice here.

My friend has a 3 year old boy and a just turned one year old boy. She set up some rules in the house and if the rules are broken, she will put a strike on a chart, and once the child and mother are calm, they will talk about punishment. Example, couch is for sitting and for watching tv, if he jumps on the sofa, then he will get no tv for the day. She uses this system to teach manners and behaviors.

On the other hand, my sister implements a mr cane system. She said mr cane is another person that comes to discipline the child, and do not use your hands as you want to avoid the child fearing you. She said reward & punishment system doesn't work for her children age 5 and 6 because they would not understand the reasoning behind the punishment. She doesn't want to use the word "punishment" and just use yes or no so the children will understand. Her son has yet to read and recognize words and he is mentally younger compared to his age. She said use mr cane when young and the child is older then they can talk and reason about it.

What do you think? I am personally leaning towards the first system. How do you teach your child when he/she misbehave? What if they keep repeating it again and again? Please share your experience. Thanks

R: Russia 

Hi skylark,

Thanks for the advice. I'm really impressed that you didn't use diapers on your daughter and potty train from day 1!! It's amazing. At the moment, I'm potty training her (just the bowel) and most of the time she would open her bowel in the morning (in the potty) and then just urine in diaper the rest of the day. She could sit pretty well with support but not turning yet or crawling. My mom bought me lots of mamy poko diapers so most probably will let her wear cloth nappy during the day. There are so many different brands out there. The bamboo ones seems to take a long while to dry. I've looked around and Grovia seems to be the easiest to use. The ones given to us are pocket cloth nappies, not sure if its easy to use. using cloth nappies full time could cost a lot approx $500, I would like to have a go on the second one next time (hopefully our finances are much stable then),

in australia, huggies is the 'top' brand, it is pretty good, absorbs pretty well and minimal leakage.
i have tried target, woolworths select and also baby love.
mamy poko brand (from malaysia or singapore) is the 'best' brand as it can absorbs very well (a lot) and can last long hours and still remain dry. baby love seems to be similar to mamy poko.
depends which country you are in, you have different 'top' brands. if you are in australia, i highly recommend you to go to baby expo (once a year) and you will receive different diaper samples and you could try on bub. it depends on the bub's butt size as well.
i have looked into cloth diaper, it cost a lot initially but long term, it saves a lot and it's much better for baby (no chemicals etc). also, they can last very long (reusable for the next bub too).
i plan to change miss R to cloth nappies (have a few given to us) at 6 months when she starts taking solids. i am just worried that since i do laundry every 2 days that the cloth nappies (we have 5-6) won't last and won't dry fast enough. if that happens, i may buy more.
to prevent nappy rash, initially (1-2 months) i changed her diaper every 3-4 hours regardless if it's full. if her skin starts getting red, i applied sudocream on the area and it soothes it. a good practice is too use a warm wet cloth to wipe the area during each nappy change and give the bub some nappy free time as well. there are many organic baby balm (e.g. only papaya) for nappy rash in the market - check out those that contains chamomile, calendula and pawpaw.   

Hi skylark, thanks for the advice. All of you have been very helpful. It's a great forum! Can I please ask when did u start LR? From what age? Did u follow the curriculum strictly? Thanks

Hi BTBVEN, thanks for the tips. I'm going to get LR deluxe after reading so many good feedbacks. I will definitely look into the others recommended. I am going to take it slowly, one at a time otherwise I don't know where to start.

MarthaT, thanks for the welcome. This forum is really great and I am sure I will get lots of information! Hope to contribute one day as well.

I had a baby girl 4.5 months and I ask my husband for another one when she was about 2-3 months. I want to have another one quickly so I can raise both together and they can have company. Also I can get over the sleepless nights all together. But he refused, initially he was adamant to stop at one only (as I have a few post-natal health issues), and after lots of begging and discussions, he is now happy to try for another one next year. I raised up a few issues such as she looks exactly like you and I want to have one that looks like me (irrational), what if we both died and she's all alone in the world as she has no siblings (we have 3 siblings each so I'm sure he understands) to my health issue that I want to have one sooner in case anything happens etc.

For me, I feel that he cannot refuse me without a good reason as I'm the one going through the pain & aches of pregnancy and sleepless nights. He told me that he has to focus on finances and also my health. I have read on the news how the arrival of a set of triplets broke up a happy marriage. So we discussed and agreed to stop at 2 (I wanted 3 to 4 kids). We will evaluate our circumstances again when the time comes. There are a lot to think about.

I agreed with BTBVEN that having one child is practical and the ability to give him/her the best. Khatty's points of having a larger family and the joy of having a newborn is great. There's really no right or wrong answer.

Hi Kezia,

Thanks for the clarification. It helps a lot. 

Thanks Kimberley and mandab for the reassurance. I feel much better now.    I will get the LR deluxe next week (when hubby is out working) and go from there. He is taking care of Miss R these days. He showed her LR a few times a day (at least 3 times) and he said she's not interested anymore, she prefers to watch twinkle twinkle star on YouTube. I think I will stop LR for a few days and see. I'm worried what if I get the full version and she doesn't like it? Will it go to waste?

Kimberley, thanks for the information on gymbaroo. We have to see what's our budget like. We are trying to save for a house at the moment, hopefully will get one in a few months. It's great to see that LR is helping the children in EL. I truly believe that early years are utmost important for future development.   I am working part time at the moment so thinking of getting LR deluxe which comes with everything. If I have time I would definitely get a laminator as I'm planning to have more children.    kids are just wonderful. Love them.

Mandab, thanks. I will take things slowly, start with LR then slowly expand. There are just too many products/programs for EL nowadays making me so confused. little musician is on my wishlist now, please let me know if the French curriculum works for older kids. If they learn a new language at such a young age, and not speak or write the language for a few years, will they still know the language? I wonder.

thanks for the reply.

kimberley, when did you expose your kids to LR and LM? did you follow the curriculum and showed them flashcards as well? any other things that you do? what about gymbaroo? when to start? for chinese and french, did you go for brillkids products too? please forgive me for asking so many questions. i am a first time mom and my husband doesn't think LR is worth the price. i am doing the trial and i really hope he could see some good in LR for baby R and let me buy it. thank you.

Mandabplus3, hi. how is little musician wonderful? i am not into music and we don't play music much in the house. i am trying to expose baby R to classical music now (hope it's not too late). when did you expose your kids to LR? any other things that you do? please advise. thanks.

i hope i'm not too late to start my baby into reading. i am reading books to her most days (when i'm not working, i work 2 days a week), play with her and try talking and singing to her whenever i can. i hope to bring her to library next month for story-telling session. i looked into gymbaroo and may start her when she's a bit older. am i on the right track? there's so many programs like YCCR, monkisee etc, i just don't know where to start.

Hi all,

I am a mother of a 4.5 months old baby R in perth, australia. Like most of you here, I want to start teaching her to read, math, languages etc. Initially i was looking at early learning centres practising Reggio Emilia philosophy, Gymbaroo etc, and then I came across Brillkids. 

I believe Little Reader works for many parents. What are your say in this?
If your child/children starts reading early, how do they fit in school?
Does your child/children goes/go to public or private school in Australia? or homeschool?
Is there anyone from Perth?
i noticed there are not much discussions anymore, are the parents in Australia doing other early learning for kids?

Please share. thanks.