Immanuel's Stories

Charles Png

Description

What is it like to be the second child in the family?

How do boys behave among their own brothers?

Can we love each of our children differently?

Immanuel's Stories covers the life of Immanuel in the first 3 years of his life – his conflicts, likes and loves. It is also the second book in the series of three books aimed at highlighting the importance of fathers in society.

Immanuel's Stories will set us thinking about the roles we play as fathers and parents. It relates an approach to design the life that we want for our kids and for our families.

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Parentalité et Éducation des Enfants
• Parentalité
• Parentalité
• Parentalité
• Inspiration
• personal Growth

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 17 mars 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456628338
• Langue: English

Extrait

Immanuel’s Stories
Fatherhood for the Second Time

Dr Charles Png
Copyright © 2017 by Dr Charles Png
ISBN 978-981-11-2773-1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.
Cover Design and Typeset by: Rank Digital Publishing
Printed in Singapore
 
 
To Germaine, whom I love deeply as my wife, lover, educator and mother of my 3 sons
Contents
Preface
Play it like Immanuel
Empathy – stones and shoes
Sincerity in a message
Rushing to your tombstone
Valuing Opinions
It’s a Mouse Life
Moving House
Engaging Grandparents
Engaging Godparents
Snatch Toys
Precisely the Computer Tab
Quiet sleep
Cold Storage
Incessant Eating
Food in Melbourne
Ill-fated Jab
The Postman’s Problem
Happiness Redefined
Reality and Imagination
Reading’s a Pleasure
Babbling Bubbles
Endearment
How Spicy is your Faith?
Experiment Continuously
The School of Knocks
Deciding to be with them
What have we discovered today?
What a Difference!
Gender Mix
Aeroplane or Helicopter
I am Different
‘Too much’
The Cross to Bear and the Scratch
A Bout of Sickness Changes Everything
The Thankless Task
The Third Changes Everything
Playing with others
Conflict Management
What would you have observed?
A Helper Can Genuinely Help
Taking a break for love
Whining turns to Winning with Words.
Enjoying Play-Doh with ang ku kuay
Without my brother, I can too
The CD effect
The Pokemon Affect
Humorous Streak
The Cheer Giver
Curiosity Almost Killed the Cat
Are we loving enough?
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Preface
When I wrote First-Time Fathers: Wisdom from Isaiah , I was feeling grateful and thankful to God for having given me a wonderful son. When I started writing Immanuel’s Stories , I was feeling somewhat apologetic for having a second child and not really appreciating him.
This is not a book of repentance but rather stories about Immanuel, my second son, and how much I have learnt from him. When God has gifted you with two children, you ask yourself if you have the resources, capacity, and ability to stretch yourself even more. Having two boys can be a handful, but I have discovered that we are often given more than we initially thought.
This book is about fathers and the significant role that they play in our lives. Fathers not just lead in our families; they also show the face of resilience, perseverance, and consciousness that I see in my own father. Fathers model the way and set that wonderful example for their sons.
With repentance comes the realisation that I am forgiven. With relief comes the admission that I can do better. I received a second chance at fatherhood. I am influenced by philosophers and how they speak the truth about our lives which have enriched my Christian beliefs.
Play it like Immanuel
It was difficult to impress this little guy. He walked one week after his first birthday and started to baby talk quite a bit after his fourteenth month. He did not really like my company until much later in the fifteenth month, and that was after I’d spent more than two weeks in Melbourne playing with him. The one game that broke the ice was him assuming the role of the horse rider. He enjoyed climbing over my back when I was lying on the floor, and he liked the fact that he was climbing over my back and bouncing on me. I was the horse, and he was the rider. Of course, I enjoyed that he wanted me to be his horse.
He was also the one child who loved climbing over tables, chairs, and sofas. He wanted to go onto a higher plane just to catch a glimpse of a toy or an animal in the zoo. He really liked climbing, and he learnt quickly from Isaiah, his older brother of three years. In fact, he very much wanted to model after his bigger brother, Isaiah. We were a little tentative about allowing him to climb a tree trunk or a ladder. He was agile and much steadier in terms of his footing. A little more cautious, he would be surer in his footing before he attempted the move. He would also tend to follow in the steps of his older brother, much to our amusement. Such was the joy that play gave to him, and we were happier for it.
Were you to live three thousand years, or even a countless multiple of that, keep in mind that no one ever loses a life other than the one they are living, and no one ever lives a life other than the one they are losing – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.14
Empathy – stones and shoes
Each time Isaiah goes to the beach, he takes off his shoes. He then moves towards an area where there are shells to pick them up. Immanuel follows Isaiah’s example and just like an empathetic response, he would also take off his shoes and follow in his brother’s footsteps.
If we are to walk in the shoes of others, can we simply take off our shoes and walk in new pairs or our partner’s pairs?
Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is coloured by such impressions – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.16
Sincerity in a message
Children can see whether you are sincere in your efforts to play with them. Often times, Immanuel and Isaiah to tell us to put our IPHONES away when we are engaging with them. At such a young age, they can communicate this simple message of staying true to them and making sure we provide them with undivided attention.
What’s our level of sincerity when it comes to giving our attention to others?
We debated and argued about how we would spell “Immanuel” or “Emmanuel”? We went to see a priest to see what the bible says. In the end, his response was that it was up to us, so long as we understood what it meant. That is sincerity in a message – he wanted us to know that to argue over this was silly because either word would have the desired result.
There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the torrent of circumstance there can be no happiness – Epictetus, Discourses, 3.14.8
Rushing to your tombstone
Patience is the mother of virtue. There were many times when my patience caused me to miss out on the golden opportunities that life presents. On one such occasion, we were driving in search of a beach in Melbourne near to Mornington to watch the sunset. As I was beginning to feel tired and sleepy, I wanted to stop the car and head out for dinner. I was very impatient in looking out for the colourful beachside houses alongside the beaches of Melbourne. The beautiful beaches of Melbourne was missed because I was more preoccupied by the heat of the summer.