New love for outdoors

Dennis Chan Straits Times 9 Oct 11;

The many ways parents think up to entertain their kids can fill a tome, I grumbled to my wife while fanning myself hard with a flimsy flyer for a bubble tea kiosk at Plaza Singapura.

For someone who disliked queues and crowded places, it was a wonder I found myself outside Dhoby Ghaut MRT station with Lu Yee and our daughters, Yanrong and Yanbei, on a humid morning at the tail end of a queue that snaked in the direction of Raffles City before doubling back to the Istana gates 100m or so away.

As Mr S R Nathan was hosting his last Open House as President to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri, and since none of us had seen the inside of the Istana, Lu Yee thought it would be a nice occasion to experience our first Open House.

We were not disappointed. The queue moved along briskly and we found ourselves on the Istana grounds after a short wait. Although we did not see Mr Nathan, we had a great time.

From the moment we cleared the security check, the children dashed about on the sprawling grounds.

They gamely climbed trees, safely, I hasten to add, as these had thick branches that were low enough to pacify a batophobe, or someone who has a fear of being near tall objects.

As the early years of Singapore figured prominently in Yanrong's social studies syllabus this year, we trooped over to the spot where the famous statue of Queen Victoria stood. But there was little history to be gleaned from there.

'Did the Queen ever step foot on Singapore?' I wondered aloud.

The girls weren't interested in my question. They had taken a fancy to a very popular Istana visitor - a friendly donkey that was on loan from the zoo for the day - and wanted to spend more time at its makeshift pen to pet the animal.

Thanks to them, I'm seeing a lot more of a side of Singapore that I did not see previously or had wanted to see.

Before the kids came along, award-winning nature and conservation haunts such as Chek Jawa and Treetop Walk were simply names of places that other people were welcome to visit.

My wife and I were more agreeable to movies, shopping and high teas in comfortable settings that befit the moniker of Singapore as an air-con nation.

Today, we still enjoy movies and hanging out in the malls (no more high teas, though, as my waistline cannot afford it).

But since becoming parents, our lifestyle has become less sedentary and more values-driven.

An early sign of the change manifested in our choice of TV programmes. Instead of tuning to a channel that was peppered with Parental Guidance advisories, we switched to one that predominantly featured children, puppets and animals.

Initially, the lifestyle change was largely passive for me. I could sit on the couch and learnt to tell Ernie apart from Bert in Sesame Street or that SpongeBob SquarePants was not related to Bob the Builder.

But as the children grew older, there was no escaping the great outdoors as an important arena for family bonding.

My wife and I have reintroduced ourselves to the Botanic Gardens, zoo, bird park and science centre. We have also made our acquaintance with Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves, MacRitchie Reservoir and Hay Goat Farm.

At the risk of sounding cliched, these visits have been journeys of discovery.

On our second visit to the farm, we turned up at milking time and were amazed at the well-drilled dairy goats.

They trotted to their milking stations in a single file and stood quietly while the regimental sergeant, also known as the milkman, moved from goat to goat to sanitise their teats before attaching them to automated pumps.

They were then milked for all they were worth, both literally and figuratively, as a spectacle for the gawking visitors.

After it was over, the goats filed out smartly, once again, in an orderly fashion. An accompanying marching band would not have been out of place.

Naturally, there is only so much novelty one can get out of being a first-time visitor.

Which is why I applaud the Science Centre Singapore for regularly bringing in visiting exhibitions to freshen up its attractions.

Last year, it brought in CSI: The Experience, an exhibition that combined the entertainment of the famous US crime investigation TV show with the educational qualities of real-life forensic investigation techniques.

It was great fun. The girls spent about two hours in the exhibition hall and couldn't stop talking about it for the next two days. For solving the 'crime', each received a CSI certificate - a nice touch as children their age love rewards, be it a certificate or a smiley-face sticker.

We have had to cut down on our little jaunts since the start of the school year, but with the year-end holidays coming up, we'll make up for lost time, I'm sure.

Nothing too strenuous, I hope, or I may have to ask my boss for more days off to recuperate from the exertion during my annual leave.