Field Notes
The recent, the unfinished, and the occasionally overshare — school systems, sport choices, and everything in between that comes with raising three kids somewhere that’s almost, but not quite, home.
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The Underpass I Didn’t Think Twice About
I almost waited for the traffic light, then walked through an underpass without a second thought. It made me realise how much feeling safe in Singapore has quietly changed me.
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The Load Nobody Sees (Holiday Edition)
School holidays, sick kids, a lot of taxi rides and one very tired swimming lesson. A look at the invisible load that nobody sees, and the day I called Santa’s phone number to bargain with a five-year-old.
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Nothing Went to Plan on Monday (and We Still Made It)
Two sick kids, a helper with a headache, a bus that wouldn’t move and five clients to see. A very real Singapore Monday, and why it’s the unexpected that stretches us most.
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Dinner at a Friend’s House: Is That a Thing in Singapore?
Playdates and dinners at friends’ homes: common in the Netherlands, less so in Singapore? A curious look at the difference, from a mum of three in SG. After ten years in Singapore, a chat with two clients got me wondering. Are playdates and dinners at friends’ homes less common here, and will that change when…
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The Bedtime Shuffle: One Kid, Two Kids, Three
Two books and a star count used to be it. Now it’s reading practice, overlapping stories, a climbing toddler, and a bedtime routine we rewrite every few months.
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Why We’re Moving Our Daughter to a Local School
“Why do I need to move schools? I like my school.” That’s what my seven-year-old asked when we told her about the switch. Here’s our honest answer: the money, the timetables, the Mandarin catch-up, and the worries we still have.
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PSLE Week, Cito Memories and the Dutch Art of the Zesje (getting a 6)
It’s PSLE week in Singapore, and it took me straight back to my own Cito toets in the Netherlands. Two countries, two big exams at 12, and very different ideas about second chances, grades and the famous Dutch “sixes culture”.
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Slow to Warm Up: When One Child Makes Friends in Minutes and the Other Needs Time
One daughter makes friends in minutes, the other needs time to warm up. A rainy school picnic and a lesson from my coaching work on why I’m choosing to ease her in rather than push.
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The No Phase, Round Two
“I hate you.” That’s how she opened the day — over toast, before 7:15am. By the afternoon I’d lost count of the meltdowns. Wasn’t the no phase supposed to be a two-year-old thing?
