Posted on by mwlchoy

My own planning ‘retreat’

With 6 kids, I need to pause and take stock every half year or so. I would have listed down all my priorities, their routines and rules, and the things I need to teach them like various life skills, but somehow, as the months slip by, things tend to get out of hand. This year has been a really lax year for the kids, as I didn’t have the energy or time to get them all in line, what with a rather debilitating pregnancy, getting used to a new baby, the lack of sleep, and moving house. The kids have a week of school left so I’m grabbing the chance to have a whole morning to myself to sort things out. This is my favorite place in the whole of our tiny island. We’ve been members since I was a child and I still love this place.

The golf club

As it was a weekday morning, I had the entire place to myself. What bliss. I love the sound of silence, broken only by the quiet lapping of the waves.


So what do I plan? I wrote down a whole long list of problems or things to be improved and an action plan. Next year I have to get the ship in order as the 3 older ones will be having their ‘O’ level, streaming and PSLE exams. I have to enforce their bedtimes and gadget use more stringently. I also have to start them on some tuition to plug the gaps not covered in school. On the health front, I will attempt to introduce more salads into our meals as our diets have always been too heavy on meat. And now that Kate is one, she is very interested in new things and new places so I have to start planning little outings on the weekends with the kids. The kids are so excited to take her to all those usual places we used to go when they were young. I’m so looking forward to this. For the past 2 years, when I asked the kids if they want to go do outdoorsy stuff like have our usual picnics at the Botanic Gardens by the big tree, they would say, “so hot, don’t’ want lah”. But these days when I ask them if they are keen to go to those places with Kate, they would happily agree.

A peaceful morning of “me” time in a serene place does wonders to my soul. Being near water calms me. I was hiding under the shade and it was nice and breezy. Feels like my own little paradise. I’m all re-charged to tackle the school holidays and the whole new year to come!

Sane tip: A couple of hours to myself in a tranquil place like this does wonders for my sanity.

 Save tip: I didn’t have to spend a cent on travelling and hotel stay in some villa to achieve the same level of peaceful bliss… (oh yes, we did have to pay a hefty sum to be members and we still do have to pay the monthly subscription fee for the hub’s golfing, but that’s another story altogether).

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2 Replies to “My own planning ‘retreat’”

  2. Hi Mama J,

    Yes, I'm so thankful for all these pockets of time. I find it strange how we do planning in our workplaces, but not in our homes. I realise how important it is to have a road map for our family, if not i'll be steering my ship in the wrong direction. Yes, next year is going to be about academics. I'm actually looking forward to it! 🙂

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