Investing for children

It takes a village to raise a child.  In my case, the village needs to work hard to raise not one, but three adorable children.  Where do I find help for my village?

Being in school earlier and still in the education sector, I understand the importance of being literate.  I feel sad for children who fail to master reading.  That aside, for children who do not understand what they are reading too.  Sigh.  I made a mental note years ago when Rachel was an infant that I had to teach her, and teach her well.  The same goes for the other of my children.

Though I took a pay cut to join teaching, struggling to make ends meet when I was a trainee teacher, especially, I willingly spent on my children.  This was the same, I reckon, of any parent who love their child(ren).  Clothes, toys, dispensables, etc...  It takes a huge amount, really.  Then it came to books.

Books are a must.  Sure, they can borrow from friends, from school or from the library later.  The interest-building starts now.  Parents have to read to children, research says, from the time the child is in the womb.  Then, we have to continue to read to them, to excite them with the colourful pictures and interesting storylines, with the way we make characters come to life with our reading.  Having said that, I have started to build my own collection of books for them, from young until they are much older.  Here is the result:

Do not call me a 'kiasu' parent.  I just want them to be as savvy and educated, if not more, as other children.  I want to build up some wealth of knowledge in them of nature and science, in fairy tales and ficitional titles, of the real world and fantasy world.  I invested in this series of encyclopedia, good enough I hope, to last them through their primary education at least.

How can they understand the books, you ask?  Well, I have categorised the books according to their difficulty, and told my elder two darlings which they are able to read on their own for now.  The other books, I told them, will be for later, when they go to kindergaten and beyond.  If they need help with the books, Yen and I are around for them.  That's why I took on my current job to be with them in the day after they return from play-school...

In the meantime, I have to do some financial planning.  I need to plan on which courses I can send them to for their learning and increasing their experiences...