What are your children doing this summer?
(Published by The Malay Mail on 29 July 2014) Schools out for SUMMER! At least here in Europe. No homework, those weekly schedules have been ripped off the kitchen wall: it’s time to let little minds wander and soak up new scenes, exciting experiences and, most importantly, have FUN. Kids deserve a break; they’ve worked hard all year. Summer surf-chimps... kids just wanna have FUN! Only mean-minded parents have children doing school work during the holidays… But, there’s a fe
Holiday reading for kids: are classics worth the bother?
(Published by The Malay Mail 7 August 2014) I found sorting this list of classic books for kids trickier than anticipated: what is a “classic”? Are we only talking 19th century authors? What’s so special about them anyway? I like what the French literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve had to say back in 1850: “A true classic, as I should like to hear it defined, is an author who has enriched the human mind, increased its treasure, and caused it to advance a step…” But d
How holidays change with age
(Published in The Malay Mail on 27 July 2014) “The beach is shit, don’t you think? Shit, shit, toxic even,” the former Head of English teacher complained loudly, well within earshot of the line of nice looking locals also waiting for the return ferry. I sat in the breezy hotel reception the next morning wondering how I ended up going on holiday with my step-mother. Come to think of it, over the years spent cursing her for stealing my father from me, I’ve rarely slept under th
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