I like reading blogs every morning before starting my work even though it's just a short one. It gives this sort of  'vision' or 'dream' on what you want to do with your life. It also freshen up your mind. 

The blogs that I read are normally revolve around creativity, true stories, experience. Try reading one, cause it can inspire you to get yourself going. 

Well, one of the many blogs I follow these days is Timothy Tiah's (I followed him like e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y). What I like most about his writing is, he writes about reality, what has change between now and the past, what have we forgotten about olden days parenthood, how his wife cope with pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, etc. It's so inspiring that it made me feel sooo grateful with what I have, had and will have. Taking life one step at a time and embrace your inner self.

So there's this one topic that actually caught my interest. The '5 things our parents used to do that we are increasingly not doing for our kids'.

1) Travel in a car without a baby seat

Today it’s almost a given for us that every baby must have a special car seat at the back to sit in when traveling in the car. And for good reason too. Car seats are safer and protect a child much better if an accident or a collision were to happen. Heck many countries have even made it the law to have a car seat when traveling with a baby.

Compare it to our parents’ time back in the 80s or 90s.There were 4 kids in my family and not one of us had a baby or toddler car seat in the car. We sat in the back seat just like an adult would (heck most of the time even without a seat belt) and if a baby was too small to sit on his own, he sat on the lap of someone older. It was that simple. No special seats for babies. Everyone was equal.

2) Learn to ride a bicycle

During my time, every kid learned how to ride a bicycle. It wasn’t just a useful life-skill. It was a necessity since going out cycling with your neighborhood friends was part of a late afternoon’s fun. The person who taught you was always either your elder brother or your father, with your mother often cheering you on when you succeed.

Today I increasingly see more and more kids grow up without learning how to ride a bicycle. Perhaps habits change. Kids spend these days spend less time on outdoor activities like cycling and more on indoor activities like video games or iPad games.

3) Coloring books or reading story books on the dining table

Speaking of iPad, go into any family restaurant today for dinner and you’re bound to see a kid being entertained by a cartoon playing on an iPad or a smartphone.

Our parents never had the benefit of that technology. Keeping us busy on the dining table then normally just meant coloring books or even just reading story books. Watching cartoons on the iPads while addictive doesn’t do much for personal development.

Coloring books though gave us the chance to walk away from a dining table having feel like we created something. That we added color to what would have otherwise been a very plain picture.

4) Beat us 

If you grew up in Asia in the 80s or earlier, chances are your parents may have beaten you every now and then to discipline you. Today some parents still do use the physical to discipline their kids but it’s becoming less and less because beating your kids to discipline them is seen as a controversial part of parenting now.

A good number of parents disagree with it now and even among those who agree with it want to limit the extent in which they use such force.

5) Allow some level of chaos

I find myself and many new parents my age now to be very overprotective. We’re afraid to let our kids touch dirty things for fear they might put it in their mouth. If someone coughs in public we run away for fear of our kids might get an infection and heck we even worry bringing our kids out for a night walk around the house for fear of getting mosquito bites that might lead to dengue.

That never used to be the case in my parent’s time. They would tell me not to touch dirty things but wouldn’t freak out if I did. They wouldn’t evacuate me from any area within a 5 mile radius if someone coughed. In fact they often felt it was good I built my immune system anyway. We had lots of fun with our nights too. Some of my fondest memories as a 10 year old kid was following my dad out for night rides on his motorbike as we crossed Penang bridge.

Quoted from Timothy Tiah, November 9, 2014

So what does happiness means to you? We perceive happiness in many ways. Each one of us perceive differently. For me, happiness doesn't come in the form of monetary. It's the company that I have around me, the people who stood by me through my ups and downs. 

Sometimes we were too engrossed with our problem that we forgot the little things around us that makes us happy. 

'Aere has started a #happinesstome project on Instagram, a move to reflect and share on the things that make us happy. For this campaign, the aim is to appreciate the basic senses that we have been blessed with. It’s through these senses that we are able to feel, and truly lucky we are, because some people were born without these senses. And some had them taken away' - R Nadia Sabrina

So what is #happiness to you? Share them and follow Aere on Intagram now. Remember to tag #happinesstome and @aere.

*this video contain emotional elements*

Farizal atau Rizal datang dari keluarga yang serba kekurangan. Kedua orang tuanya telah pergi mengadap Ilahi pada Ogos yang lepas. Mereka meninggalkan dia bersama adiknya. Rizal kini tidak lagi bersekolah semenjak pemergian kedua ibu dan bapanya kerana tidak mampu memebayar yuran sekolah. Rizal dan adiknya kini menetap di Sanggar Yayasan Anak Jalanan Burungan (if I could hear him mentioned properly). Mungkin kita tidak mengenali siapa Farizal ini. Mungkin kita fikir Farizal hanyalah seorang peserta seperti mereka yang lain. Namun, semangat waja yang di bawa oleh tubuh kecil ini mampu memberi kesan yang sangat mendalam. I have never seen such an inspirational video before.

Selama saya mengikuti video di You Tube, saya rasakan inilah video yang sangat memberi inspirasi pada kita semua. Inspiration to be strong regardless of what come in between. God gives us test to make us a stronger person. 

Juri menanyakan Rizal, apakah motivasi utama yang membuatkan beliau menurut serta di dalam Indonesia Idol Jr ini. Rizal menjawab, jika diberikan rezeki dalam rancangan ini, duit yang dimenanginya akan digunakan bagi memperbaiki kubur kedua orang tuanya di kampung. Betapa sucinya niat seorang kanak-kanak kecil ini. Apa niat kita kalau kita menang duit sebanyak ini? 

Juri juga sempat menanyakan Rizal apakah karacter kedua orang tua Rizal. Dia menjawab, baik orangnya. Juri juga menanyakan Rizal, apakah yang telah diajari orang kdua ibu dan bapanya sehingga dia mampu menjadi sebegini kuat pada usia yang muda? Jawabnya:

Tidak berbuat jahat pada orang

Sentiasa berbakti pada orang tua

Menjaga adik dengan baik

Tahu membezakan mana baik dan buruk

Melindungi adiknya dari sebarang bahaya

Sentiasa berani

Allah membalas apa yang baik dan apa yang jahat

Jangan melawan orang

Tonton vidoe ini dan nilai diri anda, apakah bakti yang telah dicurahkan oleh anda terhadap kedua orang tua anda termasuk diri saya sendiri.

Sometimes, we don't realize that a bottle of saline at home can make wonders apart from using it to clean your contact lens. Here are a few household tips you can practice at home. Enjoy! :

A few drops of saline helps to soften a dry mascara

Amplify the volume of your iPhone or iPod by placing it in a bowl.