What if the man becomes a Stay-At-Home-Dad?

This week, Mummy (CEO and COO of SengkangBabies) is enjoying her Tom Yam in Bangkok with Boon Yi. Daddy has been delegated to keep the house in order until Mummy comes back.

A timetable tells us how Mummy runs our family with clockwork precision and efficiency.

Daddy can handle the kids relatively well, and he thought he understands how challenging it is to be a home-maker, that is until he steps into Mummy’s heels.

Making milk, showering, diapers, fetching the kids from school. Tasks are straightforward but it is a logistics-project to ensure everyone meet the timelines.

Between, we are not talking about house keeping, laundry and cooking yet.
HENG1 ah (lucky), 奶奶 is chipping in to help 🙂

… just imagine, how does nursing mums survive and thrive with lack of sleep? Dads can reduce some of Mummies’ stress, please read our Breastfeeding post.

If any parent ever wish to test their patience, try homework with kids haha. 陪读爸爸 is a tough job for Daddy. Mummy told Daddy to spot-check the student handbooks, in case kids decide to KENG1 (malingering). Yes, our kids are experts at bargaining and twisting their way out of homework and chores.

On the other hand, Mummy’s workload doubles whenever Daddy goes on business trips or even holiday reservist. Mindef can definitely help by allowing Dads to book in later (8 or 9am will be pro-family gesture) so that we can help to bring the kids to school. When Daddy last check, Singapore still need to make more babies.

Did you hear about the recent announcement that Daddies’ competence will be measured? What is BFI (Better Fathering Index) HUH? Daddy Andy need not be Singapore’s best Daddy, he just need to be the kids’ dependable Dad. Hopefully, the feeling is mutual :p

Daddy recommends…
All Mummies out there, book a 4D3N vacation with your girlfriends, and dump the husband behind. This is one sure way for the man to improve his parenting skills, and appreciate his 老婆 (wife) more :p

Here comes the dilemma, Daddy miss the kids when he is working, but to soak in all the family chores, and face the kids for three full days, is another story 🙂
Given a choice, Daddy would prefer to retain his Ministry-of-Fun portfolio, rather then to stay home and mind the kids.

Verdict : Will Daddy support Mummy for another 4D3N trip again? YES YES YES.

Daddy is amazed how Mummy bloggers still find time and brain-juice to blog at the end of the day! Daddy would like to take this opportunity to salute all the Stay-at-home-Mummies, your sacrifices are helping to build a stronger family! KUDOs !

For the guys out there, grab your Mrs, hug her, give her a peck, say some “sweet nothings”. If you need more parenting tips and gossips’ from Daddies’ perspectives, drop by Ai Sakura’s Celebrate Fatherhood series.
BlogFather Winston has a summary of everyone who has spoken out about the BFI.

… meanwhile, Daddy is counting down to reinforcement Mummy’s return.

Soi Thai – Authentic Thai street food

We love Thai food, can you imagine Tom Yum on white rice, the smell of lemongrass. Our Tom Kam ($6) was just right for us, sour but not too spicy. Intoxicating !

Recently, a new Thai restaurant has pop up in Tampines. “Soi Thai Kitchen” offers Thai street food at affordable prices. Long queues can be expected over meal times.

Our coke came in old school coke bottle. Do you feel authentic already :p
Mummy and Daddy order their refreshing Lemongrass drink.

Kids will love the prawn cake ($8). We order two portions to satisfy everyone. Crunchy crust with a generous portion of prawn meat.

Furong egg, Thai style ($8). “Soi Thai” pack a lot of mince meat into this egg dish, to the delight of our kids.

Someone recommended their Claypot Prawn noodle ($14) to us. It is actually tang-hoon (vermicelli). We did not like this dish, maybe it is the vegetable (some herbal smell) or maybe we felt the tang-hoon is too stiff.

We ordered pineapple rice ($10) but it came too late, after we have almost finish our side dishes. We did not find the pineapple rice fantastic. On hindsight, we should have ordered plain rice instead to go with our Tom Yam.

We like the layback relax cafe. Everyone can eat in casual wear, and the staff are generally friendly and helpful.

We just love mango and sticky rice ($5) for our dessert. Try to wrap the warm rice over the cold mango, and stuff into your mouth.

Overall, the food is ok but maybe overrated. We love their Tom Yam and Prawn cake, but we thought the price is overpriced for a neighbourhood eatery. Do expect to queue up to 20 or 30 minutes for a table.

More food photos (local or foreign) can be found on our Food album. Daddy will recommend you to pop by Derrick’s review too.

Soi Thai is located at : 824 Tampines Street 81 s(520824)
Telephone : 6784 2421

**updated 2013 Jan – Singapore Laksa