I am a Blogging Daddy of four. Our kids are roaming Singapore to bring you FUN,
This blog is use to capture our kids' growing up phases, and we want you to leave our blog with a smile :)
We had been to a few Families For Life picnic (FFL) before (Istana and Punggol), but this edition is different. We are celebrating NS50 too 🙂
Organised last weekend at Singapore Discovery Centre and Army Museum, there was plenty of activities to keep families busy. The Safti-MI bus tour must be one of the highlights 🙂
Kids did not like the combat rations. Funny, I used to love the desserts (especially red bean and or2 bee2 bur2) when I was still in green :p
Families who registered for “Families For Life Picnic” will get a picnic goodie bag. Just lay out the mat, enjoy the cookies and fruits, and watch a movie in the evening #IchooseFamilyTime
I brought the kids into one of the corners to QR code Singapore’s history.
The highlight for many would be touring Safti MI (old name is SAF Training Institute, wiki). It is a different feeling when you are sightseeing, and when you are running up Peng Kang hill in fatigues.
Our narrator shared the history of Safti. The old colonial-like buildings, parade square. Not many will see real “cooks” in today’s army camps.
The iconic Safti Tower, with 265 steps to symbolise number of days before an officer cadet pass his course.
The triangle tower is symbolic for training all three services of SAF (Army, Air Force and Navy). s
The sergeant standing outside SCS (ex SISPEC). He or she has to lead the men from the front.
Skyhawk, another relic. Kids grew up with F16 and F15.
Pedal boat was popular with families, but long queue.
We noticed many mini-SOC (Standard Obstacle Course) in recent events, but this one at Army Museum is the original.
Kids like mini SOC now, not sure whether they will like the real-size low wall and Jacob ladders (applies to the Cheekiemonkies too hee hee) .
That ended our trip to SDC and Army Museum. I told the kids they can alway visit SAFTI MI again, just join OCS or Sispec.
Do pop by links below for more FFL and NS50 events.
SGSecure (Singapore Secure) should not be new to Singapore. We see the logos on media, apps and campaigns. Outreach effort to reach school, communities and society. Our ministers are reminding us “Not If but When”.
SGSecure app
We cannot only rely on security forces to protect us, everyone must be vigilant. SGSecure App allows us to report suspicious incidences and it can warn us to avoid incident areas too.
On one of our breakfast trips, we witnessed some SGSecure activities at Teck Ghee during Emergency Preparedness Day (EP), communities would get to witness how security forces handle disasters and incidences (especially terrorists related).
Community must trust and support each other, otherwise the perpetrators would have achieve their objectives. You might be surprised but some actually believe that Singapore’s racial-harmony happens by chance. With new immigrants in our melting pot, it will only get more challenging to gel everyone towards a common objective, that is
Keeping Singapore Safe.
The breakfast crowd witnessed how terrorists “kill” indiscriminately and took some hostages. Police and Protection forces were subsequently activated to subdue the bad guys.
Some of the take home message from our EP episode.
It might look a bit drama (staged), but we hope Singapore would be able to react to a real situation and stand strong in the aftermath.
Kids understand more about SGsecure’s take home message. One of it is “Run, Hide, Tell“. When it is not safe to call 999, we can sms 71999 to alert Police.
Everyone can apply “Press, Tie and Tell” to help another person.
In an emergency, ambulance might not reach us in time, and we need to alleviate a casualty’s condition and prolong his life. You need not be a first aider to apply some basic first aid skills.
Image credit SGSecure
Once situation under control, SCDF can evacuate the casualties and MP shake hands 🙂
Teaser 1. How many of you know about the nearest bomb shelter? I know Sengkang and Punggol MRT are not shelters, nearest one is at Buangkok MRT (refer SCDF website) .
I hesitate to mention HDB’s shelter storeroom, my family got six members, how to squeeze in?
Teaser 2.
In an earlier posts about 15th Feb, fall of Singapore during World War 2, I was not surprised that kids might not have any impression. Schools might let them prepare some sweet potatoes and social studies refresh the importance of history.
What was surprising was parents were not aware of significance of 15th Feb!
(but we all know 14th Feb Valentine’s)
Are Singaporeans really too complacent and naive when it comes to security matters?
Teaser 3.
How many kids were born when United States WTC (World Trade Centres) went down during event 911 (in 2001)? Till today, we still cannot fathom why terrorists would ram jets into buildings! Or do the kids even remember the riots in Little India?
Image credit SGSecure
War need not longer be conventional, other countries and ideologies might just need to engage in cyber attacks (fake news) to sow mistrust and break our social fabric and turn communities against one another.
Marawi is not exactly far from Singapore. We hear about radicals and extremists in Malaysia and Indonesia. Even Singaporeans are being radicalised!
Even if the terrorists are not on our shore yet, Singaporeans love to travel. We better know how to respond and evacuate during an emergency.
Do pop by other security related posts on our blog -> https://sengkangbabies.com/tag/sgsecure(Some topics include First aid kits and extinguishers at home, HDB evacuation)
Look out for the next Emergency Preparedness Day scheduled from MHA link (Ministry of Home Affairs). We would recommend these three venues for the next family outing.
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