The Making Of A Tomboy

Brought Jaslyn to see the doc on Wednesday night as she had a bad cough, runny nose and an on-and-off fever. The doc listened to her cough and asked, "How often do you change the bed sheets?"

"Er, once every 2 weeks." I lied (It's more like once every 3 weeks).

"You should change once a week!" The doc admonished, and told us that we should also dust or sun the mattresses regularly (our mattresses have not seen the sun ever since we moved into the house). Jaslyn's cough was probably an allergic reaction to the dust, and if this goes on, she would develop asthma.

Felt like we had failed as parents... Think we will begin by making an effort to clean the bedroom once a week.

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When we brought Jaslyn to the toys section of a department store some time ago, Liyun's sister commented that Jaslyn showed no interest in the girly toys (dolls, doll houses, etc.) but wanted things like cars and trucks. Some time last week, we brought Jaslyn to Kiddy's Palace at Jurong Point. She went to the toys section and I asked her if she wanted to get anything. She looked past the musical instruments, dolls, etc., and pointed at a gun: "I want that one!"

Think I am partly at fault for this. I have been encouraging her interest in boyish toys (trains with railway tracks). I have been strongly discouraging her interest in girly stuff like Disney princesses. The last time she asked me to read Show White and the Seven Dwarves to her, I spent half the time making snide remarks about what a bimbo Show White was. As such, her reading list consists of very non-romantic stories like Wizard of Oz, Dick Wittington, Pinocchio and Dumbo. She sleeps on Cars bed sheets (featuring Lightning McQueen) and her favourite show currently is Bob The Builder ("Can we build it? Yes, we can!").

Maybe I should start exposing her to more girly stuff...