Connect and bond through sharing meals together.
Life allows us to have many adventures and many new beginnings. It has been a wonderful and memorable five and a half weeks away from home; my husband, Patrick, and I travelled to Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia to experience Sakura in Japan and to visit relatives and friends.
I will write more about the trips, but right now, I am taking this opportunity to introduce a new site – it is called Tok Panjang.
It is a Malaysian word – tok, means table, and panjang means long. So it is a long table. In my family, we used to have a long table, where all members of the family would gather around during meals time. It was a time for sharing good food, and talking about our experiences of the day; inother words, communicating and sharing while have a meal together.
I am also a migrant in this country, and I can understand the struggles of parents when we are faced with language and cultural clashes with our children. Yet we can connect.
Why the new site?
My passion is always working with parents and I love food (not that I am a good cook), and I am fiercely passionate about getting parents to use daily interactions to connect with their children.
Therefore, during my time away, I was able to re think on what I can contribute to families and how to effectively share my knowledge and experiences with the community.
Why Connections?
There is nothing more important than having a good relationship with your children and family, despite any cultural and/or language issues.
You see, parents are busy; we often struggle to find enough time for our families, especially when children are older and have their school activities and their social activities. And many parents have to work in order to provide for the family, which adds to the complexity.
Thus, where do you find the time to connect and bond with our children? The answer is the kitchen!
Why the kitchen?
Families have to eat. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful opportunity for you to involve them with the food preparation – deciding on what to eat, researching recipes together while sharing your experiences about your day. Encourage your children to do so. When you are relaxed and sharing something in common, the conversations will flow.
The aim of TokPanjang is to use the everyday interactions in the kitchen to not only connect with your children, but to reconnect to yourself through your cultural food.
Think about the connections around a long table: TokPanjang. I am going to share with you fun ways to connect and have fun with your children in and around the kitchen.
Let’s connect via the Facebook Page and have fun together.
Bonding and connections are about shared experiences.
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