When I read about the Diffusion of Innovations theory this week, I knew very well where I've been falling across that bell curve - far far on the right side. Imagine five segments of our population: the first 2.5 percent with innovation ad infinitum on the left of the curve, followed by the next 13.5 percent being early adopters, and then early majority.
The last two chunks, the right-side-of-the-curve, refer to the late majority and laggards. That's me.
Laggards are those who, like me, keep iPhone 4 when others are buying iPhone 7. I'm used to borrow paperback books before packing for a vacation, no matter how many of you have already switched to Kindle. I wrote the travel plan using Microsoft Word file, and then was taken aback by the Sygic Travel apps recommended by a very good friend of mine. And it took me quite a while before I followed my friends' advice to try those smart bicycles that can be unlocked and rented with a swipe at my phone.
The best lesson of the week for me, however, isn't the uber-practical rent-a-bike app. It's the story of entrepreneur Ron Bruder at a crosswalk with his two daughters. They were waiting for the traffic light to change. Ron pointed to the red glow of the "Do Not Walk" signal and asked the young girls what they thought about the meaning of that sign.
"It means we have to stand here," his daughters replied. They were certain. Or so they thought.
"Are you sure?" he asked rhetorically. "How do you know it's not telling us to run?"
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Summer Camp
The first step for kids to enjoy summer camp is to stay calm and be in control.
I remember my daughter's first outdoor summer camp few years ago, back when separating from parents was a real struggle. I was close enough to a brutal dad sending his girl to the Survivor without her agreeing. I tried to put myself in her (then) five-year-old shoes and imagine how she must have felt. And that's not the worst part. To add to the frustration, her teammates seemed not able to get along with a kid who cried.
Fast forward to this year. We signed her up for a summer camp at the Ocean Park. As it happens this time, she is head over heels for this adventure. We knew we don't need to worry on the first day, when she returned home and told us every bit of her learning. Things are so different. She never gets bored, and keeps telling us stories like a National Geographic reporter. I still don't know her recipe for preparing biscuits for pandas, but I get to tell the difference between a seal and a sea lion.
It is a great experience for my daughter, but I didn't know how much she loves it until the last day of the camp. On our way home, she told us she was beginning to miss the camp, so much so that she asked, "Mum and dad, I miss it and want to cry. Can I?" She made a sob. Then another. A serious one.
"Yes, of course, you may cry. Remember, it's your emotion." So there we go, if nothing else, parental empathy.
I remember my daughter's first outdoor summer camp few years ago, back when separating from parents was a real struggle. I was close enough to a brutal dad sending his girl to the Survivor without her agreeing. I tried to put myself in her (then) five-year-old shoes and imagine how she must have felt. And that's not the worst part. To add to the frustration, her teammates seemed not able to get along with a kid who cried.
Fast forward to this year. We signed her up for a summer camp at the Ocean Park. As it happens this time, she is head over heels for this adventure. We knew we don't need to worry on the first day, when she returned home and told us every bit of her learning. Things are so different. She never gets bored, and keeps telling us stories like a National Geographic reporter. I still don't know her recipe for preparing biscuits for pandas, but I get to tell the difference between a seal and a sea lion.
It is a great experience for my daughter, but I didn't know how much she loves it until the last day of the camp. On our way home, she told us she was beginning to miss the camp, so much so that she asked, "Mum and dad, I miss it and want to cry. Can I?" She made a sob. Then another. A serious one.
"Yes, of course, you may cry. Remember, it's your emotion." So there we go, if nothing else, parental empathy.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Va-va-voom
I'd never described myself as a sportsman in any sense. To tell the truth, I seldom do exercise (if you don't count rushing between seeing patients in hospital). One of my favorite activities when my wife and daughter go swimming on Sunday, for example, is poolside reading.
I can't believe I would change my mind and start running. That was one month ago. By now I've got more than 100-odd kilometres of mileage. The feeling of running outside, sun on the face, sweat in my hair, is second to none. Sweat is the sign of a good run. The more I sweat, the more my spirits are revved up. It's no exaggeration to call sweating my baptism to running.
Which brings me to the fascinating way of healing the soul by running. I'm really not sure how it does it. You will simply be delighting in how wet you're. Yes, running outdoors, curious as it may seem, with sweating truly does the job of healing.
I can't believe I would change my mind and start running. That was one month ago. By now I've got more than 100-odd kilometres of mileage. The feeling of running outside, sun on the face, sweat in my hair, is second to none. Sweat is the sign of a good run. The more I sweat, the more my spirits are revved up. It's no exaggeration to call sweating my baptism to running.
Which brings me to the fascinating way of healing the soul by running. I'm really not sure how it does it. You will simply be delighting in how wet you're. Yes, running outdoors, curious as it may seem, with sweating truly does the job of healing.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Scrabble
How many parents can honestly say that they loathe at summer vacation homework?
Why, I wonder, should we ask students to bring home a stack of homework at the end of school year? To my relief, my daughter doesn't have to. The important thing in summer is not so much to pack students with mountains of homework, as to discover new ways of learning.
As kids, they want and need us to bring them new ideas. My daughter spent the whole night playing Scrabble with me yesterday. Yes, that's real fun.
First things first: we don't have ironclad Scrabble rules. I won't object to using the name of Moana movie characters. Does tallying the scores teach numeracy? You bet they do. Children learn to maximize scores using the triple word or triple letter points. The most effective way of teaching by Scrabble I've ever seen is adding a D in front of ANGER so that the word spells DANGER. Alas, that's a good lesson to remember anger is just one letter short of danger.
Why, I wonder, should we ask students to bring home a stack of homework at the end of school year? To my relief, my daughter doesn't have to. The important thing in summer is not so much to pack students with mountains of homework, as to discover new ways of learning.
As kids, they want and need us to bring them new ideas. My daughter spent the whole night playing Scrabble with me yesterday. Yes, that's real fun.
First things first: we don't have ironclad Scrabble rules. I won't object to using the name of Moana movie characters. Does tallying the scores teach numeracy? You bet they do. Children learn to maximize scores using the triple word or triple letter points. The most effective way of teaching by Scrabble I've ever seen is adding a D in front of ANGER so that the word spells DANGER. Alas, that's a good lesson to remember anger is just one letter short of danger.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Hats
How many hats can we juggle at the same time? It's a question that intrigues many of us.
One at a time.
That's what I've been learning from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats. On this point, I concede that I'd been multitasking a lot. I guess it's fine as long as I switch my hats one by one. Or chapter by chapter. And it's true that I like to embark on several books before finishing each one.
In the middle of Six Thinking Hats, I picked up another book UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. That's a parenting book with sage advice on raising empathetic kids. One of the crucial steps is to develop reading habits. It doesn't matter if it's a picture book or text-heavier chapter book. Stories or literary fiction is all that matters. The more literary fiction we read, the more we feel with the characters, the more we mirror their actions, and the more we stretch our "empathy muscles." Once I finished the chapter on Reading to Cultivate Empathy, I could practically hear my synapses fritzing and sparking. Hmm, did anyone of you long to start a fiction? I know mine did.
That's why I'm now reading Elizabeth Strout's Anything Is Possible, before finishing Six Thinking Hats and UnSelfie.
One at a time.
That's what I've been learning from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats. On this point, I concede that I'd been multitasking a lot. I guess it's fine as long as I switch my hats one by one. Or chapter by chapter. And it's true that I like to embark on several books before finishing each one.
In the middle of Six Thinking Hats, I picked up another book UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. That's a parenting book with sage advice on raising empathetic kids. One of the crucial steps is to develop reading habits. It doesn't matter if it's a picture book or text-heavier chapter book. Stories or literary fiction is all that matters. The more literary fiction we read, the more we feel with the characters, the more we mirror their actions, and the more we stretch our "empathy muscles." Once I finished the chapter on Reading to Cultivate Empathy, I could practically hear my synapses fritzing and sparking. Hmm, did anyone of you long to start a fiction? I know mine did.
That's why I'm now reading Elizabeth Strout's Anything Is Possible, before finishing Six Thinking Hats and UnSelfie.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Veterans
One hot Sunday morning this summer, I picked up my casual footwear and started running. It seemed like a nondescript day. But this kick-started a healthy habit. Right away, running feels like the next right thing. I ran again the next day, and then the next, and the next after that. Ballpark figures showed that I've run for more than 15 kilos during my first week.
It was a hockey stick moment. Even more so for a bookworm without exercises for years.
Go read any book on distance running, and you'll notice that runners starting after age 40 are being referred to be veteran runners. I'm obviously qualified for that title.
But what, anyway, is old?
I am not even eligible to join the Fifty-Plus Runner Association. Plus, a review published two months ago in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases suggested that an hour of running statistically adds seven hours to our life expectancy. My friend, let me keep my running log, and sooner or later, I'll be younger than you.
It was a hockey stick moment. Even more so for a bookworm without exercises for years.
Go read any book on distance running, and you'll notice that runners starting after age 40 are being referred to be veteran runners. I'm obviously qualified for that title.
But what, anyway, is old?
I am not even eligible to join the Fifty-Plus Runner Association. Plus, a review published two months ago in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases suggested that an hour of running statistically adds seven hours to our life expectancy. My friend, let me keep my running log, and sooner or later, I'll be younger than you.
Friday, June 9, 2017
Superdad
Father's Day is just around the corner.
The best celebration is my daughter's annual school event: Father's Day Challenge. A very special day. We dads can't go to children's school that often. That is a brilliant idea to bring daddies to have a challenging game with kids at school. Every time I joined this event I registered a nice jot of energy. Year after year after year, I kept my promise to join my daughter at school, feeling uplifted.
That also reminds me of a story book Superdad's Day Off.
The story of Superdad goes like this: the greatest superhero dad on the planet works six days a week. He saves the world from disasters and bad guys. Friday is his day off and he always spends it with his kid. By no means do I compare myself with superhero. It just so happens that Father's Day Challenge is scheduled on Friday every year. My Friday's off for this event, it turned out, has been often eventful. One year ago, that's a 19-year-old patient of mine with lung clogged up by blood clots. Alas, I diagnosed a serious cancer, Burkitt lymphoma, in my patient today when it's my Friday half day off to join Father's Day Challenge. Yes, a challenge. It is.
The best celebration is my daughter's annual school event: Father's Day Challenge. A very special day. We dads can't go to children's school that often. That is a brilliant idea to bring daddies to have a challenging game with kids at school. Every time I joined this event I registered a nice jot of energy. Year after year after year, I kept my promise to join my daughter at school, feeling uplifted.
That also reminds me of a story book Superdad's Day Off.
The story of Superdad goes like this: the greatest superhero dad on the planet works six days a week. He saves the world from disasters and bad guys. Friday is his day off and he always spends it with his kid. By no means do I compare myself with superhero. It just so happens that Father's Day Challenge is scheduled on Friday every year. My Friday's off for this event, it turned out, has been often eventful. One year ago, that's a 19-year-old patient of mine with lung clogged up by blood clots. Alas, I diagnosed a serious cancer, Burkitt lymphoma, in my patient today when it's my Friday half day off to join Father's Day Challenge. Yes, a challenge. It is.
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