Asian Tiger

In Malaysia, when your child reaches age 7, it is compulsory for the child to be schooled.  Registration for children begins when your child is 5 years old.  Every year, schools open for Standard One registration on 1st March (except for weekends and public holidays).  However, this event is rarely announced as there will be swarm of parents clambering to the school office to register their children.

Here’s a tip to all parents - check with the school a week before March 1st.  Sometimes, schools quietly open for registration early in order to reduce the mad rush.  Have the following documents in hand when you go to the school office:

1. Husband and wife MyKad
2. Wedding certificate
3. Child’s birth certificate
4. Electricity Bill
5. Local council bill
6. Water bill
7. A set of photocopied documents above
8. Self addressed envelope (4″ x 9″) with 50 sen stamp

Christmas and New Year holidays are just around the corner. This festive season coincides with the school holidays. All these mean that there will be more visitors, holidaymakers and/or party crashers coming to your home. While they are at your home, chances will be that they will be visiting your bathroom. Time for a makeover.

One of the easiest way liven up your bathroom is to simply change your shower curtains and ensure that they are drawn even when not in use. Get one of those funky shower curtains that brightens up your bathroom and at the same time, you must ensure that the colours match. To get the inspiration of what kind of shower curtains to buy, you can make a quick check for shower curtains online. I use Vitafutura’s site to give me some ideas of what I’m looking for.

The other method to liven up your bathroom is by adopting a more expensive approach is by changing your bathroom accessories such as mirrors, taps, toilet paper holders, tissue dispenser or soap dish. I wouldn’t recommend this as this approach can cause you a little dent in your wallet and disastrous results if the matching is not proper. Give a relatively cheap try at the shower curtains for a start.

Just some shopping assistance when choosing your shower curtain materials:

1. Fabric - ensure that you purchase 100% water repellent and yet washable and color retaining
2. Plastic - partial transparent shower curtain can have lovely effects on brightness
3. Vinyl - make sure that the colors are durable over time

I am sure you have read all the horror stories in our local newspapers about maids when they are left alone in their employers’ homes. The most memorable story that I’ve read is a case where the maid boiled soup together with her underpants (believing that whoever drink it will be submissive to the maid). This was captured on the employer’s security camera attached in the kitchen and the employer discovered the act before any of his family members drank the “soup”.

Now that you see the benefit of having security cameras in your homes, do the necessary to protect you and your family from potential maid perils. Note that you will need more than just cameras wired around your home; you will need security cameras systems too (recording and web based features would be most useful).

By having a basic surveillance system in your home, your maid will be more wary of her environment and the things that they do. Safeguard yourself and your family from untoward episodes that has happened to many families in Malaysia.

If you want to know more about the technical details of surveillance cameras, the National Institute of Justice has a very good resource here.

Tags: security, surveillance, security camera, surveillance camera