1001 Things Your Kids Should See and Do

I bought the book above by Harry H.Harrison Jr. A quick Google search showed me that this guy wrote books on raising kis. Check out Amazon.com.

What I like about this book is it's simple and easy to read. It's not like a book to read, but merely consists of 1001 points for you to think on what your kids should see and do - or else they'll never leave home. Quite interesting really. It's divided into a few sections. I'm only on the first section as of today and already having this shared with you. The first section is "They need to visit Mister Roger's neigborhood" which I understand as what they need to know about basics in the house, the universe, etc.. simply the basics of life. He has 90 things of this section.

It kinda put a smile on my face reaing some of the notes. I then made a mental notes of what or how are some of these things applicable to my kids. So here's some of the points in the book and how I see it .. (I change a few wordings to suit our Malaysian way of doing things, as this writer is American, his writing is very much American and not applicable but conveys the same meaning if you change some items) ...

What my kids are already doing / always do:
- They need to develop sense of adventure. The younger the better.
- They need to know who they are; their full name, address, mom's and dad's full names and phone number
- They need to ride a bike. And fall down. And get up and ride some more
- They need to eat weird food: other than rice, like Sushi, Tofu, Salad (without rice)...
- They need to tell the truth
- They need to switch off the tele.

What I wish they can/ would do:
- They need to find their way out of a maze (or a rat race!!??)
- They need to conquer their fears
- They need to stand up for themselves
- They need to do things well without expecting a praise
- They need to roll in the snow even if they are staying in Malaysia

What they MUST do:
- They need to learn not to keep secrets from you
- They need to say nice things about people instead of hurtful things
- They need to learn to say "I'm sorry"
- They need to respect their curfew : Television curfew, Computer curfew, be-home-by-9pm curfew
- They need to stand up when meeting an adult. And shake hands while looking in their eyes.

What I'm sure they'd love to do:
- They need to build a birhouse
- They need to collect a jar of lightning bugs at night
- They need to spend hours building sandcastles on the beach and watch the evening tides wash it away
- They need to do a hokey-pokey (whatever that is) on Rollerblades
- They need to sleep outside and watch the falling stars

What goes without saying :
- They need to see you reaing your Quran. At home.
- They need to pray. First with you. Then without you. (and hopefully for you)

What I'm not sure if they see:
- They need to see that you love them completely. The way they are.
- They need to see you light up when they get home from school or when you get home from work..

Those are just part of getting to know the "neigborhood". There are also a few which I don't agree to such as "they need to take a nap with their dog".. and so on..

So what do you think? I think it's worth a buy.. not necessarily must follow all of it...