Handpicked Book and Toy Suggestions for Kids and Parenting
About Me
Here I am sharing motherly knowledge and experiences about books, toys, videos, and cartoons that can support parents in raising their children. I hold a PhD in Sustainable Design, with a background in Energy and Architecture. After reaching the peak of my career and becoming a parent, I realized that raising children is the most challenging, yet deeply rewarding experience. Just as constructing and designing a building requires thought, care, and vision, raising a child is like building a human being from the ground up.
My Mind Scribbles
This is my quiet corner. A place for thoughts in progress, personal reflections, and moments from everyday life.
Raise it up — from Halloween to Highween
Thanksgiving to be Cherished
Raise it up — from Halloween to Highween
This time of year always feels heavy — a certain darkness and sadness in the air. Everywhere I look, I see symbols of death: skeletons, witches, spiders, cemeteries, even the grim reaper with his saw. When I drive through the neighborhood and pass these scenes, I can’t help but feel uneasy. My children get frightened, have bad dreams, and come home restless at night. And I ask myself: Is this really what I want to celebrate?
People tell me, “Take it easy — it’s just fun!”
But I can’t help wondering — isn’t silence also a kind of participation? Isn’t what we place on our lawns, in our schools, and in our celebrations shaping the culture we live in? Every year, we rehearse and repeat the same rituals — and what we practice, we end up celebrating.
I can’t bring myself to fully give in to this darkness, even though I understand its ancient pagan roots and how modern consumerism has amplified it — selling us more costumes, more decorations, and telling us that the scarier, the weirder, and the darker, the better (and the more expensive).
Well, I choose to resist.
I know I’m only one person, and I cannot stop the whole machine or the culture behind it. But I can transform it — even in small, quiet ways — into something more meaningful.
Instead of buying, let’s build.
Instead of consuming, let’s create.
Let’s sew our own costumes, bake cookies instead of buying chocolate, craft instead of consume. Let’s teach our children to celebrate imagination and creation, not fear and decay. It can start simply — with a handmade Elsa dress, a pumpkin cookie, or a lantern we carve together. Or maybe it grows into something bigger: building small Transformers, making solar or battery-powered cars in the garage with friends, sharing what we make.
And this time, instead of decorating with witches and skeletons,
let’s celebrate heroes, inventors, scientists, artists, chefs, builders — people who bring light and creation into the world.
Let our decorations honor those who make and imagine, who cook and craft, who build and heal.
Let this season be a celebration of creativity, life, and light —
a festival of makers, not takers;
of builders, not buyers;
of creators, not consumers.
11/3/2025
My Favorite Holiday: A Scribble on Gratitude
I love Thanksgiving. Even though it has a sad history, I think it’s a tradition worth keeping because it’s centered on thankfulness. Studies show that practicing gratitude boosts happiness, and sharing this practice with our children is especially important. Sharing food and inviting others to your home engraves closeness with family and relatives.
We’ve started a Thanksgiving tradition where we create a “turkey project” using colorful paper. Each person traces their hand to make the turkey’s feathers and writes what they’re thankful for. Even a 3-year-old participated by tracing hands and feet being thankful for the body parts that God gives us! Adults mostly wrote about family and health, while kids shared gratitude for presents and games. It’s a fun, meaningful way to teach gratitude and create family connection.
