GIVEAWAY: That Grandpa at Kidzania was My Dad!

EDIT 05.02.17: Congratulations Lim Jiahui! You have won yourself tickets to Kidzania Singapore!

"When was the last time you spent time with your dad? 
If not today, then when?"

I am always caught writing about my mother or thinking about how my mother parented me because I can relate - woman to woman. Then I asked Meyer, "How is it for men as fathers? Do they love and give their children just as much?" He replied a resounding Yes!

Probably ya? But differently. I think.

My father was not home for most parts of my childhood - out working trying to carve out a successful career from scratch, taking up a part-time degree and I see he did not take play out of the equation as well. He had a life! He enjoyed drinking, singing, socialising and spent a whole lot of time at the driving range with his friends hitting sweet spots. He chose to enjoy fatherhood without compromising his social life which is not something to fault really. He plays well as an individual which makes his company, Fun! I bet people were going, "What a cool dad!" when they saw us role-playing at Kidzania Singapore.

I remember vividly the plays I had with him. He would wrestle with me and tackle me down to the ground with a leg hook. He would tell me very frightening ghost stories in bed at night because I loved the thrill and I would have him sign "My Child Cannot Attend" on the excursion form to the zoo because it was more fun singing "My grandfather's clock was to large for the shelf" while hoping down the stairs with him to the coffee shop. I appreciated how my dad treated me like a friend. We would converse about school, life, family, friends and almost anything under the sun. But I think he said something along the line that he regretted being so causal because I can be disrespectful when I speak my mind. He still likes that strong social hierarchical status between parent and child but it can be hard to draw the line when I was taught to put up a good argument too right? [if he is reading this now, he would have said No *haha*]

Moving on from my Dear Mommy articles, I think it's high time I wrote about my father. I saw someone discussing on My Maid is my Mother post with a comment, "Where is her father?"

My father is here. Living the life and quite the party animal still [though muted in recent years]. What's the point of writing eulogies or wishing I could spend more time with my late mother when I have a dad, alive and kicking, to do crazy things with?

Sooooooo, a date to Kidzania was due! When I planned to bring him out to Back-To-Kidz [an event when Kidzania has its doors opened only for adults], I kept it from him. I knew if I told him where we were going, he would say "Don't Want Lah!"

So I manipulated my way through it,

May: Daddy, are you free the night of 13th Jan?
Dad: Yes
[Yes means he has no excuse already]
May: I bring you out on a date.
Dad: With the kids?
May: No, just you and me.
Dad: Ok. Where are we going?
May: It's a surprise! There's a dress code. Just get ready for a Retro Party! Don't fly me aeroplane ah?
Dad: When have I ever done that?
May: All the time!
Dad: NONSENSE!

There, he will never back out from this date since he said, "NONSENSE!" and I shall have my cool date with dad now. It sure does sound rather exciting isn't it? Who would decline a retro party? Not especially my party-loving dad?

I told my daddy, "See you at Beach Station in Sentosa."

For a moment, I felt like THE KID once again. My daddy is bringing me to Kidzania!

Boy did he come dressed in Retrolicious fashion! I love it! *hhahaha* I couldn't contain my little secret any longer and told him where we were going. He was a good sport I must say? A smile on his face and he let out a laugh.

The first thing he asked a Kidzania staff who was hoping to rope us in to making Pizzas was,

  "Is there somewhere I can make Beer instead of Pizzas?"

"NO DADDY! THIS IS KIDZANIA!" 

We went to save lives [instead of killing ourselves from alcohol] as firefighters, paramedics and surgeons. Then decided to give the Museum Curator job a go as well because those Peranakan Bajus looked so pretty!

There were so much laughter during play and I totally enjoyed the dress-ups! My dad is a cheeky fella and he would say the darndest things to tease the young participants and staff. He was literally the oldest "Kid" that night - all of 62. I wonder what he thought when he saw these bunch of 20-somethings cleaning windows and shaking their tail feathers to YMCA!

FIREFIGHTERS
On my first visit to Kidzania Singapore [I obviously went with Ewan], I was excited for him to try out the firefighting role because the SCDF uniform is way cool! He did and that was the last he ever wanted to fire fight. He was crying so badly when a loud boom came from the hotel he was spraying water at and that did it. No more fire-fighting duties he declared. My son's a wimp when it comes to thundering sounds.

I had to get my father to do this with me! Funny how he rushed for a seat on the fire engine when the staff announced that someone has got to walk with the vehicle because there were too many of us. My dad went, "Oh not me not me! I am the oldest here so I get to sit." Oh yes, grandpa had his special seat. *hhahha*

MUSEUM CURATORS
Ewan never wanted to give this a try even though I urged him to. It does look boring to work in a museum doesn't it? It's like working in a library *shhhhhhh* So daddy and I went for it. My father thought it was interesting as he peered into the beautiful "two-storey" Peranakan museum sponsored by The Intan.

Oh we learnt so much about this culture and had an educational time understanding the drawings on each artifacts. My dad was caught photographing almost everything!

Will I encourage Ewan to go for this job the next time we return? I fear not. It was really dry with all the history involved for a young kid who wants only action.

SURGEONS
Oh the hospital is somewhere Ewan never ever wanted to enter. We've been there seven times and he steered clear from it each visit. There's something frightening about it and I reckon it's the needles. Now that I can role-pay it out myself, it is the best opportunity for me to access if my son would be able to walk out of this without crying.

No. I don't think he will enjoy this.

We were dressed in scrubs and given apparatus to erm.. cut open a body! That sounds gross and frightening even for the ladies standing across from me! That said, it was also very educational because the staff explained to us where each organ in our body is placed.

PARAMEDICS
This was a bizarre role-playing experience I must say. We had my dad and I plus two other young participants who happen to be nurses, house doctors or maybe paramedics! They knew exactly what the Kidzania staff were educating us about and even commented, "Wow! You are trained really well huh?" Good job on the training Kidzania for participants to praise your staff like that!

We were taught how to use the BP machine and we volunteered the oldest participant in the room to test his heart rate - my father. Turned out he had a very good reading! When we least expected, an "injured" patient walked in panting for breath with a red scaled on her arm! We quickly whisked her to the bed and realised she was picked out on Kidzania street for us to attend to her with all that we've learnt.

Having this chance to personally experience Kidzania Singapore, I learnt more about what this establishment has to offer my children. Parents are always seen outside the windows and we can never hear what's going on in the inside! 

From the four jobs we experienced that night, I must say the staff are trained well and definitely enjoy what they are doing. The educational part of this whole edutainment is worth every return. I am assured that my children will take home lots from a day's fun at Kidzania. 

There was little crowd that evening and we could have landed ourselves in more jobs but we arrived only 90 minutes after opening time, leaving us not much until closing. The biggest regret from arriving late was not being able to pilot the plane. It was the first stop we made because I know from experience with Ewan, how popular the aircraft jobs are. Alas. All slots taken for the night. I had wanted to test it for myself to understand why the son loved this job the most.

Daddy and I wrapped the night up with Prata for supper on the way home. I say he did great by indulging me in my kind of fun. I guess, the next date will have to be his kind of fun. Off to a pub with great band maybe. But I think I'd prefer we went to sing at a KTV! He sings in the hall one okay? Don't play play. Bee Gees. *nods nods*

Seniors can now enjoy 50% off their ticket with every purchase of 1 Kid or Toddler ticket to spend a fun day out with their grandchildren! Simply present your Identification card at KidZania Singapore ticketing counters. 

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For the Facebook Giveaway,
win 1 Adult and 1 Child tickets to Kidzania Singapore!

Steps to win the giveaway: 

1) like A Million Little Echoes Facebook page

2) like Kidzania Singapore Facebook page

3) comment with a picture of you and your father on where you'd like to bring him on your next date [if you haven't done so for a while now] on this Facebook post! 

Or

3) comment with a picture of a father and child[ren] on what they like to do for fun together on this Facebook post! It could be father and child relationship between grandpa and grandchild or your husband and his children or any kind of combination you can think of as long as they are father and child.


To increase your chances, share it with "Win Tickets to Kidzania Singapore!" [set to public]

Giveaway ends on 3 February 2017, 2359 hours and results will be announced the next day at A Million Little Echoes Facebook page. 

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