Life has been rather hectic for this household these past few months, from the youngest to the oldest, everyone seemed to be constantly rushing for one activity or another.
Before all my kids started going to school and I, back in the work force, we spent a lot of time at the park. We enjoyed doing outdoor activities such as picnic with friends, cycling, jogging, badminton, or simply just go for a leisure stroll around the lake out where we live.
Let’s Play!
Now that we look back, all that seems like a distant memory. So then we decided to break the mundane cycle and inject some good ole fun into our weekend and reconnect as a family. We had wanted to plan for a hiking trip with the kids, alas that was not to be had as it is the raining season now, which means wet, dangerous terrain and mosquitos out in full force. But we were determined to make the outing happen and finally decided to head over to our favourite neighbourhood park for some downtime in the “nature” (well, it’s definitely better than the mall, right?).
The kids were ecstatic and woke up way too earlier than they should (if only waking up for school is that exciting!), washed up, and changed up too! We made a simple cheese and egg sandwich, packed some fruits, and before we headed out, the kids simultaneously reminded me “mom! Where is the Tiger Balm repellent?” Ah yes, of course!
MOsquito? NOsquito!
I dug out my Tiger Balm Mosquito Repellent Spray from the drawer and gave everyone a quick spritz to keep the insects and mosquitoes at bay, and kept a box of Mosquito Repellent Patch in the bag, just in case! Now, if there’s one thing that puts me off to no end, is mosquito bites! Urgh the itch gets me grumpy every time! And seeing the red bumps on my kids’ skin even if they don’t complain about it, oh man, my skin automatically starts to itch instead.
So insect repellent is always a must before we take off for any adventure. And we love that Tiger Balm’s range of mosquito repellents are DEET-free! Deet is an active ingredient commonly used in insect repellents but it could irritate the skin, especially that of young children. Hence, it is always a good idea to opt for DEET-free, all-natural products. And because Tiger Balm’s Mosquito Repellent is a natural product, it is suitable to be used on young children*.
When we arrived at the park, the first thing we did was to get to the edge of the lake to feed the turtles and fish! We brought with us some old bread and rolled tiny pieces of the bread into mini beads before we threw it into the lake. It didn’t take long for our little friends to surface! It was such a joy to watch the turtles and fishes chomped down the food hungrily.
Happy Earth, Happy Us
After that, we went around the lake to pick up rubbish like cigarette butts, plastic bags, and paper cups. It’s upsetting to see how people actually think it’s OK to litter when there were rubbish bins conveniently provided all over the park. It was a good opportunity though, to talk with the kids about pollution and littering problems which our earth is facing now. Besides, pests problems such as rats, Aedes mosquitoes, flies, etc can be reduced if not entirely eliminate when we keep our cleanliness.
A quick snack of fruits and sandwich later, my boy requested that I use the Tiger Balm Mosquito Repellent Patch on him because then, “I’ll be invincible to the mosquitos!” I obediently put on a patch each for the kids before they dashed off on their scooters, racing each other down the lane, giggling without a care in the world! Watching them from afar reminded me how grown they all are now. Just in a short span of a year, they were taller, bigger, and stronger. Ah, be right back, sand in my eyes!
As the sun rose higher and higher, so did the heat. The kids were already making plans to return next weekend for another morning of frolic, we agreed, of course, knowing how a little time out in the nature can do our soul good! And we’ve been away for far too long. Now, maybe a quick run to the pharmacy to stock up on our trusty Tiger Balm Mosquito Repellent Patch before next weekend rolls around!
