I have no doubt that what occupies the mind of both new and seasoned parents is our child’s development. We want to be able to predict our child’s behavior and character with expert precision, but this, of course, is only a daydream. Instead, as I’ve come to realize through observation and of course extensive new-mom research, our kids will truly surprise us.

We should never underestimate our kids, and there are so many factors that go into behavior and learning that we should also never underestimate the positive impact we can have when we understand their neurological development and how we can better guide them towards positive developmental outcomes.

Use the following stages of neurological development to better support your child and understand the powerful role you have as a parent when it comes to your babies’ brain development.

Sensorimotor Stage

Between birth and 2 years old, a child is getting used to experiencing the world around them through their senses. Using objects and their sensations, a child will begin to understand and master each environment they interact with. It’s all trial and error for a while, and when they reach the age of 1 a child will learn object permanence (understanding that an object continues to exist outside the field of vision).

Babies are also developing socially and emotionally and will look to their parent for support. According to Sarah Lytle, Ph.D., from the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, this is called social referencing or social cognition; for example, when a child engages with someone they don’t know they usually look to the parent to gauge how to respond. Show them how to respond through your own interaction to build confidence and independence.

A child will usually utter their first word around the six-month mark. To help your child develop their language skills use your gaze, which they will follow when introducing them to a new word. Place emphasis on words with your eyes by moving them slowly. And lay off the baby talk (although we are encouraged to use a baby tone) and use words correctly, in full and in complete, grammatically correct sentences (which so happened to be an “I told you so” triumph in my household.)

Pre-operational Stage

Here is where a child’s language skills go up a few notches. Between the age of 2 and 7, a child will develop numerical understanding and learn the difference between past and future. During this stage, our kids will have a handle on concrete situations; however, more abstract concepts will take more time to grasp.

In an earlier post about toddlers, The Terrible Twos, I wrote about different phrases we can use to help manage and support a toddler, and it’s during this stage that these will become powerful tools. From the age of 2, a child will find it difficult to think outside of their own wants and needs. For now, ‘self’ can be an overriding factor when it comes to sharing or caring about others.

Parents can work at developing and building a child’s level of empathy by using the “Sally-Ann test” and reading stories where they will need to put themselves in a character’s shoes.

The last two stages of neurological development are the Concrete Stage and the Formal Operations Stage. Between the ages of 6 to 12, the former enters a child into the age of reason, where they grasp abstract concepts and empathy. However, a child at this stage still requires further development in regard to systematic reasoning. Lytle suggests that parents should be sensitive to a child’s emotional welfare during this stage, as marital spats or a parent who might be suffering from stress or depression could negatively impact their psychological development.

The latter concerns a child’s development from 12 throughout their teenage years. This is where you will see greater capacities for hypothetical thinking, complex reasoning, and a greater understanding of moral issues. However, our work is not done: teenagers often evaluate situations using their amygdala (emotional center) of their brains and our prefrontal cortex is actually not fully developed until we are around the age of 25. Give children during this stage the opportunity to express themselves, participate in active problem solving, and make judgment calls.

Who knew learning a little neuroscience could make a real difference to parenthood? Raising children is never easy but educating ourselves is half the battle.

Photos: Pixabay

I was sitting on the couch with my four-year-old son when he said, “I’m your husband.” He looked up at his father with a smirky smile meaning, “I said it. Whatchya gonna do ’bout it?”
Hubby put on a WWF wrestling face, “What did you say?” He replied in a serious tone.
The boy sheepishly giggled, “She’s my wife.”
Hubby picked up my son and body-slammed him on to our very plush, soft couch while my son screamed and laughed from enjoyment.

He hasn’t dropped his Oedipus complex since that challenge, often declaring that I’m his wife on other occasions, especially when daddy is around, since it’s such good fodder for horsing around. I just assume that he sees the sweetness of his parents’ relationship and wants to express how much he loves me, too. I heard about the Oedipus complex in college while studying the tragedy. Professor Sprague explained that her son was four years old and in love with her when he said, “Mommy, let’s stuff Daddy in a trash can.” Her story was odd to me then, but now it’s so cute.

I couldn’t help but reminisce about these things when I read a recent article by Xinhua about the Chinese show and its intern fathers who came under fire for the inappropriate relationships between adults and children. “Daddy, Where are We Going?” became famous for documenting relationships between male celebrities and their actual children, but new Chinese legislation has protected the amount of coverage that a celebrity child can receive. The show has transformed by still casting male celebrities on the show, but instead, they appear with children that aren’t their own.

Recently, one celeb, Dong Li, has seemed to go too far in his “fatherly” love with a show child star called Arale. The issues include joking comments that Dong made that Arale was his ideal girlfriend, and Arale saying she wanted to marry Dong and that she felt more comfortable around him than her mom. More seriously, the show depicted the two sleeping together with Arale wearing nothing but a shirt and underpants, and promotion of the show was of the two with “pecking kisses.”

Chinese netizens are taking two sides: it’s innocent and promotes paternity, or it’s incredibly irresponsible by promoting inappropriate relationships between adults and children. But chalking this up to simply another case of the Oedipus complex isn’t justifiable. One or both biological parents are able to intervene in such instances and say, “Hey! That one is mine!”

In a Global Times article, Cao Siqi reported that Dong was furious over the “couple fans” who were making articles and videos to highlight the couple-like aspects of the relationship, concerned that such media would hurt Arale. He defended himself, that he had a “sense of propriety” and a female director had taken care of her during the show. It’s also hard to believe that this did not all happen under the watchful eye of one of Arale’s guardians, considering how protective Chinese parents typically are.

Though Dong may not have any malicious intents toward Arale, and positive male role models are a good thing, the producing company’s use of the “couple factor” to promote the show is inexcusable. Their defending comments are back-tracking.

The show’s production company, Mango TV, fanned the flames by posting an online video clip set to a love song and captioned “Dong and Arale’s interpretation of ‘Let’s Fall in Love,'” referring to a famous Chinese dating show. Mango TV is the online division of Hunan TV, one of China’s largest television channels. (Source: Xinhua)

Dong would probably grieved to learn that the majority of childhood sexual abuse cases happen at the hands of someone they know. It’s important that all adults understand they are responsible to keep children safe.

Photo: Official Weibo account of Dong Li

More stories by this author here.
Email: vanessajencks@truerun.com
Twitter: @vanessa_jencks
WeChat: vanessajencks

When I dreamed as a preteen of being an international fashion designer, I didn’t think of the implications. I soon learned that though I like design, I hate the hours at a machine for constructing junior prom dresses and such. I tend to prefer quick repurposing projects instead. Though fashion design was a fleeting thought, an international setting became a reality before I even left my small hometown in South Carolina. Both immigrants and social media technology connected me to the globe in a way my immature, naive mind could not imagine.
My Spanish studies were totally necessary, as parts of the town where I lived in my state could not be navigated without the language. Through Hi5, a now defunct social media, I once made friends with a teen named Hendrick from Melbourne who played classical piano, and I dreamed of the day I could meet him face to face. This was a very different teenage experience than that of my parents and grandparents. My grandparents met each other on the bus as school children and fell in love after Pappaw stole Mammaw’s mittens. He left with the US Navy when Mammaw was still in high school, but sent back to ask for her hand in marriage when he found out someone else was courting her. Pappaw eventually became a company man with General Motors and later retired on a pension.  My parents have never actually left the United States and therefore have never needed a passport. Living internationally was such a strange thought that one family member asked me, “What about your kids?”
“Children are raised everywhere in the world,” I responded.
As a mom and educator with fingers on the pulse of the changing global economy, I foresee in my children’s lifetime that staying in one country for work for an entire lifetime will become an odd occurrence. Proficiency in two languages is becoming a standard minimum requirement for management positions now; imagine the requirement when current children are old enough to pursue these same positions.  Living and learning in another country might no longer be chalked up to adventure for the wander-lusting single, but a smart move to secure healthy financial futures with plenty of opportunity.
But along with this global change comes the challenges of how to balance two, sometimes three, sets of cultures, traditions, families, friends, weddings, births, and “homes.” We asked two families in Split View Worlds on page 46 how they handle this balance. Technology and social medias have wired us to the rest of the world, but perhaps with some consequence considering they all come on screens. Do parents limit screen time and technology with the changing lifestyles, or do they throw caution to the keys (pg 39)?  We also wondered how schools utilize technology to connect the international classroom to prepare students for this changing international economy (pg 28). Though human interaction and learning can still occur online, some things cannot be replaced, whether shoes and undies coming in the right size (pg 17) or holiday celebrations. After all, neither Rosh Hashanah sweets (pg 21) nor Halloween crafts (pg 26) can be enjoyed online, not even through virtual reality spaces (pg 25). At least not yet.

PHOTOS: Vanessa Jencks

This article originally appeared on page 2 of the October 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Rebirth and change come every spring, and this year beijingkids is blooming with new staff. We’ve said "see you around" to former Managing Editor, Aisling O’Brien, School Editor, Yvette Ferrari, and Shunyi Correspondent, Sally Wilson. Over the next week, we’ll be spotlighting different beijingkids staff members; today, meet our new School Editor, Jessica Suotmaa.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Once I got over all the ideas my mom had put in head, such as becoming a lawyer (she watched too much Law & Order), I actually wanted to be a freelance journalist and writer.  I have never liked rules or authority, so being able to set my own hours and decide who I’d work for and what I’d work on was my dream. Plus, I like lazing around at home and working in bed.

Do you have any siblings? If so, tell us their name(s) and a fun fact about them.
I do, my sister is 8.5 years younger than me. Although she’s now an adult in college, she still doesn’t know how to burp!

Who was your childhood hero?
Sailor Moon, or maybe Sailor Mars, because she’s strong-willed and seldom needs rescuing.

What was your favorite childhood food? Has it changed as an adult?
I had a number of favorites as a child, but McDonalds had to have topped the list.  It sounds sad, but keep in mind that I traveled often (visited Taiwan for 2-3 months every year in addition to all the moving), so I would often wake up and just find myself in a strange place. Sure, I wanted to eat rice with soy sauce, or mian jing & gua gua (wheat gluten and pickled cucumbers, you can pick up the Taiwan imports from BLT supermarket here in Beijing), or dry noodles that you could only buy from this one stall, in the morning (before 10am) from the market near where my grandparents lived in Taipei, but McDonalds was everywhere I went and the most reliable source of food when everything else was strange and foreign.

Despite how unhealthy it is, McDonalds still has a special place in my heart. When we’re on road trips, or when I travel to other (Chinese) cities for work, I always feel at ease if I spot a McDonalds. Of course, it is no longer my favorite food—I love cream potatoes paired with a simple “leaf” steak (thin, hammered steak) with herb butter, and I never fail to order it when I visit family.

List up to three of your favorite childhood books:
•    Nancy Drew, because her life was exciting.
•    Little Women, and sequels, because it portrayed Jo as a writer.
•    Ratsutyttö (roughly translates as “horse girl”), because horse-back riding was popular among my friends, but I was too scared of horses to take up the hobby myself, so I read the trilogy to better relate to them.

Tell us an embarrassing or little-known childhood anecdote about yourself.
I was the most well-behaved, quiet, and doll-like little girl you could imagine—raised to behave exactly the way a traditional Chinese mother would want.  I was revered by random diners at restaurants, where even venue managers would give me special treats to reward my stellar behavior.  

I never wandered, never spoke, and if someone tried to order me something extra, give me a hong bao, or buy me a gift, I would always reject it and want nothing.  If you gave me drawing materials, I could draw for two to three hours while adults conversed. If you put me in front of a computer with a puzzle or a game of Tetris, you essentially had my babysitting taken care of for the next four hours.

However, as I grew older, I realized that I wasn’t silent because I had nothing to say; I was silent because I had trouble gauging how to behave in each cultural situation.   When I finally reached an age when silence was no longer golden, I began to revolt because I didn’t know how to behave in each culture, and even if I knew what was expected of me, I just couldn’t internalize that culture as my own.  To this day, my mother believes my rebellious streak began when my sister was born, but really, it began when I realized I didn’t fit into either of my parents’ cultures. 

Tell us about your parents’ quirks and how they’ve shaped you.
My parents were in an inter-racial, multi-cultural relationship, which started in a foreign culture (the third culture), so our home was quite divided from the beginning.  During holidays, such as summers at our summerhouse or Christmases at my grandparents, we might play board games or outdoor games (croquet, anyone?) together, but most of the time, we had separate hobbies and activities.  My dad had his table tennis and freelance writing, my mom had her volunteer organizations, and of course my schedule had to be filled up accordingly.

My mom had signed me up for ballet, piano classes, girl scouts, pípa lessons, and various short-term art workshops (felting, puppet making, Chinese painting, candle making, clay making…). In addition, she even had me tag along to all her charity events, international seminars, and women’s rights group meetings—all because she felt that I shouldn’t stay home alone, (my dad was too busy with work and his own activities) and "waste time".  As a result, I have learned to love staying home alone and just doing nothing. I like to keep my schedule as empty as possible, and I consciously avoid committing myself to weekly classes, workshops, and meet ups. Most of the time, I have to schedule a friend to meet me at an event for extra motivation, or else I might just end up loafing around at home.  Luckily, my husband and I are on the same page, and we enjoy being anti-social together.

How many children would you like to have?
Well, I have one son, and another on the way (gender still unknown), so I think I’m good.  My husband seems to believe we’re still negotiating, though, but it definitely depends on how our family dynamic changes with the addition of a second child.

Jessica Suotmaa has been beijingkids’ School Editor since March 2016. Born in San Diego, California, and raised in Los Angeles, Turku (Finland), Taipei (Taiwan), and London, she moved to Beijing in 2012 with her husband and Fubu the bluenose Pitbull. Prior, they lived in Los Angeles. Jessica enjoys prose writing, Russian literature, Japanese manga, fengshui, and zen living. In her free time, she can be found exploring the hutongs and trying unknown hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

Photo: Jessica Suotmaa

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a nurse just like my mom until about the age of 7 when I realized I couldn’t stand the sight of blood! Then, I opted for the even less realistic career of becoming a famous actress, based on the fact that I loved, and still love, playing dress up. Needless to say, neither career path exactly turned out so well for me. Journalism seemed like the natural third option since I have kept a journal since about age 8 and because my entries were very factually presented, even as a child. I’ve never been much of a creative writer.

Do you have siblings? If so, tell us their name and a fun fact about them?
I have one sister, Monet, who is almost two years older than me. Our mom must have been going through a serious artistic phase or really feeling in touch with her small amount of French ancestry to give us names like Monet Jacqueline and Yvette Rose! When we were kids, Monet was very much the wiser older sister who defended me when necessary, sometimes cooked for me, and always offered her two cents on life. I was the ultimate girly girl who wanted to play My Little Ponies and Barbie while she would make me watch all the “boy” shows like X-Men or Batman and do things like dig in the dirt in our backyard and collect different kinds of bugs. She used to bribe me to play this game she made up called “Leaf Girl” where we would pretend to be archeologists and collect different kinds of leaves and various “samples," which often turned out to be old fruit pits and dead insects. We would then lay everything out and identify it. She ended up majoring in anthropology and archeology so now it all makes sense.

Who was your childhood hero?
I have a theory that I must have been hypnotized by the song “Somewhere over the Rainbow," because I was obsessed with the song when I was little so consequentially my first hero was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Ariel the Little Mermaid was a close second though I was devastated to find out mermaids weren’t real.  Once I got older, my hero was definitely my Mexican-American grandmother. She had two inter-racial marriages in a time where that was not the norm, bought her home in Los Angeles in the 1940s, and worked harder than anyone I’ve ever known. She taught me a lot.

What was your favorite childhood food? Has it changed as an adult?
I loved spaghetti and still love all Italian food! I was a terribly picky eater as a child and wouldn’t touch cheese, eggs, or most vegetables. My grandmother did most of the cooking and would make all dishes separate for me without the cheese; a very strange concept in Mexican cooking.  I wouldn’t go near cheese until the age of about 16, even taking it off my pizza. I think I’m making up for lost time now because now I’m addicted and can’t get enough.

List up to three of your favorite childhood books:

• The Box Car Kids – They were always solving mysteries and having adventures. 
• Sweet Valley Twins and Friends and Sweet Valley High –Jessica Wakefield was my first bad influence and I wanted to be her.  
• Goosebumps – For reasons that elude me now, I thoroughly enjoyed being scared.

Tell us an embarrassing or little-known childhood anecdote about yourself.
I was a pre-school drop out! Pretty ironic, considering my current position as School Editor. I wouldn’t talk to my teacher and hardly to the other kids and had decided singing songs and organized fun wasn’t my thing so one morning, I ran away from class while no one was looking. Apparently it took awhile to find me. Another time I refused to put on my seat belt on the school bus during a field trip. Afterwards my parents and school administration had a meeting determining I wasn’t “emotionally ready” for school and that I shouldn’t come back until kindergarten.

Tell us about your parent’s quirks and how they’ve shaped you.
My parents are of the 60s and 70s US hippie generation and it’s safe to say it rubbed off on their parenting style. Growing up in California, and especially near the beach, where the vibe can be pretty laid back and informal to begin with, my parents took it to the next level. They didn’t really discipline my sister or I, set routines like scheduled bed or meal times, and were generally regarded as the “cool” parents my friends would come to with an issue they couldn’t talk to their own parents about. I associate the scents of patchouli, sage, and incense with my parents and growing up.  Because of my upbringing, I find myself pretty adaptable to new people and changing situations though I can be easily bored by routines and resistant to rules and authoritarian management styles.

How many kids do you want?

One, two tops in case the first one doesn’t like playing alone!

Yvette Ferrari is an American expat from Southern Californian and has been living in Beijing for three years. She loves traveling the beaches of Southeast Asia, attempting to surf, shopping, and has a slight addiction to online news. She taught English in Beijing at a local Chinese pre-school  before pursuing the Beijing magazine scene and eventually becoming School Editor at beijingkids.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A forensic scientist.

Do you have any siblings? If so, tell us their name(s) and a fun fact about them.
I have an older sister, Trudi. She cannot take alcohol at all, but whenever we go out she thinks she’ll be fine. We went to a house party once, and she fell asleep amongst the pile of coats after just two glasses of wine. We’d only been there for an hour.

Who was your childhood hero?
Margaret Thatcher because of her patriotism, conviction, and passion. She had a brilliant mind and showed that women do not need patronizing by special treatment. She showed that hard work, determination and sheer grit will get you to where you want to be, and above all, the value of individual responsibility.

What was your favorite childhood food? Has it changed as an adult?
My mum’s toad-in-the-hole. Now I love Thai food or a perfectly-cooked steak.

List up to three of your favorite childhood books.

•     Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
•     Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
•     Choose Your Own Adventure books by R.A. Montgomery and Edward Packard, because if you didn’t like the ending you could just go back and choose another one.

Tell us an embarrassing or little-known childhood anecdote about yourself.
My sister and I, along with a couple of other friends, used to put on Mini-Pops (look it up!) shows in our local village hall. People would actually turn up to watch us dress and sing like Cyndi Lauper, Bananarama and Madonna. Today, I’m not even brave enough to do karaoke.

Tell us about your parents’ quirks and how they’ve shaped you.
My mum is very sociable, but a little bit ditzy sometimes. I have those moments too. My dad is a planner and an organiser. My need to have plenty of lists on the go at any one time definitely comes from him.

How many kids do you want?
Two – and I have them already!

beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent Sally Wilson moved to Beijing in 2010 from the UK with her husband and son. Her daughter was born here in 2011 and both her kids keep her happily busy. In her spare time, Sally loves to stroll through Beijing’s hutongs and parks. She is a (most of the time) keen runner and loves reading: books, magazines, news, and celeb websites – anything really. Sally is also a bit of a foodie and loves trying out new restaurants.

I suppose it is human nature for a parent to marvel at how wonderful her little one is. “My Johnny is so advanced for his age. He’s already out of diapers and he just turned three!” That’s exciting news for any parent, but well behind the curve in most Asian nations where kids are cleaning up their own messes before they can walk. These types of remarks can truly spiral out of control when parents get together as they discuss feeding and sleep habits, language and motor skills, and, well, just about everything. I cannot blame parents for doing this because every book and website that discuss developmental milestones give lists of when to expect a child to begin speaking two-word phrases, eating with a fork/chopsticks, or driving a car.

But wait just a moment. The books on twins that we read all warned about how milestones are delayed with multiples, and that boy twins are the slowest. For better or worse, baby books and websites set parental expectations about how their kids will grow. In theory, this is useful knowledge to have, but it also gets parents comparing their own children to every other child. Somewhere in the recesses of the brain, we have bell curves for everything our babies will accomplish and we cling to the ones that have our kids at the top of the class and forget the ones where they are lagging behind.

On the other hand, I’ve long suspected that the developmental milestone lists out there are, how to put this mildly…dumbed down so that we parents can revel in our babies’ successes. “My Betty started walking at 14 months!” “Oh, Mindy started talking at 24 months.” Frankly, I just avoid these conversations. Otherwise, people are crushed at how advanced our kids are. Don’t believe me, just ask my wife.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons

A new school year means new beginnings and it’s no different here at beijingkids. Over the summer, we said goodbye to former Managing Editor Kara Chin and Deputy Managing Editor Ellis Friedman (whom many of you also knew as the old School Editor). As we kick off the 2013-2014 academic year with a new team, we figure we should properly introduce ourselves. This is the last installment of the series.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Not taller than my partner. As an awkwardly tall girl, my female relatives admonished me to “stop growing or you’ll never find a husband.” I did my best to oblige by staying a manageable 5’7 – but still no husband in sight.

Do you have any siblings? If so, tell us their name(s) and a fun fact about them.
My sister Nancie is six and a half years younger than me. My parents picked her Chinese name first: Nanxi or 南西, which contains the characters for “south” and “west.” They wanted to acknowledge our southern Chinese roots while commemorating my sister’s Canadian birth. “Nancie” just happened to sound a lot like her Chinese name, though we still don’t know why they picked such a quirky spelling.

As a child, Nancie was a bit darker than the rest of us. I slowly but surely convinced her that she was adopted from Cambodia. The story percolated in her psyche until she burst into tears at the dinner table one night and piteously wailed: “IT’S ALL A LIE!” Mom gave me a stink eye of such terrifying intensity, it’s a wonder my head didn’t just explode on the spot.

Who was your childhood hero?
I looked for Asian role models when I was little. The closest things I could find were Jackie Chan dubbed in Québécois French, then Pocahontas (who is super cool and has nice hair but is, of course, not Asian).

Eventually I realized that my dad is a pretty good role model. He’s been known to shout “Holy mackerel!” for no apparent reason and karate kick in the general direction of the TV when the Montreal Canadiens score a goal.

What was your favorite childhood food? Has it changed as an adult?
Kraft Dinner mac ‘n’ cheese. My mom was far too health-conscious to allow KD in the house, so I used to bike over to my friend Lisa’s house and scarf down a bowl. Now, I generally try not to eat anything fluorescent unless there’s betting involved.  

List up to three of your favorite childhood books.

• The Little Prince: To this day, foxes, roses, and deserts still stir up intense feelings of nostalgia.
  
• The Sleep Book: In the ultimate bedtime story, Dr. Seuss follows a yawn as it spreads to creatures all over the world and ends with the reader. (I feel a Pavlovian yawn coming on right now.)
  
• The Witches: This book confirmed my suspicion that grownups are not to be trusted.
  

Tell us an embarrassing or little-known childhood anecdote about yourself.
In kindergarten, I blew a Hubba Bubba bubble so big it exploded over my head and got tangled in my hair. When I got home, my dad declared it a hopeless mess and gave me a haircut by putting a noodle bowl over my head and trimming around the edges. The next day, my teacher Alice mistook me for a boy. She asked: "Are you a new student?" I burst into tears.

Tell us about your parents’ quirks and how they’ve shaped you.
Mom’s a rebel, though she would never describe herself as such. She made her own clothes in university, rarely wears makeup or jewelry, and married a younger man – kind of a big deal in ’80s China. However, her worrywart tendencies have doomed me to a lifetime of arriving at airports three hours early and taking different routes home to evade would-be pickpockets/stalkers/intelligence officers.

Two years ago, my dad and I ate out together at a Chinese restaurant in Jianguomen. He brought a rice cooker (with rice in it), several bottles of Yanjing, and a single sweet potato. When the waitress opened her mouth to protest, he said: “We would like a bottle opener, please.” She hesitated, then obliged. That’s the kind of guy my dad is – never rude, but constantly testing the limits of what’s acceptable.

How many kids do you want (if any)?
As many as I can handle.

Sijia (Sisi) Chen is beijingkids’ managing editor and de facto den mother. She wheeled and dealed her way up the masthead after joining the magazine as an intern in September 2011. When she’s not making educated guesses about what people like do with their kids, Sisi enjoys beer, yoga, Heyrobics, making stuff, and looking at hilarious photos from Russian dating sites with her team.

Photo courtesy of Jirui Chen

A new school year means new beginnings and it’s no different here at beijingkids. Over the summer, we said goodbye to former Managing Editor Kara Chin and Deputy Managing Editor Ellis Friedman (whom many of you also knew as the old School Editor). As we kick off the 2013-2014 academic year with a new team, we figure we should properly introduce ourselves. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be spotlighting a different beijingkids staff member each week.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher.  In the early 1990s, Beijing was way less modernized than today. You had instant access to villages and farms by just stepping over Second Ring Road. My family lived outside Fourth Ring Road, which would have positively shocked the tianzi jiaoxia (天子脚下 or people who live close to the Forbidden City). So, most of the people I knew back then were farmers and teachers (and I didn’t want to be a farmer).

Do you have siblings?
No. Most of Chinese kids of my generation enjoy the privilege of the "one-child policy,” which means all my toys belonged only to me.

Who was your childhood hero?
My grandpa. When I was young and he was visiting from Shandong, he walked with me after dinner along the narrow street in front of our courtyard. Back then, the sky was really clear and the moon was very visible.

As we looked at the shady patches on the moon, my grandpa told me that it was a tree. Underneath the tree, there was a vicious old witch who enjoyed harming people. She would often come down to Earth and kill people just by pointing her finger at them.

My grandpa claimed to have encountered the witch. He was somehow immune to her incantation and managed to kill her with one blink of his eye. After this story, I admired and always listened to him. I did everything he would ask me to do.

What was your favorite childhood food?
Strawberry-flavored popping candy. It just made my childhood! It’s a pity that convention grants more candy to kids.

List up to three of your favorite childhood books.

•  The encyclopedia. It was full of knowledge and colorful pictures, and broadened my world.
• Doraemon. This blue robot cat from the 22nd century had an arsenal of magic tools that he pulled out from the pouch on his belly: the Bamboo-copter, Diminishing Light, Invisibility Poncho, Time Travel Machine, and more.
• Gourd Brothers (hulu wa). I can still hear the theme song in my head. The excitement that I got from reading the books made it seem like I hadn’t seen the TV series a 100 times.

Tell us an embarrassing or little-known childhood anecdote about yourself.
My dad took me to a tiny, remote amusement park and somehow lost me. I was 8. I didn’t panic at all. Quite the opposite – I had a very good day pretending to be part of whichever family was nearest and joined them on rides.

When it started getting dark, I started thinking of all the ways cartoons depict getting out of being lost. I started crying tired tears in front of the man at the entrance. He took me to the police, who drove me home in a fabulous van. I was treated to a fabulous feast that evening.

Tell us about your parents’ quirks and how they’ve shaped you.
My mom speaks perfect Shandong dialect, so perfect that she doesn’t have a clue how to say things in standard Mandarin. So in primary school, I was often mocked for my strong Shandong accent.

How many kids do you want (if any)?
I think one is enough. As I grow older, I find it’s not just about impressing others with the size of your family. There is so much care and responsibility that parents must give to their kids. It’s not easy. For a kid to turn out great, first the parents must be great.

Native Beijinger Morgan Shang is beijingkids’ editorial assistant. An avid learner, he is currently taking English and French classes. When he is not learning how to be sarcastic with beijingkids Staff Writer Oscar Holland, Morgan enjoys snacking and eating out.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Shang