Chong Ee Jay 庄贻杰

Chong Ee Jay 庄贻杰 Husband . Father . Counsellor . Digital Literacy & Family Life Educator

A colleague asked me how has my experience been for the past 2.5 months working with primary school students. Initially ...
03/09/2026

A colleague asked me how has my experience been for the past 2.5 months working with primary school students. Initially I wanted to swiftly reply, “I survived Term 3!!!” 😂

But when I paused and reflected deeper, my response was, “I enjoyed Term 3 - with the students I’ve worked with as well as the colleagues!”

I’m thankful for this opportunity to be working with these students. More than conducting structured intervention programmes, what I enjoy most are the conversations with them to listen to them, learn from them, guide them and encourage them.

While I am professionally engaged to support the students, the experience has also opened my heart and mind to more attuned and sensitive to what children today face and feel. The experience has helped me to be more patient and intentional with my own son too.

As I stand on the receiving end celebrating Teacher’s Day today with the students, my heart is filled with gratitude of this purposeful and missional season I’m in.

Happy Teacher’s Day to all my educator friends out there too!

Sometimes, the moments that matter most in parenting don’t look particularly special.It may be the drive/walk to school,...
02/09/2026

Sometimes, the moments that matter most in parenting don’t look particularly special.

It may be the drive/walk to school, a bedtime chat, a meal together around the table, or simply sitting beside our child while they tell us about something that happened during their day.

In a busy world filled with schedules, screens and distractions, giving our children our undivided attention can feel like a small thing.

But to them, it can mean the world to them.

Our children may not remember every toy we bought, every place we brought them to, or every activity we planned.

But they are likely to remember how it felt to have us fully present, listening and interested in their world and their thoughts.

Connection isn’t always built through extraordinary moments. Sometimes, it is built through ordinary moments when we choose to be present. 😍

Promised my son since National Day to bring him to watch the latest Paw Patrol movie 🍿. Initially I was skeptical and as...
01/09/2026

Promised my son since National Day to bring him to watch the latest Paw Patrol movie 🍿. Initially I was skeptical and asked him if this movie was too kiddish for him. But he insisted that he wanted to watch because he had watched the previous two movies before.

No regrets because it was really a nice show with good values that kids can learn from! Despite feeling tired from a morning speaking engagement, I was energised by the show and didn’t doze off! 😆

With the one-week school holidays coming up, let’s do our best to make time for our kids. Good to get away from school work a while to recalibrate before coming back to a busy Term 4!

Lively interactive session this past weekend at Kent Ridge Secondary School sharing with parents on the topic of “Digita...
31/08/2026

Lively interactive session this past weekend at Kent Ridge Secondary School sharing with parents on the topic of “Digital Wellness and Device Management”.

Many parents echoed their concerns about managing their teenagers’ personal learning devices (PLDs) and handphone usages. Multitasking, switching tabs and screens, exceeding agreed screen time duration etc - these were common scenarios raised regarding their children’s device usage habits.

I shared with the parents that amidst all our concerns regarding device management, it was imperative that we come back to the foundation of relationship management between parents and children. From how we try to understand their digital world to how we empathise and communicate with them, these are all crucial before we move ahead with establishing rules, boundaries and limitations.

As Josh McDowell shared before, “Rules with Relationship leads to Response.”

I was heartened to hear from the students too during our fireside chat segment where they shared from their point of view how they wish parents can better trust, support and give them ownership in managing device usage and learning. There is hope!! 🤩

Once again, grateful to the school staff team for organising this meaningful session for the parents! 🙌🏻

When our children misbehave, our first instinct is often to correct the behaviour. But perhaps we should also pause and ...
28/08/2026

When our children misbehave, our first instinct is often to correct the behaviour. But perhaps we should also pause and ask: “What is this behaviour telling me?”

Children don’t always misbehave because they want to be difficult. Sometimes they simply haven’t learned what is expected, haven’t developed the skills to manage their emotions, or are responding to a need for attention, connection or guidance.

However, understanding the reason behind a misbehaviour doesn’t mean excusing it.

Instead, it means looking beyond the behaviour so we can teach, guide and correct more effectively.

After all, discipline is not merely about stopping misbehaviour. It is about teaching our children how to do better.

As parents, we’re not just raising children who know what not to do. We’re helping them gradually develop the skills, values and self-control to know what to do instead.

Here’s a spaghetti sticks tower done up by an 11 year old student in 20 minutes and she named it “The iPhone Tower”. 😆 M...
27/08/2026

Here’s a spaghetti sticks tower done up by an 11 year old student in 20 minutes and she named it “The iPhone Tower”. 😆 My assistance was minimal and I restricted myself to just tearing masking tape when needed.

I was using this activity to guide the student to practice activating her thinking brain to ideate and build the spaghetti tower, while not allowing the boredom and discouragement felt in her feeling brain to make her give up.

Proud of her that she “locked in” and accomplished the tower! And when I asked her what helped her? She said it was my encouragement and working on the tower together with her.

This experience reminded me that sometimes our encouragement and journeying alongside our children is powerful and supportive for them. In the tasks our children embark on, they are bound to face discouragement, setbacks and frustrations. Giving up can the easiest option.

Yet when we come alongside them with our support, we are letting them know that they are not alone in facing the challenges and we can overcome the challenges together!

Time flies. My son is going to turn 11 years old soon and next year he will taking the his first milestone national exam...
26/08/2026

Time flies. My son is going to turn 11 years old soon and next year he will taking the his first milestone national exams before taking the leap into secondary school the subsequent year.

I think I will miss this captured moment greatly where he would be cycling and I will be doing my run and literally trying to catch up with him. He’s definitely outgrowing his bike (as well as the helmet) and I might not have the spring in my legs to keep up with him too.

But this definitely locks in as one of the memorable Dad-son routine we do bi-weekly. Come the teenage years, I hope we can explore and continue with some family routines so that we have times for conversations and connections amidst life’s busy schedules.

Yes, time flies indeed but there’s no way of stopping time or creating more time. Instead, let’s be intentional to make time for our kids through their early childhood years to build stronger relational foundations.

We can’t and shouldn’t stop our kids from growing up. But we can and should take the active efforts to journey with them through their growing years - guiding and sharing with them wisdom and values in navigating life.

Over the weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at a digital parenting workshop organised by Church of Singapore Bukit...
25/08/2026

Over the weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at a digital parenting workshop organised by Church of Singapore Bukit Timah. The two hours session just flew by as we talked about excessive digital usages and practical handles that parents can try out to better engage and guide their children in building healthier digital habits.

Encouraged to see that there were also grandparents in the audience wanting to learn so that they can support in educating and instilling good digital habits in their grandchildren! 🙌🏻

Always a joy to share with parents and inspire hope in them in navigating the complex digital world and its culture. Looking forward to my next session this weekend with another group of parents! 🤩

Two days ago, I took some time out to attend a session organised by Gatekeepers Singapore to hear from Endowus Singapore...
21/08/2026

Two days ago, I took some time out to attend a session organised by Gatekeepers Singapore to hear from Endowus Singapore about impact investing.

My original intentions of attending the session was to stay connected with the Gatekeepers community and have an enriching downtime instead of just doomscrolling on my phone. Of course, the dinner provision was a bonus! 😆

I’m not really into financial investments so honestly before the sharing began, I was bracing myself for info overload or info zooming past my head. But I really enjoyed the session and was refreshed because the sharing were less on technicalities and market analysis but focusing more on stewarding finances, purpose of investments. It was more about Heartware than Hardware.

Thank you Gatekeepers Singapore for this lovely session!

Side note to any of my Christian friends who are looking for a meaningful career or volunteering opportunities to make a difference in the marketplace, feel free to check Gatekeepers out!

Every year when teachers’ day is around the corner, I will always look back at my Junior College photos and be really gr...
20/08/2026

Every year when teachers’ day is around the corner, I will always look back at my Junior College photos and be really grateful for my two civic tutors then whom made a huge difference in my life. Both always went above and beyond their call of duty to support us students academically and even at times when some of us were facing family, personal or relationship issues. I thanked them during my graduation and I continue to be thankful for them today, even sharing with my son about the impact they’ve done for me.

As I look at social media trends today, I often see posts of parents posting rants and negative feedback about schools and teachers. Some of these posts stay within the forums and social media groups while some have gone viral and made national headlines.

I’m not invalidating what these parents felt or faced. But I feel saddened that only these negative stories of schools and teachers are blown up online. Of course there are the annual teaching awards that recognises specific teachers but there definitely could be much more positive things we can all say about teachers and how they have supported our children.

Teaching doesn’t need to be a thankless job. Teachers don’t demand parents’ and children’s appreciation and affirmation.

But just as it’s easy and quick to post our criticisms and harsh feedbacks, maybe we can fairly consider to take initiative to post the positives and good that teachers and schools have done.

This is not a sponsored post and I’m also a parent with a child in the education system. Just having a food for thought that we can have more balanced postings online as we advocate for a more gracious and kinder society.

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