Sticky Business

Kids love stickers. I don't know why. I loved them too when I was a kid. But back then, there weren't that many choices.

Fast forward 20 or 30 years later, you find a wide range of stickers to suit all ages and tastes. Just walk into any supermarket, stationery or book shop. They are everywhere, enticing kids to go nearer (and eventually bug their parents until the latter relent and buy them some).

Popular cartoon and superheroes characters are the bestsellers, naturally. I've had Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Ultraman, Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Barbie and the latest craze Transformers stuck on the furniture in the kids' playroom. Thankfully, Joshua and Joanne know that the walls are off limits.

I don't know if the teachers in Malaysia practise this but the teachers in Melbourne actually use stickers as rewards to kids who have done something well in school. Well, there are "official" stickers too! Joshua is a goody two shoe at school - hence the increasing number of stickers in his collection (he doesn't throw the stickers away, he peels them off his jacket or shirt and stick them on his toy box!).

Stickers are great fun, I suppose. I use them too to reward the kids when they behave. And they certainly are way cheaper than toys.