GIVEAWAYS

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN PRIZES! Around DB prizes are incredibly easy to get your hands on, and you have until the 10th of the month to apply. Scan the QR code, or go to www.arounddb.com/giveaways, select the giveaway you want, and enter your details into the online form

WIN A PERSIAN RUG FROM RED VELVET DESIGNS

www.redvelvetdesigns.net

Red Velvet Designs is offering one reader an acrylic Persian runner rug (150 x 80 cm), worth HK$880. Lantau-based online homestore Red Velvet Designs provides the ultimate in convenience shopping. Specialising in decorative lighting products and customised rugs and carpets, Red Velvet Designs also offers bespoke products including lacquer jewellery boxes, aromatic candles and cushion covers. See for yourself at the Red Velvet Designs Discovery Bay HK Facebook page, or by visiting www.redvelvetdesigns.net.

Congratulations to last month’s winner Andrew Ryder for two Pilates classes at Embody

PENANG PROPERTY FOR SALE

(Owner Direct Sale)

PENANG LUXURY APARTMENT HK$2.79M (NEGOTIABLE) 1,231sq ft. nett

Located on the famed Batu Ferringhi beach, “By The Sea” is a low density development comprising 3 low-rise blocks of 138 units of suites. Its expansive 50m innnity pool and deck has unobstructed views of the sea while green hills serve as a verdant backdrop. Freehold, fully furnished, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms & 1 carpark space. Innnity pool, gym, playgrounds, monkey park & outdoor gardens.

PLEASE E-MAIL malaysiapropertysales2020@gmail.com AND WHATSAPP/CALL (+852) 9739-1403 FOR DETAILS AND PHOTOS. SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY!

JOHOR PROPERTY FOR SALE

(Owner Direct Sale)

JOHOR LUXURY APARTMENT HK$2.10M (NEGOTIABLE) 954 sq ft. nett

Puteri Harbour, the pearl of Johor, is a prestigious waterfront development located along the southern coast of Johor, where it is closest to neighboring Singapore. Its’ ideal location and award winning masterplan have transformed the harbor into a popular dining, entertainment and holiday destination and given rise to highly desired luxury residences. F Freehold, fully furnished, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms & 1 carpark space. LCD smart home, innnity pool, gym, playgrounds, clubhouse, tennis courts & function rooms. PLEASE E-MAIL malaysiapropertysales2020@gmail.com AND WHATSAPP/CALL (+852) 9739-1403 FOR DETAILS AND PHOTOS. SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY!

Gallery Jeeum participates in Affordable Art Online Fair this year, which selected only 50 galleries around the world. You can find Gallery Jeeum on the AAF homepage as well. In addition to the Online Show, an offline show will also be held at the Gallery at DB North Plaza, so if you want to see the participating works, please come to Gallery Jeeum.

Nord Anglia International School: Is your child ready for kindergarten?

‘B eing ready’ is not about a set of skills you need to make sure your child has before they start kindergarten. It is about preparing your child for this next transition in their lives so you can ensure that kindergarten is a positive and enriching experience for them.

At Nord Anglia International School, we know that children develop best when they feel safe and secure. Our pre-schools create a caring and happy environment where a child believes that they are capable of anything. We also believe that building a strong relationship with the family supports the child’s development in all areas and we love doing this.

Language skills

Being able to express ourselves and be understood is very powerful. To develop your child’s language skills, you can support them by modelling simple sentences and phrases that they can imitate and use. Encourage them to express their needs verbally, using these modelled phrases.

Be sure to engage in ‘real’ conversations with your child, where you take turns to talk and listen to one another. This will help your child understand the function of language and the joy of a reciprocal exchange. egocentric stage (concerned only for their own needs) and they will need support to prepare them for companionship (becoming aware of others and their needs and feelings). You can help to prepare them by visiting parks, play areas and places where they share the space with other children.

To develop your child’s social skills, play simple games that require turn taking and sharing, and model turn taking and consideration. Talk about feelings and emotions and look at pictures of what the feelings may look like in others. Praise your child when they listen and recognise the feelings and needs of others.

Independence skills

It’s important to develop some practical self-help skills with your child to prepare them for kindergarten. Can they get dressed and go to the bathroom by themselves? Can they cope without you for part of the day? Can they ask for help if they need it?

Remember, a kindergarten’s role is to nurture and teach your child, in partnership with you, so if your child cannot do the above perfectly, a good kindergarten will understand its role to continue to develop these self-help skills.

Emotional readiness

Emotional development is another key consideration as your child approaches kindergarten age. Consider the following questions and talk them through with your child’s teacher before they start kindergarten: How does your child deal with frustrations? Can they comfortably spend time apart from you? How do they like to be comforted? How do they approach new people and new tasks?

When the big day finally arrives, do not rush the settling period. Allow your child time to get to know their teachers and carers and become familiar with the environment and the new routines that will be structuring their day.

If your child is not used to being separated from you, gradually increase the separation time, making those periods manageable – your child will soon come to realise that you always return. And never underestimate the power of your child seeing you building a relationship with their teacher. When your child sees you trusting the adults in the setting, they will often follow suit.

Lastly, be mindful that the kindergarten teacher should be asking you lots of questions, so they can get to know your child and how best to support them. This information helps a teacher respond individually to a child, thus supporting them to feel safe and secure.

Social skills

FIND IT

• Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong has campuses in

Lam Tin, Tai Tam and Sai Kung. Contact 3958 1428, www.nais.hk

The Axeman Cometh

DB musician and teacher Jay Javier Apungan is ready for the spotlight again, whenever it returns. Elizabeth Kerr reports

Jay Javier Apungan paid HK$10,000 to see Guns N’ Roses.On the notorious rock band’s last Hong Kong stop in 2018 Jay was getting ready for the night out with his wife, Kris Perry, and lost his wallet on the bus on his way to meet her.

“My auntie called me so I answered the phone and put my wallet down beside me,” he recalls with a hearty chuckle and a shrug. It just so happened he was travelling to the Philippines the next day, so he’d just withdrawn a considerable chunk of change from the bank, after putting the HK$2,400 tickets in his wallet. The couple trekked out to AsiaWorld-Expo anyway and bought fresh tickets. “It’s one of the most expensive concerts I ever saw. But it was worth it, even if Axl Rose can’t hit those high notes anymore,” he finishes with a laugh.

Jay greets visitors at his DB studio looking like, well, a rock star. The space is what you’d expect of a musician: there’s a double-tiered keyboard, a dozen guitars – his baby, a Fender Telecaster, and a Gibson Les Paul – are visible, and there’s a book (a gift) about living like Keith Richards propped behind the desk. Jay is rocking Black-era Kirk Hammett locks. Sadly, there’s no rock star attitude or Jack Daniels-littered sitting room. Or perhaps, fortunately. But there is a Christmas tree – in October.

Effortlessly good-natured, Jay perches on a stool, flipping his hair every so often between sips of sparkling water. He’s alone these days; Kris and his eight and 12-year-old daughters Neve and Mia headed to her hometown of Indianapolis four months ago when the consumer electronics executive was offered a plum job. He hopes to see everyone near the end of the year, but he’s happy the girls are finally settling into life in a sleepy US suburb.

Jay Apungan at a gig at Hemingway’s in October

“They were born here. They can’t deal with the quiet, and being unable to walk off to Starbucks on their own,” he says. But they’re making new friends – and one has joined a band. Jay still has the family cat, Daisy, an SPCA adoptee, and of course the kids that come through three times a week for music lessons.

Stay tuned

quite the singing voice and before long he was singing at parties, in church choirs, and anywhere that would help him contribute to the family.

By the time he turned 16, Jay was getting a reputation around Manila for his guitar skills –and harbouring ambitions to travel, initially to Japan. He got side-tracked, however, by local band Stay Tuned.

A native of a town about four hours south of Manila – “one hour without traffic” – Jay started singing and playing music at age nine. His father had gone blind, and he was acting as the man’s eyes, and when his dad picked up the guitar so did he. The family discovered Jay had “I believe in luck,” he says. “I was hanging out, having some beer with friends, and someone in the bar’s band recognised me from around town.” Stay Tuned was on the verge of losing its guitarist and so asked if Jay would be interested in stepping in. One jam later they

told him where to show up the next day to start. “I was very early,” he says, laughing again. He was 18.

Jay stuck with Stay Tuned for eight years, touring in Penang and Singapore before the group disbanded following a series of minor tiffs. It was then he got offered a contract to work at stalwart Hong Kong nightspot Insomnia. He landed in 2003, and for seven years he ripped through personal and fan favourites there, and at the Hard Rock Café and Adrenaline (at Happy Valley Racecourse) among others. He cites influences including Carlos Santana and the Eagles’ Glenn Frey.

“If you play these, you’re a guitar player in the Philippines. But one of my favourites is Gary Moore. Slash is ok, Matthias Jabs is ok too. And oh my gosh, I can’t believe he just died: Eddie Van Halen!”

Jay gets animated when he talks about music. He describes the Telecaster as having a “brilliance” to it, and the Les Paul as “fat and rock.” He doesn’t quite understand the enduring charm of Hotel California, but admits “the solo is unbelievable.” He’s working on mastering AC/DC’s Thunderstruck – Australians ask for it all the time – but he has a dark secret.

“To be honest? My favourites are oldies: Johnny Mathis, The Platters and the crooners from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.”

Local shredder

Insomnia was a good career move both professionally and personally: Jay met Kris almost immediately after arriving. “I’d been here about two weeks, and we met at a gig I was playing. At Chasers. That was one of the best bars I’ve ever played. I loved that bar,” he recalls of the old Knutsford Terrace haunt. The bar may be

Jay’s influences vary from Carlos Santana to Johnny Mathis

gone but the couple flourished, relocating to DB after the birth of their first daughter.

“We were living in Hung Hom, and there was no place for kids. I was teaching a friend of mine guitar, and he lived in DB, so I came here to teach him,” Jay explains. Interest piqued, Jay saw a realtor and looked around – then told Kris, who didn’t need much convincing considering the space they could get for their money.

Still gigging at the time, Jay relished the change of pace, and he still does. “After work it’s always nice to get on the ferry and just… let it all go and relax,” he says.

His daughters were also the reason he opened JK International Music Production in 2012 (www. jkmusicint.com). The late nights and boozy venues were getting to be a bit much, so he turned his attention to JK – producing, booking and teaching during normal business hours.

“I wanted to reduce the nightshift work because it left me no time during the day. I’d finish a gig at Dusk till Dawn at 6am, my ferry would be at 6:30am, all my kids’ teachers would be on the boat, and I’m out of it,” he says with a shake of the head. “Sometimes they’d have to wake me up. It wasn’t good. I started the business so I could be home more, and pick the girls up from school.”

Though teaching is keeping him busy, ask if Jay has missed playing live during the pandemic and the answer is an instant, “Oh god, yes.” He can’t wait to get up on stage again, pooh-poohing the idea of retiring, and laments the loss of The Big Picnic this month.

“That’s one of the best events in Discovery Bay. I love it. It’s very freeing. There are whole families in the audience, and your kids can see you play.” For now though, he relies on low-key Sunday shows at Hemingway’s to scratch the performance itch, something he chalks up to his typical Filipino upbringing, where singing is part of everyday life.

“We sing all the time. We’d sing carols in October. Did you notice my Christmas tree?” He points out the aforementioned tree with a cheeky grin. “That’s Pinoy style!”

ready, set, go!

With the weather getting cooler, now is an ideal time for beginners to hit the trails for the first time, or – for those with more experience – to start training in preparation for a race. Elizabeth Jerabek gets the lowdown on gear, nutrition and motivation from three local experts

There are many reasons to live in Discovery Bay, but having Lantau Country Park right in your backyard is one of the best. During COVID-19, this proximity to some of best trails in Hong Kong has provided a lifeline for many DB residents.

With so many trails leading out from DB, it’s up to you whether you want to challenge yourself with a tough uphill sprint in preparation for a race or simply get a little gentle exercise on a Sunday morning.

The gear

According to Shakeel Nawaz, director of retail operations for Escapade Sports, the most important consideration for trail runners is their shoes. “The outer sole of the shoe is the most significant difference between a typical running shoe and a trail variant,” he says. “The outer soles of trail running shoes have lugs, which provide increased traction. Some trail running shoes have shorter lugs, which are better suited for the hard surfaces often found on many of the paved concrete trails in Hong Kong. Other trail running shoes have longer more aggressive lugs on the outer soles, which are better suited to runs on loose, soggy or wet trails and paths.”

Once properly shod, how much other gear you need is again determined by the kind of trail you are tackling. “A short run might only require a water bottle, energy bar, Octopus card and a phone – all of which could be carried easily in a waist pouch,” explains Shakeel. “But a 30K walk across Lantau would call for a hydration pack where – in addition to the reservoir for water – you could carry some extra food and electrolytes, a jacket and other essentials like trail poles. “Night-time hiking and trail running are getting popular and are a good way to beat the crowds, beat the heat and enjoy fantastic sightings of Hong Kong’s wildlife,” Shakeel adds. “If you are planning to run at night you not only need a good headlamp, but also a small auxiliary torch as backup.” For those transitioning from road conserve energy.”

Shakeel is quick to highlight recent innovations in the way trail running gear is made. “Changes in outerwear not only include new styles, but also a greater choice in fabrics, such as high-tech superbreathable polyesters, bamboo fibres or classic Merino wool,” he says. “GPS watches have become more affordable and superlightweight with longer battery run times.

“Ten years ago, finding a pair of have a constant calorie intake. 500ml of liquid and at least 100cal

poles usually meant settling for a pair that a mountaineer would want on a K2-bound expedition,” he adds. “But now you can find lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre poles that can be quickly and easily folded away with the pull of a string. Hydration packs to head lamps, shoes to caps, everything has evolved and choices have improved.”

Fitness and nutrition

DB resident Michael Skobierski started trail running eight years ago when he arrived in Hong Kong. “I was looking for a way to access office and I was fascinated by Hong Kong’s natural beauty,” he says. “I was amazed at how quickly you can exit the urban area and find yourself in completely different environments.”

Michael’s basic advice for trail runners is to put on your shoes and go: “You don’t need much for a short trail run and you can be ready with five minutes of preparation.” But with that said, he has some valuable wisdom to share. Michael was a member of the winning team, Gone RunningJoint Dynamics, in the 2018 Oxfam Trailwalker race, as well as the Lantau 70 and Lantau Vertical individual champion in 2017, and the King of the Hills overall champion 2017/ 2018.

to trail running, Michael says the biggest challenge is the constant up and down across different surfaces. “When you are running on the road, you can usually hold a steady pace. But on the trail, you need to constantly brake and accelerate due to turns, technical downhills or steep uphills,” he explains. “For trail runs over a longer distance, you might not run the uphill but power hike instead to

In Lantau the conditions on the trail can be very tough and a steep climb in the sun will quickly wear down your reserves, so it is important to be mindful of your nutrition and hydration. “There are many different formulas, and you will want to try different things to see what works best for you,” Michael says. “I usually hydrate from the start and make sure I For each hour of running I have all the hills I kept seeing from the

of nutrition (solid food such as banana, granola bars or energy gels), and I keep the intake steady from the start.”

Trail runners often experience injuries as a result of over use, as repetitive movements over a long time can wear down joints and ligaments. “The strong impact of running downhill can be very tough for the feet and knees while some preconditions like an unbalanced stride will also result in injuries,” Michael confirms. Cross training, consequently, is important for trail runners, particularly exercise targeting the core and hip strength. 

Giving your body sufficient recovery time to rest and heal after a run or series of runs is equally important. “The beauty of trail running in Lantau is the variety and you can keep changing between hillier trail runs or flat runs. Or you can take a break one day with a run on the road, as well as changing the intensity of the runs,” Michael says. “But there are different forms of fatigue, and when you notice any of them I would either just do a very easy and short pleasure run or not run at all.”

Staying motivated

DB resident Nikki Han has been trail running for seven years and is a member of the Hong Kong Sports Clinic Team affiliated with Lantau Base Camp in Mui Wo. In 2019, Nikki was also one of the top three finalists in the non-stop, 300-kilometre Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC). Nikki beat out 26 local and international runners to finish in third place in 58 hours and become the first woman to do so.

“Trail running is awesome,” she says. “It makes you feel free. It clears your head and everything you see makes sense. The trails teach you. They keep you calm and not so worried about ‘stuff.’ The more you run the more you filter out all the meaningless stuff.”

Speaking of motivation, it also helps to hit the trails to benefit a good cause, as Nikki did on August 15 to celebrate her 50th birthday and to raise awareness for Asia Trail Girls (ATG), an organisation dedicated to helping girls and women from all over Asia discover the beauty of trail running.

“My goal was to inspire and

Michael Skobierski racing up Lantau Peak in the Lantau Vertical, 2017

age to challenge themselves, to keep moving forward,” says Nikki. “I want other women to see the benefits that come with trail running. Doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are, just getting out there is the thing you can do for yourself.”

As part of the ATG Vert - Race for Elevation Challenge, Nikki completed an ‘Everest’ by running 20 laps from the bottom of the golf course road in DB to the top of Tiger’s Head and back down – in 22 hours. Nikki started the challenge at 6am on August 15 and finished at 9am on August 16. She was joined by 15 trail running friends who each ran a loop with her, and she also did five loops on her own.

Nikki’s Everest Challenge route is popular with both veteran trail runners and casual weekend hikers, as are many of the trails that lead out from Discovery Bay.

You can go south through Nim Shue Wan to reach Mui Wo, Pui O and eventually Tai O. You can go west and up to Tiger’s Head and veer off towards Tung Chung, or turn north to follow the path that overlooks Hong Kong Disneyland. All of these routes are interlinked, meaning you can run and hike here for years and still find yourself covering new ground.

FIND IT

• Asia Trail Girls, www.asiatrailgirls.com encourage ladies of a similar

• Escapade Sports, www.escapade.com.hk

Advice for couples on managing financial disagreements from family lawyer Sharon Ser of Withers!

2020 has been a tough year financially for people across the globe, however it is not only our material lives that have been affected. The pandemic has caused substantial and, in some cases, irreversible changes to our emotional lives. Due to a myriad of reasons many marriages have become casualties during this challenging time.

Importantly, of course, couples have found themselves in each other’s company much more than usual. More time together means more interaction, which potentially leads to more conflicts. Small irritations are amplified into colossal issues that cannot be ignored. In addition, disagreements over how to conduct oneself during a pandemic are leading couples to question or even re-evaluate their compatibility, as they contemplate how best to balance the needs of society at large with their own.

Money has long been a significant make-or-break factor in marriages and it has become a major source of conflict during the pandemic, since many people have been forced to take unpaid leave or a pay cut; some have even been laid off. The reduction in household income has led to a drastic shift in lifestyle choices for many couples, as well as additional emotional duress.

The resolution to these financial one that applies to any relationship at any stage – communication.

Effective communication is

key. Only when expectations and desires are clearly expressed can couples move forward as a united front.

How we spend, save and invest reflects our values, beliefs and habits. The amount of money that we have impacts our lifestyle directly. When partners disagree on how to handle their finances, the damage caused to the relationship can seem irreversible. Effective communication can help bridge this fundamental gap.

Therapy is not a dirty word.

Counselling can be highly effective for couples who are at odds for financial reasons. It gives them the opportunity to communicate effectively and openly in the presence of a skilled mediator. Within a secure environment, they can open up to each other, understand each other, re-imagine a future together and possibly save their marriage. Being able to communicate openly with each other is particularly important at the current time since the change in tone and tempo of society has prompted many of us to reflect more deeply on our present and future circumstances. Life cannot go on as normal. How, then, should we proceed? Conflicts regarding money have been exacerbated and if a couple feels their relationship is in jeopardy, they should not hesitate to seek help from a marriage guidance counsellor.

If it is impossible for a couple to resolve their issues, the next step is dissolution of the marriage. To deal with such circumstances, couples need to understand both the bigger picture and the finer details of the legal proceedings.

At Withers, we have a number of specialist family lawyers, speaking fluent English, Cantonese, Mandarin and French, who are ready to talk you through the various options that would best suit your family circumstances. Please feel free to contact us to learn more about how our family lawyers can help you.

FIND IT

• Withers, 30/F United Centre, 95 Queensway, Admiralty, 3711 1600, www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/hong-kong Sharon Ser is a Partner in the family and divorce team at Withers. Find more from Sharon at www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/ disagreements may be an age-old

people/sharon-a-ser.

When I was at school, used to be but its lessons can transformation. Images, video, history lessons – teach us things that are important sound bites, tweets and interactive learning about the for life today. History can be the apps are just some of the ways Magna Carta, the richest of all stories, the saddest through which they learn nowadays. Battle of Hastings, Agincourt, of stories and the most shocking So, keeping that in mind, we need Bosworth and Bannockburn of stories. It’s a story of all people, to share our knowledge of history along with the names of unknown in all places, at all times and in a way that will be engaging. kings fighting unknown battles in because we know of that history, unknown places – were the most we can decide what may happen Movies are a great place to start, as boring I could imagine. They were in the future. you want to make sure that learning just names and dates but I had to about history is exciting and fun. remember them because I knew It provides identity and shows us Look to the old Hollywood classics that in a very short time, there models of good and responsible like Ben-Hur or The Great Escape, would be a test. In the back of my behaviour, as well as teaching us as well as more recent releases like mind was the question: ‘Why do I how to learn from the mistakes Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend have to learn about this when I’ll of others. History helps us of the Sword. Children will soon never use it again when I grow up?’ understand how society can realise that being a ‘historian’ is like And you can be sure our children’s change and develop. If we don’t being a time detective; they’ll start minds work the same way as teach our children to connect with looking everywhere for clues to help ours did. them build up a picture of But now that we’re older and wiser, we understand Look to the old Hollywood On the small screen too, they’ll find plenty of grist for that our children can learn classics like Ben-Hur or the mill, through popular, a lot by looking closer at the past. As we get older, The Great Escape, as well as blockbusting series like Game of Thrones and our perception changes, more recent releases like Downton Abbey. as do our interests. All of a what happened long ago. sudden, these characters Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Apps are of course another are not eccentric anymore and we realise they were Legend of the Sword great way to bring history to life, with games, interesting real people with real visuals and interactive personalities. They fought multimedia features making battles, they fell in love, they made history, then the consequences for study fun. Take Timeline Eons: All mistakes and they were vulnerable our society could be disastrous. major historical events are organised to diseases. Just like us. All of a The more we know about the past on a timeline, so children can zoom sudden history becomes exciting. the better prepared we are for the in and out to learn about different future because by remembering time periods. Ancient Rome from And then at some stage, almost the past, we realise that we are Britannica Kids is another very welllike a revelation, we realise responsible for building a legacy designed app – it includes mediathat learning history has many for the generations that follow us. rich material, games and quizzes. important benefits as well. By My grandkids also rate Faking It, understanding our past, and Considering that greed caused a free app from The Metropolitan where we came from, we hope to The War of the Roses, family Museum of Art, which teaches understand where we are now and misunderstandings caused the history through iconic photos. even decide what might happen in First World War and the need for the future. The way things are now power caused the Second World And what about storytelling? We is a consequence of the things War, who would want to repeat were telling stories long before the that happened in the past. The them? As the Spanish philosopher golden-haired, blue-eyed Vikings way things will be tomorrow will be George Santayana said: “Those sailed dragon-prowed boats up a consequence of the way things who do not remember the past are a river in Northumbria one cold are now. condemned to repeat it.” miserable January morning in 793AD, and we are still listening Learning from the past Bringing history to life to these stories told by today’s raconteurs and writers, and by our History not only provides us with The way our children absorb grandparents and parents. Hence a nostalgic glimpse of how things information is undergoing a rapid the word ‘his-story.’ 

Interactive apps are a great way to bring history to life

Using stories to teach history

From a very young age, children are taught to recognise and appreciate stories that they are told. At bedtime especially, a wave of hushed concentration envelops children as they hear the words ‘once upon a time’, and there are hundreds of titles, not necessarily nonfiction books, to choose from.

For example, there is the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Although fictitious, this tale is full of intrigue and bravery, dashing knights on white horses and swooning damsels in distress. Then we have the story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, while romping though Sherwood Forest in Lincoln-green long johns. For something closer to our times, there is Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which offers readers a glimpse of what life was like in 19th century America and addresses important issues from the past – slavery, for example.

The book list is endless and in every one, there is a story to grab children’s imagination. With just one chapter a night, it’s possible to take the time to answer any questions your children may have about the stories you choose. Who knows, soon your children may start reaching for the historical fiction shelf on their own.

Growing up in Hong Kong, our children are already exposed to different cultures and values, and history helps to open their minds and allows them to learn the importance of world cultures. By exploring the different stages of history, they understand the importance of major events and the mistakes that were made. Mistakes that we hope will never be repeated. And isn’t that what we really want? To make our children’s future better than our past?

In the immortal words of the English poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

DB resident Trisha Hughes is the author of five books including the bestselling V2V historical trilogy, that provides a thrilling and highly accessible ride through the British monarchy from the time of the Vikings to the present day. For more on Trisha, visit www.trishahughesauthor.com and www.vikingstovirgin.com.