The Art Of Parenting

Actress Joanne Peh tells DAVELLE LEE how she’s striving to be the best mum she can be.

- Davelle Lee

Today’s children are an entitled lot, proclaims actress Joanne Peh, who is pregnant with her second child. “At one time or another, we’ve all had to endure the antics of a screaming child in a restaurant, demanding an ice cream dessert until the parents are so embarrassed and flustered that they order it just to keep the child quiet.”

And that’s not just a Singaporean phenomenon. When Joanne spent about a month in Beijing, China, with her husband – actor Qi Yuwu – and daughter after giving birth to her in 2015, she found herself surrounded by kids from single child families behaving with the same level of disrespect.

Horrified by such protective parenting, it made her even more determined to raise her own daughter, aged 16 months in October, properly because she did not want her to feel entitled or privileged.

Now back in Singapore, and fresh from rounding up four months of extensive travelling for Unique Towns – a TV series that explores interesting places around the world – at the time of this interview, Joanne shares how she has embraced parenthood, and her strategies for child-raising.

KEEPING BABY QI OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT

Joanne has never revealed her daughter’s name to the public. On her Instagram page, she affectionately refers to her as Baby Qi. Hiding their little one’s identity was a conscious decision between Joanne and Yuwu. “She was born with both of us in the limelight,” explains Joanne. “We want to give her the freedom to decide if she wants that kind of life.”

PUTTING HER INTERESTS FIRST