When Divorce hurts a Child

Divorce rates in Singapore have been increasing and most cases occur between 5 to 9 years of marriage. Divorce can cause lifelong effects and various adverse impacts on a child. Children’s emotional needs and feelings are often neglected when their parents split. When that happens, these children often face different forms of trauma and emotional instability due to new stressors such as worry, fear, and uncertainty. Known to be one of the ACEs, which stands for Adverse Children Experiences, various studies and reports from the Ministry of Social and Family Development have shown that divorce can cause different problems in children, which have a lasting impact and affects them through to adulthood. Therefore, the aim of this project is to enable children to process and express their feelings when their parents are divorced, by developing an interactive children storybook as a tool for them to share and navigate their emotions.

The Spectrum of Play

The Spectrum of Play is a project that centres around the social issue of gender-typing in children’s toys: like how dolls are almost exclusively marketed to little girls, and cars and dinosaurs to little boys. In a world where gender is increasingly understood as a spectrum, imposing arbitrary gender boundaries on children stratifies development along gender lines, forcing children into boxes and perpetuating outdated stereotypes.

Spectrum aims to both promote the awareness of gender-typing in toys and its impacts, and encourage the cultivation of a more gender-inclusive culture of play and parenting, so that children can freely explore the world and their interests without being tied down to societal expectations.

Start your journey into the project at www.thespectrumofplay.com.

Tuwa’s Journey

Tuwa’s Journey is a motivational visual narrative that aims to encourage a persevering attitude within young children. This project is designed to target children 3 to 6 years old, exploring how illustration can help discuss and communicate the importance of perseverance, which will be useful when encountering issues stemming from potential challenges that children are bound to face on their journey to adulthood.

The story features Tuwa, a Tuwabin who lacks the ability to change colours, and follows his journey where his persevering spirit enabled him to fulfil his desire to change colour like the rest of the Tuwabins, despite the many challenges faced.

Through this project, I hope to encourage a ‘can-do’ spirit so that children will grow up learning to build grit, focus, and achieve their goals, providing a foundation that helps lead them to a more positive outlook.