Accentuate the positive, actor mum advises parents

Staff reporter

Hong Kong celebrity Stephanie Che Yuen-yuen says she hosted the show purely out of love and did not take a single penny for it.

After being invited to host the show, the famous singer and actress insisted on doing it for free due to the meaningfulness of the event.

Che describes herself as an optimist who believes in the power of praise. "You can choose to see the good or bad in this world and I choose to focus on the good in people and to magnify their strengths," she said, adding that criticism doesn't bother her too much as "sometimes it can help people improve."

Che imparts these values to her son Justus Quinlan.

With the online world now part of our daily lives, Che admits it's hard for parents to filter everything their children are exposed to, but she has been instilling values in her son from a young age and helping him understand how to choose positive things to appreciate.

She encourages Justus - whose nickname is BBQ - to be positive in life and learn to get up again even if he falls.

"My son has faced setbacks, like when he first took part in his first piano contest," she said.

"He was full of confidence but because of the draw he ended up performing later and his performance wasn't perfect after waiting for so long.

"All his friends got medals, and he was standing next to them, looking downcast and unhappy. At that moment, a girl was crying. But though he was upset, he went over and comforted her, suggesting that she take photos with the prize winners' medals like he did and encouraged her not to give up.

"BBQ is a warm-hearted boy. It proves that my approach works and is important for his emotional growth as he faced his disappointment in such a positive manner."

She also said she praises her son more than she scolds him and he shares both happy and unhappy things that happen at school with her.

BBQ recently told her he was unhappy because a classmate kept making an unpleasant gesture toward him.

She advised him that if the classmate did it again, he "should respond by saying 'Thank you for playing with me.'"

"I told him that the other person does this because they want to upset him. If he doesn't feel upset and just says thank you, the person will be confused, not knowing how to respond. It will take away the pleasure from that classmate and they won't do it again," said Che.

"Teaching kids really is a battle of wits and strength. I'm learning too while teaching my son. I wish everyone uses a positive perspective to guide their children."