"We don't always have to be clever, thank goodness. Often simply being clear is enough." So says the linguistics expert Christopher Johnson in his book Microstyle .

Apply this maxim to crafting the 140-character tweets. It works. Or, if you like, Facebook updates. And prayers too. As a doctor, I know that should also be the code for writing patient's discharge summary.

Neat summary leans heavily on the writer's efforts to distill the real important messages.

Every so often we hear about a kid who can't separate from his or her teddy bear. The kid views the teddy bear the way an atom needs a proton - you simply become negative after losing one single proton.

A much overlooked teddy bear is another wet teddy bear that we all keep one at home. If you haven't heard of your wet teddy bear, you ought to read the picture book Cheer Up Your Teddy Bear, Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton. I read this book

When it comes to the how of English language, there is a genuine thrill of discovering and decoding kids' lingua franca.

Before my daughter entered kindergarten, she coined words like "mouses." With time, she made fewer grammatical mistakes and observed new rules from her teachers. One of the classic clues that she was making (some) progress comes from her question: "Daddy, who is the beautifulest princess?"

Remember, my daughter goes to international school, and has been exposed to a rich verbal environment

For most parents, the choice of travel destination matters a lot.

It is not really that important. The real question is find the right playmates.

My daughter is one of the fortunate girls who has good friend's family whose company we enjoy. We traveled to Taiwan this week, and went with the family of Jasmine's best friend met in kindergarten. That's the best part of our trip.

Affectionately called the twins, the two girls look alike, smile alike, play alike, and talk

To watch Salma and Lily, one from Jordan and another from the United States, play at school is to witness children's friendship in action.

These two girls appear in the fascinating story book The Sandwich Swap . (There's even a YouTube version with the same title of the book.) They're close to each other like a pair of gloves. Or at least sort of. They spent a lot of time together at school, played on the swings together, drew pictures together, jumped ropes

Caring for a sick child, and what's the first thing you want to do?

Jasmine started to throw up for quite a few times last night. My wife had a quick examination of her tummy and didn't find anything serious. Or, to be strictly accurate, not that serious for a doctor. I dare say there won't be something called minor ailment for all parents. Ah well, still, there isn't much we can do except waiting for the virus to go away.

Over the course of seeing patients for many years, I've referred some of them to have their bodies cut open for further examination even after their cardiac monitor tracing went completely flat. It's a detailed process of cutting and digging into each and every organ of a dead body. Not all patients have to undergo such critical examination. The medical term for this process, autopsy, is the last thing we want to hear after losing a beloved family member.

It seems an odd thing - it strikes me now

Around two years ago, I wrote about reading the classic picture book Good Night, Gorilla to my daughter. I knew I was just getting started: most kids younger than five can't figure out the written words.

"Don't push," I told myself. "Let her look at the pictures and come back to the words at a future time."

Now that my daughter is approaching five, her school has been celebrating the literacy week. What's that about? Bring a book to

What is your secret birthday wish by the time you turn 44?

Mine: Rewind the calendar and travel back by one year.

An irrational response, but a common one.

As irrational as this is, it makes sense, and I won't go into detail as to how my wife felt when Jasmine said she wants her mom to deliver her baby when she becomes a mother herself.

From the very moment I set eyes on my daughter's black-and-white photo taken inside the womb until

Like many authors, I wasn't paying much attention when the editor sent us an email about the online edition of the textbook that we had contributed.

I downloaded other chapters and mine because I simply wanted to keep a copy. So I followed the link, and within minutes, the full version is neatly archived. I didn't read the book. And the point - or certainly one of the main points - is to know that the information is somewhere out there for my easy access.

Next day,