"It's mine, it's mine!" was the first thing Jasmine blurted out on seeing another kid's grabbing her toy. What made her say so when the toys belong to neither of them?

The obvious answer: Jasmine has her own belief about the centre of the universe - and by now you should be able to guess who. It is Jasmine, hands down. The earth revolves around a kid rather than the sun.

That seemingly reference point, however, can change without my knowing

"Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles. Elephants have wrinkles, wrinkles everywhere." My two-year-old came back from her dancing class, uplifted and energetic.

"On their toes. On their toes." I joined in the dance and raised my foot to touch my toes. If I am candid, I do believe that the original exercise should be keeping my knees locked and banding over to touch the toes - of which I no longer believe I, 41, can manage.

Of all

Some time ago I read an article on communication. It was, in the dry prose of a medical journal article, a reminder for doctors to spend time on talking. The lecture about communication can drone on and fill the pages of the academic journals. It isn't easy to follow.

Listen to our real stories, though, and you'll tell what we don't know the patients don't know.

A friend of mine recently shared a story on the Facebook. She is working in the

This is one story I've never told before. Not to anyone. Not to my peers. Not to my juniors. Not even to my wife.

Even now, I'll admit, the story makes me squirm.

It was a hot summer afternoon over ten years ago, shortly after I had got my membership title in medicine. There were membership examination study aids stacked waist-high in my office, all shrink-wrapped against the gathering dust and pale in comparison with my overflowing ego. I was

It's the human nature everywhere, including the medical profession, to learn the know-how by habits.

We practice medicine by copying what our predecessors do, though we're unwilling to admit this. After a while, it's second nature and we keep our routine doggedly. And if a bold student comes to ask why, there comes the dismissive reply, "Simply because we've been told to do so."

This morning, I went to see a patient whose large blood vessel developed

I was asked to examine the first-year medical students yesterday.

The way simulation driving test gives novices an idea what driving is like, medical school examination teaches students how to behave like a real doctor. I handed out a detailed description that would begin something like this: "A 45-year-old man with the chief complaint of chest pain over several works came for clinic assessment. He worried about a heart attack. Please examine his heart and demonstrate to the examiner where you place the stethoscope to listen

Picture a twenty-month-old baby sitting on a potty for the first time. There's a good chance that you can't hear the sound of poo-poo going into the toilet bowl. You don't need me to tell you that the laughter and victory cheering ("Hurray!") from the parents are the loudest at that very moment.

Seeing a baby grow has been a fountain of joy for our family. The baby's first smile. The first word of "mama

Shortly after the family trip to Taiwan, I packed my suitcase and headed for an investigator meeting in Seoul. No one will mistake a business trip with a family journey. I didn't, at least not knowingly.

Before boarding the flight to Taiwan one week ago, I came across Paul Harding's novel, Tinkers , at the airport bookshop. I thought of buying it but decided not to. I made a reservation from our public library system, now that it can be done electronically by pressing few buttons