The doctor and mother-of-three shares more about how her family values influenced her career and the decision to start a social enterprise
It should come as no surprise that parents who are trying to figure out the best way to prepare their children for the unknown future are also acutely aware of the modern world’s ever-accelerating pace of change. And Elaine Kim—mother to three boys aged eight, six and two—is no exception.
The result of her desire to improve early childhood education is just a stone’s throw away from our photo shoot location at Raffles Hotel Singapore.
Over at the nearby Funan mall, Trehaus, a business co-founded by Elaine in 2016, started out as a co-working space with childcare services and was partly inspired by her experience as a working mum.
“Spending time with my children was so precious to me, and I wanted to create a space where you could work and still have your children in your life,” she says.
Now relocated to Funan from its former Orchard Road location, Trehaus still has workspaces and a curated playspace to encourage quality family bonding time. It has also introduced its latest innovation, Trehaus School. This Silicon Valley-inspired preschool and childcare focuses not just on imparting academic knowledge, but also aims to help young children acquire useful skills and inculcate character-building values.
“All my children attended top preschool programmes, and I felt none of these really prepared them well,” Elaine says candidly.
“Things in this sector have not changed for decades. But grades are not the only thing that matters. Soft skills and character, these are very important to me. We want to bring up kids who don’t just think about what they want to do when they grow up, but how they can make the world better. We want to raise change-makers.”
