I have kind children

I have kind children. 

16 April 2022

Throughout their growing years I’ve been teaching my children to be kind to others and kind to the environment. While sometimes they still frustrate me with turning on the tap at the max, pumping the detergent more than needed and preparing food just for themselves, they’ve actually manifested their kind nature in other ways. No one is perfect but I’m very happy to say that my boys are (mostly) growing up right. So I want to take this moment to recognise a few kindness acts that they’ve done this week. 

This week the badminton tournament started. Lucas was looking forward to it but on the first day of the tournament he was made a reserve. When my husband sent me a photo of Lucas when he came back, my heart broke upon seeing how dejected he looked. He was made the ‘banana manager’ instead. There were ten bananas left at the end of the day for him to bring back. Despite it not being the day he expected, he remembered to be kind and gave the extra bananas to the school guards. I’m so proud of you, Lucas! Learning to handle disappointment and not forgetting your values. You could have easily handled the day by throwing a tantrum but you didn’t. Well done!

This was not the only incident. One day he was late coming home and he told me that his friend had to buy lunch so he waited and held his bag for him. It was raining so he walked his friend to his block before coming home. Yesterday we went out for dinner with my in-laws. Lucas was very responsible end to end. He handled the set up of the wheelchair, pushed his grandfather around, kept the wheelchair and lifted it up to the car boot, which was mighty heavy for him. Pure filial piety, I’m so proud. 

Luis, as well, has always been a considerate boy. We gave him two options of having dinner earlier but without grandparents or having dinner later after his grandfather’s accupuncture. He chose the latter because we can “spend more time as a family”. He’s also the one who set an alarm in our home phone to call yeye daily. 

Yesterday, Joanna brought Luca to our house. Luca likes Pokémon so after dinner, Luis went to make Pokémon cards to play with him. On his own accord without being asked to. 

How can I not be proud of the kind of people not children are growing up to be? I’m so proud. And I need to remind myself how great they are. I need to be less uptight. The boys are alright. I should just enjoy spending time with them and see them mould into their own person. 

Don’t let PSLE rule your lives

Don’t let PSLE rule your lives

16 April 2022

Recently Lucas’ mid year exam stress is getting to me too and I’m constantly looking at how begins he is in his revision. His nonchalance did not make it easier. 

The other night I scolded him for not caring about his exam because it might affect his chances of getting into Sota. As usual I regretted being too harsh on him after that. I reflected, that I was playing and hardly studying for my Psle in the past too, so how can I have double standards and expect him to take it seriously?

Luckily for me he hasn’t fallen asleep so I went in and apologised for scolding him. I said I shouldn’t have expected him to feel the urgency of the exam and all I asked is for him to be responsible to follow the revision schedule. 

As a parent I find it hard to balance all the emotions and responsibilities for a child in this milestone year. Focusing on the studies while still keeping the big picture that this should not define the child is way easier said than done. I can only remind myself - Just keep focusing on the goodness that your child exhibits everyday. Those are the values that are forming who they are. Psle, they’ll try their best, and we as parents also just try our best. It will be memorable but it should not define the kind of person our child is going to be.