All About Your Child

Silly mistakes parents make are countless and I am no different from any other parent. If you had made one silly mistake today, yesterday or few days ago and are still feeling bad about yourself or guilty towards your child, maybe reading how silly this parent ~ ME! ~ did today might make you feel better.

It has been a long and exhausting week for me. Finally the dayS of battling with the mysterious sudden attack of fever, vomiting and diarrhea on Binbin is over. Despite this, there were lots of traveling around needed during this past week. I am so looking forward to having ME-TIME this morning. Looking forward to blog about this and that and every other joyful thing.

Yet, one silly mistake I made today is so overwhelming, I do not feel like blogging about happy things.

Every school day, Keatkeat’s usual self would take 30 to 40 mins to get ready before he could leave the doorstep of the house. But today, he was superb! Woke up at 6.25am and all was done at 6.40am! Whoo-hoo! 15mins! *clap clap clap*

We were still going ‘La, La-la, La-la.’ as we strolled to the bustop. “Isn’t it great to be early?! Don’t need to rush. No running. No sweat!” I smiled at my Primary 2 boy.

“Yes.” he gave me the biggest grin.

When we alighted, I checked the time, it was 7.04am. “Hey Keatkeat, its still early, since you are such a fantastic boy this morning, do you want to eat McDonalds Hashbrown as a reward?”

“Ok! I want Hot Milo too.” he replied with skipping steps.

After ordering one Hashbrown, one Sausage McMuffin with Egg and a cup of Hot Milo, I realised something was amiss. It was very ’empty’ at McDonalds. It is usually packed with school kids from Keatkeat’s school. I looked at the time on my mobile phone again. It was only 7.06am. School starts at 7.25am. Its still early!

But my hunch tells me my time was wrong. So while waiting for the food to be served onto my tray, I turned towards the McDonalds staff for ‘her time‘. “7.15pm, Mdm” she said.

WHAT??!!!

I do not know if its because of my panic or my exhaustion from the week or simply my ‘slow’ character. I could not react fast enough. Instead of asking the lady to change the ‘having-here’ to ‘take-away’, with my quick steps and flustered self, I hurried Keatkeat to chomp down that hot Hashbrown and sipped the hot Milo.

He gave up on the hot Milo without even attempting. Hashbrown was only half done and it was already 7.23am.

I picked up the hot Milo after swallowing the last mouthful of McMuffin and signaled the still-chewing-Keatkeat to eat as we semi-run-walk to his school.

What more can I say?

He was late.

I am such an IDIOT! It was such a rare opportunity for him to go to school without a drop of sweat, without the need to run, without me having to say repeatedly, “Hurry up Keatkeat. Faster! Or you would be late.” Yet, I, the stu**d mother caused him to be late for school.

*slap Slap SLAP*

Allan’s response to this was, “You should stop rewarding him with breakfast at McDonalds since you know he eats at such slow speed in the morning.”

“But we have tried before. Reach McDonalds at 7.05am and leave at 7.20am. When he reach school, its 7.23am.” I argued.

*Scream*

Sorry Keatkeat… such a fantastic boy today should not have such an ending ~~~ being late for school.

Its Mummy’s fault. Sorry…

Yesterday was a very special day for me. For the very first time, my 3rd niece and I had a heart-to-heart talk. Being in Primary One this year has given her many different experiences.

With reference to what I heard from the care-taker, who is my MIL, all is well. Be it studies or school life as a whole, M.Y. does not seem to have any problem. On the contrary, she seemed to be excelling in her studies and accepting what Primary school life offers.

M.Y., to me, is a very strong willed little girl and she is unlike the other 5 children in the family, she prefers to be alone and a MUCH quieter child. *smile* So while the others were running after the ball at the playground, I was there with her at the bench.

Me: “Are you happy?”

M.Y.: “No.”

Me: “Why?”

M.Y. replied in Mandarin: “I don’t like my classmates. They always bully me. Teacher told us to write fast, but my classmates always push my hand and I had to keep erasing. I don’t like Chinese, Chinese is my worst subject. My Maths and English is better. I any-how-do my Maths and they are correct, when I put in effort to do it, they are wrong.”

Me: *laugh* “Really?! Then you are a very lucky girl! In future, you can do your Maths without the need to revise.” *laugh*

M.Y.: “I don’t like any of my friends and I do not talk to them.”

Me: “There are so many classmates in your class, I believe there is bound to be one whom you like more, right?”

M.Y.: “No. Because if I talk to them, teacher will scold me. Teacher always say we have to be quiet. I don’t want to be scolded.”

Me: “Then talk to your friends when teacher is not around.”

M.Y.: “Don’t want. Don’t like.”

Me: “You have told me so much. Did you tell them to your parents?”

M.Y.: “No. Don’t want.”

Her openness is very dear to me, because of her parents’ lack of involvement in her life in general, I do worry about her emotional and mental development.

Usually, the ones who come to me with their little youngster secrets, sorrows and woes are my two elder nieces. So today, to have such an open-hearted talk to my more introvert 3rd niece makes me feel better.

Now that she is comfortable talking to me, I am happy. At least, someone in the family (even though not direct family), knows what is going on in her heart.

Whenever parents come to me and tell me that they are running out of ideas on how to handle their children, I would often ask, “How Well Do You Know Your Child?” Many claimed they know. But when I have a chance to talk to their children, sad to say, I realised their parents do not……

I am not the kind of person who will go forward, without being asked, to ‘advise’ others how they should parent their children. Every parenting style is different from one family to another. What right do I have to judge which is right or wrong, more effective or not.

To me, the focus is the kids, the 6 children in this big family. I just want them to know that I am there for them if they ever need emotional support or just a listening ear…