All About Your Child

My boys love the very first Ice Age. They saw snippets of the movie on those TV screens in DVD shops.

When Blessed Mum said how much her kids loved Ice Age 3. I was tempted.

My sis gave me a free movie ticket. I decided.

For years, I REFUSED to bring the boys to the cinema. You can say I have little faith in them, or you can say I know them too well. Whichever way, I was not ready to invest $14-$16 on them.

What I predicted Would happen while watching the movie:

• They will not sit still
• They will be asking alot of questions
• They will be requesting to go to the toilet
• Keatkeat will be sneezing like crazy
• Binbin will want to end the movie early, asking to leave

But since I decided to give it a try yesterday. I laid down 5 golden rules BEFORE going to the cinema:

I do not like to tell my children what to do, I like to make them think what they should do. The words in blue were their answers to my incomplete sentences.

1. “Children, the cinema is very cold, so you have to…?” “Wear Jacket, cannot take out.”
2. “Children, the cinema is very dark, so you have to…?” “Stay close and not run around.”
3. “Children, if you need to shh-shh (pass urine) in the middle of the show, you will…?” “Miss the show, so must go toilet BEFORE we go in.”
4. “Children, the chairs are joined to each other, so if you jump or keep moving around on your chair, other people sitting on the same row as you will…?” “Be irritated. So must sit down and cannot jump or keep moving here and there.”
5. “Children, everyone is there to watch the movie, they want to enjoy and does not like to be disturbed, so you must…?” “Be quiet. So they can concentrate.”

The kids were reciting the 5 golden rules over and over again as if it was a song, on the way to the cinema. *laugh* Completely free willed, not my orders, alright?

Grab their POT of popcorn and a huge WIZARD cup of sprite, wearing their very first pair of jeans and very first jackets, they were ready to go……

We sat on the last row, to the extreme right. And this was what happened DURING the movie yesterday:

Keatkeat:

• He had his jacket over a T-shirt that was so thick, I wonder if they were actually meant for kids staying in sunny Singapore. Obviously, I didn’t buy that T-shirt, it was a gift. I had to go to such extend, ‘cos if he starts to sneeze, Allan would want to go home. Luckily, my effort paid off.

• Whenever Allan leave his seat to answer a phone call, Keatkeat will follow him out. In and out, over and over again….

• Other than that, Keatkeat sat still in the big cushion chair; in the most comfortable slouching position, munching his popcorn.

Binbin:

• REFUSED to sit on the chair.

• He sat on the floor! Peeked through the gap between the seats.

• Standing occasionally with half body leaning over the seats infront of us. We were lucky to have an empty row infront of us.

• An hour into the show, he said, “Mommy, I don’t want to watch already. Can we go home now?”

• The only thing he truly enjoyed was the popcorn and the huge cup of sprite.

So conclusion:
Keatkeat showed that he deserves to have another treat to the big screen, but Binbin is not ready yet….

Allan and I enjoyed the show, there were moments I think I laughed too loudly…Binbin had to turn to me with his index finger on his lips. *laugh*

Kids’ response?
Keatkeat: “Very nice. Very funny.”

Binbin: “I don’t like, very scary and my tears come down from my eyes.”
Me: “Huh? How come? When? Which part of the show made you cry?”
Binbin: “The ‘Mommy’ going to drop down from the rocks…” *frown* tears welding up again….

This June holiday has been a bed of roses for my boys. There were soooooo many places we went and things we did that I have yet to blog. I need to. I have to. Cos’ they are precious moments to be treasured, hence worth recording.

*Palm to chest* Seriously, I am exhausted! So glad that the Ministry of Education did not go ahead with the one week extension to the school holidays in view of the seriousness of H1N1 in Singapore currently.

Then again, reports on newspaper has been writing headlines “Will parents lie so as to let their children go back to school, like what they did during SARS?”

Keatkeat’s and Binbin’s teacher had asked, “For the past one week, did your family leave Singapore? Or have your family been in close contact with someone who had gone overseas during the last 7 days?”

My answer was “No.” And that’s the truth.

Yet, there are parents who ‘may‘ lie about it so that their kids can join their classmates when school reopens on the day after tomorrow; So as NOT to be quarantined at home for another one week, resulting in lots of school work to catch up.

Is social responsibility more important or self-satisfaction more important?

Anyhow, I just can’t wait for Monday to come! I have so much to blog and 700+ posts to catch up on my Google Reader.

Dear friends, I may not be able to read all your posts which I had missed, but I’ll definitely be paying you a visit once school reopens and that my momentum is back to where it was before June began.