All About Your Child

The boys woke up at 11.30am yesterday! *laugh* All thanks to the intense late night activity.

The parents were just as tired. One parent decided to do an extraordinary thing on the 1st day of 2010….

Allan: “Keatkeat, we are very tired. Can you please go down and buy our lunch?”

Keatkeat: “HUH??!!! Alone?!! Don’t want! I’m very scared.”

Binbin: “Don’t be scared! I’ll go with you!”

Allan: “See? Binbin will go with you.”

Keatkeat: “Don’t want!!!”

Allan: “Hey, you are big brother you know? Binbin is not scared, why are you still scared?”

Then the training of how to order the food in Mandarin began. It was obvious that Keatkeat was NOT as excited as his little brother, hence the ‘training‘ took way too long. Keatkeat just refused to cannot remember the correct words. In the end, Allan turned towards Binbin, who was hyped up for the adventure.

Allan: “Say ‘yi-bao-ya-fan, jia-fan. Hai-you yi-bao-shao-rou-fan’.”

Binbin: “yi-bao-ya-fan, jia-fan. Hai-you yi-bao-shao-rou-fan.”

Allan: “Say again.”

Binbin: “Cannot remember.”

*faint* Yup! That’s so typical of Binbin. *giggle*

I whispered into Allan’s ear. “Are you joking or are you serious?”

Allan: “Of Cos Serious!”

I knew he meant it. I was pretty nervous. So I decided to go down with them (since Allan was tired).

But Binbin FLARED UP!!!

Binbin: “Don’t Want! I want to go down with Gorgor alone! You and Papa stay at home!”

My boys were completely in disagreement with each other even after MANY minutes of ‘persuasion‘ from Allan. I knew I had to ‘satisfy‘ both desires and so I said, “Ok, the two of you will go down alone. You two have to walk ‘that longer’ path. Less cars pass by.  Papa and Mommy will walk the usual route to the coffeeshop. We will meet you there.”

Finally BOTH were excited!!! *giggle*

They set off first and we became P.I.!!! We were running and hiding behind walls and pillars. Just like the famous Japanese kids show. Where kids of age 4-6 goes to the market with a list of grocery to buy, all on their own; but little did they know that they were followed. It was super EXCITING for Allan and I! *laugh* I think we enjoyed it as much as my boys did!

Here’s the P.I. video. My phone’s video resolution was greatly discounted after zooming in at them from about 80m away.

Their first response when they saw us?

Binbin was GRINNING from cheek to cheek…..

and Keatkeat complained: “Papa, Binbin got Run!”

*laugh*

Today is the last meet-up between Keatkeat’s teachers and us. For some reason, his Chinese teacher chooses to go for her lunch instead of meeting up with us. Maybe there was not much to add on from the previous ‘negative‘ comments from her.

As for Keatkeat’s English teacher….

“Cheng Keat needs much encouragement, in all aspect. He is always in his little own world. Has problem paying attention during lesson time. Attention span is short and would choose to stand up in the middle of the lesson. He needs constant encouragement in order for him to complete his work. Gets distracted too easily and is often more interested in his friends’ work than his.

However, he is a very well-mannered boy, who look out for his friends often. Will initiate to help his friends who are in need. He is creative and always suggesting ideas. I consider him an active boy, who loves to move around, grabbing whatever that is long and start beating around as if they were drum sticks. You may want to consider enrolling him for drum classes or sports.

Yet, it is essential that he needs to put in a lot of ‘heart-work’ academically or he will have a hard time catching up when he goes to Primary School.”

Am I worried?
Not much.

I am so used to hear such comments. I know my child’s ability. Yes, I am prepared that he would fall behind during Primary School, whereby there will be even lesser one-to-one attention. But remember what happened to him when he was under Allan’s teaching? (Read here…)

Do I want history to repeat itself?
No.

I choose to go with Keatkeat’s learning speed. He learns AND remembers better when he is not under pressure.
Tried.
Tested.
Proven.

So what if he comes home with grades like 50/100?

To me, so long as he’s spirit for learning is not crashed, I am fine with it.

So long as he does not feel inferior, (IF) when he compares himself to his peers (which he had NEVER done it till this day), I am fine.

When inferiority complex kicks in, *giggle* the fighting spirit in him will do the work. Till then, I will just do what he can ‘handle‘.

A Child Learns Best when Pressure is Off His Chest.
~ Angeline Foong