A mother's dilemma

So, this is how it is like when your child starts primary one…

1. You check his exercise books everyday just to confirm whether he had missed any homework.
2. You worry whether he eats well, and had enough meal at school everyday.
3. You worry whether he understands all the lessons at school.
4. You feel guilty unable to teach him extra lessons at home whereas his friends’ mothers who happen to be housewives, sit with them and revise every page of the text book every day!
5. You worry whether he is being bullied at school.
6. You worry whether he spends too much time watching cartoon network when his school mates might be studying hard to score good results in exams.
7. You worry whether you are giving too much freedom to him. Because you are still contemplating whether to start sending him to tuition when most of his friends had already started 3 to 4 sessions of tuition per week.
8. You worry whether his obsessions with soccer would affect his studies.
9. You worry when, whenever you ask your son about what he did at school in detail…he stares at you and say “I don’t know…”
10. You worry when you ask “Was school fun today?” and he says “It was so very fun! I played fighting game with my friend and today the result was a draw…”

Sigh…

Am I worrying too much? My goal is pretty simple. Just wanting him to enjoy learning at school. I want him to feel the excitement of knowing new knowledge every day without me pushing too much. I try not to be a "Tiger mama"...though I was born in the year of tiger. Wahahaha



Gosh, it is really hard to raise a kid! You have to give the “right amount” of pressure. Not too much until he suffocates but just enough so that he would not be left out. My mom must have made a huge effort to guide me and make me someone I am today. I feel very grateful for that. But at the same time, I feel that I may not be as strong as her and may not be able to guide Sya well in his studies. Even when he is still standard one!

Oh, btw…have you read the primary one text books?
I remember that when I was in standard one, teachers used to teach us from scratch. But now, it is as if the kids should have known all the basics even before starting school? And the mathematics? No more easy 1+1=2 equations. The maths involve understanding long sentences and need a lot of thinking. The education level is surely higher now as compared to before.

Sya’s best friend at kindy goes to the same school as Sya. I called his mother the other day for a quick chat and she told me that she was very worried with his son. His son cried a few times at school…not on the first few days of school but only recently. Reason being, he is worried that he couldn’t catch up with his studies! He demanded his mother to find him a few good tuition teachers! The mother was shocked, Not because of the rising tuition fees but because she had never thought that her child would take education so seriously! At standard one! She is now afraid that his son might go coockoo one day!

Well, I am feeling a lot better now. At least, my son is enjoying school. At least he’s not giving himself too much pressure. At least, he is highly unlikely to go crazy. At least, he is still my playful, carefree boy. Alhamdulillah.

Indeed, I am feeling a lot better.

(=´∀｀)人(´∀｀=)