August « 2012 « JEWELLE TAN

No More Practice

Filed in At Home | My Daughters | School Leave a comment

In my daughters’ previous school, they take performances for functions very seriously.

For the two years we were there, the few weeks leading to any big event was never free since at least one of my child was always chosen to participate in school performances.

All the chosen students won’t get much rest and parents-cum-chauffeurs must expect to drive to and fro school many times in a day, expect to have the kids so tired out that they would instantly nap in the car on the drive home.

And for this particular parent-cum-chauffeur, to flat out most of times the moment all the basic things were taken care of once they reach home a.k.a. papa is home, please take over while mama plonk herself down on the bed.

But surprisingly, not here – in our small town with a smaller school.

I was surprised to be told that there won’t be anymore practice for one child until the rehearsal in a few days time and for the other child, she and her group will practice during the rehearsal!

Perhaps the kids here learned/trained faster? Perhaps the teachers and students there were more hardworking?

Whatever it is, I welcome the less strenuous schedule and looking forward to seeing both my kids perform for their new school.

28Aug

When Walking In The Jungle Wear Proper Shoes

Filed in Sabah | When I Do Travel Leave a comment

Trekking in the jungle was not one of my plan when I went back to Sabah last week.

So while there were 2 pairs of sandals and 2 pairs of heels in the boot, there were no sports shoes; no nike jogging shoes, no adidas wrestling shoes, no reebok walking shoes – just no sports shoes at all!

Worse, the forest we were trekking into was hilly.

Worst, it just rained.

The forest guide who accompanied a group of us for the trek took one look at my flip flops (which was better than heels I imagined!) and must have thought of asking me to stay back if not for the merit of having a father who is familiar with the area – and surely his daughter can’t be too helpless in the jungle?

To my credit, except for the first 5 – 10 mins (it felt like an hour…) of walking along narrow forest ranger trails on steep terrain where I breathed out all the oxygen in my lungs and was ready to faint if there was a comfortable place to fall on, I was alright for the rest of the way.

Using only my umbrella to balance and steadied my hold on the slippery uphill and downhill trek – I managed not to slip and fall like my citybred walking companion.

Even better I managed to take several photos along the way!

17Aug

Noisy Days With Active Kids

Filed in At Home | Brunei | Family | My Daughters | Parenting 2 Comments

It’s been the usual noisy halfway through the school holidays for us – the adults are pretty near deaf when they are inside the house (grandparents are just about had it and they are counting the days when we will leave for a holiday away from the house for a few days!) and the whole neighbourhood knows that we are still around when they are outside the house.

From the moment they are up (with one head peeking in my bedroom door ordering me not to wake up yet) I will soon hear clanging and banging in the kitchen and not because, mind you, they were preparing breakfast. No, it’s because some ideas struck them early in the morning and they are off for their first experiment of the day.

Fortunately it was just the strawberry syrup that was sacrificed yesterday. There have been much worst casualties and I have walked in the kitchen and found strange bottles and plastic packets of various colours and unknown contents in the freezer and fridge.

Luckily too – due to constant reminding in the gentle and not-so-gentle ways – they clean up after their mess (sort of as there are still further clearing and cleaning that I would need to do after them).

But still, I much prefer this that having them sitting around, quietly, in very well-behaved ways because their attention were on some gadgets.

This is not to say that they do not beg me occasionally for the iPad or the iTouch or try to reach for my phone (which thankfully is no longer in playing mode and it made its status clear by lighting up only for me).

But I can safely say that they are more into the run, mess, noise, sweat and physically exhausting kind of activities and as much as I hate cleaning up, I prefer them this way.

Yes, they are enjoying their school holidays!

02Aug

Put Books In Classrooms, Please

Filed in Parenting | School Leave a comment

When I sent my kids to school this morning, an unusual sight greeted me.

In a class full very active 7-year-olds, more likely to play outside with their typical boundless morning energy, there was a young girl who was content to simply read at her desk.

I was so impressed that I made it a point to chat with her – and was doubly pleased when my daughter informed me that she has read that same book earlier.

Now, two things struck me here.

One – when we make books easily available, kids WILL pick them up.

Two – we should not think that it’s a waste of space or energy to offer story books in classrooms especially for younger kids, just because we think they prefer playing instead.

In this case, their class teacher has a small collection of story books on a not-steel shelving at the back of their classroom. This morning’s case proved that despite the rather sad looking collection, one student find a book interesting enough for her to read instead of running outside like what most of her classmates were doing.

And for a parent and strong reading advocate, that was such a wonderful sight to see.