If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I have two regular teenage kids in school. One's in secondary 2 and the other has just left secondary 4. They aren't phenomenal in their school grades nor are they flunking (let's not count Mother Tongue Chinese because that's another story altogether!). Sometimes, they manage to bring home their 'A' grades.
They're two healthy school going kids who love school activities and their schoolmates. This is more than what I can hope for as their mother. Education is so much more than just surviving exams. For me, my kids get to learn from every day stuff and every day experiences and the point is, they SHOULD be learning from every day stuff and experiences. If they're not learning, then I have failed as a parent. You fall, you pick yourself up. You walk down the wrong path, just get yourself back ontrack. You cross little milestones, pat yourself on your back. The aunty next door doesn't have to agree with the way I bring up my kids but hey, my kids should learn from an early start that you don't always have to conform to herd mentality.
I've nothing against parents who want only the best schools and the best courses for their kids. Which parent doesn't want the best for their kid? But I don't condone being a Kiasu parent (Kiasu = person who must win and doesn't like failing). Likewise, anyone else who thinks I don't push my kids enough or that I aim too low for my kids should just get a life.
I'm so blessed that I have a husband who shares the same beliefs as I where it comes to parenting. We're always available for our kids to talk to. We're always approachable. We talk about ANYTHING UNDER THE SUN with our kids. Yes, even sex. Why not? We don't want to be in-your-face. We just want them to know that we're always there for them. Anytime. No terms and conditions.
So how are my kids doing? They're doing pretty well. They know alot about many things. They know too little about other things (like normal human beings). They get along with each other. They are generally well-mannered (although I wouldn't want them to turn out too sterile, if you know what I mean). They're amicable. They have friends. Like all teens, they can get rowdy or irritable sometimes. They get their fair share of scolding / nagging etc. Of course we scold them. What did you think? We do tell them to get off their butts and we do give them wake up calls. But we never, ever scold them because they don't perform according to our expectations. We expect them to set their own expectations and for the right reasons.
We don't really impose any curfews but they still always ask our permission. We know where they are all the time because they keep us informed. We do not impose computer usage / internet controls (not even during their exam periods) but they still manage to get their school work done.
Perhaps, if we had been aggressive in the pursuit of their academic excellence from the start, they might be in super duper schools right now. But hey, what's wrong with the schools they are in if they're loving it?
My daughter has shown me through her performance in the recent GCE 'O' Levels that she is now able to set targets for herself and achieve them by herself. Not that I used to breathe down her neck at all but I no longer have to push her because she's pushing herself. I feel that in this aspect, it's one point for me as a mum! *pats own back*
She gets her posting results this Wednesday. Whatever the outcome, my job is just to make sure that she enjoys the new journey she is about to embark on.
What can I continue to do as a parent? SHUT MY EARS TO OTHER NARROW-MINDED PARENTS WHO THINK THEIR WAY IS THE ONLY WAY and pray and hope that our style of parenting allows them to become all-rounded human beings who know how to feel, love, think and pray.
What started as a blog about hand painted shoes has become an online journal for a simple working mother, in search of Food for the Heart, Body, Soul and Mind.
24 Jan 2011
17 Jan 2011
GCE 'O' Level Art and Mother Tongue
GCE 'O' Level Art back in the 80s, is very different from GCE 'O' Level Art now. In my case, I was given a list of topics to pick and I just had to turn up on that very day and paint. Well, I wasn't very artistically inclined according to establishment and I scored really badly. I was a little surprised but not very disappointed because I didn't need to 'count' Art in my total points into Junior College.
My daughter on the other hand, isn't what I'd call UN-Artistically inclined. She's been able to draw freehand quite easily whatever you ask of her since she was a young kid. She used to write her own short stories (Enid Blyton style) and decorate her books with her own pictures. This is a sample of her freehand drawing on MS Paint. No fancy art programmes. Just MS Paint with a mouse.
Do you think she's a Grade C6 standard? Bloody Cambridge seems to think so. As a parent, I just want to smack the smart ass marker/markers who has/have no eye for talent. She's going to need lifetime therapy to recover from this shocker.
She'd spent a whole year on the art subject, only to score a C6. No, no, the final piece is not the above dragon piece. The dragon was just something she drew in a jiffy for fun.
GCE 'O' Level art requires a whole process of researching and developing storyboards. Given, my kid's not A1 standard but I thought they could tell from her drawings that she COULD draw. I could only tell her that the markers did not understand her intepretation of the topic. Her topic? "Segmented". She said, her friends who had chosen a more straightforward topic and painted straightforward intepretations, scored higher than she did. She thinks she 'thought' too deeply into the subject. Wow.
I can only tell her that C6 isn't an indication of her talent. I can't recall but I think I fared worse than her at O Level Art. Yet today, no one has told me I can't draw. Still, I'd strongly advice anyone taking GCE 'O' Level Art to DROP the subject in favour of less subjective subject. Don't waste your time unless you're very confident of the grade you're going to get.
The silver lining of this cloud is that Tessa's grades in her other subjects rescued her. Otherwise, the resulting outcome would have really been devastating. Shit. It's exactly what I had warned her before. It's so much easier to score in Science subjects than in Arts subjects.
Oh by the way, she passed her Mother Tongue B paper. That's the minimum requirement for entry to Junior College. If you've been following my blog, you'd know that I'm a parent trying to cope with my kids' less than stellar performance in Mother Tongue Chinese. If you're in my shoes, then know that IT CAN BE DONE. You can beat establishment if you give the necessary support to your kids. You need to dare to be different from the other parents. You need to give your kid other options. But believe that it can be done.
My daughter on the other hand, isn't what I'd call UN-Artistically inclined. She's been able to draw freehand quite easily whatever you ask of her since she was a young kid. She used to write her own short stories (Enid Blyton style) and decorate her books with her own pictures. This is a sample of her freehand drawing on MS Paint. No fancy art programmes. Just MS Paint with a mouse.
Do you think she's a Grade C6 standard? Bloody Cambridge seems to think so. As a parent, I just want to smack the smart ass marker/markers who has/have no eye for talent. She's going to need lifetime therapy to recover from this shocker.
She'd spent a whole year on the art subject, only to score a C6. No, no, the final piece is not the above dragon piece. The dragon was just something she drew in a jiffy for fun.
GCE 'O' Level art requires a whole process of researching and developing storyboards. Given, my kid's not A1 standard but I thought they could tell from her drawings that she COULD draw. I could only tell her that the markers did not understand her intepretation of the topic. Her topic? "Segmented". She said, her friends who had chosen a more straightforward topic and painted straightforward intepretations, scored higher than she did. She thinks she 'thought' too deeply into the subject. Wow.
I can only tell her that C6 isn't an indication of her talent. I can't recall but I think I fared worse than her at O Level Art. Yet today, no one has told me I can't draw. Still, I'd strongly advice anyone taking GCE 'O' Level Art to DROP the subject in favour of less subjective subject. Don't waste your time unless you're very confident of the grade you're going to get.
The silver lining of this cloud is that Tessa's grades in her other subjects rescued her. Otherwise, the resulting outcome would have really been devastating. Shit. It's exactly what I had warned her before. It's so much easier to score in Science subjects than in Arts subjects.
Oh by the way, she passed her Mother Tongue B paper. That's the minimum requirement for entry to Junior College. If you've been following my blog, you'd know that I'm a parent trying to cope with my kids' less than stellar performance in Mother Tongue Chinese. If you're in my shoes, then know that IT CAN BE DONE. You can beat establishment if you give the necessary support to your kids. You need to dare to be different from the other parents. You need to give your kid other options. But believe that it can be done.
11 Jan 2011
2010 GCE 'O' Level results
I literally cried tears of joy yesterday when I heard my daughter's GCE 'O' Level results. Realised that Tessa had achieved a pretty nice single digit score to meet the minimum entry into any course of her choice at the local Polytechnic (not to say she will get in, but she meets the min. requirements). Let's just say that some of the more popular Poly courses are having cut-off points of 9 and she more than meets that requirement : ) I shall not divulge more or I risk getting an admonishment from a 16 going on 17 yr old daughter.
Aiyah, I think I am entitled to brag and boast just a little. This is me, 'maverick parent' speaking. This is the little girl who barely scrapped through her PSLE because Neopets was more intriguing and Chinese less beckoning. This is the little girl who juggled both band and student council Co-Curricular Activities through her secondary school life (she scored an A1 for it by the way = which means 2 bonus points if you understand this confusing local exam jargon), returning home at 6 pm every other day really tired out.
This is the girl who pulled up her socks just a few months before her Os. Yep, my little girl who scored a couple of As. Off to either Poly or JC (she still can't decide). She likes the idea of wearing a JC uniform but hates the idea of still studying Chinese. Bio Medical Science at Poly sounds good to her too but she might regret not going to CJC!!! Hah! The issues the young face!
You go, girl!
Aiyah, I think I am entitled to brag and boast just a little. This is me, 'maverick parent' speaking. This is the little girl who barely scrapped through her PSLE because Neopets was more intriguing and Chinese less beckoning. This is the little girl who juggled both band and student council Co-Curricular Activities through her secondary school life (she scored an A1 for it by the way = which means 2 bonus points if you understand this confusing local exam jargon), returning home at 6 pm every other day really tired out.
This is the girl who pulled up her socks just a few months before her Os. Yep, my little girl who scored a couple of As. Off to either Poly or JC (she still can't decide). She likes the idea of wearing a JC uniform but hates the idea of still studying Chinese. Bio Medical Science at Poly sounds good to her too but she might regret not going to CJC!!! Hah! The issues the young face!
You go, girl!
7 Jan 2011
The New Year (2011)
I started off the New Year by zzzzzzzz......yep. First time in our lives probably that we crossed over from 2010 to 2011 in bed, asleep. Well, trying to get some sleep. It was a working day on New Year's Eve and by the time the dust of our family chores had settled, it was already 10pm, which meant we had 2 hours to sleep before midnite and another 2 hours before we had to go pick up my mum from the airport (back from her month long holiday). This would give us at least 4 hours of pretend sleep. Aiyah, we were trying to get some zzzzz cos hubs and I were driving off to Malaysia at 5 am (which we did, on time, by the way)! We learnt from mistakes of the past. We used to stay up the whole night packing and getting ready for our road trips up North that we wouldn't have enough sleep and would feel so tired upon reaching our destination!
This New Year's Eve in bed, didn't really miss the partying, makan or bubbly with friends and acquaintances which usually accompanied our crossing over to the new year. Felt really good to have peace and quiet and some rest instead. Teen daughter was staying over at her pal's place, teen son was going to stay up all night on his computer. So before I turned off our room lights, I set my alarm clockS (yes, there're 3 of them) for 2 am. Then tiredly told my son to come wish us at midnight so I'd know it was the New Year (hee hee). Poor chap. When he came in excitedly at midnight, we were so groggy, I shushed him up cos his dad was busy snoring.
We had a great start to the New Year, the Mr and myself on that road trip. We have to take another one again this weekend but unfortunately for a more sombre reason; a funeral.
This New Year's Eve in bed, didn't really miss the partying, makan or bubbly with friends and acquaintances which usually accompanied our crossing over to the new year. Felt really good to have peace and quiet and some rest instead. Teen daughter was staying over at her pal's place, teen son was going to stay up all night on his computer. So before I turned off our room lights, I set my alarm clockS (yes, there're 3 of them) for 2 am. Then tiredly told my son to come wish us at midnight so I'd know it was the New Year (hee hee). Poor chap. When he came in excitedly at midnight, we were so groggy, I shushed him up cos his dad was busy snoring.
We had a great start to the New Year, the Mr and myself on that road trip. We have to take another one again this weekend but unfortunately for a more sombre reason; a funeral.
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