Everytime parents sit together the topic of education will most certainly pop up. We thought we had it all sussed out after many many hours of debate - we will send our kids to a chinese primary school and switch them to an international school after that. Hubs is convinced, I am convinced and we are pretty happy with our decision until...
I guess the topic will never be closed until H finally enters primary school. Hubs came back one night (last week) from a client dinner and guess what, they were talking about children and schools. So the topic got brought up again on whether our decision is right. I mean we still have time to decide, albeit not much since H is already 4 this year. If we were to send him to an international school, we'd better start researching now as he will have to enter Year 1 in September next year. After much debate we decided to stick to our original plan.
Then today a friend of mine called to have a casual chat. Again the topic of children education came up. I told her our plan of sending H to a chinese school. She spent the next half an hour convincing me otherwise. Since she has a son who's been through both systems and many more other friends with similar experiences, I thought I'd hear her out. So when I had lunch with hubs just now, we again talked about school choices for our kids.
Isn't this telling of the desirabilty of Malaysia's education system?!! It really irks me as a tax payer. We pay so much taxes yet we can't rely on the govt to provide good schools. So my task now is to search out good international schools with strong emphasis on mandarin. Not sure if such schools exist in KL. Hubs says preferably close to home too... really asking for too much! :-)
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Kids and hotels
My company will be having our annual away day to Langkawi in November. I asked H if he wanted to go. His first response was are we staying in a hotel?
For kids, holiday = hotel or rather hotel = holiday. No point spending big bucks planning grand holidays for toddlers / preschoolers. So long as they're away from home and there's a pool, they're having a holiday. What's the fascination with hotels anyway? We still haven't figured out... perhaps it's the king size bed they get to jump up & down on without mommy and daddy yelling at them, or the many switches they can play with like turning on and off the lights, the long bath they get to bathe in with loads and loads of bubbles... what?
Amazing thing about H is that he has an amazing memory - not about the holiday destination (I don't think he cares much about where he went as I mentioned above), but he remembers every detail of the hotels we stayed in, including the room numbers. He just loves staying in hotels.
So back to the Langkawi trip. I told H he has to be friendly and talk to mommy's friends cos we're going with mommy's friends from work. He said he doesn't want to. Then I told him if he doesn't want to then he doesn't have to go. So he said ok he will. So we shall see...(yah i know I've resorted to using threat, I must remind myself not to do so the next time)
For kids, holiday = hotel or rather hotel = holiday. No point spending big bucks planning grand holidays for toddlers / preschoolers. So long as they're away from home and there's a pool, they're having a holiday. What's the fascination with hotels anyway? We still haven't figured out... perhaps it's the king size bed they get to jump up & down on without mommy and daddy yelling at them, or the many switches they can play with like turning on and off the lights, the long bath they get to bathe in with loads and loads of bubbles... what?
Amazing thing about H is that he has an amazing memory - not about the holiday destination (I don't think he cares much about where he went as I mentioned above), but he remembers every detail of the hotels we stayed in, including the room numbers. He just loves staying in hotels.
So back to the Langkawi trip. I told H he has to be friendly and talk to mommy's friends cos we're going with mommy's friends from work. He said he doesn't want to. Then I told him if he doesn't want to then he doesn't have to go. So he said ok he will. So we shall see...(yah i know I've resorted to using threat, I must remind myself not to do so the next time)
English names
Let's give the kids English names!
This is not the first time hubs brought this up. Each time he mentions this, I'll give him my unconvinced look. What's wrong with using their chinese names? Hub's argument is that it is easier for people to remember cos chinese names can be hard to pronounce, especially when you are in the working world. Well they won't be joining the working world anytime soon.
I'm not really against my kids having english names, but I just don't see the point. I told hubs it's up to him but the kids will probably not respond well to their new names.
Me: Daddy wants to call you Oliver, ok?
H: I don't want
Me: Can daddy call you Gillian?
L: No! I'm mei mei (妹妹)
So you see, new English names won't work, but I'll still leave it to hubs to decide. As far as I'm concern, I'll still be calling them by their chinese names... hehehe :p
This is not the first time hubs brought this up. Each time he mentions this, I'll give him my unconvinced look. What's wrong with using their chinese names? Hub's argument is that it is easier for people to remember cos chinese names can be hard to pronounce, especially when you are in the working world. Well they won't be joining the working world anytime soon.
I'm not really against my kids having english names, but I just don't see the point. I told hubs it's up to him but the kids will probably not respond well to their new names.
Me: Daddy wants to call you Oliver, ok?
H: I don't want
Me: Can daddy call you Gillian?
L: No! I'm mei mei (妹妹)
So you see, new English names won't work, but I'll still leave it to hubs to decide. As far as I'm concern, I'll still be calling them by their chinese names... hehehe :p
Monday, 1 October 2012
mid-autumn lantern fun
We had some kids over last Saturday for some lantern fun. It was a good excuse to get together with the neighbours and also to satisfy my love for throwing parties (well it wasn't really a party but you get my drift).
I still have loads of paper lanterns from a couple years back and an electric one which I bought for H when he was 1 year old. I've been recycling them year after year - these things really last forever! This year I thought I'd get the kids new lanterns. It's crazy how much laterns cost these days. I paid almost RM18 each for the angry bird lanterns, and these are the typical wire and glass paper type lanterns from China. Imagine the profit margins!
Anyway I was really excited about the lanterns. I was quite certain that H and L would be thrilled when they see the cute angry bird lanterns. It turned out that H was more interested in the stick - he only wanted to play with the bamboo stick, while L preferred the traditional paper type lantern. The other kids were more excited with the ride-ons we have in our front porch. They were happily riding the cars/bikes and chasing each other. The adults were the ones busy lighting up the lanterns. But we did make the kids carry their lanterns for a short walk to the nearby playground. Can't really call it a lantern party without actually doing a lantern walkabout right? So that short walk was the only time the kids played with their lanterns. They were distracted when they got to the playground - more running about and chasing each other; and when they got back, they immediately went back to chasing each other on the ride-ons.
I wonder what is the difference between kids our days and kids these days. I remember we used to love playing with candles and lanterns, and everyone around the neighbourhood will be out and about with their lanterns (not just on the day itself but almost every other night before the festival). These days, you can hardly spot any kids with lanterns. Which is why all the more important we have to make it a point to organise such get-togethers lest the kids forget their cultural roots. Perhaps next year, I should also get my sis (who couldn't make it to the party that day) to tell the story of how the mooncake festival came about. I doubt many people know, I certainly don't and neither did any of my other guests :-)
I still have loads of paper lanterns from a couple years back and an electric one which I bought for H when he was 1 year old. I've been recycling them year after year - these things really last forever! This year I thought I'd get the kids new lanterns. It's crazy how much laterns cost these days. I paid almost RM18 each for the angry bird lanterns, and these are the typical wire and glass paper type lanterns from China. Imagine the profit margins!
Anyway I was really excited about the lanterns. I was quite certain that H and L would be thrilled when they see the cute angry bird lanterns. It turned out that H was more interested in the stick - he only wanted to play with the bamboo stick, while L preferred the traditional paper type lantern. The other kids were more excited with the ride-ons we have in our front porch. They were happily riding the cars/bikes and chasing each other. The adults were the ones busy lighting up the lanterns. But we did make the kids carry their lanterns for a short walk to the nearby playground. Can't really call it a lantern party without actually doing a lantern walkabout right? So that short walk was the only time the kids played with their lanterns. They were distracted when they got to the playground - more running about and chasing each other; and when they got back, they immediately went back to chasing each other on the ride-ons.
I wonder what is the difference between kids our days and kids these days. I remember we used to love playing with candles and lanterns, and everyone around the neighbourhood will be out and about with their lanterns (not just on the day itself but almost every other night before the festival). These days, you can hardly spot any kids with lanterns. Which is why all the more important we have to make it a point to organise such get-togethers lest the kids forget their cultural roots. Perhaps next year, I should also get my sis (who couldn't make it to the party that day) to tell the story of how the mooncake festival came about. I doubt many people know, I certainly don't and neither did any of my other guests :-)
Developing confidence and self-esteem
Following from my earlier post about my suspicion of H being bullied, I made a call to the school. It turns out that I was being paranoid after all. Well a mom can't be faulted for being over protective of her kids right?!! Anyway, I asked the principal about H and how he is like in school, and whether he has any friends.
I always knew that H is somewhat shy, and I really wanted to know if he participates in school and that he enjoys school. H is always so cheery and chatty at home and I wonder if he is the same in school. I mean, he doesn't resist going to school except for that one morning recently and maybe another 1-2 times in between since he started school in Jan this year. But whenever I asked him about school, about what he did in school, he will say he doesn't know. If I rephrased and asked if he enjoyed his day in school, he will say yes but no more than that. I just can't get him to elaborate. It's not like he doesn't know how to talk. Even his 2 year-old lil sis can tell me what she did in nursery.
So this is what I learnt from H's Teacher J. H is really good in class - he participates, he speaks up and he even helps his friends in their work. This is because he is ahead of his classmates academically and so he is confident of his ability. However, outside the classroom he tends to be more reserved. Teacher J says H is afraid to make mistakes and he seeks approval. For example, while waiting to be picked up, most kids will just play freely in the school compound. H will not do so unless the teacher urges him to go ahead. It's as though he's afraid that he will be doing something 'wrong'. I'm not sure if this is simply about following rules. I read somewhere recently that 4-year olds adore rules - in fact this can sometimes border on the obsessive. I hope this is just a phase. I can't have H shy away whenever he's faced with uncertainty or challenge. He needs to learn that it's ok to make mistakes and that he will learn from these mistakes and that mummy and daddy will always be there for him and that we will always love him no matter what.
So once again, momster me will have to come up with bedtime stories to reinforce these important life lessons. I find that stories are a great way to impart life lessons since kids love stories. Thinking up stories do require some creativity though - they cannot be too direct else the kid will know that you're referring to him/her. Hence they need to be cleverly disguised as an interesting story - a story they can relate to and sympathise with. After the story, we'll then discuss about what the little boy/girl/animal did, what else could he/she/it have done, etc. I will share some of these stories another time...
I always knew that H is somewhat shy, and I really wanted to know if he participates in school and that he enjoys school. H is always so cheery and chatty at home and I wonder if he is the same in school. I mean, he doesn't resist going to school except for that one morning recently and maybe another 1-2 times in between since he started school in Jan this year. But whenever I asked him about school, about what he did in school, he will say he doesn't know. If I rephrased and asked if he enjoyed his day in school, he will say yes but no more than that. I just can't get him to elaborate. It's not like he doesn't know how to talk. Even his 2 year-old lil sis can tell me what she did in nursery.
So this is what I learnt from H's Teacher J. H is really good in class - he participates, he speaks up and he even helps his friends in their work. This is because he is ahead of his classmates academically and so he is confident of his ability. However, outside the classroom he tends to be more reserved. Teacher J says H is afraid to make mistakes and he seeks approval. For example, while waiting to be picked up, most kids will just play freely in the school compound. H will not do so unless the teacher urges him to go ahead. It's as though he's afraid that he will be doing something 'wrong'. I'm not sure if this is simply about following rules. I read somewhere recently that 4-year olds adore rules - in fact this can sometimes border on the obsessive. I hope this is just a phase. I can't have H shy away whenever he's faced with uncertainty or challenge. He needs to learn that it's ok to make mistakes and that he will learn from these mistakes and that mummy and daddy will always be there for him and that we will always love him no matter what.
So once again, momster me will have to come up with bedtime stories to reinforce these important life lessons. I find that stories are a great way to impart life lessons since kids love stories. Thinking up stories do require some creativity though - they cannot be too direct else the kid will know that you're referring to him/her. Hence they need to be cleverly disguised as an interesting story - a story they can relate to and sympathise with. After the story, we'll then discuss about what the little boy/girl/animal did, what else could he/she/it have done, etc. I will share some of these stories another time...
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