There and Back Again

Recently, Catholic High School sent a bunch of letters to some Primary One students inviting them to join Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs). Alas, my son was not invited. As a parent, I was in two minds on what to do. On one hand, I was disappointed that he was not 'talented' enough to be selected. Yet at the same time, I am not sure I want him to spend time on a CCA, especially when he basically needs to be chauffeured around.  When I asked him about it on our drive back, he told me that he was upset that he was left out. He had heard about CCAs and wanted to join. It did not help that some of his classmates were offered to join various CCAs like Chinese Orchestra and Basketball in front of the whole class (a teacher came to distribute the letters).  When I shared this news with my wife, she was also upset with the news. She felt that it was discriminatory and I agree with her. I know some people will say that we should not be overprotective, and it is true t...

This is actually a very late post. Sometime in March, all of us went to a farm, harvested some plants, and ate the plants we harvested. It was all good fun, the children enjoyed the trip even though it was really, really hot. My son (with cap) looking at the herbs while my wife seems to be smelling them? Firstly, we went to look at the farm itself and were introduced to the plants and herbs. I think the kids learnt quite a bit about farms, rural areas and agriculture. That is something very new for urban kids nowadays.  Then they were made to harvest certain herbs and plants, and after having harvested enough of them, the children (and adults) proceeded to cut them, grind them and basically prepare them for cooking. My son is grinding squeezing lemons or grinding something. Finally, we sat down to wait as the owner of the farm started to cook the food. The end result was a delicious Thai style vermicelli salad, egg omelette (with some vegetable we harvested) ...

Thanks to my son, I nearly had a brain haemorrhage today. His library card - he gets a stamp for every four books It all started a couple of weeks ago when he went to the library during Chinese period. He borrowed four books and brought all of them home. I looked at the books and discovered that he had borrowed mostly Chinese manga. They were mostly too difficult for him - one of them was actually a comic version of the Analects. I actually attempted reading the book to him, but even I got confused by all the Confucian terms mentioned in the text. I mean I did study Confucian philosophy for 'O' levels. But I did it in English and it was a very unique version - you know, teachings that suited the government were included and those that did not... you get the idea. So, the books were mostly left at home except for one which ended up at my in-law's place and one that went to my parent's place. When it was time to return the books, Old Master Q went missing. M...

When parents start on the topic of enrichment classes, I always think about the enrichment classes I had when I was young. I had swimming classes - that was something I did well in and maintained my interest in throughout all my life. Not that I swim a lot nowadays. But given the choice of doing a sport, I would probably choose swimming. I also played the organ. It was not something that kept my interest, but my mother made me learn it all the way till I was in secondary school. One benefit knowing the organ was that it helped me in my ECA (now called CCA), the symphonic band. I did a short stint of art classes, and I remembered that I was quite good at sketching at one point. Unfortunately, the lack of practise meant that I returned everything back to the teacher. Now, it is my turn to be a parent and decide on my son's enrichment. I am doing it slightly different from my mother. I mean there are some things that were good - I cannot complain my mother did not try to expose m...

Bedtime Reading In previous posts, I had emphasised my son's iPad habits. I hope I did not give the impression that he gets uncontrolled time on handhelds. On the contrary, I am always displeased about the amount of time he spends on iPads, Xbox and phone. But considering the generation he is in, and the fact that I was a young gamer as well (I started when I was 11, in 1985), I doubt I can stop him. But as I say, controlled moderation is the best. Ever since school had started, he has his iPad time cut down. Now, he is turning increasing to reading. He is reading a kid's version of Hamlet He is the third generation of readers in my family. My father is an avid reader. Even now he reads a lot - which can be very stressful for more. He keeps passing these books to me expecting me to read them. But then, he's retired and u still have a full time job!  My son has proven to be an early reader. I read that this is because he's a late talker. I guess tha...