This morning was a bright and sunny morning, and as usual I sent my eldest to school.
A string of cars in the school driveway. First one, directly under the porch on the driveway was a taxi dropping a girl off. Obviously, she wasn't prepared with the fare and took quite a long time digging out the money to pay the driver. Next was a car and I was third in line. As soon as the car pulled to a stop, my girl bade me goodbye and jumped out of the car and walked into school. Not that it was a long distance.
After a long wait, the girl in the taxi finally got out and the taxi drove off. The car in front of me, drove about 1.5m to directly under the porch before starting their goodbyes rituals for the day and then the 2 daughters alighted!! I was aghast!! Is this how the children here are being brought up? That they can't even walk a super short distance into school? It was a fine day. If it was raining I can understand. No wonder there are long jams going into school everyday coz all those super precious kids must only be dropped EXACTLY in front of the school and no where else.
In fact today was the first time I dropped my daughter on the porch as we were early and there was relatively less cars. In fact I drop her off at the bus stop everyday, rain or shine and she has to walk to school from there. Why? Because the queue driving into school is just too long and there is usually a jam! Now I know what is causing the jam!! Even for my two youngest, my husband will just drop them wherever is convenient within the school and they have to walk the rest of the way in. Many a times they have to cross a road to get to the assembly point. ( thank God my son is a good brother and will supervise his 6 year old sister when crossing that road).
But the point I want to raise is: do we really want our kids to be so pampered and spoilt that they cannot walk a short distance? Why are they spoiling their kids so much? Is it the result of the small families that we have here? If they cant even walk that short distance I can just imagine the amount of work they do to help out at home! They must be treated like little prince and princesses at home!
Walking a short distance does no harm to any able bodied student. In fact it would make them more alert during classes if they have a small workout before school. Tho there is a small danger involved having my two younger children cross the road by themselves ( with all those inconsiderate parents trying to get their children to school) , it has also taught them road crossing skills and to be more responsible as well. It has also taught my son how to take care of his little sister.
Our children are all precious to us BUT there is absolutely no need to spoil them silly!!
5 comments:
Wei, you sound so like me in those good old days when I ferried my children!
I shared this joke with my children in the car - your classmates and schoolmates are all made of paper, they can't go in the rain, they can't go under the hot sun. But you are made of gold who can brave the rain and hot sun!
You could say TGIF, but I have to work even weekend now!
My two "gold" children are doing fine now, with all those days in rain and shine though! They are tough!
Rach work on holidays and even Chris! And you know, when Rach works in Australia, you could never imagine how much they save for the parents!
Be comforted and encouraged!
If there's a "LIKE" button in this post like in facebook, I would have clicked on it.
When they enter NS the maids will have to carry the backpack for them till the camp entrance.
I cannot agree with you more. The helicopter parenting is getting too much actually. I don't like to go right to the doorstep either, I would park a fair distance and just walk.
Rain or shine!
Some parents really spoil their kids waaaay too much.
My friend is one if those moms. She would go all the way to school (at least 30 minutes) just to collect son's bag and give him a change if clothes. I was like "what? What's wrong with him packing his own change of clothes and keeping his bag with him till later??". And normally during football halftime, she will get up from her seat to let her son sit, wipe him and hand him drinks etc etc. I thought that us waaaay too much. Btw, son is 11
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