Sunday, November 16, 2014

the awesome yearly school concert...

On Thursday, Nov 13, 2014, we took one day off from work, to attend probably the biggest event of the year, Renzo's childcare year end concert.

Renzo refused to reveal any details about his concert despite me asking him numerous times at home. Every year, the preparation of their year end concert starts around July, and the kids spend time every day to learn and practice their dance moves. The concert is held around early December though for some reason this year it's in November, which is not a bad thing because we simply couldn't wait any further to see him performing on stage again.

And the efforts teachers put in, are simply astonishing. The teachers request kids to bring their white shoes and white socks to school, a couple of weeks in advance, just in case anyone forgets to bring their shoes/socks on the actual day. The teachers spend hours selecting costumes and making props for the concert. Although some parents might find it insane to pay S$40 dollars for a set of costume which is likely to be wore only once, I personally love all Renzo's costumes as he looks super duper adorable and cool in those costumes. The teachers organize full dress rehearsal for kids to get familiarized with the stage, as each time the concert is held outside the school at places like Kallang Theater, Simei ITE auditorium, etc. I've heard once the founder of the school commented during the rehearsal, that the hairstyles of girls from a K2 class is not flattering enough on the stage, the teacher made last minute changes to make sure the concern is addressed and the girls are looking their best on the actual day.
 

What I truly love about his school concert, is that the kids spend time together to learn their dance steps. They get to experience what is team work beside focusing on their own body coordination. And we as parents do not need to worry about getting to the concert to find out our poor kid being the "unlucky" one to act as a tree, in hot unglamorous costume and basically is not allowed to move the body, or maybe occasionally get to move the arms (branches) a bit.

Renzo told us that it is going to be an amazing surprise for all the daddies and mummies, and it's going to be the most exciting event of the year. So we arrived at the concert without any clue about what to expect, honestly, till that very moment, I wasn't even sure if my son is able to dance well. So yes, he has definitely surprised us, year after year. Pianica performance is added for K1 and K2 kids, hence this is the first year he's participating. I do believe it's rather easier for him since he's been learning piano for quite a while. As for his dance, I was totally blown away because I never know that he has any flair in dancing but just like what his teachers told me, his rhythm is really good. He might looked a bit zoned out, a bit slow motion, a bit short hands short legs but, he looked damn cool throughout without making any wrong moves at all.

For the fact that we do not own a powerful camera and we prefer not to rush to the front of the stage like many other parents often do, we didn't manage to capture any great quality pictures of videos, but we did enjoy the show to the max. And I just can't wait for the professional up close video/pictures from the school.

 


Last year, the theme of the concert was Retro and Renzo did a gorgeous "Hey Mickey" dance.
 



   

If you think that it's a big deal to put up a nice show at such tender young age, let me show you the dance he did in 2012 when he was only 3 years 4 months old.
 



 

 

It might sound a bit crazy to get a bunch of active 3 years old kids to put up a show on stage, but I strongly believe the opportunity and exposure given to have them enjoy some fun time on the stage, will encourage them o foster a more positive attitude and explore their own self-expression.

I couldn't imagine how touched I will feel during his next school concert as by then, he will be graduating from K2 and that will be the last time he has the chance to show case what he's learned in this wonderful childcare center. The best part is, it will be the first year that Rynus didi gets to participate in school concert also!!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Happiness, is a choice

10am, November 02, 2014, Sunday, Lift Lobby

While walking togther to Daddy's car, Renzo suddenly started whining and tearing for no reason, it could be because we were nagging him to speed up as his piano lesson starts at 1030am, and he finally got himself seated inside the car, just never stop sobbing..

Mummy: "Renzo, what's bothering you??!"
Renzo: "I don't know, I am not sure.."
Mummy: "Then can you please just stop whining??!"
Renzo: "I am trying..."
Mummy: "Renzo, in life, a lot of times we do not have a choice, I guess you might not be willing to go for your lesson but you know you just have to go for it. So why not go happily and enjoy, since you don't have a choice anyway?!"
Renzo: "Yes mummy..."
Mummy: "So have you stopped crying?"
Renzo: "Yes..."
Mummy: "Are you feeling better?"
Renzo: "Yes Mummy!"

Instead of dwelling on why he was not happy, we carried on with other topics like what we are going to do after his piano lesson. He's back to the normal cheerful boy again..

And that's it, that's the conversation with my 5 years old on a topic we discuss often recently - Happiness, is a choice! Nothing, and nobody will make you happy until you choose to be happy!

Many people, both adults and children, have difficulties dealing with emotions. So my focus this year, is not to send our 5 years old Renzo for endless enrichment classes in the name of getting him ready for primary school in another year, but to get him mentally prepared for the primary school life as an independent individual, by teaching him the virtue of disciplining himself well while appreciating his surroundings and seeing good things in others. To do that, he needs to learn to control his own emotions, which enables him to cooperate with others, to cope with frustration, and to resolve conflicts.

Children learn a lot from others and are very quick to pickup and mimic behaviors, either good or bad, that they have seen exhibited by others. So my style of emotional coaching, is always to be a good role model and practice what you preach. Besides that, I've discovered a very effective way that helps Renzo - write to him!!

So a couple of weeks ago, Daddy and I worked together with Renzo to make a mailbox for Renzo to get letters from us. The initial idea was just to encourage him to read more, and write more. We've been writing to him and we've even received 2 letters from him. Those were not love letters filled with heart shapes, those were true words of encouragement for his efforts to behave well.

Gradually, I realized when I need to play my role as Renzo's emotional coach, writing to him seems to be extremely effective. I do feel that while Renzo is reading the letters word by word, those values we want to teach him get instilled and he's trying to improve day by day in order to do us proud. Of course kid being kid, he soon forgets but taking out those letters and re-read them easily reminds him about what are the good behaviors we expect to see from him. And recently he handled 2 "bully cases" extremely well by controlling his own emotions. 
Once at the pool, he told the boy "if you keep splashing water on my face, your daddy will bring you to thinking corner!" although he could choose to yell and cry or even fight back. When the boy finally got punished by his dad, Renzo was proud to share with me that the method i taught him ~ focus on your own good behavior and not to be affected by others, is actually working!! Another time, he pulled the boy who snatched his toy car on a racing track at a toy shop, to the notice board and told him, "Can't you read? It says to bring your own car or buy one here in order to play the car on the track?! That's my car, if you want to play, ask your mummy to buy one for you!". Although eventually I needed to step in and grab that car back because the boy simply ignored my "discipline master" boy's precious advice... 

Indeed Renzo has been dealing with his Terrible-Twos-little-brother on a daily basis, and most of the time he will just give in by saying, "Rynus didi is still a baby", "it's alright", "I am not going to be bothered about him!" when being bullied by Rynus. He was just bitten by Rynus a few days back, that got him really upset and went totally out of control for a few minutes, with crying and screaming and venting his angers at his didi, but eventually he calmed down and showed me two deep bite marks on his arm, I had to absolutely agree that he had all reasons to be mad at Rynus. 

I definitely believe he's on the right track to learn self control, as parents we still have a lot to do but it's really rewarding to see our little one trying to handle upsetting situation better and better in everyday interactions!




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