missing that amazing preschool of Renzo's..

When we noticed that every night as we chat with Renzo about his day in school, he always twitters “goooooooood!” while his voice turns honey sweet at the same time, we know he’s been loving and enjoying his school, very much. 

I know we've prepared him well, he has prepared himself well, but I must say, he really has this amazing preschool that prepared him extremely well! 

I've mentioned previously that he's coping well in school and there was not a single episode of drama happened, such as losing his belongings or getting himself into trouble for any reason. Besides that, academically, he's been loving his teachers and his lessons. He has English spelling and Chinese tingxie tests on every alternate week. And it's a breeze to get him prepared in less than 10 minutes, usually he does not make any mistake on his first attempt since he's learned all those word during class. As of now, the test words are really simple, in fact way easier than those that he has done during preschool.

I have a feeling that he's also missing his preschool life. He attended a childcare friend's birthday party and it's incredible to see how excited the kids are, meeting one another again after their year end school concert since last December. At the same time, he often talks about his preschool teachers with his little brother at home, as they do know all of the teachers despite being in different classes.

And there's one night when Renzo was packing his Chinese word flashcards, I randomly asked him a few words from lesson 4-9, he was on lesson 2 at that time so initially I just wanted to test if he's paying attention during class and knows what was taught by teachers. I realized he could recognize all those words like 喝, 球, 脚踏车, etc.  I asked, "Are you sure your teacher has taught you all these words?". "Yes of course mummy, 杨老师 taught me!" Renzo chirped. And guess what, 杨老师 is his K1 and K2 Chinese teacher during preschool!

A week ago, we brought Renzo back to his childcare for an open house, it's meant for existing students and of course Renzo has the privileged to join in the fun, because his little brother is an existing student. We were rather impressed when we realized Renzo was so well received and warmly welcomed by all his ex-teachers. They showered him with countless hugs and kisses. They even displayed his artwork right outside the door although he's graduated months ago.

Well yes I know I've talked about his preschool again and again but seriously, I am glad that Rynus still has a good 3 years there, otherwise I will be the first one to suffer from withdrawal syndrome, okay I am sure I will when didi graduates in end 2018!

Another self-reflection day for Daddy Chan...

Every time after I snap at Renzo for an act of mischievousness or misconduct, at the end of the day when everyone is asleep, I think to myself in the serenity and peace of the night, what could I have done otherwise in the course of nurturing Renzo to have prevented that action.

It was no different last night.

I was in the living room and giving Renzo an earful for playfully slapping a neighbour's legs repeatedly and tugging at his shirt and not stopping despite my plea when Renzo was at the playground. And I lost it when he started giggling when I recounted the incident to him. No I didn't physically hit him nor did I threaten him emotionally, but I just walked away in disappointment.

I teared in front of my son for the second time in his life. It was one of those moments when you feel like all the efforts put into him has been for naught. When even your serious tone is nothing more than a passing breeze that even the foolishness of a recounted event can take precedence over. As the day moved on, we chilled and I went back to explaining how disappointed I was and what was my expectations of him when in front of people.

One of those days when Renzo becomes the most wonderful brother

Had an evening jog with Mummy Chan after the kids slept and before I went to bed myself, the word "Parenting" kept fogging all my other thoughts until I had to focus on it to clear my mind.

Being the present participle form of a noun (as opposed to the usual verb) makes the word "Parenting" an interesting one. We call the process of raising children, "Parenting" and not "Childrening" for obvious reasons. We, parents, are the one in focus during this life-long process, not the kids. I may not be a child psychologist or a gifted parent, but I believe for my style of parenting to be success, I need to adapt and change how I influence my boys as they grow and at the same time, observe and understand them, and occasionally...just occasionally...accept that kids value fun over everything else.

The most wonderful thing about parenting is how we need to be an advocate the things we wish our kids to be imparted. To encourage them to drink water, we haven't had a pet bottle of soft-drink in our fridge for a while now. To encourage them to practice piano, Mummy Chan mastered a simple version of Pachelbel's Canon.To encourage them to read, I pick up a book every now and then. All these little actions not only serve to be live demonstrations of our resolve, but at the same time, enrich our lives meaningfully.

So looking back at the little fiasco with Renzo, I guess the next thing that I should be doing is to bring him out more often and play with him to show him the boundaries and limits, and letting him express himself in the most endearing child-like ways within those boundaries, until the day he can truly understand the reason why Daddy Chan sets these limits, and together, we can explore outside of this "box".

Because from my perspective as Daddy, this is "Parenting", from his perspective as Son, this is "Growing Up". Like the 2 lines that forms a letter X, these 2 perspectives starts far, but eventually converges when the duo has optimal understanding of each other, and over time, begin to distant again. Renzo, my son, like most others, we are still learning from and about each other but I know that from the day that our perspectives coincide, we can carry on down the path of a letter Y and be in union. :)