Out of the many precious lessons I have learnt as a parent, I must say that keeping an eye on my kids’ future is one that keeps coming back to me. Over time, I discovered that parenting is more than just meeting the physical and emotional needs of our children now, it also entails planning and praying for their future. Therefore, whenever Clarissa or Joseph faces minor setback eg failing in school exams or poor performance, I would subconsciously put on my binoculars for the future and try to see what I hope to achieve or rather, they could achieve and work backwards from there. It could be rather daunting at first but it sure puts things into perspective for me.
Recently, Clarissa did poorly in her exams, in particular her Chinese. Although this is nothing new as kids too could have their ups and downs in their school work, I would still spend a significant of my time evaluating what went wrong and how I could have help her better. This exercise quite often drew me to the conclusion that the wrong emphasis is being practiced in our present education system. At P3, her level of Chinese and Malay are frankly, way beyond what should be reasonably expected from a nine year old; in contrast, the level of English taught, as quoted by Clarissa, is “only marginally more difficult than her kindergarten!”
As a result, like most parents, I would like her to excel in her Chinese and Malay but unlike most parents, I wouldn’t want to place undue pressure on her by either sending her to more tuitions or giving her more workbooks as I am convicted that ultimately, English is more important. There are thus two value systems at work here: I expect both my kids to master the English language at a level that is higher than what was taught in school; at school, the teachers expect them to have strong command of Chinese and Malay.
The above exercise reminds me of what Paul wrote in the scriptures:-
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corin 4:18
As much as I tried to practice looking into the binoculars for my children’s future, I should also try to fix my eyes on things that carry eternal values.
Hi Fee,
ReplyDeleteEnglish or Malay or Chinese, maybe not so eternal, but that is one application of 2 Cor 4:18. How about speaking in tongues, maybe that is more eternal! In any case, baptism of the Holy Spirit, often evidenced by speaking in tongues, has eternal consequence. I don't know about your inclination towards such spiritual dimension of the faith, but in many parts of the world now, many children have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, complete with speaking in tongues, and even gift to minister healing to others. Something to think about.
Happy parenting, and may God bless your effort in looking after His gift of children to you. Anthony Chia
Hi anthony
ReplyDeletethank you for yr comment. i guess i am not really discussing about speaking in tongues here but the daily struggles that we malaysian parents face. its something that is beyond our control & has left many disorientated. but praise god for His vision for me, if not, i would also succumb to the norm here. i am hoping to do something about this (on a smaller scale of course), details to be shared latter hopefully! :)