One of the activities that I enjoyed doing with Clarissa is fishing. Its through this that I discovered that she possesses both the patience and focus required while waiting for the fish to take the bait.
Yesterday, we embarked on an unexpected trip to the fishing pond as her cousins from Kuala Lumpur dropped by to visit. While the rest of the children were complaining of their ill luck and started to become restless, she stayed focus and explained to me her tactic: Plan A is to throw the bait as far away as possible; and should this fail proceed on to Plan B, which is to drop the bait gently near the shore. I felt like I was being educated, as yours truly had no idea how fishing works apart from the waiting duration!
At one point, I watched and couldn’t help myself from giggling when her bait (ie bread) fell from her hook. “Mum, if the bread that had dropped off from my hook disappeared from the surface of the water, you know that the fish is nearby and it would eat from your hook next!” she explained in a serious manner. “Don’t you think you might want to consider using an alternative bait as afterall, cat fish is known to stay at the bottom of the pond but bread floats.” I said trying to outsmart my girl. “You know when fish food is cast to the cat fish? The fish food floats too and the cat fish would swim to the surface to feed?!” That crashed my theory!
As Clarissa ran off with Joseph to inspect the other side of the pond, I was left to keep a watch on the lose bait. Before I knew it, I heard the sound of bubble and the small piece of bread went under the water! Suddenly, my fishing rod started to jerk uncontrollably. With one hand carrying Priscilla (I know I shouldn’t be carrying her but I also didn’t expect to be able to catch a fish that quickly!), I held the rod excitingly while calling out for Clarissa’s help!
Indeed, we should never underestimate the capabilities of our children. Sometimes, instead of getting them to do workbooks (which I am rather fond of), let them explore nature and play with animals! There are always surprises waiting to be uncovered!
