Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of ‘Oh my, Joey is going to Primary School next year hor? So scary!!!’ thing from my friends. Because of that, I’ve turned from relaxed to be a little jittery myself.
It is hard to imagine that my kid, yes the one that came out of my body through a small hole (In my case, a C-sec opening; not the hole you are thinking about), is going to formal compulsory education next year. No more skipping school when we feel like it. No more playing and fooling around outside of school time. No more going to school just to improve her social skills. My Joey is going to start rigorous academic training real soon.
Truth be told, I think Joey feels a little nervous herself. She’s probably heard horror stories from her classmates who has elder siblings, that Primary School is serious stuff. She’s heard about the multiplication tables, hanyu pinyin spelling, compositions and comprehensions she has to face. School will no longer be 3 hours, but a full half day, and at the end of the day, she will go home with a bag full of homework. Honestly, this is all too much for a seven-year-old to take.
I’ve not been having it any better myself. Some of my friends whose kids started Primary School last year and this year have all told me how much time they have to devout to teaching their kids English spelling and Chinese spelling, going through home assignments, project work, Show & Tell and the list goes on. They feel like they are going through Primary school all over again, only 5 times tougher this time round. Every night and weekend are burnt trying to complete all the work that the poor kid goes home with. Oh, I feel depressed already.
Thankfully, I have a kid at home who’s rather conscientious. She’s afraid of authority, and so would do everything it takes to avoid having any clashes at all with her teachers. That usually means completing her homework the moment she reaches home and doing her best to get full marks for her spelling. Up to now, I don’t really have problems with her completing her homework and she’s usually able to complete everything without my help. Of course, that’s only kindergarten. Primary school is a whole new ball game altogether. I can only pray and hope that my girl’s personality and character will make it easier for her to cope with the hectic lifestyle when it comes.
And I hope that, while I am a typical kiasu mother and all, I will not be the one to add on unnecessary stress on her when it all happens. I pray I would not become the Tiger Mum who would keep forcing my kid to study hard and harder just to get Band 1 for all her subjects. Oh I really pray so.
Any mums with Primary school-going kids out there want to share your experience with me? I think I might need a support group of some kind.
