parenting rewards #1

If parenting is a pain in the ass and a killjoy, what glimmer of hope can an overworked parent hold on to? Is there a silver lining in this dark, turbulent cloud of parenting?

I think every parent has a different coping mechanism. Here’s mine.

I give my boy 50 cents every other day so that he can learn how to save. And so that I can be firm in telling him nope whenever he fancies the new shiny toy that is way out of my budget. It’s important for him to face rejection and experience those bitter feelings of disappointment.

Anyway, in this instance, he has saved enough money. We were on the way to the toy shop to buy his desired toy. He was so excited that he chose to carry his savings box. But it slipped out of his hands. The coins fell all over the place.

“很危险.” He commented.

Now, his native tongue is Japanese. And he speaks more English than Chinese because he picks it up at school. Also yes, I teach English professionally for a living but I use mainly Mandarin with him.

I have 💯 faith in our education system. If my boy’s English doesn’t meet the bar, I’m sure the dedicated teachers at the Learning Support Programme will help him to bridge the gap. But there is no such remediation programme for Mandarin. So I must speak Chinese to him.

These three words bowled me over, honestly. I hadn’t expected him to remember them. And to see him apply it so authentically warmed my clouded heart.

His Chinese mayn’t be as good as mine. (I mean, it’s his third language.) But I’m hopeful that he will learn all the useful phrases and idioms from me.

Till another day, darkness my old friend.

And beer helps, of course.