It's tough bringing up a kid
image by dsnake1
It's being a rotten week at work and I have run out of steam and ideas. Returning home and seeing the kid struggling with her mathematics and physics, i thought, she is having a tough week too.
No poem, some gripe.
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It's tough bringing up a kid
It is tough bringing up a kid these days.
When she was a little toddler, I wondered, will she grow up all right, will she know her ABCs and 123s.Then she went to school, and I fretted over her homework, struggled with her over her exams, felt her pain when she didn't do so well in some subjects. Why, her school bag weighed as much as her.
Time flies. Now she's a perky and pretty lass in secondary 4, the O Levels looming at the end of the year. A new phase in her life. I saw her struggling with her Physics and Chemistry, and I am helpless to assist. Luckily, there's the Internet and MSN. She had "frens" out there. Questions and answers were exchanged through cyberspace.
Now there's a whole new bunch of worries. Who was the guy she was talking and laughing with on her mobile phone last night? Fren. Are the people she was chatting with on the net ok, even as i struggled to learn the new words of netspeak? Oh, just some frens. Sports partners. bloggers. forumites. Hmm, sounds familiar to me too.
When she's on the PC, she likes to listen to songs from Japanese anime shows. And I must say some are quite catchy.One day, I heard a familiar tune, ' Grandfather's Clock", in Japanese. I was singing the English lyrics when she turned to me.
"Hey dad, how come you know the song?"
"I was singing this song before you were born." I said, and for a moment I was a little kid again, sitting in a semi circle with the other kids as the music teacher pounded out the notes on a piano. It was then that I felt an age gap has been bridged.
Now I worry about what she will do after her O Levels. She says she wants to go to the university.
I thought you wanted to be a policewoman? You once told me."
"Nah"
"Programmer? The PC is part of you."
"No"
"Lawyer?"
"Too boring" (sorry there, Gilbert!)
It turns out she wants to study Business Management. At least she has it figured out. I have faith and trust in her.And I have to slog for some more years. A lot of weeks will gonna be rotten, but it will be worth it.
When she reaches there, well, there will be a whole new load of worries.
posted by dsnake1 at 2:54 PM
9 Comments:
Wah, you're a such senior citizen, Dsnake. :)
Can't imagine having a teenaged daughter. My kids are only age 4 and 2.
- Gilbert
It's hard to balance the struggles of life and come up the valiant winner all day/every day. If you feel as though you've succeeded only one third of the time - then you have at least that personal satisfaction. In the eyes of your children you are always their hero. Remember that!
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养儿一百年，忧心九十九。。。
[raise a child for a hundred years, worry for ninety-nine]...
Hi Gilbert,
a few more years and i will be collecting my CPF!
Hi Nick,
thanks for your encouraging words! In an increasingly competitive world, all we can do for them is to help them prepare for it.
Hi panda,
one stress-free year only? :)
anyway, very apt saying, thanks!
i have two daughters
now adult
but
the worrying never really stops
floots,
i guess that's called fatherly love. :)
I want to be a dad too! :)
High time, friend! :)
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