Ways of teaching a child

To me, there's never one best way to teach a child, because different child "eats" different tricks.  That's why Parenting is the toughest job. How we teach our children will depends on what concepts are we adopting, which means what kind of person i want them to be. Of course Concepts will change through different stages of their growing up process.

I'm so thankful that i have got my mum, my sis, my pil, my uncle, my close friends to share with me the many experiences of handling a child , whether they had encountered personally or through a friend's story. My cousin who shared with me the many stories about the importance of moral education for a child. 

I believed Characters can be taught. As a Parent, we are their role models. Easier said to be done, ya? There was once, when i'm queuing up to buy Princeton a waffle, there was a scene infront of me. A boy 4/5years old was reluctant to share his waffle with i think his cousin who is about the same age. The girl's mother who was beside her immediately told him off. She reprimanded the boy that he is selfish. The mother even told her daughter, you see korkor so selfish and so rude. The boy's mother who heard everything told her son that you must share with your cousin. The boy just refused and ran off. (Both the kids were laughing happily and chasing each other)  

So, what do you see in this story?? Tian saw everything, and he looked at me. (Waiting for me to explain to him) I just told him that we got to share things OK? Must be a good boy, share things and everybody will be happy. I will not criticize another person infront of my children. Nope. I will not say for example, Princeton you see this korkor very rude, this meimei very stupid, this uncle very selfish, that auntie very noisy etc. ALL these are negative words negative thinking to them. To put it in a nasty way, that girl's mother thought that her daughter is perfect princess? U mean your girl never been rude or selfish? How could you reprimand other children, not taking into consideration that you are saying the boy's parent cannot teach well? Come on, have some SA!! (Situational Awareness) Not as if your princess is flawless, or whatever. To me, we have got no rights to thumb down another kid because of your own child.

I bet the girl will soon grow up like her mum who loves to complain about her friends and even her teachers. Mummy, teacher teach very slow leh, cannot make it lor. Mummy, my friend very bad, always don't share things with me. (Everything under the sun is wrong, only her daughter is right.) That is why there are so many typical SPOREAN parents.

The next thing i felt is important for my children, to rule out the LAZINESS in their dictionary. While some kids are intrinsically more active than others, most kids are not naturally lazy. I personally cannot agreed children sitting on the prams (with their eyes open, not sleeping), shopping around. Children as big as 4,5,6! If they are tired, and they wanted to sleep, FINE. Some parents might think this is more convenient. So, your "convenience" will conveniently breed the laziness into your child.

Well, talking about others, i myself also need constant reminder from hubby. Hubby doesn't like me to "spoon feed" Princeton. One thing i can't do is to help our boy to keep the toys. If Princeton wanted to play his Lego, he got to keep his puzzles first. Second thing we cannot help to keep his shoes. He got to take it off himself and placed it on the settee. Sounds very trivial matter right? But it will makes a big difference.

I hope i can teach my children with an open mind, nature them with positive thoughts and breed them into a useful person.