Kimmy Schemy

Archive for February, 2011

Jaja* is 4 years old. Maybe she’s not the prettiest girl but she sure is smart. She is a typical talkative girl that other people may find endearing.

What I like less (not dislike) about Jaja is her fan’s club. Well, what do you call a group of 8 people (mother, father, 2 sets of grandparents, an aunt and a nanny) doting on and verbally expressing their admiration to the little girl? I call it fans.

Contradictory to my recommendation, they enrolled Jaja in our reading program. So, three times a week, Jaja comes to our center.  With her is her entourage who spend their time talking about how smart she is and how bright her future is going to be, and so on and so forth. Well, the girl is smart all right. But she is impatient, typical of a child her age.

I can make her work for 15 minutes, but after that, she would devise excuses like going to the loo (she goes there twice in an hour), dropping her pencils and crayons on the floor and pretending to erase non-existing writings on her paper. Why am I not surprised? It’s typical.

What’s not typical, though, was Jaja’s request to me one time, or was it a command? She said, ‘Teacher, tell me I’m very good.’

Huh?? I was surprised. Coming from a 4 year old, it was.. unnatural. I didn’t know what to make of it, only, that this child is being raised a pampered and conceited girl who would grow up to be.. well, I don’t know.

Don’t get me wrong. I give her what is due her. I say ‘Good job!’ for a good job and ‘Well done!’ for a job well done. Only, I say it when I really mean it..

It’s okay to encourage kids. Letting them know they are good at something boosts their confidence. We should, however, be careful not to OVERDO it..

*not real name

My husband is supposed to finish his contract abroad in June of this year. So, the kids and I are excited about it. He asked us in one of our chats what we would like to have when he arrives. As my children are so vocal about what they want, he didn’t need to ask them, lol! So, he asked me instead. I simply said… anything will do otherwise, surprise me.

He said that’s such a tall order as I am difficult to please and to surprise me is a real challenge. So, I said, well, then.. maybe he should get tanzanite rings for both of us. He asked me where he could get them, so I said he should try online.

Though our cam was off at the time, I can imagine my husband scratching his scalp, lol!

My daughter’s Junior and Senior Prom was held last Thursday. Unfortunately, she was not able to attend it. She got sick last Monday, due, I think, to over fatigue as she has been working so hard lately. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she was prescribed an antibiotic. So, I kind of hoped that she will get better. She did get better, but her strength was not enough to attend the Prom. So, she just stayed at home.

Disappointed I may be about the whole thing, I am still happy that she is better now and will be able to go to school on Monday..

I was on my way home yesterday when I saw a familiar face. Well,  he actually didn’t notice me so I approached him and asked him if he is my friend, Teody, and then he smiled and recognized me instantly. He was as happy to see me as I was to see him.

So, I asked him how he was. It has been a decade since the last time I saw him. We were both working in an an air conditioning company at the time. He resigned from the office and put up a business of his own. In the shortest narrative possible he told me that the business did not work out so he closed it and looked for employment somewhere else. He told me that he was now into insurance and he offered to give me universal life insurance quotes to consider.

Well, I said I will consider it and we parted ways hoping to see each other soon.

My husband has been working overseas for almost 2 years now. We used to write him letters, especially on the first 6 months after he left. But when we got to acquire our own laptop and thanks to Facebook, our communication became so easy we did not write to him anymore, lol!

But if we are going to write to him again, there is just one thing that our kids always tell him…

Dear Papa,

We miss you and we love you very much..

Love,

Candid, Mika and Daryl

P.S. Papa, don’t forget my bike, love, Daryl

An entry for

‘Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day and never be able to understand what God is doing.’

Ecclesiastes 8:16

Source of photo: wallpaperbase.com

Late last month, I arrived at our office from my lunch break and saw a shy looking woman with an equally shy girl by her side talking with our receptionist. I was told that the mom wanted to enroll her child in our reading program.

I asked her, simply out of curiosity, why she wanted to enroll her daughter, Cheena*. She told me that Cheena is an extremely shy girl but the real problem was she couldn’t get her to read, that every time she asks her to read a book from school, the girl just couldn’t. Consequently, she got low grades.

Mom also added that she tried to teach Cheena, but she doesn’t have much patience so she normally ends up terribly irritated and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to get irritated at her daughter just because the girl couldn’t read. So, she decided to go to the tutorial center.

I found out that Cheena could read, but, not the way students in prep nowadays could. She is, in short, left behind by her classmates and that explains her shyness. Also, every time she encounters a difficult word, she would stop. She wouldn’t want to go anymore. So, very patiently, I guided her through the entire program.

She comes to the center twice a week, one hour per session. And for one long hour, her mom would patiently wait for her and would , very shyly, thank me for my patience and they would walk away hand-in-hand, after each session.

I was deeply touched. I admire the mom for being so sensitive of her daughter’s predicament, for being so honest to admit and accept her lack of patience, and for being so patient in taking her daughter, sitting on any available bench and simply waiting for one hour until her daughter comes out of the center.

Then I ask myself if I pay enough attention to my children’s needs, if I am honest enough to admit my mistake of treating them grown ups instead of the children that they are and if I am patient enough to wait for them, to listen to them and to appreciate the simplest things they do for me..

Aside from being a teacher, I am also a mother. And just like any other mother, I make mistakes but I intend to correct them..

*not real name

I really have no idea where my son got it. I just went home on Valentine’s day and he gave it to me. Since I didn’t give him money, or if I did, it was just enough for his snack, so surely he didn’t buy it..

Since they made a Valentine’s card for their school project and he gave it to me together with this rose, my best guess would be it came from the school to be given to moms or any other loved one.

Well, this is just the sweetest a mother could get on Valentine’s Day..

I think my laptop is sending me a message. Since last week it has been turning off and restarting on its own. Bought second hand and used every day for more than a year now, I can say its services are commendable and more than I hoped for. Still, I can’t stand the idea of replacing it. I think it’s just a natural reaction of an ordinary person who got so attached to her possession it’s like losing a dear friend.

So, I consider getting a new computer set, one of those new acer desktops maybe. My current is an acer laptop, one of those classic models that used to be favorites to really cool people.

But before that, I have to have it checked first, maybe something can still be done to save my beloved laptop..

What’s in store for people born on the year of the tiger? Well, try to read on so you’ll know…

Uh.. I apologize for being such a bad shot. I’m not a photographer by heart, lol!