Thankful Tuesdays

This post by Petunia Lee has somewhat knock me in the head. Indeed I have been far too focus on what my son cannot do than what he can do best. I always hound him for that 0.9% rather than applaud him for that 99.1%. I am hereby challenging myself to list down his strengths.

 

 

1) He's independent

 

I can trust him to manage his own school work. Very rarely I have to hover around neither do I need to send him constant reminders. I can fully rely on him to tell  me his homework  for the day rather than checking what was instructed in his hand book. I can also leave him alone to complete his homework; I don't have to nag him to do his work nor coach him.

 

2) He always does his best

Sonshine puts in effort in his school work. He's been like this since kindergarten days. I recall the kindergarten teachers, even those who didn't teach him, would come up  to me and praise him for his efforts. They said they could tell he really put in a great deal of effort to achieve what the teachers want. Now at primary school, he's Chinese teacher also recognises Sonshine efforts when it comes to his school work. She was so impressed once that she sent me a Watsapp during class praising him for his good effort. 

3) He is responsible

I was prepared for reports of lost items f& replacing water bottles, pencil cases and what nots when he began his primary school journey. Surprisingly I have none of that. He always brings home his belongings intact- nothing missing till to this very day. I can trust him to take care of his belongings.

4) He is self motivated

Once I totally forgot that he had spelling the next day. I was only reminded when I saw him taking out his textbook and revising on his own. Still clueless, I questioned him why  only then did I realised he was revising for spelling. Needless to say, I was more than happy that he takes ownership of his work. 

The other day, he had to list down of words with a particular ending that was difficult to look them up in the dictionary. I had to help him by giving him clues and how to think for more words. After he managed to list down about 5 words, I told him to stop there since he was only required to 'list down as many words as possible'. But he insisted to complete all the blanks. But this mama was lazy and refused to help him any further. Instead of closing his book, he persisted and thought hard on his own until he completed the list.
 

5)  He is a planner

 

We are a party family. So over the weekends (which starts on Friday for us) we regularly chill out till late into the night. There's hardly pockets of  time for Sonshine to do his homework. However, he surprises me by waking up earlier than all of us on Sunday mornings so that he can quietly complete his homework before we head to church. I'm heartened that this boy is able to think ahead & plan without our inputs.

 

At school, he also manages his time well. He tells me that he will break his recess time such that he has enough time to eat, visit the loo, play and head to the assembly area before the bell rings. Everyday. Whoa, the discipline he has!

 

+++++++

 

 

I am thankful that he posseseed these traits, I cannot say that the credit is all mine (although I would love too, LOL!). These characteristics are indeed more valuable than scoring the As in schools. For if he continues to hold on to these traits, I know it will bring him far in his adult life (of course with Christ guiding & honing these traits in Sonshine).

 

Creating this list does help me to see Sonshine in a different light. It helps me to appreciate his strengths more than set my eyes on his shortcomings. I am truly thankful that he is blessed with these strengths. And I am blessed to be called his mama.

 

Now it's your turn to list down your child's strengths.

 

 

Assesment books

Like many Singaporean parents, I buy assessment books and assigned them to Sonshine to work on. In fact, I consider myself an assessment books warrior! My weekly pilgrimage is to walk into Popular book store and leave with an assessment book. Needless to say, I buy so many that there is no way he can finish them all by year end.

 

Over time, I wonder how effective assessment books are. The questions in the assessment books won't even appear in the school exams, so even if the child aces the assessment books, does it mean he will do well in school exams? I really doubt so.

 

Yet, most of us are still obsessed with assessment books. I have seen mothers like me scouring through the shelves for assessment books at Popular book store. I suppose, assessment books give that extra revision and practise that our child needs. That makes sense, 'practise makes perfect' doesn't it?

 

But I think most of us, me included, have lost focus on the role of the assessment books. We think number is the the key, the more they do the better. Really? I have heard of kids who do truck loads of assessment books but still get average results or still 'lose' out to others who did no or little extra work outside of school. Of course, there are also students who benefit from, and even enjoy, doing them. So are assessment books the magical formula to good grades?

 

I look at Sonshine and myself. I suspect with or without assessment books, he will do just the same. His standard would probably remain status quo even if I don't assign him extra work. Yet I do see that it helps him a little at times. For instance, when working on English assessment books, he sometimes come across new words that he is unaware of. I learn to see that as an opportunity for him to boost his vocabulary. Still, sometimes, it comes out to nothing. He would learn the new word there and then but completely forgets about it the next round. Days like these, I wonder 'what's the use?'. In general it doesn't seem to make him 'smarter', even so, it would be just a wee wee bit, negligible really.

Then it dawned on me it is not the assessment books that will help Sonshine. For him particularly, it is the quality of the teaching that helps him the most. Sonshine is attentive and absorbs well during lessons. When the teacher is very clear, concise and precise in her lessons, Sonshine will retain and know how to apply accurately in his work. For example, maths, I observed that all I have to do is to explain very clearly to him all the basic concepts of the topic. After which, he can fly solo and tackle the tedious & complicated questions on his own based on his understanding of the basics. But, first the teaching must be very clear and detailed. So ultimately, for Sonshine, it all boils down to the teacher, absolutely nothing to do with the number of assessment books he does.

So now, I've to change my mindset. That's not to say I have stop buying assessment books. I still do. But I try not to equate his grades with doing assessment books. My strategy now is to teach and then use the assessment books as a revision or practise. In the past, I would simply throw the assessment books to him and expect the books to teach him or that he would magically learn on his own by doing them. So now i choose assessment books that comes with some guidelines. It is more for me to use them as a 'textbook' to teach Sonshine especially for english where there is no school textbook for us to follow unlike mandarin.

Having said that, with the wide selection of assessment books here, it is very hard to ward off the temptation to buy. I hope to constantly remind myself that it is not about the amount of assessment books Sonshine does but it is how well he can understand from what he is taught. Hopefully that will help me stay on track!
 

Comprehension strategies

I'm working on comprehension with Sonshine. As I was doing so, I soon realised comprehension work ain't as straight forward as I thought. It requires a lot of strategies and skills that need to be taught to the children. I'm not talking about those literal comprehension questions but those that need inferring and seeking out clues throughout the passage. 

I always assumed as long as one can read-everything else will fall into place. How wrong was I. It's not always true, well not for my son at least. 

There are lots of tips on the internet on how to teach comprehension (I had to google as I had no clue). Just search for key words like 'how to teach comprehension' or 'comprehension strategies'. Not everything that is out there was relevant to me. I tweaked and added my own strategies as I worked with Sonshine. I'm going to share it here. But do note, I am by no means an expert. I am just a mother figuring her way to help her son.

1) Underline corresponding words

The passages are long for 7/8 year olds to remember every detail of the passage & they may not know where to look for the answers. Sometimes, the questions can help locate where the answers are. For instance 'Why was the donkey hurt?' I have Sonshine underline 'donkey hurt' and make him look for these corresponding words in the passage. Once he found these words, he is to read the surrounding sentences to get the answers. Many a times such questions are straight forward 'The donkey fell into the river and got hurt.' Sometimes the child is required to read the entire paragraph to find the answers. 

2) Identify literal versus inferring questions 

I taught Sonshine these two types of the questions. Literal questions are easy because you can literally copy the answers from the passage. I showed him inferring questions meant that he has to look for clues in the passage. 

To illustrate, I gave him the sentence 'Tommy went home and took medicine.' I asked him how did Tommy feel? Sonshine rightly pointed out it's because Tommy took medicine. I showed Sonshine that the sentence didn't say 'Tommy is sick' but we know he is because he 'took medicine'. I taught him this because sometimes I catch him scouring up and down the passage looking for the corresponding words from the questions in vain. He needed to be taught that literal questions meant that he had to find clues instead of the corresponding words.

This strategy seem to help Sonshine unlock the mystery of comprehension! After I showed him what inferring questions are, he suddenly tackled comprehension like a pro!

3) Identify the cause and effect

These are usually the 'why' questions. I noticed Sonshine assumed that the 'effect' sentences are always after the 'cause'. For instance 'Mary is going to the beach' (cause). 'She is happy' (effect). But sometimes it's the other way around. 'Mary is happy' (effect). 'She is going to the beach' (cause). In comprehension passages, it's not always so straight forward. The cause and effect statements are not always one after the other. Sonshine usually gets drown by all the words an details in the passages. So i had to teach him to identify which is the cause and effect. 

4) Try to decode a new word

It's probable that the student will stumble upon a word he never seen. I try to teach Sonshine to always first ask himself if that word is a noun (is it a person, place or thing?), verb or an adjective. From there, look around the passage to look for clues that tell you more about the word. 

5) Demonstrate reading skills

I learnt that a reader can be a good reader or a poor reader. I always thought the latter meant that the child cannot decode the words. But that's not right. A poor reader is one who reads without properly understanding the story. Sonshine isn't a detail person. He gets the gist of the story but overlooks all the nitty gritty details. Fortunately, I still have the habit of reading aloud to him. As I read to him, I demonstrate how he should be reading 

a) Read again

 

When I come across sentences that I think he doesn't understand. I show him that he can always stop and go back and read again. This time read slowly and look for clues to understand better or check if he had miss something out earlier. 

b) Ask questions aloud

 

Sometimes a sentence doesn't make any sense. I usually stop and ask aloud 'something is strange here! What is it?' Together, Sonshine & I will identify what is so strange about it and why. 

c) Identify with the character.

 

At some point, I would stop and ask Sonshine how he would feel if he's the character or reminded him that he had a similar experience before. Being able to identify with the character is important because sometimes in comprehension, the students are required to use their own personal knowledge and experiences to answer a question. It also helps them in making predictions. That's why I want Sonshine to pick up the habit of putting himself in the character's shoes. This would help him to enjoy the story and better understand the passage.

 

6) Build vocabulary

 

Looking back, I realised I never work on English with Sonshine, very rarely. I was focused alot more on Math and Chinese. I always assumed that since we speak English at home & he reads, he would be a natural in the subject. Wrong. I know a lot of parents claim that reading is enough to build a strong foundation in English. I beg to differ. Reading helps, yes, but it is only ONE of the ways to improve English. Some kids are a naturalist in the subject so reading books alone will help them. But some kids are just not very good in the language. Some kids would read but not notice things like spelling, grammar, vocabulary & especially punctuations- they read purely for the storyline. Sonshine is one of them. The only thing he picks up during his read is spelling, everything else, he overlooks. For kids like him, they need a structured, consientious lesson to teach them- ON TOP of their leisure reading.

 

I also thought by reading his vocabulary would improve. Well yes and no. He did pick up words but Sonshine tends to 'escape' when he sees words he doesn't know. He would not attempt to know the meaning of the word, not even make a wild guess. Only this year, I learnt that I had to consciously make him learn new words everyday- no matter how simple the word is. Why is vocabulary so important? The comprehension passages will get harder and use 'bigger' words as they progess up each level. If they don't have sufficient words in their vocabulary bank, they will have difficulty in understanding the passage. Morover, Singapore comprehension has the habit of asking 'What does XX mean?' or 'What is another word for XX?'. If the student has limited vocabulary, he will literally be throwing 2 marks away for his English paper.

Wow, this primary school education is a whole new era to me! Lots of 'work' to be done ahead! *Sweat*

 

Ice cream Vocab

Recently, I discovered that Sonshine's vocabulary is rather limited. The other day, I was shocked to my bones when he told me he didn't know what 'capture' and 'relatives' means. *Slap head*

 

It sent me on a panic mode, to say the least.

 

So, I came up with a quick activity with him, hopefully we can do this on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. My goal is to build up his vocab quickly and in the shortest time possible.

 

The fortunate thing is he's got a fantastic memory; he is able to lock down a concept or word fairly quickly and retain it for good. That's why I came up with an activity to expose a number of words at one go because I am quite certain the words will stick deep into his head. For Sonshine, the activities/lessons cannot be too long winded. It has to go straight to the point (no introduction, no fanfare) & the lesson must be conducted clearly & accurately & speedily. So for this vocab activity, this is the best 'to the point' way I can think of...but for him I think it was alittle too long winded for him :P.

 

 

 

Anyway, I made these ice cream cut outs. On each of the cones, I wrote a word. Each cone has 3 scoops of ice cream and on each of them there is a word with similar meanings to one of the 'cone words'.

 

First, I jumbled them up and whilst trying to explain the game to Sonshine, he was already busy connecting the cones. I had to stop him and slow him down.

 

I let him joined the words he knows and for words that he didn't, I will make a sentence with that word and have him infer what it means and then join that word to the correct cone. For instance, I may say ' I ADMIRE her painting'  and he had to decide which of the 4 words closely describes 'Admire'.

 

I refused to spoon feed him with the answers and I want to make him use his God given brains! I think this helped to make the game more interesting for him too.

 

'Hey mom! Ice cream cones!'

 

After the first round, I mess up the words again. And this time, as he joined each word, he now had to make a sentence using that word to me. I do this to make sure he truly understands the meaning of the word and knows how to use them.

 

I hope to do this as often as possible!

 

 

Term 2

We are ending our second term and...I have some things to air out.

 

Sonshine's school is all about character building- which is great and nothing wrong. But when I look at the traits they use to measure a 'good' student, I cannot help but feel Sonshine is being slighted. The traits listed are those of a vocal and expressive child- a child whom Sonshine is not. To me it is like using a monkey's abilities to judge an elephant. The school have given out a number of awards based on these traits and Sonshine didn't get any. He said he was sad when I asked him how he felt and that he tried very hard but still didn't get recognised. That broke my heart.

 

I am not coveting for the awards but I feel bad for Sonshine because his efforts are not being recognised. He's trying hard but it goes unnoticed. A little bit like a child who studies so hard but still yields little result. But for Sonshine, it is trying to be someone he is not. And that brings me to my next point, I worry the subtle message the school is sending out to him: that being an introvert child is wrong. They want a student who is not just great in academics but one who is vocal, speaks well and posses model characteristics. The latter is not Sonshine. He is a quiet child, who shy away from attention and struggles to express himself. Yet, because the school seemingly expects a more prominent student, Sonshine tries hard to be that student but seems like it is not good enough for the teacher. 

 

The other thing I feel sorry about is that none of the teachers (even his kindergarten teachers) are/were able to pick out his potential. Only his Montessori teachers were able to detect his true learning pace; but it gets unnoticed by his mainstream teachers. Not surprising really, since it is hard for the latter to know all of her 30 students personally. Also, the curriculum is really easy, so it isn't a big deal if he scores full marks for his papers because everyone else is hitting that mark too.

 

Honestly, I thought having a good foundation academically means the child will breeze through school. But here I am struggling with getting Sonshine to be that ideal student the school wants him to be. I can heck about it but week in week out I see feedback about Sonshine not being vocal enough and that makes it hard to not get bothered. It is not like Sonshine is not trying at all, but the teacher seems to be focusing on the end-result rather than the effort. I fear that overtime Sonshine would resigned from trying and proclaim 'What's the use anyway'. :(

 

Fortunately, his self esteem is still intact. That's my Sonshine. Nothing seems to faze him, no matter how much bad words is spoken to or about him. I love that about him, he's able to pick himself up and move on. He never allow what people think or say about him affect him. I hope he stays this way for the world out there is rough. I am also not taking that for granted. I have been telling him that Mummy thinks he deserve a full award for his effort- never mind if the teacher didn't send an award his way. I reminded him that what is more important is what God, the most powerful being in this universe, thinks of him. For Psalms 139:4 says that he is wonderfully made. I tell him to look into the mirror and tell himself that God has made him wonderful- what other (equally weak& faulty) mortals say about him holds no water. :) 

Funnily, I think I am more affected than he is! He has moved on his merry ways. I am the one who is mopping here! LOL! And so, it is a reminder to ME that our confidence should not be in the awards or people's opinion of us which are temporal and can change over time. But our confidence should be built in Christ for His love for us is unconditional, unchanging and never wavers. I want to raise my children to put their security in God's word rather than in people. I have seen too many adults whose sense of love and security is in other people or material things and how they get crushed when these things fade away. I don't want my kids to grow up like them, I want them to stand firmly even when things around them fail them. I reckon the Lord gave this lesson to teach ME more than Sonshine! LOL! :D

 

 

Dictionary habit

After speaking to a few 'experienced' parents of primary school going kids, we mostly concluded that the best virture of a student is being an independent learner.

 

So I try my best to hone that in Sonshine as much as possible. Typically, I will not provide the answers when he is in doubt. I'd either ask him to try his best or teach him to search for the answers himself.

 

It started with the English dictionary. I shared before I taught him how to look up the meaning of the words. Since then, he would occasionally take the initiative to look up the words.

 

That's when it dawn on me that I should instill the same habit for Mandarin too. I went hunting for the ideal Chinese dictionary for him and found this.

 

 

Collins Chinese Dictionary

One can look up the words in many ways. For a start, I taught him to look up a word using the Hanyu Pinyin.

 

I love this dictionary because 1) there is an chinese-english interpretation for each word. So, if he is looking up an unfamiliar chinese word, he is able to learn the meaning of that chinese word in English as well.

 

2) If he doesn't know what is the mandarin term for an English word, he can look up the word first in English and it would show the translation in mandarin. Awesome!

 

The perfect opportunity came when he was doing work and he didn't know what was the mandarin equivalent for 'Penguins'. I didn't want to feed him with the answer and wanted him to learn how to look for the answers himself. So, I referred him to the dictionary!

 

He searched the word 'Penguin' in the dictionary and found its hanyu pinyin equivalent AND the chinese characters. 

Needless to say, he found out the answer to his question.

 

Ah, I can see my life will get better from now on. :D

Week 2 report

We are nearing to end of week 2 of the school term, can I have a loud YAHOO everybodeeeeeeeee! So far, it has been smooth sailing for us. Sonshine is taking his new life like a fish in the water, as if nothing has change (can't say the same for his mom).

 

I am extremely grateful that he

 

1) has not lost his belongings. Quite surprising, considering that he always loses things AT HOME.

 

2) wakes up every morning in almost in an instant. We don't have to nag at him to get out of bed. By the second call, he is up and about. He never appear lethargic or reluctant nor show any resentment towards his new lifestyle.

 

3) eats his breakfast fuss free.  Sonshine is a poor eater. He usually eats extremely slowly & reluctantly.  Hence, it is a blessing that he saved us from all the nagging and scolding in the dark morning by eating his breakfast relatively fast.

4) comes home with no homework. YAY! I know some parents think it is a bad thing because the kids may get a culture shock at upper primary. Personally, I am liking it because it gives me more time to after-school him without having to compete with his homework. *hee hee*

 

I am also thankful that our daily routine is slowly falling into place. I manage to slip in home learning time with doll  each morning while Sonshine is in school. It is the perfect time for learning since there's no distraction and she's freshly awake. As for Sonshine, we still haven't quite find a fix time slot. Sometimes it would be after his nap, sometimes it would be during Doll's nap- depends when I can find pocket of time. It is pricking me a bit that I can't find a fix time slot in the day. Still this week, it has been very frutiful and I am extremely grateful.

Yet, I am still lamenting our militant schedule. Everything has to be run by the clock. I feel stress if we overrun our time and I am constantly nagging at Sonshine that it is time to move on to the next item on the list, not a minute late. What a way to stifle a child! Oh well, I am over the moon that Friday's here and we will soon be off to the weekend!WHOOPIEE!!

 

 

First day of school!

Sonshine has officially stepped into primary school. It is a mark that he is growing up and that he HAS to grow up. First day of school, was not as nerve wrecking as I had expected but we did had some jitters.

 

The first thing I worried about was having to wake up early. Our usual waking up hours is after 10am. (You can close your dropped jaws now, thank you) Sonshine's kindergarten hours was in the noon, so we had the luxury to stay up really late at night and wake up at brunch time AND still move at snail's pace. It was leisure at the highest, I say! But now, we have to be up by 6am, what a drastic change! Today is the second day of school, so far, it seems pretty alright for now. Sonshine woke up with ease, no whining no lethargy. He did what he needed to do and it went quite smoothly.

 

The night before, we also had alittle panic. We realised the boy was not used to the zipper & hook mechanism on his school pants. He has no problem with zipping but because the pants are loose, he needed to hold the pants up while zipping which can be quite challenging for his small hands. He was also not  familiar with the hooks. We made him practise, practise clumsily he did. So we were worried that he may have problems putting his pants back on after a visit to the loo. We tried our best to teach him and left the rest to God.

 

We were slightly late or barely on time for school these 2 days. The traffic jam caught us off guard (there are 4 schools in the same vicinity, so you can imagine how the road looks like in the morning). Or maybe Sonshine caught us off guard with he's 'I want to poo poo. I want to wash hands. I want this, I want that etc' which made us leave later than planned. I am thanking the heavens and the stars that I am not the one who's sending him to school! I'll leave the worrying & planning to the husband-ha!

 

During the first day, we were allowed to walk our kids into the school right to the assembly area. But we were not allowed to linger around. The school prepared some parental talks for us and we all adjourn to the another area until their recess. Unfortunately for us, Sonshine's recess (Primary four) buddy was as clueless as him. Left him at the table alone and didn't bring him to look for us like other buddies did. We could only try take a peek (we weren't allowed to join him) and shoulder wrestle with other anxious parents. But, I didn't really need to chat with him, it was more than enough for me to know he's there eating and he knows that we were there.

 

There are no lessons these first days. We were suppose to pack books to hand over to the teachers to keep & these few day are meant for administration matters.

 

By the time I picked him up, he was looking all dazed, probably overwhelmed by the new experience. I tried not to ask him too many questions although every bit of me was burning with curiousity. We held hands and quietly walked over to our car while other parents & their children chatter nossily past us.

 

At the end of the day, I managed to squeezed some stuff out from him

 

1) His buddy's name

2) His class room arrangement.  (I literally made him draw out a map!)

3) He played games during Chinese class, adding that a boy won the game 'BUT it was NOT me'.

4) There are 29 of them in the class- probably more boys than girls.

5) One of his classmates didn't have a buddy

6) He doesn't know his partner or classmates names.

7) His teachers names.

8) He knows the location of the restroom nearest to his classroom.

9) Water bottles are not allowed in the class and he had to leave them outside

10) There's a small library area in his class but he was quick to tell me the school has a library where there are more books.

 

I think we had a great start. Sonshine said he likes the school & teachers, though he said this nonchalantly. All in all I am thankful that

 

1) Sonshine is taking all this new changes and experiences with ease.

2) He does not have fear of going to the new school- like I did.

3) He figured out how to manage his pants on the first day of his school!

4) He brought back all his belongings in order from his bag to lunch box to his wallet and even the pack of tissue paper I gave him!

5) He has a good and experienced teacher

6) He has proven to us he can execute instructions perfectly

7) He has proven that he can be independent.

 

Having experienced, witnessed and heard from the teachers and fellow parents today, I am thankful that Sonshine is in this school. The Principal's love for the children is evident, it shows in her words and action. The culture is nurturing, I just know my kids are and will be in safe hands.

My hope for his first year of Primary school is that he finds enjoyment in learning and that he will emerge 2014 a happy boy. Well, we are off to a good start, let's hope it stays this way!

 

 

Preparing for Primary school

The transition from Kindergarten to Primary one is a huge leap. The environment and expectations from the former is far different from the latter. Most parents would inevitably feel anxious and worried about how their children cope with the drastic changeover. Typically, most parents would be scurrying to make preparations to help ease the cross over.

I have done my own share of preparing Sonshine for Primary one. Some of which, I've prepared him earlier, some I am just starting. Here are some of the things in no particular order:

 

Some of which are:

 

1) Teaching him to clean up after a visit to the loo.

This was a useful tip I took away while reading one of Ingspiration's blog post (sorry I lost the exact page). She is a former primary school teacher & was sharing from a teacher's perspective. She shared on some of the things most parents would overlook.  I would have completely miss this point if I hadn't read her blog!
 

2) Telling time.

Sonshine could tell the time at earlier  age even the analog clocks. Lately, he has been over reliant on the digital clock and became rusty in reading non-digital ones. So, I gave him a quick refresher revision & bought him an analog watch. He's to put on the watch when we go out & I'd randomly get him to tell me the time. This is to get him used to telling time & wearing a watch (he's not used to it yet). Fortunately, Sonshine reads both type of clocks with ease, right down to the minutes. I am very strict with him, as in, he has to tell me the exact minutes ie. 3:19 vs giving me an estimate of 3:20. Hence, he takes a longer time to tell me the time because he is busy reading the minutes! LOL!

3) Carrying wallet.

I also bought him a cheap $2 wallet from Daiso and like the watch, he's to carry it out with him. I'd stuff $2 into the wallet and he's at liberty to buy anything he wishes with that money. This is to build he's independence. At the same time, I want him to take ownership of his belongings.

4) Counting money.

Like telling time, i started this way earlier. Sonshine was able to count money and calculate the change when he was 4- i think? He's able to calculate the change right down to the cents! Frankly, I am not worried about this aspect at all. I am sure he will do just fine in this department. I am just concern that he doesn't have the guts to tell the vendor when he gets the wrong change. Sonshine is introverted and sometimes too timid to speak up. Abit like me, actually. I'd rather walk away then to confront- if the amount is small. :P

5) Using a pay phone to call home

Sonshine remembers both our mobile phone numbers. However, he's not used to using the phone to dial out, much less a public phone. I have plans to teach him how to use those public phones in case he wants to contact us while at school. I am also planning to teach him to describe his exact location; I mean what is the point if he knows to call us but he doesn't know how to tell us where he is (if he is lost)?

6) Saying no to strangers & staying in the school premise

One of my concerns about primary school is security. I don't know, I may be paranoid but i think it is rather easy for any kid to run out of the school compound without anyone's knowledge. I have visited the primary school during recess and man, it is CHAOTIC. It is rather easy for any kid to simply run out of the school gate. Moreover, any strangers can walk into the school. Sure, there are security guards but uh, it does not guarantee full proof security still. So, I am going to nag at Sonshine at no end about the dangers of following strangers and leaving the school compound. I may even use fear tactics- yes I am desperate.

7) Taking public transport home

This is the least urgent on my list but one of the MUST do. I feel secure knowing that Sonshine knows how to make his way home on his own i.e take which bus number to where, take MRT to which station, which bus stop to go. My mom leaves nearby the school, so I'll, at the very least, teach him how to take the public bus to her house.

8) Seek God for help

I cannot be with him 24/7. So I am inculcating in him that whenever he feels sad or  troubled, one of the things he can do is cry out for help to Jesus. I've been reading bible stories and pointing out to him how those characters fell deep into trouble only to be rescued & protected by God. I told him God can do the same for him. Well, I really don't know how much went in his head- but at least i tried *shrug*.

I could go on and make myself even more paraniod than ever. I don't know how some moms can breeze through this phase! I have so many worries, questions and the 'what-ifs' and probably scaring myself silly. But, I know that this is the time to let him go. This is where he will truly gain his independence and take a step further away from mummy. :( I can only take a step back and leave the rest to God.