Sany Woo's Blog

After more than 2 months of holidays… the new school session for 2010 began yesterday.

A new school year and new schooling hours for the students in pre-schools. I only found out about this when I read an article in the papers on December 31, 2009. It seems that the minimum number of schooling hours has been increased from 3 to 4.

Why is there a need to do so, I wonder? The only word that played in my mind then is ‘kiasu’ (fear of loss). What else can you cramp into the young minds in that extra hour?

My son is an intelligent and articulate boy for his age, though he can be quite a handful with his endless questions and chattering sometimes. His teachers say that sometimes they do not know how to answer his questions?! He can count quite well and I am in no hurry to ask him to sit still for hours to improve his writing skills, unless he’s ready for it.

I prefer my son to learn and build his creativity through play. I let him absorb the wonders of nature and science first hand by bringing him for nature walks, trips to the beach, zoo, parks and science center.

We build his love for books and learning by subscribing for a library membership for him and encouraging him to read (or rather look at) picture books whenever he wishes (which is quite often).

I prepare lots of papers for him to draw his interpretation of the wonders he sees around him and stuck the first picture he has drawn of our family (plus our car and home) on our fridge.

He has many sets of bricks and Lego’s to ‘build’ whatever he fancies. Lots of board games and educational toys to keep him busy for hours.

He loves to zoom around the house on his bicycle and mini-car (he can even drift with it). When you think he’s going to hit a table or wall, he suddenly performs a quick maneuver and rides safely away. He gave my mom and mother-in-law quite a number of frights!

That’s what he’s been doing during the holidays and he enjoyed every moment of it. Some of my friends sent their children for extra tuition classes… unbelievable… tuition classes at 4 years old?! A nightmare if you ask me.

Last year we sent him to playschool because we wanted him to learn how to socialise with children his age. He is surrounded by adults as he’s an only child and it’s healthier for him to start learning to mix with young friends. It took him a while to adjust because he still prefers the company of adults, especially the elderly. I think it’s because they have more patience with him and loves to chat with him. Just ask my grandmothers!

Now he is in his 1st year of kindergarten. Ah! How time flies!

Luckily for me my son is an early riser because now his preschool starts at 8am and ends at 12pm. To prepare the young scholars for the longer schooling hours, his preschool planned a short adjustment period whereby on the 1st to 3rd day, they gradually increase the number of hours to the full 4 hours.

So far he’s happy to be with his friends from playschool.

How was your childrens’ first day of school?

Leave a comment below and share your views with the readers of this blog!

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TheStar Online (July 26, 2009)

Reports by FOONG PEK YEE, YUEN MEIKENG, R.S.N. MURALI, MARTIN CARVALHO, ROSLINA MOHAMAD, C.S NATHAN, TAN SIN CHOW and FARIK ZOLKEPLI

KUALA LUMPUR: Uncle Chen (not his real name) was brought to Ampang Hospital after suffering a fall. He has never seen home since then and is now living at the Kim Loo Ting Hong Ying Old Folks Home in Setapak here.

Chen, 74, recalls seeing a man whom he recognised as his son while he was in the hospital. He had happily thought that he was going to be taken home to his son’s house, only to watch helplessly as the man disappeared from sight.

When a social welfare volunteer confronted the man after Chen had pointed him out, the man denied knowing him or having any family ties to him.

That was five months ago, and even though he knows he has been abandoned by his children – he also has a daughter – Chen refused to be angry with them.

“As a parent, we never bear grudges against our children,” he said, wiping away tears.

Bereft and alone: Ng looking daze as he is interviewed by Lim at the Penang Hospital recently.

Attempts to locate Chen’s son and his next of kin by the welfare home and the hospital staff failed as the home where Chen’s family members lived is no longer there.

He is one of several parents who were abandoned in public hospitals at a time when they should be spending their “golden years” with their family.

Children who could or would no longer bear the cost of taking care of their aged and infirm parents are treating hospitals like a “dumping ground” because food, shelter and medication are provided by the Government.

And it saves them the hassle of applying for places for their parents in government-run welfare homes.

Another senior citizen, Ng Ah Kow, who was left at the Penang Hospital, kept saying “Wa ai tui chu, tapi bor lui” (Hokkien for “I want to go home but I have no money”) during an interview.

According to the hospital’s medical social services department head Lim Bee Ean, Ng, 68, was ready to go home after being discharged on May 13 but no one has come to pick him up.

Ng said only his older sister Kam Looi had visited him once in the hospital, about a week after he was warded for fainting during a routine check-up on April 14.

“She said she wanted to take me home but did not have money for the bus fare and to settle my medical bills. I have not seen her since then,” recalled Ng.

In Kajang, Mahmud Rahmad, 58, cuts a lone figure as he tends the garden in the compound of the Nur Hasanah Welfare Centre.

“I am sad about being left alone but I understand that my children have their own lives to lead,” said Mahmud, a former security guard who has been living on his own. He was sent to the hospital by a taxi driver after he collapsed.

Mahmud, a diabetic with a heart ailment, was sent to the welfare home last June after hospital authorities failed to contact his two children.

It is the same sad story for Ramu, 72, who has been stranded at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban for months now following the authorities’ failure to contact his family members.

The address given by his relatives when they admitted him at the hospital does not exist and Ramu is now waiting to be placed in an old folks home.

Hospital director Dr Jaafar Che Mat said most of the senior citizens abandoned at the facility were either cancer, stroke or mentally ill patients.

In Malacca, wheelchair-bound widow Asmah Hassan, 80, has given up hope of living with any of her seven daughters after her husband passed away.

“Three years ago, I was kicked out from the house of one of my daughters in Kuala Lumpur after staying there for a month.

“When I sought shelter in another daughter’s house in Johor Baru, she did not allow me,” confided Asmah, who said she tapped rubber to bring up her children.

It was only after her neighbours reported her case to the hospital that she was finally placed in a home.

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I would like to dedicate the following video to all the beautiful mothers out there!

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Heading it was “at the end of the day”, which was followed in second place by the phrase “fairly unique”.

In third place was the tautological statement “I personally”.

Also making the top 10 is the grammatically incorrect “shouldn’t of”, instead of “shouldn’t have”.

The top 10 most irritating phrases:

1) At the end of the day

2) Fairly unique

3) I personally

4) At this moment in time

5) With all due respect

6) Absolutely

7) It’s a nightmare

8) Shouldn’t of

9) 24/7

10) It’s not rocket science

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