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Friday, January 21, 2011

A Boy's Pride

Little Boy has to write a journal entry a week for his Teacher. Sometimes, they can write anything they want. Other times, they have to write to a topic. One time, after he had made some money selling caterpillars to his friends, his Teacher (studiously NOT looking at Little Boy) asked the whole class to write their thoughts about "Should schools prevent children from selling caterpillars to their friends?"

Oh... that was a wonderful topic. Little Boy had lots to say, hoping to convince his Teacher to let him continue selling his caterpillars! Another time, he wrote the gripping tale of the time we almost died up in the snow capped mountains of France.

But after a while, I decided that time was precious and there was really no need to spend so much time on journal entries so I told him to do enough and not more. An obedient Little Boy, he did just that.

Little Boy came home today and remarked that the best 3 journal entries in class were picked to be read out in class. He added "I can do much better than those Mom. This week, I will do my journal entry on Sunday."

You see, Sunday is Play Day. Little Boy gets to do what he wants on Sunday. I have no control whatsoever over what Little Boy does on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Instead, Little Boy gets to tell ME what he wants me to do with him. And since I had told him to spend as little time as possible on his journal (so that we would have more time for Higher Chinese), he has decided to journal in his own time instead.

Me: You wanna show Teacher that you can do better journals than your friends?

Little Boy: *Smiling sheepishly* No... I just like writing journals.

Me: Really? You are saying that there isn't even ONE little little little bit of wanting to show your Teacher that you can write better than they can?

Little Boy: *Squirming* Hmmm... of course there is a little bit lah... But I also like writing journals and since I like, it is considered play, and so I will do it on Play Day.

Me: Oh... I see.

But you know what, I know better.

When he was 3 and we had to drive 2 cars out at the same time, Little Boy invariably rode in my car. His father feared his son's famous temper, and terrible obstinacy. The moment I turned the key, Little Boy ordered "Let's get home before Daddy."

When he was 4, we met a little 2 year old girl waddling around a huge hall at Suntec City. Seeing Little Boy in his undersized pram, she marched over and said "Hello baby!" Little Boy's face went dark. He looked as dark as Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. And he NEVER EVER sat on that pram again.

When he was 5, we went to Pulau Ubin. Little Boy sat on a bicycle with training wheels on each side. Another little boy rode by on a bicycle, gloating "I can ride a 2 wheeler!" And henceforth, no more training wheels either. He could fall and scrape his knee but no way was he gonna get on a bike with training wheels. It was terribly inconvenient because cycling as a family was no fun until he mastered the bike.

So... this journal thing? There is some testosterone in it, I will tell you that.

10 comments:

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

hahahahahahahaha! hilarious! but do u think Little Boy is a tad competitive for his age? or normal for his age? or genes?

Petunia Lee said...

He is already much better already. He was much worse before! Now, he actually is civilized. But I think all boys are like that.

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

ahhhh.....so deska. i dun have the experience with my bro 'cos when young, he was really sweet and errrr.....meek. *runs to hide behind coconut tree*

L said...

Owwww! That is so cute! Guess that's what separates the brilliant from the merely good. Bravo to him!

Petunia Lee said...

Daelight - I try to temper it some. Otherwise, he'll never be able to work in teams. He' supposed to compete with himself. And he's a gong-gong remember? He's just a somewhat competitive one. Heh!

Petunia Lee said...

Fry - I think it depends on what. Little Boy is shy. There was one function where someone spoke to Little Boy as he was exploring something under the reception table. He rushed to me, picked up the back flap of my cheongsam skirt and hid his face in my butt. Moral of story... Never wear cheongsams with shy little ones in tow. Wear a long flared skirt. They can disappear in there without causing an uproar and embarassing you and The Husband.

Wen-ai said...

Haha... a streak of competitive is always healthy! ;)

Petunia Lee said...

Wen-Ai: Yup! A little bit of it spices up life indeed!!

Malar said...

I think Little boy is very competitive type. He make sure he is the best and do the best!
Very smart boy indeed! You must be very proud of him!

Petunia Lee said...

Malar - He's a bit more balanced now. Knows that competing too much can make his friends dislike him... especially the girls. Boys don't mind competing.