It’s the end of the school term for us. I’m sure many parents are celebrating the fact that we get to sleep in a little later on weekdays… at least until 2 Jan 2018.
From the start of the week, my Facebook timeline has been flooded with photos where my friends have been sharing their kids’ achievements and awards in school. It’s so heart-warming to hear each and every one of their journey of success and I smiled reading every post from their proud parents.
Awards or not, I’m still proud of you
While Sophie may not have topped her standard, her class or even got first in any subjects, I’m still so proud of her. When she showed me her report book yesterday, I pointed out that there was a marked improvement in her Mathematics and it was all down to regular practice and being less careless in her work.
Sophie was however disappointed that she didn’t managed to maintain her 100 score in Higher Chinese when we focused on pulling her grades up for Maths. I guess I was overly anxious about her Maths results and we dedicated more time on it at the expense of other subjects.
Sophie with her BFF from class
She told me the names of her classmates who topped her class and we added that she doesn’t have to be the top. The most important thing is that she does her best and always strives to reach the goals that she has set for herself.
Progress not perfection
Beyond her grades, we’re glad to read her teachers’ recognition of her leadership potential and hope that she’ll get the opportunity to take on a leadership role next year. Her teacher have feedback that Sophie is a very cheerful girl who is well liked by her peers and I hope she never loses her sparkle.
I’ve always emphasised to Sophie that while grades are important, they are just one dimension to measure how good you are as a student.
In fact, there are also many areas that she can develop like her character, her values, her way of thinking which are sometimes not as recognised as academic excellence. But they are the very skills that will see her through life when she has to learn to work with others, and learn how to uphold herself to the values she’s been taught.
And more importantly, it is my desire for her to always remember that her identity is secure in God. That she is dearly loved and cherished and God sees her as unique and fashioned her to be one of a kind.
Though she didn’t come home with any awards, Sophie confidently told me that she’s in one of the top 2 classes for Primary 3, going by her deduction that the top students are in the same class as her. Her teachers didn’t want to confirm that since MOE doesn’t encourage competition among students and parents, so we’ll leave it as that 🙂
A working mum’s struggle
As a working mum, I do feel bad that I can’t spend more time to coach Sophie myself. And inevitably, I ask myself how I could have helped her more and if I should consider sending Sophie for enrichment next year since everyone has warned me to anticipate a huge jump from Primary 2 to primary 3. Things may get more busy on the work front with new challenges for me too and I hope we’ll be able to manage it well especially when she has to take on a new subject (Science) plus CCA.
And with the end of the school year, it also spells the start of the school holidays. It pains me to hear her asking why her neighbours’ mothers can take their kids out while I’m the only one working. And despite how understanding she is, the school holidays are always hard to bear for her since she’ll see so little of us. So right on the first day of her school holidays, both Alexis and myself took leave today and brought her ice skating.
I know it means the world to her to have our company and I hope she’ll always remember that she has a wonderful childhood filled with many beautiful memories of how we have always been rooting and cheering for her 🙂 Love you lots Sophie dear.
Tagged: primary school, primary two, school holiays
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