from the editor

Our school has been undergoing GREEN MISSIONS with the little kids during “Environment Care Starts with Me” campaign.

You can see them get busy with planting wheat grass, recycling paper, doing garbage enzyme, using junks to create new stuff.

No doubt little kids are easily satisfied with what they can create with their two hands and they feel proud of their ‘master piece’. In fact it’s their nature to get busy.

That’s kids.

We wouldn’t have time for those handicraft or DIY, would we? Afterall, everything is readily available in the market. All you need to do is pay for what you want. We don’t need to paint, we can buy paintings; we don’t need to cook, we can call for delivery; we don’t need to do housework, we can hire a domestic helper; we don’t need to go out for exercise, we can buy the machines.

There is so much convenience in life that we often use our spare time in unproductive activities like window shopping, watching tv or DVD, chit chating in the kopitiam and computer games.

We forget that we are human beings who used to be active before. We forget that we used to be so close to nature. We forget that we don’t need a lot of things in life. We never think that we are abusing the convenience in life.

If we realised, we would not have abused our environment to such extend.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ~ a habit we need to cultivate.     

But is it too difficult to go back to simplicity?

One of my hobbies that is related to my profession and yet relaxing is shopping for children’s literature and toys. In fact I am fussy when it comes to selecting children’s books and toys.

Classic fairy tales and plastic toys with buttons and sound do not make an impression at all.

There was once I shopped at a fashion and accessory store, I found beautiful mini purses. All kinds of little purses that were mouth watering: some with a zip, some with a button, some with snap closer, some were crocheted…

I spent half an hour selecting among them. I bought some cute hair clips and hair bands too.

My friend asked,”What are these things for?”

“They are for children’s play.”

“You teach children play girl stuff? What about boys? Do you get some boy stuff?”

“Boys will like them too because they can open and close the purse. Both boys and girls can play gently together.”

“My dear if I have a son I won’t send him to your preschool. Who knows he will become girly or even gay, one day,” she teased.

“You are right about this stereotype thingy just like many parents. They only buy barbie dolls for girls and ultraman figurines for boys.”

“Don’t you think it’s the norm? Boys should be masculine.”

“That’s why many men nowadays don’t understand women and women don’t understand men. They are not encouraged to explore each other’s world since young. Would you prefer a macho man but he doesn’t know how to interact with girls or a man who is caring and considerate?”

“Of course the second one.”

“Well you may consider stop having rigid ideas about what girls and boys can play. They should be given opportunities to play as they like. And you must send your future son to TotalChild Preschool because he’s allowed to play masak-masak and doll dressing up.”

“Yes mem. I guess I gotta ask my husband what he played in his childhood. He seems pretty shy to express his true feelings,” she laughed.

Siew Wah, principal of TotalChild Preschool Kota Kemuning

When I first met this little girl in my class a year ago, I realized that she is the reflection of me when I was young.

She is bright. She is able to speak, read and write very well. She is friendly and thoughtful. She tolerates with children of her age over issues. She has all it takes to be the teacher’s pet. She seems perfect in everyone’s eyes.

But I saw more than that. She is hesitant to try new things. She is self-conscious about expressing herself in the class. She feels uneasy to be the center of attention. She wants to do what she is already good at. She always stays in her comfort zone.

She has no confidence to be herself.

When I was at her age, I was a very quiet girl. I have no self confidence at all. I became quieter when I was in primary school. I did not even have the guts to raise my hand to tell teacher when I wanted to go to washroom. Of course I was not given a chance in classroom to express and promote myself due to my quietness.

I was once thought that teachers did not notice my presence and I was not important at all. I still remember I told my mother that I did not want to go to school anymore.  Instead I wanted  to sell ‘kuih’ made by my mother.

Until I was told by a Malay teacher who praised me, “Hey, you have done so well in Bahasa Malaysia. Very good indeed.”

That was really a great encouragement for me. The funny part was I did not realize that I was good in BM until then. Due to this incident, all in a sudden, I realized I was NOT a ‘nobody’. I started to ‘shine’ in my class simply because I felt good about myself.  A year later I was selected to participate in a ‘pertandingan syarahan BM’ in a district level and I got the third place.

Since then I knew who my soul mate was, that is, CONFIDENCE.

Back to this little girl in my class.

Today she has stepped out from her comfort zone. She dares to challenge the teacher’s ideas. She is more than just an obedient child. She has confidence in herself!

Confidence grows when love, encouragement and opportunities are freely given. 

J sat on the floor with both hands hiding her face. There was a puddle of water right on the spot where she was sitting. She kept saying “I don’t want…” meanwhile, turning away from the teacher who offered help.

All in a sudden, the scenario made perfect sense to me. J peed in her pants.  The teacher tried to get her to change.

I could guess the little face behind the hands was full of tears. J was in total embarrassment. That was why she chose to sit on the spot to cover up.

The tricky part, I thought, was to persuade her to move herself to the bathroom to get changed as quickly as possible.  You see, kids can be stubborn at times.

“Hey it’s ok. Let’s rush to the bathroom before anybody sees us, how about that?”

Fortunately J thought that was a good idea too. She stood up and tiptoed to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, while cleaning her, I tried to cheer her up with my embarrassing moments.

“You know what, when I was little, I peed in my pants too. There was once I passed motion in my pants.”

“Huh? Really? That’s embarrassing. How could you let it happen?” Her little eyes were shining as if she was much better compared to my case.

“I guess accidents happen sometimes. As long as it doesn’t happen every day, we will be just fine.”

“Shame shame, teacher.” J gave me a cunning smile.   

Teacher Emily, TotalChild Preschool Menjalara Kepong

It was a lovely morning.