Brave Ace

Actually hor, me and Max sort of miss the days when Ace was still a scaredy cat... afraid of heights afraid of this and that.. as we feel that natural instinct and fear will keep him safe...

But after a few months of exposure in the international school with very active and vivacious playmates .. and some exposure in the local playgrounds that feature children who are all about having fun minus the manners and waiting for turns, Ace has some realization too that being a scaredy cat will not help you have the most fun...

So, he made a decision to be brave (or so he said to me) and since then, we have been seeing him climbing all over the places and doing many dare devil stunts he would NEVER ever want to try in Singapore.

The other day, brought him to the mall and he saw this stone structure (which is actually made of plastic lah) and Ace exclaimed that his school has this rock climbing like thingy too.. and he loves to climb it and then without a nary thought, he just climbed right to the very top and when I wanted to stand below to support him or catch him in case he falls, he asked me to go away and told me, "You don't have to stand here, Mummy.. I can do this by myself..."

Max felt his legs turn jelly as Ace ascended right to the very top and stood there, on his very own Mount Everest, looking very smug that he has conquered a new height:)

I talked to him about this on a seperate occasion and told him that I am very happy that he has shown much more courage and bravery and that he is having more fun now that he is more adventurous... But I told him that I was like any parent, worried for him...

"But Mummy want Ace to be brave.. so mummy reminds myself that I have to trust you... So Mummy trust you that you will know the fine line between having fun and being dangerous and that you always know what you are doing and that you will always take good care of yourself... can you promise me to always take good care of yourself?"

"Oh Mum, I always know what I am doing.." he said...

Anyway, being away from the very Chinese society here has allowed me to make some interesting observations about parenting in other parts of the world.

I have always thought that being careful and overtly protective is a very Asian thing... But I noticed here in Dubai that it is really more of a very CHINESE thing... cos the Indian parents are actually very easy going parents... As I observed, many a times, very young indian children as young as 2 or 3 are allowed to roam freely... jump up and down staircases and their parents would usually be oblivious to the dangers presented in front of them while typical chinese singaporeans like me and my friends will either make comments or think in our hearts, "Oh no! Is tat little boy/girl going to fall off? Why the parents let them loose like tat??"

Arabic parents seem to be pretty much the same way... when they bring their children to the playground, they usually just leave them there and just sit by the side and they dun seem to interfere with how their children play....

Ang moh parents also let their kids do pretty much what they like. They keep and eye on them but dun really restrict them unless they are in some real danger or wat... Young kids can crawl all over the place (in singapore we will say the floor is too dirty to do that).

Come to think of it, Chinese parents actually also allow their children to roam freely.. (And without pants somemore lor)..

so conclusion, our very super protective style of parenting is merely SINGAPOREAN style.. Kiasu, Kiasee...wahahahahaha... People always say Singaporeans cannot think cos we always follow what our govt ask us to do.. but what to do? Since young we have been conditioned by our parents wor:) hahahahaha...

Anyway, just very happy that Ace is much more brave n willing to do alot more now:P

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