It feels kind of surreal now - me typing this leisurely on a Saturday afternoon - as after being seemingly endlessly busy, all of a sudden i can't really find much to do (ok, actually there are lots of things to do, just that maybe they're not so urgent. Important, yes, but not urgent - i shall start to do them later on - yes, seriously).
The reason for this somewhat eerie calm is of course that exams begin in a few days' time, and so there are no more real lessons to teach (thankfully i was able to finish teaching all that is to be tested soon enough), just revision. And while, as usual there's all the last minute consultations with students, many of whom have showed not even a microscopic degree of interest in my lessons until now (though i prefer this to not being interested throughout, which is the case for many others), by and large it's been a much easier time during these past few days compared to when i first got back to school not more than a week before that. Easy enough for me this morning to actually have the opportunity to go for a run that had nothing to do with either school or the SAF. A rare opportunity indeed, one which i doubt will still avail itself next week when i will have the scripts of 240 students to mark over the weekend (marking while running - now that's a nice bit of multi-tasking that i'd like to see someone do).
Now, one thing that i was able to do today since i'm this free was to read the newspaper without having to rush because i might miss the bus/not get enough sleep. In today's ST Life there's a feature on children "having a bigger say in how they want their rooms to look," with their parents "gladly picking up the tab". I was never given this opportunity by my folks, though just as well, given my indecisiveness (not to mention indifference).
What i thought was appalling was what one mother of a five-year-old girl who chose a pink (surprise surprise) room with drawers "painted with a shimmery sheen of stars" (oh help) said (and by the way the bill came up to $15000). And i quote: "We pamper her a lot and tend to be indulgent. It is important that she feels good about the room, that it is designed to what she likes so she can have a happy childhood." Do we really need more potential spoilt brats who are used to getting whatever they want just so that they can be 'happy'? I suppose that having to deal with some of these on a daily basis has made me even more abhorrent of such (imho) poor parenting practices. You're basically setting your daughter up to become one of the many who believe that she is entitled to have her way practically no matter what, and in the process cause many of those around her (or at least people like me - those who as an occupational hazard work with these young brats) a great deal of misery. You want her to be happy? Well then give her a can of pink paint, a brush, and a some shimmery star stickers from Popular and get her to do it herself (Oh yeah, she is all of five years old eh - then why not do it together with her? A good parent-child bonding moment)
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