Today was a very happy day. #2 texted me to say that she topped her level in English! Wow, that was excellent news. She asked if I could pick her up from school and take her to Sogurt as a reward. Most definitely, I replied.
The younger ones end school earlier so I went to pick them first. #3 burst into the car and was so excited to tell me that she scored As for all 3 subjects (except for Chinese, of course). That was a vast improvement from a fail to an A for Math, from a C to an A for Science and from a B to an A for English. I was so proud of her! I could also tell that she was very proud of herself that her hard work paid off.
Next, we picked #5 and told him the good news about his 2 sisters. He said, “Me too! I got this Mamee from my teacher.” We said, “No boy, only those who did well can get Sogurt later. He replied, “Ya I did well too. I got 38/40 for Math which was the highest mark, so I got a Mamee from my teacher.” Awesome. I couldn’t be happier. When I was away, the kids got back their practice papers for the mid-year exams and it was a pretty bleak picture. As the kids had to get daddy to sign, the hubs was quite shocked (he assumes they are all happily sailing along in school) and texted me pictures of some of their grades with some fails and lots of barely passing marks. With my kids, I don’t put any undue pressure on them, so they are very calm during the actual exams and usually perform better then.
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| Looks like the toppings are more than the yoghurt! |
#4 did top her class in English, but she herself felt that she didn’t put in much effort for this round of exams, so she took the smallest cup and only filled it a little bit as she didn’t think she deserved a big reward. Notice how the other 2, who were so proud of themselves, gave themselves a big treat!
What was really interesting was that even though I didn’t set any rules on how much they could take (as the price goes by weight), the kids themselves can self-regulate based on how much they feel they should be rewarded for their efforts.
Oh yes, this reminds me, there were some readers who asked me to summarise my talk about how to tackle school with minimal stress and money spent for those who were unable to attend. Now that I’m back and settled, I’ll get down to it! (Haha, knowing me, if I don’t declare it, I’ll never get it done)
*btw, if you’re starting to think that my kids are geniuses, er actually it’s because they are either not in the top classes, or not in top schools, that’s why they are able to top their class or their level in certain subjects. But the thing is, we celebrate effort and achievement, not the grade per se. So we’re all overjoyed!
Congrats! #4 has learnt the importance of being self-aware. That's more crucial than grades will ever be!
Yes, you are so right, Ruth 🙂