The Georgous

Lately I’ve noticed that I’ve started reflecting a little bit more about what I remember from my ‘growing up’ years and how Georgia’s experiences are.

The phrase ‘Hard Reading-ers’ that Georgia dropped in to conversation yesterday morning, just before school, made me reflect about how and when I first realised that  academic achievement was or rather had to be an important goal. I actually remember the exact moment the realisation occurred.

It was in Standard 3, I was nine, I was walking up wooden steps in the ‘old’ block of my primary school, Convent Pulau Tikus, Penang, Malaysia. It wasn’t as if, prior to that, I didn’t know about results and Report Books or that I did not know we had tests to take. I suppose prior to that, it never bothered me, luckily I suppose, because good results came fairly easily. Perhaps because, thankfully, my parents didn’t quite make an issue out of it.

Anyway, I digress (this is a blog about Parenting Georgia!) what I wondered really was, how aware she was of what she was capable of (in terms of academics), and whether this had any bearing on the things or work she had done in school.

She has never felt the need to tell me about what other children are doing in school, or in particular how able they are in their learning, but what I have noticed is that several of her little friends have commented on her reading books, and they have asked, how come she gets different, (harder) ones.

Clearly (or it seems clear to me) from these types of comments, they are quite aware of how they are compared with their peers (self-comparisons?), although I have never noticed this with Georgia, I do wonder why? Yet, perhaps it’s because we do so much with her that it’s a given, the work from school is going to be easy, and our conversations on her school experience focus mainly on the social aspects of it. Who did you sit with at lunch time?  What games did you play? Learning questions, are always secondary or maybe even tertiary :).

I wonder if someone will come along and point out, that my realisation of results and academics equate to a ‘loss of childhood’. I am most certain that was not the case though, as the thing that struck me most was, all it did was ignite a hugely competitive fire, I HAD to have straight As, bar Art, PE and Chinese.

Do you remember your first important realisations? Have they affected you or the way you parent?

Georgia came home with a homework sheet on Monday. In it, she was supposed to draw what she wanted to be or do when she grew up.

This was what she drew.

I know Obstetrician is a big word for a 5-year old’s vocabulary, but it’s very specific, she’s not interested in doctor-ing children, just babies, particularly helping mummies with their babies being born.

Yesterday, Georgia’s school (Infants) held a Mothering Sunday service in Church, (yes they did know it was a Monday).

As a parent of a child in a church school, we find ourselves attending church not for religious purposes but mainly for the events the school organises at the church.

I do enjoy these visits; Georgia certainly gets very excited by them and it’s lovely, the effort that the teachers and the school go to, to make each occasion meaningful.

A short introduction by the Reverend, was followed by some really lovely singing by all the children. I don’t think they were hymns but more songs about mums. The one I remember most is ‘Mummy’s love is very wonderful’…in part because Georgia has been singing it over and over again 🙂

And then the time came to give out Mum’s presents ….and Georgia’s class each made a Pot of Love for their mums.

How lovely is that? It even came with instructions!

“Mummy, it’s morning time!” It was slightly before 6 am, and as I heard Georgia’s footsteps shuffling along the short corridor joining our rooms, I braced for her to climb over me, or in between us, and as I waited, I heard her creep over to her dad’s side and with a rather loud whisper, “Dad, it’s morning time!” Read more »

As we rushed back from school, to change in to a fabulous Belle princess outfit complete with tiara and dressy heels, foremost on Georgia’s mind was – are there going to be balloons at the party?

As I tried to distract her with the need to get ready, I also mentioned that we had discussed it before we confirmed our attendance that even if there were balloons, if she wanted to go, I would take her and if she wanted to leave we would.

And so it was, hindered by potentially globophobia (fear of balloons) or more likely the fear of balloons popping, ligyrophobia; pretty Princess Belle, sat pretty much glued to me, with her hands covering her ears the entire 30 minutes we were there at the party, while everyone else was running around with the balloons.

Georgia wasn’t always afraid of balloons, we actually had quite a fun time with a balloon drop on her 2nd birthday, which I think was also about the same time the fear developed, having heard balloons pop, up close.

Thinking about it further, it does seem to me, that we shall have to get some balloons to play with at home, if only to show Georgia gradually that, they really only make a loud noise and nothing much else.

Having said that, I’ve never been a big fan of balloons myself, I remember only touching balloons, or playing with them if they were blown up way less than the maximum, where the little ‘bump’ on the tip was still significantly visible, if only to convince myself that the balloon wasn’t stretched to breaking point.

How ‘transferable’ are our fears on to our children? Given that I no longer fear balloons popping, but did for quite a long while, although not after Georgia came along .

Have you had to deal with this or any other type of seemingly irrational fear, in yourself or your children? What has worked best?

Georgia has been trying and trying (top marks for persistence) to get us to give her some money for tuck (malaysian equivalent: canteen snacks). I’m at pains to do that, purely because it costs 40p for a snack which might otherwise cost 10p.

My take on that is that, if she needed a lesson in spending money, she could do it without ‘donating’ to the school.

Having said that, this morning, at 6.30am when her little voice piped out, “Please can I have tuck?” She was quite shocked, when I said “Yes”.

And then she tried a little bit more:

G: So you’ll give me money for tuck?

Me: Uh huh.

G: How about if you give me ALL your money?

Me: What would I do then? I need money too.

G: You can go and work and get some more money.

Me: How about if you start doing some work too, and then you can get some money too?

G: (thought for a while and then said) OK, I can work too.

Me: OK. You could draw and write some stories and we could sell those stories?

G: Oh no! … I want to just do work like you. Just e-mail and all that….

Ssshhh…the secret’s out now. I get paid to just email! 😉

Enough is enough. A few weeks ago I wrote about some ‘mean-girl‘ experiences that five year old Georgia has been unfortunate enough to encounter. We have tried to encourage her to a) laugh it off b) turn and walk away c) play with someone else; all very logical but obviously very ‘grown-up’ ways of responding.

Things came to a head yesterday, in a way that left me fuming. C, was no longer the only perpetrator,  and her close pals, R and B have joined in the game. Read more »

Last week, on Thursday (24th March 2011), was Parents’ Evening. It was the second formal Parents’ Evening, we’ve had since Georgia started at Reception. Technically it was Parents’ afternoon, given that our scheduled time was at 3:20 pm….still minor details

It was really nice that this time round, there was more news, perhaps because a good 7 months have passed since the children started school, and having had more time to both get to know the children and work with them to assess their capabilities and standards, there was simply more information to share.

Georgia’s class teacher was as always, approachable, friendly and very reassuring in wanting to know if there were any ‘issues’; C was mentioned (by me), given that we have almost constantly on a daily basis been regaled with ‘Tales of C’. Beyond that, Georgia is doing very well in academic terms.

That aside, similar to the last Parent’s meeting, new targets for achievements were set. This consisted with a prior conversation, between teacher and Georgia, in which Georgia was asked, what she thought she was already good at. This time, she said ‘writing’. And two targets were set for her, a) to spell words independently and b) to count in 2s.

Now here comes the bit about ‘raising’…you see, we have been doing, well, singing to be exact, multiplication tables, and at this point, Georgia actually already knows her 2 times tables. I was actually really surprised to find that, that she can recall the answers to most, if not all, the 2 times tables, but mainly because she’s learnt them by singing along to a multiplication CD.

We have been trying to reinforce the idea through a work book that explains multiplication using ‘sets of’ and so far, I think Georgia  understands the concept.

So mean (maybe, Tiger, is a more accurate description) mummy that I am, I actually asked for more than just the 2s. It didn’t take very much to convince Georgia’s teacher that she actually already knew the 2 times tables, and she promptly added to the Counting in 2s….10s and 5s.

So there we have it…it’s all my fault, that Georgia is going to have to learn the 10 times and 5 times tables as well, (I think she already does know the 10s), and it’ll add a couple more weeks on to her achievements progress.

She is to colour in a pretty picture of ‘presents’; one present to be coloured in for every time she manages to complete related tasks. When all the presents are coloured in, she is to take the sheet in for a ‘reward’. As school’s reward consists of a certificate, Georgia has asked “Will you get me a real reward too?”

“Yes Georgia, of course I will.” After all, it’s partly or rather entirely (!)  my fault, there are more targets now. Still…

Well done Georgie girl!

Georgia asked an interesting question today, one which we were not quite sure how to approach or answer.

As we were eating our mid-morning snack, she casually asked:

G: Is God white?

Me: Do you mean, like paper white or like a person who is fair?

G: Paper-white…(she replies without hesitation)

Me: (At this point wondering if we should try first to approach a ‘concept’ of God) Well…

Then Dad says: God is all colours.

….And that seems to satisfy her, for now.

We have been ‘keeping’ tadpoles and have watched them turn from spawn, to tiny little tadpoles. Today, Georgia found that she could make them ZOOM!

We haven’t fed them at all…Do we have to feed them? If so, what do they eat?

It’s certainly taking a lot longer for our tadpoles to turn to frogs… how come Mr Bean’s only takes 2 nights?