父母心, 谁明了。

Son, daddy could not sleep the whole of last night and whole of today, daddy feels horrible. I can feel your hurt and as your dad, I want you to know that I trust you and I know you have the courage to admit mistakes if you are wronged. Son, this moral courage is MORE PRECIOUS than anything else. Daddy knows he must speak up for you.

Son, know too that daddy was wronged once when i was in Primary 3. I was accused of lying and pushing the blame to a prefect when I did not and in the end had to be punished in front of the whole class. Til this day, I remember the slap from my VP and I want to thank him. Thank you for showing me that people tend to judge but appearance and wayward students like me will always take the blame (when it was the other way round).  I may have become "good" but I wanted to prove to those who looked down on me. I will not let others judge my inner beliefs despite my "poor behavior". I worked my way up to become a prefect in Sec school not because I am "good" but because I want to prove that EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE and I will never let anyone look down on me nor will i ever look down on others.

Son, no one can take your moral courage away from you. If you did nothing wrong, don't let others sway you. Daddy is not perfect and neither are you. But remember, we are saved not by works, but by grace.

I love you. Mummy loves you. Most importantly, Jesus loves you.
030414.

Dear Mr Discipline Master

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to ask for you to reconsider asking Joshua Yeo to step down as a trainee prefect.

Please know that I am not speaking or defending my son from a protective parent’s perspective. We share the same expectation at home- if one is in the wrong, he needs to own up and be responsible to accept his punishment.

However, my wife and I have had spoken to him last night about what happened and as parents, we feel there is a need to clarify. The incidents that follow after he informed us about the your decision since yesterday afternoon has not been easy and as parents, much as we hope he learns from his mistake and grow to be more responsible, we both felt his deep hurt. We understand our boy. Please allow me to explain. Joshua is one who may appear outwardly extroverted but is one who carries with him a lot of emotional burden and care for others. He stands up for his friends and yes, is easily influenced because of his high social preference. In this incident, it was not easy for us to ask him to tell us who encouraged him to speak to the Juniors as he feels a strong need to protect his buddies. However, when we pushed to ask, as a prefect, do you think that was correct to be influenced by your friends, all he could say is those who coerced him in doing so were themselves student leaders. I like to respect my son’s decision to not reveal his friends’ names but we have made it clear that he too needs to make his own judgement in behaving in the right manner.

My wife shared with me that you have received complaints from other teachers who found Joshua talkative in the class. I have spoken to Joshua repeatedly on this issue and he said that the recent “accusations” were due to incidents where he was either attending to helping his friend’s or clarifying his misconception. To be honest, I am personally concerned as we coach our children in their studies and from his recent assignments, I am worried as much of what he is expected to learn is above-level testing to the required syllabi. This is disturbing as children who manifests these supposed negative behaviours are often seen as non-compliant but I often tell Joshua that if he is unsure, he must be bold to clarify or ask questions – if not to the teacher, then with his buddies. However, my sense is, the learning environment enforced by some of the teachers negates the educational potential of allowing students to speak freely. But of course, this is a separate issue and its not peculiar only in his lessons.

Joshua takes a lot of pride in his honor to be a prefect. Since he was nominated, he has been a lot more conscientious in both his studies as well as being a better role model at home and I believe, in school.  He shares with us how he diligently carries out his duty and does his best to encourage his friends and to me, character is a lot more important than grades.  I believe those HODs in ACS(P) whom have been under my tutelage during their MLS can testify my educational beliefs are consistent with my personal and parenting values.  In church, Joshua takes on other self-initiated leadership in Sunday School with garnering his friends for community service and helping others and we are grateful for the opportunities you have afforded through this badge of honor.

As a fellow educator, I believe that while a child needs to be duly punished for his mistakes, there is also room for a second chance in view of the holistic development of the child. I believe there is an ethics to discipline just as parents we too are torn with the dilemma of issuing punishment I think you will agree with me that discipline too needs to be age and child appropriate. In this incident, Joshua might have been wrong and he has admitted. We sincerely hope you will give him a second chance with counselling.

Sincerely yours

John

CAR-toons with Dad

It all started on a lazy Saturday morning when Dad & I decided its time to take stock of our toy cars. Man, were we so surprised with what we managed to gather and amazed with our a fine collection! 

 

We also decided to also feature this non-typical piece as it reminded us so much of our dear dear mummy!

Farewell to my concubines

My last day in Learning Vision@ Biopolis was last Friday, 28 Aug 2009. My friends and I took a last photograph together.

My K1 classmates are

(standing from left to right) Jerome, Kieran, Yi Ching, Amelia, Maya, Magdalene, Natalie, Chloe, Jasmine, Janielle, Aliayah,

(seated from left to right) Elan, Jovian, Manwell, Wee Chong, Nicholas, me and Royshan.

Of them. my best friend is Jovian. Jovian and I love to play the toys together.

She is teacher Marlina. Teacher Marlina is the Principal of the centre.

My form teachers are Teacher Selva and 黄老师. I like them very much because they care for me and they are good and helpful teachers. I enjoy doing the activities that they plan for me and my classmates.

This cake was baked specially for me and my teachers by Uncle Tony, the boss from Coffee Culture. We gave this cake to celebrate teachers day in Learning Vision.

Uncle Tony is a very special to me and daddy as we often go to the shop near in Biopolis. His sandwiches and special ice milo are very very nice. Uncle Tony and daddy almost went into a business venture together to open a cafe in Harbor Front. Mummy said we shall buy a new two-wheel bicycle from Uncle Tony's new shop at the end of the month.

Return to our innocence

Video of our merry go-round game!

I like to thank God for the many childhood friends

that He has given me. Daddy and mummy's cell group came over to our new home in Raintree on 22 Aug 09. Although we initially planned to swim and then BBQ, the rain came and we were all stuck in the multi-purpose room. However, we really had lots of fun even though we could not go outdoors. It was real fun, even though we did not have our Barbie Dolls and Ben 10 omnitrix (although Tim did bring along his soldier uniform and weapons). Even Joanna was immitating JOy Joy with her 'Stop stop', while I continued to hold Faith's hands tightly as we ran round and round!

That evening, we enjoyed playing the games that we started spontaneously Daddy said that we need to treasure one another as these playmates may all grow up one day to be the best of friends. Just like the photo of Dad and his Sunday School friends (can you spot daddy?) when he was a kiddo, Dad wishes that I will cherish my childhood and the memories of my friends!

"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20

Facing my inner Goliath II

The Second Time

Our next visit was a breeze.

After the first round, I found it much easier and definitely, less scary an experience!

Facing my inner Goliath I

The First Time

I was near pee-ing in my pants.

Dad and I walked round the high obstacle course for a few times. Each time, I stepped forward and said yes. However, the moment I was buckled up, I quickly turned away again. By the third time, I garnered enough courage to try go for it. I was so frightened as I climbed up the stairs.

I was really very frightened but dad encouraged me throughout the whole obstacle course. In order to encourage me to walk on, bravely, dad even fell from the bar as he climbed up to hold my legs. I was fearfully holding onto the rope for my dear life. After each segment, I felt like I cannot move on and was very tempted to give up. Dad said that I was near to tears but I managed to push myself all the way.

Finally, when I completed the whole course-which seemed like it was forever, I was elated and was so very proud of my badge of honor for completing the course. Dad said I was brave and he was very proud of me.

My Hotcakes and Celery Juice

Cooking is FUN!

I think my hotcakes are 'hotter' than Macs. At least this is what my Sunday School teachers said when I offered my home-made hotcakes to them. It was real hot standing on a stool beside the stove, but definitely loads of fun preparing my own breakfast together with Dad.

As for mum, she loves to have a refreshing glass of Celery juice. After mum helped chop up the vege, I did my part to squeeze them through. Of course, nothing beats drinking it myself! Yummy!