Boat Rowing and an Almost Lost Wallet
Today turned out to be the most unexpected day of my life.
This morning had an awful start; I was scolded first thing in the morning by my lovely sister. What's worse was that it was over a silly rubber band. I shrugged of this unnecessary argument and proceeded to school.
En route, I decided to buy some strepsils when I realized I didn't have my wallet with me! ( I am very responsible over such everyday items, never ever lost a single thing except a bottle once.) It was quite embarrassing to be unable to pay for strepsils and I immediately called home to make sure my wallet containing $200 ( only received the night before' imagine my panick ) was safe and sound.
DANG DANG DANG!!! It was not at home!
Wah die already lah. I was thinking at the back of my head. Fortunately it was misplaced and found in my car. My mum came to Bedok to pick me up, pass me the wallet and send me to school and guess what! I was waiting for her at the wrong place. Just when you think things couldn't even get any worse it really does and catches you by surprise and really stressed me quite a lot.
In school, we had some ice breaking activities that weren't really successful since I don't know a whole lot more of people and aren't rapidly adding all of them on facebook. The most fun I had during today's leadership training was during dragon boating which I really dreaded at the beginning because I had no idea what it would be like. I could only imagine the hot sun scorching my skin and giving me more freckles.
It turned out to be the opposite of what I thought it'd be. I enjoyed myself i forgot about the sun rays catalising the growth of my freckles. We even won the friendly race with the other participants of today's program.
Dragon boating relies heavily on team dynamics. We even did this tug-of-war thing in our own boat. It was one of the activities planned and it was meant to be a metaphor to conflict. The two halves of people on the boat were sat facing each other. On cue, we were asked to paddle and the boat pivoted about the dark green water surface.
With every activity comes with a reflection or lesson. In this case our lesson learnt was that teams do not have room for conflict. I thought the tug-of-war was quite an accurate portrayal of the counter-productiveness of conflict so I thought to share it here.
Well.. Speaking of lessons learnt, when I got home all worn out by the fun and thrill of dragon boating, dad immediately said to me "I hope you learnt your lesson today." I kept quiet because I had good reason for dropping it in the car and did not want to argue. I explained that while I was about to keep my wallet in my bag my mum had asked me to search for her envelope and so I got distracted. When I went back to the back seat to retrieve my belongings, it was dark and I couldn't see my wallet. I lifted up my bag causing the wallet to drop on to the seat. I obviously hadn't noticed it and thought it was in my bag until I reached Bedok the following day.
Dad being a 'parent, thought he should impart wisdom by hoping I learnt my lesson. My silence was fruitless when he repeated with more emphasis that he really hoped I learnt my lesson, even after my explanation.
My point is that parent and child are also sort of a team. He is the alpha because of his age and experience but sometimes the alphas also need to realize today's incident should not have ended up as a conflict because it is totally counter productive.
Yes I know I misplaced my wallet, it didn't misplace itself but I was distracted trying to help someone else. You must be a fool to tell someone to learn their lesson when there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for such a tiny hiccup. Please lower your pride and look deeper to see who is the one really needing the lesson if you behave in such an unjustified manner when you are supposed to be the fair judge of sibling wars and imparting positive qualities in your child. Just because you have some form of authority does not mean you have to use it.
It is easier said than done. Telling me to be more careful is easily said but I'm not the one looking for my reading glasses when it's hanging around my own neck or even being so muddleheaded to the extent of leaving it in the fridge ( both very true situations ).
Labels: Dragon boat, parenting
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Here's a picture of my lovely puff ball, Cuddles!
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Boat Rowing and an Almost Lost Wallet
Saturday, January 22, 2011 | 6:13 PM |
0
Today turned out to be the most unexpected day of my life.
This morning had an awful start; I was scolded first thing in the morning by my lovely sister. What's worse was that it was over a silly rubber band. I shrugged of this unnecessary argument and proceeded to school.
En route, I decided to buy some strepsils when I realized I didn't have my wallet with me! ( I am very responsible over such everyday items, never ever lost a single thing except a bottle once.) It was quite embarrassing to be unable to pay for strepsils and I immediately called home to make sure my wallet containing $200 ( only received the night before' imagine my panick ) was safe and sound.
DANG DANG DANG!!! It was not at home!
Wah die already lah. I was thinking at the back of my head. Fortunately it was misplaced and found in my car. My mum came to Bedok to pick me up, pass me the wallet and send me to school and guess what! I was waiting for her at the wrong place. Just when you think things couldn't even get any worse it really does and catches you by surprise and really stressed me quite a lot.
In school, we had some ice breaking activities that weren't really successful since I don't know a whole lot more of people and aren't rapidly adding all of them on facebook. The most fun I had during today's leadership training was during dragon boating which I really dreaded at the beginning because I had no idea what it would be like. I could only imagine the hot sun scorching my skin and giving me more freckles.
It turned out to be the opposite of what I thought it'd be. I enjoyed myself i forgot about the sun rays catalising the growth of my freckles. We even won the friendly race with the other participants of today's program.
Dragon boating relies heavily on team dynamics. We even did this tug-of-war thing in our own boat. It was one of the activities planned and it was meant to be a metaphor to conflict. The two halves of people on the boat were sat facing each other. On cue, we were asked to paddle and the boat pivoted about the dark green water surface.
With every activity comes with a reflection or lesson. In this case our lesson learnt was that teams do not have room for conflict. I thought the tug-of-war was quite an accurate portrayal of the counter-productiveness of conflict so I thought to share it here.
Well.. Speaking of lessons learnt, when I got home all worn out by the fun and thrill of dragon boating, dad immediately said to me "I hope you learnt your lesson today." I kept quiet because I had good reason for dropping it in the car and did not want to argue. I explained that while I was about to keep my wallet in my bag my mum had asked me to search for her envelope and so I got distracted. When I went back to the back seat to retrieve my belongings, it was dark and I couldn't see my wallet. I lifted up my bag causing the wallet to drop on to the seat. I obviously hadn't noticed it and thought it was in my bag until I reached Bedok the following day.
Dad being a 'parent, thought he should impart wisdom by hoping I learnt my lesson. My silence was fruitless when he repeated with more emphasis that he really hoped I learnt my lesson, even after my explanation.
My point is that parent and child are also sort of a team. He is the alpha because of his age and experience but sometimes the alphas also need to realize today's incident should not have ended up as a conflict because it is totally counter productive.
Yes I know I misplaced my wallet, it didn't misplace itself but I was distracted trying to help someone else. You must be a fool to tell someone to learn their lesson when there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for such a tiny hiccup. Please lower your pride and look deeper to see who is the one really needing the lesson if you behave in such an unjustified manner when you are supposed to be the fair judge of sibling wars and imparting positive qualities in your child. Just because you have some form of authority does not mean you have to use it.
It is easier said than done. Telling me to be more careful is easily said but I'm not the one looking for my reading glasses when it's hanging around my own neck or even being so muddleheaded to the extent of leaving it in the fridge ( both very true situations ).
Labels: Dragon boat, parenting
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