Mother Forgets

After days of raining screams and canes on Coco, it suddenly dawned on me that I had not cut her any slack on her improvements in her SA1.

The fact is, she did improve, her T-score increased by more than 20 points compared to her usual performance, and she did use the methods we taught her for Maths, English and possibly Chinese.

What in the world is the matter with me?

Instead of giving her credit and assuring her that she would do well if she keeps up with the effort and methods, I was constantly taunting her with horrible words and phrases about not doing well for PSLE because of her lacklustre attitude.

The last straw came when she stained her worksheet with oil from left-over dinner and she asked me if I knew how to ‘洗书' (wash book). Oh my goodness, it was truly a 'hell hath no fury' moment! I literally humiliated her in front of some boys younger than her by asking them if they would ask their mother to 'wash their worksheets' for them.

She wept.

After I have cooled down, I reflected on how I have treated her thus far. Is what I have been doing doing any good to her preparation of PSLE? What will all this amount to? They only serve to discourage her, belittle her, erode whatever confidence she has in herself.

So why am I being such a horrible mother?

I have not given her much credit for what she had done well. I have not encouraged her, praised her enough. Besides the movie 'The Avengers', I have not taken her to anywhere else for play or relaxation.


Father Forgets. So does Mother.