Oh, that lackadaisical attitude that fumes me!

We had a long weekend the one that passed, with Monday being a public holiday in Selangor.  Both hubby and I were "away" for two full days on Saturday and Sunday for a property convention, so I hardly spent time with the kids, but they were in good hands with their Popo Gong Gong.

This morning just before Vic and I left the house for her tuition, I asked her to do a quick check on her tuition work if all were done.  She had previously forgotten her tuition homework before and that irked me after a few times as she was making it MY responsibility to check and remind her instead of her own.  Since she had missed last Thursday tuition, I had assumed that she would have completed her all her work given on Tuesday by Thursday, right?

Right.  And wrong.  My girl forgotten about her Ejaan that her tuition teacher had given her a whole week to memorize and I was furious at that very moment besides feeling a little cheated too, as I had allowed her to play my Ipad last night in good faith that she had checked and completed all her school and tuition work.  I had even allowed her this morning to check my Ipad to "harvest her carrots, that unfortunately had withered, in her Smurf Village."

So I got her to sit down with her Ejaan work, and I tested her while lecturing her at the same time.  I rained down warnings on her that for each wrong she gets this time, I'm going to have to exercise the ultimate punishment on her, which is a deduction of 10cent.  So, if all 10 questions wrong, that's a RM1 off her piggy bank!  Quite mean of me, right, but how do you get a child serious about her work if not withholding or eliminating something previous to him/her?  I explained to her that this punishment only takes effect for those times when she didn't study for her Ting Xie, Spelling or Ejaan, but if she did revised and still got wrong, it was a genuine mistake and no money will be deducted.

At home, she got 6 spellings wrong - namely

1) mencabut - manjabut
2) membubuh - membobo
3) segar - sedar
4) bertiup - bertuip
5) kencang - canjang
6) berusaha - berhusaha

Tuition starts at 1030am.  We left the house according to my watch at 1025am.  Just as the gate closed, I asked her if she's got her water bottle in the car, the answer was no!  So we went back into the house compound and I sent her out to get her water.  With this, I told her that she's responsible for her own water bottle every morning to be in her bag before she left school.  No more relying on the maid or me.

I even rattled off about names of two of her friends who own an iPhone and iPad because they do well in their studies, so if she expect to own an iPhone by 10, she should ensure her studies are taken care off!  Of course this is just the summarized version.

But what's the big deal about getting correct spelling anyway, some may ask?  Well, I admit I'm a Tiger mom in this aspect, and even if it's not life and death whether a child can spell right or wrong at age 7, it matters to me.  The message I hope I'm sending loud and clear to Vic, and later to William, is that all areas of their studies is important. 

Dropped her off at the tuition place, fast forward blah blah blah... when I picked her up two hours later, I asked her what was her ejaan result... and here it is:

All CORRECT!  This girl ahh... she even told me happily that her teacher gave her an eraser as a reward for full marks!  So I asked who else got the reward, and she said no other student.  Hhmm... and to think I was short of ranting off to the teacher when I dropped Vic off, that this girl didn't prepare for her Ejaan.

But I think this is likely the power of short term memory, meaning, she had those words fresh in her mind when she was tested.  It happens to some of us, right?

I'm happy for Vic, but I hope she gets serious with her all her homework.  If I may rant a little here, I think she's pampered and that's not entirely her fault.  So far I'm trying to get her to take on more initiatives and responsibilities such as packing her own bag.  So far so good as she takes lesser time now to pack her bag - to the extend I'm even curious if she's packed her books correctly.

School homework wise, I have no issue with her.  I do think the Chinese teachers have drilled into the children that if they do not complete and hand in their homework in time, they "get it."  But tuition homework is another matter, as many times I have to be the one checking and reminding her.

Oh well... part and parcel of parenting, right?