Queen E: Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum, I will eat my friends. I will eat my friends for din-ner,
I will eat my friends for lunch, Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp. <wipes mouth with imaginary napkin>
Me: Not planning on having many friends, are we?
Queen E: I have many friends. It works if we’re all zombies.
This is so Resident Evil…
This round she had sniper role on this team game… so much for stealth, when she screeches “I SHOT him! WHY IS HE STILL WALKING AWAY??”
We got invited to the biggest BYOG (Bring Your Own Gun) Nerf farewell party in awhile, complete with three-feet pizzas, cupcakes, and …..guns and strategies. Lots. Of guns and teaming while protecting your captain and taking out other members of the other team….
Party favours were – what else – Nerf hand guns and safety goggles (brought in from Sydney), plus the added option of sparkly colouring book sets for girl siblings who might not want to join the shoot-outs.
(We told Queen E if she insists on shooting at the boys, she has to accept getting shot as well – and she still gamely insisted on teaming… then again at another Nerf event she was shot in the cheek close range by a toddler she was showing the gun to, and shrugged it off.. No one is carrying anything that causes real damage… but omg some of the size differences between her and these boys)
(Yes Rockstar and this team captain, on his left in the circle, are only about 3 months apart in age)
(And don’t think the little girls who chose to do colouring under the fort don’t have “skills” – girl in pink, one of Queen E’s best friends, can shuck herself all the way up that thin pole she’s leaning against, and swing by her arms from the top.)
ps: To the best of my knowledge no one actually watches Resident Evil or the other violent zombie instalments, only Minecraft and Plants v Zombies zombies…
**Updated 1 July 2017: I got questions about how my Golden Hamsters lived together when I was growing up, because especially nowadays it’s recommended hamsters be kept separate (and btw in Mong Kok you will find 10-20 hamsters living together in large tanks).. Generally, you may be able to keep two females together and that was the original plan before we realised one of the animals we were sold was male…
After the babies were born, once they were weaned, all males were kept separate, as were the more aggressive females (learned the hard way – my rat gave me my worst bites but after him, I had some bad bites from trying to separate fighting hamsters as well). I did however have one huge multi-storey cage that had about 6 females from the same litter staying together (that group never fought. Interestingly they were the offspring of my favourite female hamster who was incredibly sweet natured as well.)
ALL males that I had however fought and had to be separated, and one reason I started letting the hamsters run freely in my room every night was because the individual cages were much smaller. During their turn out of the cage, I then had to keep an eye on the other cages because the free-roaming animals would invariably climb up and pick fights with the other individually housed residents.
The group who lived together roamed my room together as well. And got into many adventures, squeezing under doors, chewing holes in mattresses and furniture and burrowing – yes, together.
Gemma went very quickly from scratching in her running ball, scratching in her umpteenth cardboard box from school….. (Queen E regularly visits the “junk modelling” collage table at Kindy, more on that someday, to put together all manner of strange contraptions while attending staff at the various craft stations during free play supervise and chat with the kids.
(Here’s yet another one)
Almost every time she gets off the bus it’s been with some new, often flamboyantly-decorated whacky invention of cereal boxes or blue-tacked wires and gears (that one disappeared into her play cupboards so fast I’m still looking for it for a picture) for the hamster to live in/ ride in/ watch My Pet And Me by Cbeebies from…)
And then she took the animals out for a spin
…to getting more and more drowsy and finally not waking up. We knew Gemma would be leaving us in the relatively near future, she was an old hamster, and in the last weeks leading up to her passing, she was increasingly drowsy all the time.
JD: I fall asleep in cars too
Thing is, a really old hamster is surprisingly great for kids because you hold it and walk around…. and it falls asleep. You put it in your pocket as you go about your day….. and it falls asleep. You go for lunch with it and when the food comes….. it’s fallen asleep and your kid can get on with eating while it snoozes in her lap (watch out for large birds flying overhead if you’re outdoors though, they really do swoop in and steal sandwiches and would totally eat your rodent if they could; we once saw a bunch of crows fighting noisily in the air…. before dropping a little terrapin shell still with meat in it).
Another thing we always tell the kids is, if you want a live pet, it will need to eat. That means it’ll also produce poop, ergo you are also looking at cage cleaning. (And I would suggest – always involve the kids, however small a part they get, in a cleaning. Because everything is a “package”. Live animals always come with poop.)
Now, here’s the big attraction with the last two hamsters we’ve had – if you get the dwarf desert species, they mostly drink less water, thereby producing less pee, and also less smell. We’ve been having Russian dwarfs, but as a tween I once had up to 16 Golden Hamsters (pet shop mistakenly gave me a young male and female instead of 2 females. After I watched the first litter get eaten I vowed to raise the next litter successfully so I got some books. Til today I can tell you the gestation period of a Golden Hamster is 14-18 days. (Kudos to my parents for letting me do this in my bedroom which at one point had an entire wall of hamster cages)) Yes, then they smell and need to be cleaned very often. I shampooed them at one point. And they are incredibly noisy late into the night. And I let them out to run all over the room every night. Don’t get 16 Golden Hamsters.
As a lonely teen who went from being popular to knowing absolutely no one when my family first moved from Sandakan to Penang, I also ended up with 8 dogs at one point but that’s another story 😛
Thing is, the messiness, the chaos, the accidental (and very, very occasional, considering I had so many animals) bites, the pet deaths… that’s what “life” is. You can do without all the bother and get XBox, drones and tamagochi, but there is something that caring for another living thing gives you (or your child), that you cannot replicate from anything that isn’t well, alive and doesn’t well, produce poop and smell. Of course, live pets also die. But there is something pure about a friendship with an animal – animals only care if you are kind. Not if you’re cool or cute or smart or all the things that human friends invariably will react to (because that’s what being “human” is 🙂 )
It’s in here somewhere. JD btw had serious shyness issues when we first got her from this puppy mill-like place 14 years ago in Singapore. She used to cower under furniture and howl, so we did the full on Agility training figuring that her Border Collie instincts would overtake her shyness. She still doesn’t like being crowded, but Queen E has somehow gotten her way again, transforming dog into rug.
(The caveat re dogs vs hamsters of course is, dogs live for much longer than hamsters.)
Anyway, back to the story – we stopped by Park and Shop to get something to dig with, on the way directly to the park after lunch to go bury Gemma…
..who is in that plastic bag Queen E insisted on holding while walking all over the supermarket.
Years ago somewhere on the Peak, we saw a young couple sit under a tree, seemingly talking to it, and eventually leave a box of tennis balls there. Another regular dog walker in that area would later tell us Dino was a 9yr old Maltese who was well-known in the neighbourhood, succumbed to tick fever and – no surprises here – adored tennis balls.
Sad smile, as we pick a spot…
(Oh, and fair warning, “What’s in the bag” may not be what you want to ask Queen E if you see her walking around purposefully holding something like this, because you may not really want to be shown what’s in there :P)
I think to tip Gemma as respectfully as we can, out of the bag into the hole we’ve dug beneath the roots of a carefully selected tree (in a place the many dogs who frequent this park won’t be able to dig it up), but when I turn around I realise Queen E’s taken her out of the bag and has been holding her awhile –
Queen E: You can tell she’s dead. She’s getting cold already.
Me: <speechless for a moment> Yeah. She’s also getting increasingly stiff. It’s called rigor mortis, when the chemicals in her muscles start to behave differently now the body is no longer alive.
For a moment I wonder if she’s going to change her mind and ask to take a look inside, and I struggle to be ready with how I feel about it; remember this is a kid who once watched several Youtubes on the dissection of a dog carcass when she had questions about the strings of muscles under her own skin. Unlike relatively indifferent Rockstar, the Queen has a huge fascination with the icky.
But no, she simply puts Gemma carefully in the hole and we thank her for the many hours of love and fun.
I lasted 2 days. Maybe 3, tops. Queen E never once asked for another hamster, and when I asked her why not, all she said was she “wasn’t sure (she was) taking care of them properly”. (This from a kid who usually canNOT stop talking. About everything.) Despite all that telling myself I wouldn’t have to clean a hamster cage anymore, I totally caved and went looking for another because I couldn’t bear seeing her come home from school and not immediately pick the thing up, then proceeding throughout the rest of the day using only one hand.
So we went back to the SPCA right before the last Typhoon 8
The typhoon is almost upon us, but we meet two other kids in Singapore International School uniform and their mum there. When I volunteer that Gemma has just died, we get, “Our two hamsters too. One of the kids cried for two weeks when it first happened.”
The SPCA office checks previous records (you have to bring proof of address, identification, and fill up a form and sign an agreement when you adopt; the hamster itself however costs maybe HKD 20). The lady says something like “Your other hamster is dead, right? It was very old.” I’m very thankful they said that, hearing someone else say it made Queen E feel a lot better.
Unlike before when there was just Gemma (back then nicknamed “Fatty”), this time when we check online we find 6 hamsters up for adoption. When we get there though, we learn “Pear,” Queen E’s first choice simply because she’s light-coloured and looks the most like Gemma, was just adopted. The staff remark “probably went really fast because she was pretty.” Of course that happens. That place we got JD from when we had no intention of getting a dog – families would drive up all the time, and these little kids would beg and beg their parents for a puppy, “Because it looks so cute!“
If you’re not ready to say no should your child prove unready for a live pet, Please. Don’t go there.
Queen E meets her next two choices. On paper her second choice, “Orange,” is a little older than “Macchiato,” her third choice. We figure the older animal will be calmer, more used to handling – very important if you have a kid who cannot stop picking it up. Rockstar’s two cents’ worth, having acknowledged that Queen E puts in wayyy more animal time and therefore has first say on pets, is that he hopes we get a dark-coloured animal.
(Just a side note to be mindful of anything with a long tail, all other things equal – I once had a huge albino rat and thinking to assist in the cage cleaning our housekeeper had pulled the bottom tray out, then caught the rat’s tail in it when inserting the cleaned tray back in. About 1 1/2 inches of tail eventually dried up and fell right off and he was ok again, but for several weeks Pinky was in pain.
Actually on a further aside, there’s another reason I prefer to go to the SPCA – their vet checks over the animals. Gemma was originally nicknamed “Fatty” because when she’d been picked up off the street, she had apparently weighed in as ‘overweight’ for a year-old dwarf. Uh, WHO knows what the ideal weight for one of these things is?! (They did.) Because Queen E dives right in, I didn’t want some animal-mill inmate carrying unknown bugs biting her, however much cuter it might look… if bites are par for the course, then clean bites please 😛 and yes growing up I had to have shots after some horrible bites because goodness knows where a rat originally sourced for a Biology class dissection has been.)
Anyway, after about 5 renaming exercises, this is “Sophie”
Our third choice, and only about 5 weeks old when we got her; Rockstar would NOT let Queen E rename her “Gemma.” Said it was “disrespectful” to the dead animal.
When Queen E met them, the other hamster was much more reluctant to come out of its cell. That might be a “plus” for some families who just want a little animal in a cage with a wheel like how you would keep a goldfish in a tank, but we have a little girl who will involve the animals in everything, so help her Lord. While she was able to handle both hamsters we looked at, it soon became clear that the animals had quite different personalities – one was simply more nervous and prone to darting about unexpectedly than the other. And so we went home with the younger, less good-looking one. Queen E would, in the following weeks, ask me how we could’ve thought Sophie “wasn’t pretty,” and I would jump at the opportunity to drum into her that now we’ve gotten to know Sophie better, she looks prettier and prettier to us because of how nice she is.
Being much younger and apparently not overweight though, she is much more energetic. For eg, she just latches on and keeps on climbing. Anywhere she figures how to climb up.
(Rockstar likes to tease his sister that this is the hamster trying to get back in the cage so it can get away from her)
This past weekend, Queen E then earned herself another sleeping rodent.
Hamster Ninja. She managed to get the new hamster to fall asleep in her hands too
Would’ve titled this post “Another One Bites The Dust,” but realised it could be taken another way 😛
Further “research”: There are some non-English channels that feature hamsters living mini-human lives, and I didn’t want to risk posting something that actually says “AND they’re extra yummy on toast too!” …and then we found Dumptruck and Porkchop.
Credit to Rockstar, who was apparently trying to decide which he wanted to be at the time…
Coming at a time when the kids reach “that” age where they hear about all these purportedly “cool” songs (as in they-sound-nice) with the boy bands and the girl bands and the pop idols and what not that revolve around… love, romance, love, dating, romance, broken hearts, love, romance, love, relationships, love, omg sing about something else already. So –
Why not sing your fast food order?
Note the Taco Bell order screen in back – apparently the guy taking the order has no idea, AND Taco Bell drops in a comment after they upload it, that it’s awesome.
Rockstar likes “My OCD.” Says it’s very good for learning what the disorder is:
(They have some personal experience with OCD)
Their clips are also a super ironic way of getting messages across about, among others, texting, Facebook, Photoshop, cellphones, male one-upmanship…
(Real Men Can Laugh At Themselves 🙂 )
The back story however is that Rhink met in first grade in primary school (the teacher whose class they met in has a song/ program dedicated to her too) and became best friends, attempted their first video in lower secondary, were college room mates, graduated as qualified engineers, worked at companies like IBM…… before then revisiting this, their childhood dream. Isn’t that so awesome?
Then they went back to their first video attempt from when they were 14 years old and featured that on the show. By now, they had acquired also the necessary skills to make it work (and then some). And – I’m sure you guessed it –
They’re happily married family men with 5 kids between them (pic from Pinterest)
Yes I’ve been messing with my old blog. The one that began, some 6-7 years ago, only because my husband once had a dream to create the next big Social Media Platform (Because I was Not A Real Blogger, I could accept the blog dying. Can you imagine something like that otherwise happening to a Real Blogger whom you were hoping to convince to migrate onto your fledgling un-established platform? Exactly.)
The original experimental platform needed something Kings’ team could slice and dice with impunity, hence Not A Real Blog by Not A Real Blogger. The Unicorn Blog. Many deaths and resurrections later, Kings decided to go do Something Else (also called Asia Bankers Club). Not A Real Blog was then close to 250 entries long and so he moved all the stuff to WordPress. The original cover design was a birthday gift. (It’s still in there, there’s something else you can download first to allow you to revert back if you don’t like stuff. I call it the “Hedge App” :D)
Today, Unicorn Blog is over 1,420 posts long. 5 years of auto updates later (and for no other reason than that tech is ornery :D), alignments were running and I was losing more and more control, unable to adjust the old design. The top slider view went off, and even after I found where it was in this creature where I used to be “just” the front end user, it was a constant reminder that I was relatively helpless – I would get the message “you do not have permission to change it.”
Off and on I contacted the original designer, offered to pay for a redesign, and so on. I never got a reply, and I think they’ve moved on. (I neither mind nor am surprised. Why would I be? My former life was in derivatives – new investment products came and went all the time, some of them bearing very little resemblance to what you would think you could get from a financial institution.)
Tech to me resembles derivative innovations. Fast. Finding and fulfilling a need. Trying to predict a future need. Fluid. Water finds every crack and crevice, so does money. And what about tech?
What if you took a step back and instead of trying to stop up the holes, you changed how the water flows? Water finds all the cracks and crevices, while it is governed by gravity. (All the people with the Minecraft-y kids say yes!)
First, fix the slider. Then, why not add a rainbow?
Attack of the Rainbow
Hello Blog, Old Friend. Let us taste rainbows, let us meet unicorns.
“Uni was certain, absolutely certain, that little girls were real, no matter what everyone else said.” – Amy Krouse Rosenthal
“A special invitation to Year 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6 children.
Market Day; the kids have organised themselves in shifts for their various duties (parents are told NOT to assist), with groups taking turns onstage to advertise their products throughout
As part of the ‘Enterprise’ unit of inquiry through the theme ‘How We Organise Ourselves’, the Year 5 children have spent 6 weeks researching, designing, innovating and producing an array of unique and personalised goods to sell at unbelievable prices..”
Most pics from school albums; if anything is not ok as always someone please say the word and it’ll be gone 🙂 I really like the top-most pic because it reminds me of something from Where’s Wally? Except it’s Where’s Math? Reading/ Writing/ Art? Learning today looks nothing like what we did on this planet decades ago. (Desks, chairs and papers are still around but the aliens are doing something else with them. Plus, there seems to be a cultural revolution going on onstage…)
Vote Sunglasses for POTUS? (pic from postcrom.com)
“Their hard work will culminate in the Year 5 Market Day where the rest of the Kennedy School students are invited to purchase Year 5 products…. arts & craft, stress balls, key chains, bookmarks, brownies, cookies, popcorn…..”
“Prices range from around $5 to $20 and all profits will be donated to our four house charities….”
Spoiler: The Year 5s made a cool HKD 19,800.
A little like a reality game show. Enterprise: “Just” Your Regular Reality TV Game Show Of 9-10yr Old Entrepreneurs. Possible Sequel: What We Learned About Ourselves And Each Other?
Each child in a group of 5 comes up with HKD 60 to start. Then they do some serious brainstorming for product ideas (which go thru lots of vetting just like when you adhere to real game show rules; one of the big ones is the kids must come up with a market product that they make themselves. No buy-lower-sell-higher stuff off Amazon or Taobao. They have to manage and oversee the procuring of “raw materials” and the production process and agree on selling price. Plus marketing.)
What they use has to come from the HKD 300. Receipts have to be accounted for. Some kids took this really, really seriously – at one point someone asked if, when they borrow equipment to make the stuff, they need to allocate “rent cost” (and no it was not my kid, who was predominantly on tech, earlier on). Hang on lemme find the right emoji for that one.
pic frm dailymail.co.uk
Then the Y5s carried out market research on the rest of the Kennedy School kids. Survey results, costing, marketing and contingency plans to be presented to a Business Panel comprising school staff and parent volunteers, a week before Market:
Kids produce org charts, and not a few took CEO or CFO roles to the tee, dressing for the part (Rockstar was very happy as IT Manager and elected to stay in school uniform)
Introduce each other to Panel…
Hand out namecards, distribute product samples..
..present survey results..
…and run thru body language analysis on who is about to get fired by Lord Sugar.
Ok they don’t actually fire the kids, that’s there by way of saying I wouldn’t have thought 9-10yr olds already get such exposure and learning experiences. It really runs like one of the reality game shows for fledgling businesses… except this is done by kids and well they don’t get fired with dramatic music playing haha. And many kids can already speak very eloquently when they need to spontaneously field questions from the Business Panel (consider the difference between that and when we went to school and simply rattled off memorised facts)
It was one of those things where you think it’s a little school project for one of so many Units of Inquiry (and you’d be right – they have not a few units of inquiry and umpteen projects that go with, and that’s where all the reading, writing and math is, it just looks nuthin’ like Kumon). But. There’s more.
It’s a huge opportunity. To mess up. To have fights. To take a few risks. To get in front of an evaluation panel of adults – first thing in the morning on a Monday for some kids – to think on your feet as the panel ask thought-provoking questions about your business plan, and to sell, really sell, your product. It’s not easy. It’s not easy going first. And it’s not easy doing it when you’re 9 or 10. And so you get to mess up. And that’s awesome:
Hands up, how many of you adults out there wish you had had a chance to drop the ball at your Y5 Business Presentation before you discovered a fear of public speaking in front of 500 people at the Apple iPhone convention (or some other big deal equivalent)?
Me! Me! <waves hand about furiously> My “flubbed Y5 class presentation” equivalent was a preliminary round in a minor taekwondo tournament when I was 13. It was supposed to be an easy win and I threw it by going the day without bothering to eat, because I didn’t feel like it and figured I didn’t need tha-at many calories to win. And so I suited up and proceeded to….. utterly fail. My opponent beat me not by being better (neither of us scored and it came down to judging) but by showing more respect for the task.
No one else remembers that fight today, but I do. Through countless future situations, the humiliation of that defeat taught me a lesson I would not have learnt if I won everything regardless of effort. (So this really is the best time to mess up!) Because if school life is supposed to prepare you for real life then getting an A from 2 minutes of effort is like death to your future self’s motivation levels to work hard someday. The goal in life is not “all As in class”, the goal in life is to not die from complacence and so I have this half baked idea how winning without trying for older kids is one of those “understated risks” that the proverbial market hasn’t priced in to your trading price. (Umm, ok a better analogy than that – the recent movie “Gifted”. Awesome acting but mess of misdirection in storyline aside, Rockstar commented that before Mackenzie Grace can do all that cool rocket science math, someone still has to teach it to her and she has to practice it. She might enjoy it more than others, but she still has to work.)
Anyway, here’s a more interesting side story – Bus Buddies!
Rockstar, like the other Year 5s, has had a Year 1 “Bus Buddy” assigned to him since the beginning of the year, a minor kind of “Rite of Passage” for the older child, to have the responsibility of a younger child new to school to walk to the bus, work with on reading, and many other various projects.
In the course of school duties, Rockstar began telling Little Bus Buddy about the Y5 project, and how his team might get early samples to their bus buddies as a kind of preliminary marketing exercise, “Tell your friends you got this from the Flying Fluffers, come find us on Market Day!” Plus, their bus buddies would get a sneak preview. (Rockstar himself was once a very shy Year 1, entering primary school as the youngest in his year. While he has only good memories of his then-Y5 Bus Buddy sitting and reading with him, what he seems to enjoy even more is the current pairing where he is the older child – he became very fond of the little boy he was assigned. We often hear a lot about this kid whom, btw, aside from knowing what he looks like, we have no idea who he is :D)
As production runs and surveys carried on however, it became clear his team had a good chance of selling out without budgeting for additional marketing, and as the proceeds would all go to charity (teams were also given the option of taking back their HKD 60-per-child capital once they made a profit, but they had unanimously agreed to donate all their capitalas well) it was a collective team decision not to hand out free samples after all. They wanted every product unit to sell on the day.
Reluctantly, Rockstar then explained this to LBB, that they would have to honour what his team collectively agreed upon (Rockstar being Rockstar it would not cross his mind to smuggle one out for LBB haha). When I asked him how LBB took it, he remarked the younger child had probably forgotten all about it by now – LBB had appeared non-plussed, quickly moving on as usual to his all-time favourite topic – airplanes!
Maybe a week after their conversation however, a mildly amazed Rockstar would come home from Market and tell me that LBB had showed up at the stall maybe 4 minutes after selling began – then paid HKD 15 to buy the sample Rockstar had initially pledged to give him.(Green, LBB’s favourite colour. Haphazardly made, with bits of wool sticking out unevenly, because Rockstar had only just learnt how to make them)… which left him all of HKD 5 out of his HKD 20 market spending money to go get some popcorn (which I hear was also hugely popular – because of the catchy stripy packaging, as people walked through the hall, the stripy bags could be seen everywhere -that was the popcorn group’s clever advertising 🙂 ) Now go back and look at the market photo at the start of this post. I’m not even sure I can find Rockstar’s team’s stall in there. LBB must’ve made a beeline for it. LBB btw, isfive years old.
Don’t Ever Think Little Kids Can’t Do Something Powerful And Amazing For Your Bigger Kid.
Throughout the 90 minutes market session various familiar little faces from his and his team mates’ Bus and Play Buddies volunteer sessions would appear. As part of the “Game Show Rules”, there is a strict “no parental or Y5 reciprocal buying” rule. (Parents are also specifically told not to help them with any stall setup or etc so if your younger kid appears to be getting used to everything being done for them at home, fair warning, better let ’em start practicing doing things for themselves now 🙂 ) The Year 5s are supposed to campaign, advertise, and sell to kids in the other year bands. This makes them pretty much beholden to the rest of the school (that’s like, 750 other kids, roughly 150 of which are older in Y6), most of whom are younger kids they’ve been on the bus and around school with for their entire school life preceding.
Now, there’s a karmic lesson about doing unto others. If you would have a friend, you need to be one.
One of Rockstar’s Y5 friends from another group who has been fretting and fretting about all the other competition (like, half a dozen groups across Year 5 wanted to sell that same product) ends up with all their wares snapped up before the proverbial “halftime”. The timely release of “relevant market information” with some correlation to their product (fidget spinners happened to have been banned, the prior week…
“These toys are a fabulous support for children that suffer ADHD or have other learning disorders, to enable them to focus… …For other children these toys can do the opposite, by over stimulating them and actually causing them to fidget and not concentrate! With our children being exposed to so many external stimuli including IPads, TV and computer games, the last thing they need is more stimulation…”
…possibly causing the spike in demand for home made stress-balls 🙂 ) Grateful for that bit of good fortune, he “pays it forward,” then coming over to assist Rockstar in his marketing efforts.
Year 1 LBB is preceded only by one of Rockstar’s regular bus stop mates who, granted, being in Year 4 is older and found the stall in like, a heartbeat (what is it with kids these days, do they come with GPS). “My first friend there,” Rockstar remarks later. When I mention to the friend’s mum how much Rockstar had appreciated his friend dropping by, she tells me her son had been reminding her since several days earlier, and well:
“That’s what friends are for 🙂 “
And so these are the voyages of the Enterprise 😉
Epilogue:
Rounding up the “unit (that) can be very challenging for the children in terms of their group work and social skills,” Rockstar began coming home with stories of “secret angels,” this game where the kids pick lollies with friends’ names on them, and they have to be that friend’s “secret angel” for the day. Everyone else guesses who your angel was, and who you were angel to. Rockstar thought it would be funny to say nice/ thoughtful things to everyone – but with differences in intonation, delivery or facial expression as clues to who he was really angel for. Ok, Drama School.
See, it only looks like we’re still going to school on the same planet.
Queen E: Aaair….ve-rybody needs to love cheeeeese…. be-cause cheeeese is good for yoouuuuuu…… and cheese. <switches to authoritative speaking voice> Is made from cows.
Rockstar and I exchange looks.
Queen E: Now, eggs. AAAAIR – VERYBOD –
Rockstar: <discreetly shoots self in head with fingers>
———————————————————————————–
Queen E starts drawing lines on cartoon owls printed in her notebook
Me: What are you doing?
Queen E: Giving all my owls unibrows.
Rockstar: <quietly to me> She does not see my unibrow. She does not know I have unibrow.
Me: You don’t think Ko-ko has unibrow, do you?
Queen E: I do. Just a teeny bit.
Rockstar: She is going to bed. She is going to bed. She is going to bed. She is going to bed.
———————————————————————————–
Queen E: Parmesan Cheeeeeeese!
Rockstar: <same tone> There you are, your Highnesssssssss.
Queen E: Really, Ko-ko?
Rockstar: Yeah. Didn’t say please. Like a Queen.
Queen E: In that case….. it’s not close enough to my hand <wiggles fingers>. Please <smiles winningly>
Me: Someday you two can do standup together. Until then, can you guys promise not to set each other off when there are other people around who cannot possibly be aware of the running back stories that lead up to your most current exchanges. Please?
Sparring partners, partners in crime, as changeable as the weather.
By now Rockstar’s wrapping up Y5 at Kennedy, and Queen E will be going through all the freshie briefings for early readers next academic year onwards. I was especially interested in hearing about what reading looks like for kids who supposedly can already read f-airly proficiently.
We are told comprehension is king, and while lotsa kids can read the words, the teachers have to check whether the kids can understand what they’re reading. We’re also reminded that it’s very important the kids, especially the younger ones, see us reading actual physical books (so not many flashy screens here, a lot of it is on good ole’ traditional printed paper).
To illustrate during the talk, teachers walk through reading exercises and assessment questions with parents.
Sound easy? Here’s one:
Here’s a reading passage
Still easy? Know all the words? Now try the questions.
Question 1 you can get straight off the text, m-aybe 2 and 3… but what about 5?
Now try this one (mercifully, the teachers read this aloud for us because otherwise there is literally one parent in the audience who can do this) on The Very Hungry Caterpillar….
…in Italian. (gelato! I understood gelato!)
(The point being, you can sound fairly convincing reading, without having any idea at all what the text is saying. Realising that comprehension is the goal, not difficult words per se, made me stop worrying over whether Rockstar was reading enough encyclopaedias. Insect Larvae With Eating Disorder still pretty trippy.
Couldn’t resist. This is another caterpillar off WTFEvolution.com who is a science writer and who says this thing should run for POTUS
I thought reading comprehension made post because there seem to be all these little Learn To Read English tuition places and tutor groups that randomly pop up all over the island just like the proverbial Whack-A-Mole and some of em can boast “results” via being able to read the text of higher reading levels….But yeah it’s hard to not look at an actual reading level number and think How Far Or Close Is This To 30?)
Then I also found this excerpt about Reading With Comprehension from a blog post by Queen American Mummy Blogger Heather Armstrong:
“…Leta bought a few books whose titles only someone with a Ph.D. from Harvard could decipher, and she probably finished them in the span of minutes, maybe seven. Seven minutes tops. … her sixth grade teacher pulled me aside… to tell me that there was no way Leta was comprehending what she was reading at the speed she was reading things. And she urged me to slow her down a little bit. Okay, lemme try that. …In the meantime, you go get a Golden Retriever… to stop freaking out about Squirrels.”
(Her older daughter Leta loves reading and inhales books at the speed of light, and if you think “squirrels” is intimidating, wait’ll you hear urban legend about Tina Fey’s daughter :D) Wonder if Dooce also does Battle of the Books, which Rockstar’s school has participated in for awhile and which I would’ve liked him to look at since he’s quite a voracious reader (except I then got the answer that the “cost” is too high – two lunch play times a week! 😀 So instead he chases down the books in the school library – this week he came back with one of the past B of B books which was being read in class… because he wanted to know the ending. SO I can’t ever underestimate the power of an extensive library collection either.)
Now, the Mongoose and the Cobra of the first slide was one of my favourite childhood stories, and I never figured why mongooses attack King Cobras back then. After reading the link, I still don’t completely understand why anything would go through the relative trouble of eating one (King Cobras apparently eat other snakes and prey on notably larger animals than mongooses). I did however learn that it’s “not that much trouble” for a mongoose, which has some immunity to King Cobra venom, and when consuming the entire thing the mongoose doesn’t even stop at the poison sacs because the venom is only activated by cobra saliva. (“Support your child’s research,” “Read to find out more information about a topic.”)
We get an extensive list of ideas, including having your child read the instructions on electrical appliances, reading community newspapers, biographies (Rockstar briefly checked out Markus “Notch” Persson, the Swedish inventor who created Minecraft, but has most recently been interested in Nick Vujicic who writes how helping others can build your own resilience to various stuff that can get you down, “Attitude is Altitude”), street directory navigation, discussing the differences between movie adaptations and the original novel (still working on Lord of the Rings trilogy, but honestly Rockstar first went to check out the books after Lego Sauron featured in Lego Batman :D)
This is Notch (pic off Wikipedia.com); I don’t consider him a sellout because he famously tweeted he would endorse Win 8 for $2bio. Microsoft really gave him the $2bio. Well Forbes says $2.5bio.
This is Nick Vujicic (pic from likesharetweet.com); limbless, he swims, surfs, and has been known to have his friends hide him in the overhead compartment of planes as a practical joke (try doing THAT with limbs, y’all)
This is Lego Sauron (pic off Youtube); this thing is sick, when is it hitting toy stores in HK?
There are at least a few ideas that appear counter-intuitive, like “support spelling inventions,” and “If a child makes a mistake when reading aloud, don’t interrupt the reading, allow time for self-correction. If the mistake doesn’t alter the meaning, let it go.” (Thank you because without this I will likely be doing the opposite)
Therein lies the real lesson (not just to the kids, to me too :P) – kids pick up a lot more as they find their way there, and if it’s via the scenic route, they learn way more about that route, thereby bringing them to countless other destinations as well.
Anyway. Here’s how The Cosby Show’s Theo and his friend Cockroach illustrated their understanding of “Doctor J” (that’s Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, y’all) in Mark Antony’s Friends, Romans, Countrymen ;
This is what Theo and Cockroach did to part of it (note faces of screen parents haha):
“..But the man so chill when they handed him the crown Caesar said ‘No, Baby’ and turned the crown down…”
Well if Mark Antony sidelined in gangsta rap I guess he would say it that way <cough>. But there’s more:
“Brutus is an honourable man,” in slightly differing contexts over the course of the speech gradually comes to mean the opposite. Which other lofty literary figure most recently used the same words to mean the exact opposite?
Yeah, it was the Talking Raccoon -pic from comicbook.com
Mark Antony’s, “Brutus is an honourable man,” is Rocket Raccoon’s, “they told me you people were conceited ..but that isn’t true at all.”
Human nature and the stories that revolve around them never changed, just the language with which we tell the same stories. It’s the same insecurities within the same protagonists, except maybe now they wield electronics (thank you, Lego Batman), wands, have mutant superpowers or have blog fights (Gossip Girl is both old and new that way).
What has changed infinitely by leaps and bounds is how the stories are told…. and therefore read. Going to school today, you would probably have very different ways you can answer the same context and comprehension questions. It’s what we rely on the school for pointers for – because they monitor such changes and developments, and they find new ways to nurture that better…
Epilogue:
Then one day, this came back.
Hello? What’s this?
Through the school, Rockstar has a penpal out of a primary school in China
I can’t read this, but my kid can. Apparently this is a reply letter, Rockstar says they’ve been writing to these kids in class (vetted by the school, I guess). How freaking awesome is that?
The time has come, my little fiends, to talk of when you look at your kids and think Omg They Are Such Monsters… 😀
Me: Shush! We’re not the only ones eating here. Even I find you annoying and you’re my kids.
Rockstar: <raises an eyebrow> Ruh-eally?
Queen E: <echoes Rockstar> Ruh-eally, really?
Me: Yes, r –
Queen E: <accusingly> You. Stole usssss!<both kids roar with laughter>
Me: <laughs> Now shutup please.
<Satisfied silence all around>
It doesn’t always end that happily. Eyerolls, Queen E shrieking indignantly (when she thinks we’re mocking her when we are so not), and yes – the dreaded overstepping of boundaries – are all par for the course…
This is a post about the slippery slope of sarcasm, particularly with our kids, and why if we feel like looking for more headaches we might want to Go There. See, many parenting articles will tell you sarcasm is “not for children”. They say things like “Little kids can’t understand you mean the opposite,” (for e.g. when they cover the floor with cornflakes and you say “Gee, thanks.” (Well yeah, when you put it that way. But I really think that’s only for very young kids..)) Also, we weren’t brought up that way. More like Don’t Be Snarky Ah Boy, Or You Will Grow Up To Pop Over Seven Elevens And Spend Your Life In Jail As A Repeat Offender Of Petty Crimez.
BUT.
The stuff for grownups that in a nutshell tells you how to hack your brainfor better productivity will also tell you that aside from a messy desk and doing things backwards (well, doing things in a different way), to give and receive sarcasm is one of the best ways to promote creativity. (Caveat: Negative sarcasm however is to be avoided at all costs. The negative effects of giving as well as receiving a snarky put-down far outweigh any benefits, even for adults).
(I like. Safe is not only boring, it’s uninspired. You can give a sharp knife to a monkey or a sushi chef trained in the preparation of fugu, and the results can be so tragically different as to be inconceivably of the very same tool. How freaking exciting is THAT? Risk-taking with a few boundaries (oxymoron alert) are soooo much fun. Besides – if you really think about it, very few things in life are well and truly “safe” if people don’t know how to use them…)
This line in Smashmouth’s All Star is a favourite:
“The ice we skate is getting pretty thin The water’s getting warm so you might as well swim” – I like to tell Rockstar that you can go skate on a little thin ice if you know how to swim (ice gets thin when it gets warmer, ever thought of that? Every investment opportunity requires an entry point. But if you buy low, it’s when lotsa other people are selling…)
But anyway sarcasm. Irony. And all the joy of speaking to your kids in something that sounds like English – it has all these words that sound the same –but means something so different than what nature intended.
Is that really cute as we know it? (pic frm imgrum.org)
Some of the crap that kids watch entertainment our kids enjoy these days is pretty useful though:
Dis is art (and a great eg of a metaphor for the kids)-pic from zimbio.com
(This isn’t sarcasm per se but I think it falls roughly in the same family. And it’s hugely useful to help kids understand each other.) Drax is of an alien race who are “entirely literal,” i.e. they do not understand metaphors (I am not kidding. Rocket the Racoon says as much in the first movie. “Nothing goes over my head” of course is a metaphor that oh look, is going right over his head now)
Then I found this – pic from weknowmemes.com (titled Drax Makes Positive Impact)
Speaking of Rocket:
Rocket is a genetically engineered military strategist and weapons specialist with klepto tendencies and insecurity issues that overshadow his having the highest IQ in the team… AND IT’S STILL A FREAKING RACCOON! – pic from knowyourmemes.com
Talking Klepto Raccoon Gets “Issues” Dissected In Unlikely Headshrink Session On Board Space Pirate Ship. Despite being brilliant however, he’s still a raccoon learning to be sarcastic (and illustrating it to kids along the way), ergo:
“Rocket: [about the Sovereign people] You know, they told me you people were conceited … but that isn’t true at all. [winks at Peter in front of the Sovereign leader, Ayesha] I’m using my wrong eye again, aren’t I? I’m sorry, that was meant to be behind your back.”
“Peter Quill: I was being sarcastic.
Rocket: Oh, no, you ‘re supposed to use a sarcastic voice. Now I look foolish.”
..Y-up I have this theory that the people who write some of the material in comic books were supersmart kids… who grew up deciding to make lotsa money without the office job. I think this stuff doesn’t receive enough erm, credit for its usefulness – kids enjoy watching it and it provides some openings for talking to them.
Here’s another kids’ movie character who explores some serious character issues:
– giphy.com
This is how Forbes (yes the American business magazine because when mega-budget movies – that includes kiddie movies – hit the box office, it affects how the companies trade) describes the Lego Batman character:
“LEGO Batman is brash, self-centered, obsessed with his own fame and reputation, self-delusional with regard to his influence on Gotham City… and the Justice League, incapable of expressing vulnerability and emotional connections to other people, rude, overall emotionally stunted…”
..which leads to him discovering (while trying to steal something from Lego Superman) that he’s being left out of the Justice League’s anniversary party – pic from Youtube.com
(Like, whatever sticks, right?)
‘Puter (Lego Batman calls his computer “‘Puter”): You do have beautiful abs..
Lego Batman: It’s my cross to bear.
Fan: Batman, we love you! Batman: Thank you. I’m blushing super hard under the mask. (Said with the most deadpan Batman voice ever.)
And –
On the train in Kowloon we saw this kid – with this well-dressed lady, I assume his mum, who is carrying an Hermes bag and speaking in putonghua – reading “Batman’s Guide To Being Cool”!!
This is from Rockstar’s copy (Lego Batman’s recommendation for being a cool crime fighting machine: carry Electronics!) Epiphany: I Know Real Men Who Do This (But Maybe Not The Crime-Fighting Bit)
They mess with ‘rents a lot too; Lego Batman speaks like this in the movie:
“Black. All important movies start with a black screen. And music. Dark, edgy music that makes your parents nervous.”
“Don’t tell me how to parent my child I just met.”
S-o Commissioner Gordon retires and – guess what? His daughter takes over, and –
Take that, Harvard (pic from Business Insider)
But you laugh, the kids laugh, and the message(s) gets across (Lego Batman even acknowledges Alfred as his foster father, after several struggles that include a talking brick in the Phantom Zone named Phyllis showing him how disrespectful he’s been.)
In contrast, look at this one (sorry, CBeebies – we love some of your other shows, especially the one with the very tall dinosaur guy, but -)
Watch this and you will never look at a vegetable the same way again <thunder clap>
Umm… Getting kids to like veggies is not necessarily getting them to eat veggies? There is a ..squash(?) that dreams of being a superhero. And all these talking creepy cute veggies with human-relatable traits, which I guess the script writers think will make kids want to be friends with them (the veggies that is). Except… how are you ever going to eat one. Especially with those eyeballs.
The kids pointed this out. Mr Bloom’s Nursery makes you feel like a cannibal. (What am I supposed to do with that..)
Epilogue:
Rockstar: (Some Snarky Sarcastic Thing Followed By -) Well? Well? So, Mum? You haven’t heard a thing I said have you?
Me: I’m trying to decide whether you’re allowed to speak to me that way.
Rockstar: Oh, too far?
Me: If you can check yourself and check with me then I guess we’re good.
Rockstar: Oh phew. So you’re not going to go all Crazy Mum on mah head.
Me: WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?
Queen E: <smugly> Oh that was too far, Ko-ko.
Me: You could try to sound less happy about that.
Queen E: I try, Mum-may. But…. I can’t. It’s too hard.
Queen E <while walking around the apartment holding the sleeping hamster>: You know Mummy, I think Gemma likes it here. After she dies, she’ll want to come back and live with us again.
Me: As in Reincarnation, or as in Haunting Our Apartment? <Rockstar snorts from his laptop> D’you think maybe she’ll enjoy Hamster Heaven more?
Queen E: What if they don’t have bedding in Heaven? Our bedding is purple…
Me: They probably don’t have cages in Heaven, she could maybe dig a hole in the wild and sleep in it, just like nature once intended.
Queen E: <frowns>
Me: And snakes go to a different heaven.
Queen E: Oh, alright then.
——————————————————————————————————–
Queen E: Mum?
Me: Yes darling?
Queen E: After JD goes to Heaven can we get a Pug?
Rockstar <not looking up from laptop>: I second that.
Me: ?! How come you don’t think JD will want to come back here?
Rockstar: Probably had enough of her <nods at Queen E>.
Queen E: Yah Mummy hamsters only live for like, 2 years, but JD’s been around a long time.
Note long-suffering expression of dog.. And yet she continues to sit there…
Queen E: Oh yeah and after Gemma dies can we get a lizard? <mutters> Or snake… I want to try something with scales… but.. I don’t know where they sell snakes…<trails off>
What are they doing now?
That’s the discarded exoskeleton of a spider – light as air, and about 2inches long, you can even see where it split open so the spider could pull itself out of its outgrown shell… She carried her prize for a good 2km before the wind took it, and she was so upset… Because a nature walk with the Queen often takes several long hours, she has to stop at every web and cocoon and seething mass of insects.
Me: So what, we are just going to have an endless parade of animals going through this apartment?? We give them a good home on the way to Heaven and then go get something else?
Both kids: Yeah!
Me: We’ll always be living with hair balls or seeds (Gemma has the charming habit of emptying her pouches everywhere Queen E takes her, so we find seeds among Legos, in dolls houses, in the sofa, among the Nerf guns, in the piano…) and maybe now also… molted skins? And Rockstar, you don’t get to say much, you don’t really entertain the animals that often. (But to be fair he didn’t say anything when the hamster chewed off entire spines of 3 or 4 of his books after Queen E forgot to close the cage one night… and yes, Queen E still faithfully helps with every cage cleaning and water changing)..
Queen E: You have to take care of us anyway, Mum-may – did you know we are a kind of Great Ape? That’s also an animal…
Holy pile of animal facts books
And no kidding. Shissa monkey.
Me: (To Rockstar) How come you didn’t go all Stick Up Your Butt Big Brother at her about the Pug?
Rockstar: DanTDM has Pugs.
Holy fluffy unicorn. (pic from pinterest)
Epilogue:
Me: DanTDM also has multiple piercings and tattoos, did you want those too?
Rockstar: <not looking up from laptop> N-ope, just the pug isfine.
Kids had so much fun at ESF Winter Camp, of course we came back for more…
And this time, with the warmer weather –
There was water! And… seahorsies!
Queen E is rabidly excited. While she may be water-confident though, this is the first formal swim lesson she’s ever had, with actual technique and strokes –
So here she is somehow going backwards on the surfboard haha (not… that this will ever deter The Queen of Indomitable Spirit)
Lotsa games to warm the groups up and increase water confidence…
…like the animal impressions (now you see the Bunny Hop)…
…before flopping off the side into the water.
The kids are constantly reminded never to be under the floats or boards, which would make it harder for them to be seen should they need help in the water. Instead, they are to find their way to the tables, which appear to be adjustable platforms (they seem to be set in different positions each day I peek in) to make the water shallower for younger kids, or move to the sides of the pool or to the floats, as needed. One of their first lessons is also on “safe entry,” ie while facing the edge with their hands always on the side of the pool, as opposed to simply jumping in and then maybe finding the water too deep and the edge too far away for them to hang on.
While the instructors are still checking each child in turn, some of the kids hurl themselves in, vigorously splashing about. They are quickly benched/ sent back to the edge of the pool (the instructor explains to them that unlike on land, horsing around in water is especially risky – you don’t risk suffocation if you simply land on your bottom on grass, but you might, if someone knocks you over in the water, you go under, and then start freaking out). I’d like to add that one reason Rockstar dropped out of pre-school swimming at our clubhouse years ago was because he would be stifled by rowdier kids having splash fights and what-not – it made it much, much harder to then get him back into swim classes in school. (So, lesson learnt: No Lesson is better than Traumatic Lesson :D)
Once everyone’s ability and confidence levels have been checked, the kids are sorted into small groups
(Btw in case you thought this is only for kids who are strong swimmers – there are at least 2 in Queen E’s age band who can’t put their head in the water yet – this doesn’t stop them participating, having a really good time, and ultimately becoming more comfortable with water)
Queen E has so much fun she won’t leave the pool on the first day. I finally get her out (with help) and back onto the court for the last activity of the day… only to then have her refuse to leave the court <face palms>.
Behind my In-Control-Parent Face I’m cringing: O.M.G. Are We Going To Be Camped Out Here Pretending I Planned To Hang Around All Day While Miss Indomitable Skips About Reliving Her Fun Time And Hoping Tomorrow Morning Comes In The Next Hour– So Just Open The Office And Get The Balls And Hoops Back Out Already!
When we realise there are afternoon swimming lessons in the same pool, I go online to see if we can still sign up; everything is however fully booked up – turns out they’re really in-demand, and you can only get something for the following term…
By day 4 in Multi-sports, she’s got this…
…and also this haha (helping herself along the length of the pool faster)
And what of our older child?
Laps. But these aren’t just straight laps –
I came in halfway from settling Queen E (you need to help your under-6 kid change quickly in and out of swimwear for the pool, navigating between the locker areas, pool, court, and gymnastics hall – which I’m pretty sure is in that part of South Island School located in Siberia 🙂 )… Rockstar’s group’s swim activity that day looked like two teams on either sides of the pool “invading” each others’ territory by swimming as quickly as they could the length of the pool from either side, then confronting “opponents” for a “battle” – of scissors-paper-stone – while trapping water (that’s the deep end, in the pic above).
For “Battle Laps,” as Rockstar dubs them, it’s in your best interests to swim as fast as you can against the swimmer coming from the other end, because the further away you are from your goal (the opposing “base”) at first “battle”, the more “opponents” you will eventually need to get through in order to reach the other side. Ready? Now scramble. Tread water… Right- loser back to Start, next player up to try and stop the invading swimmer. Hurry… Swim! Tread water again… Alright, and again, next player. Swim! Probably a tougher workout than just straight laps… if any of those kids noticed.
No Tiddler Left Behind is no mean feat, because you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it jump in and start doing laps and all that...
Another day I peek in to see the older kids paddling about with their heads up, sans goggles… Because y’know, you might not always find goggles handy if your boat capsizes someday (again, they are reminded never to stay under a “capsized” vessel…)
Queen E’s group did this one too, they get dumped in and have to move out from under the “boats” before trying to get back on or over to the side in the basic safety exercise (the less water-confident group is capsized in water they can stand up in)
(On an aside, this is probably more important than we might expect, because of Normalcy Bias.. i.e. when you are psychologically less prepared to save yourself in a crisis event even if it becomes clear that you need to, simply because you have never mentally visited the scenario before – it’s the natural bias your brain has for assuming the abnormal (i.e. a disaster) is not going to happen to you. In crisis events like ferry boat accident or just the boat you’re on tipping over, it costs very precious seconds before your brain reacts, and can greatly increase the likelihood of casualty)
Different levels of confidence and ability are recognised and the activities adjusted to, it’s a real workout and all the kids are sufficiently challenged… if they ever stop having fun long enough to notice.
Next stop, Queen E’s first ever Gymnastics lesson!
Comprising horse vault…
…balance beam…
…and trampoline…
…at the end of a routine that the kids have to pay attention to, or else they won’t know where to go (I said literally that to Queen E who is, again, rabidly excited – this time at being able to fling herself off stuff onto the thick mattresses – and then gets lost on her first try in the middle of the room because she’s forgotten where to go haha).
Then there are the court activities each day, where the various groups gather for briefing (i.e. Listening Practice in English 🙂 )…
And I just realised the mums are all in sneakers – it’s like Mum Bootcamp! 🙂
But, No Pressure… The way groups and activities are constantly mixed up, staying ahead or falling behind is pretty non-sequitur – and there is so much going on, your kid lying on the floor doing a nutty (I mean if –if, it should ever happen) cannot be seen. Your child having themeltdown is invisible. You are merely scooping them up out of the way so no one trips over them (invisible, remember? 🙂 )
Lots of activities that are constantly changed up – so the kids have to really listen to the rules (note also the younger kids here – some of the youngest I think are just over 2yrs)
Off she goes! (A few of the littler kids go from bawling and clinging, their parents hiding behind doorways the first 2 days, to delightedly navigating obstacle courses that span the entire length of the gym hall)
Some kids also casually join the other groups if they want to sit out swimming for the day… It’s a really good non-threatening way for kids, especially the younger ones, to try stuff out without feeling pressured to keep up or participate in absolutely everything… And it’s a really good opportunity for parents to get to be around throughout, and help their younger kids get through any shyness or, in Queen E’s case, practice listening – because the combination of Water + Friends, Lotsa Friends! and echoing halls full of activity make her so buzzed I initially need to keep reminding her to follow along, not do some… crazy dance around the huge hall and then forget whether she’s coming or going (and where).
(Not… that they don’t get free play… and then here, she decides to sit quietly and watch everyone around her, right in the eye of the storm in a nest of hula hoops?!)
And Then There Was Soccer.
This is her taking a turn as goalie (and this older kid on Defence, whoever he is, is really amazing – he’s playing proper soccer ok… like, I can’t even play proper soccer)
..some dribbling…
…tackle… wait for it…
…and the crowd goes wild!
Queen E was one of the youngest in her age band; some of the older ones especially those who are also in the ESF Sports Clinics for specific sports have some serious moves… No wonder Rockstar would tell me to look out for say, the ‘soccer kids’ who are so good it’s just cray.
There are also colour-based sorting games, but I missed taking a picture of the big pile of different coloured plastic cones that the younger group was working with…
Looks something like what they have in the background on the right of this pic
What are court games without that oldie-but-goodie, Duck Duck Goose?
The mum next to me volunteers that her child will start at the Chinese International School next fall (Queen E will be joining Rockstar at Kennedy School)… Another brother and sister pair, in the youngest and oldest groups respectively, hail from ICA (International Christian Academy). Rockstar recognises a few returning camp-mates from one of the other ESFs – Bradbury I think it was – and Queen E also recognises a few in her age group.
Of course after camp while we’re waiting in the taxi line Rockstar is embroiled in (quiet, serious) conversation with a boy from the Quarry Bay School, about….. Pokemon Go <face palms>. The benefits of Gen 2 creatures and the merits of setting game rules like which Poke are evolve-able when you’ve collected enough points, and which have to be caught or hatched. Rockstar googled some article about the likelihood of rare Poke in 2km vs 10km eggs (discussion about your chances i.e. probability i.e. math behind the easiest way to get rare Poke…).. Still, Rockstar – I hung in there as long as I couldzzzzzzzzzzzzz I know it’s about marketing a game that hooks all the kids and then keeps them playing, but -)
zzzzzzzzz – gif from imgur.com)
(For real though, my point is the opportunity kids have to meet and mix with other kids from all over, in a fun and non-competitive setting – because kids seem to have increasingly fewer chances to socialise between schools in non-competitive settings in Hong Kong nowadays)
Ok, and now we have what I like to call the Cute Overload Round.
All ages all groups, all mixed together in the finale each day, where the kids run the length of the court navigating various balancing activities, some involving also tennis rackets, ladder run (like tire runs), hoops.
The course runs the entire length of the gym hall, which is several courts wide, allowing older kids to tear up and down at top speed, alongside toddling younger ones who soon get so caught up in the excitement that they forget to feel… shy? Scared? despite the loud echoes and thundering steps all around them. Some of the younger ones, not much older than 2, have gone from bawling and clinging to parents hiding in doorways to squealing in delight as little legs navigate obstacles (closely supervised – if they wander in between lanes or too near the older ones barrelling up and down, you can see the coaches step in very quickly)
After the first day, I gave up bringing my laptop or even a book with me. Especially when there’s swimming, you really do need to be around, preferably in comfortable shoes 🙂 (But I think it’s a really good parenting opportunity in a fun, comfortable environment.) By the time Cute Overload Round comes up however, I would never want to be on my laptop 🙂 🙂
Epilogue:
“You have TWO kids, right?” – wait staff at Stanley Plaza outlet…
This is a standard kids’ pasta meal at Classified. Last day of camp, between these 2 kids, they completely finished eating 6 of these pasta portions sans juice (Rockstar had 5, Queen E had 1 plus an additional meal of scrambled eggs).
And –
She wanted one of those big boards. And uh, for the dog to join her.
