side effects of motherhood

A Smörgåsbord

A WIN FOR KIASU PARENTING

I think my worst fears have come true and I’m turning into *that* kind of parent. You know, the kind that brings her kids to Popular to buy assessment books as presents.

We were there to look for some kiddie stamper whatchamacallits (What do people call them these days? Chops? Stamps?) and we walked past the assessment book aisle which I usually avoid like the plague. Let’s just say that I have very bad memories that involve this particular aisle and a very impressive collection of 10-year series.

I picked up one with picture of a rocket picture on the cover and mustered my most excitable mommy voice “Guys, would you like to get this really cool book? It’s got rockets WOOOO!! And you can practice your Math at the same time, cool right?” They looked at me dubiously but before they could protest, I was all “Ok, you can pick any book you want from this shelf. You know what? Just pick as many as you want and we’ll get it for you.”

They left the store with 2 books each. I’m guessing they won’t be anywhere as enthusiastic the next time we return to this aisle.

THREADING WITH CAUTION

Every so often, I put myself through the exquisite torture that is eyebrow threading. You’d think that this being 2013, with our advancements in human genome research and our ability to send all manner of animals to the moon, we should have developed a painless and permanent way of removing one’s stray eyebrow hairs from one’s face.

But no, we are still using a length of thread to do the job – the same kind of thread that the uncle uses to cut the egg in my Mee Rebus, I might add. Oh, and did I mention that the whole process is an exercise in pain endurance. In my books, there’s childbirth (pain level = 10), then there’s dentist visits (pain level = 8) and then followed by eyebrow threading (pain level  = 7). The 15 minutes that I have to spend twitching involuntarily while the therapist attacks my eyelids is not my idea of fun.

I AM YOUR FATHER…

The husband looked real pleased as he came home with a Darth Vader mask the other day. That evening, he put on some black clothes, pulled the mask over his face and hid in the kids room armed with his red Vader lightsaber in pitch darkness. The plan was for me to lure the kids into the room with some lame excuse and the moment they walk in, we’d play the Imperial March in the background while the husband does his heavy breathing and turns on his lightsaber with the “whoosh” sound dramatically.

They were both visibly stunned for a moment before Kirsten grabbed her brother and whispered in his ear “Wah, very scary man…” In true Jedi fashion, Truett valiantly grabbed his Luke Skywalker lightsaber and slashed off Lord Vader’s limbs in one killer move.

The force is strong in this one.

darth vader

 

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6 Comments

  • Reply Susan March 29, 2013 at 1:04 pm

    I just witnessed what being kiasu parents means when I saw all these parents waiting for their kids to finish their enrichment class. And this was at 9:30pm. A time when they should be in bed…I just hope that I wouldn’t turn out to be THAT kiasu parent too.
    Susan´s last post ..I’m a World Moms Blog Contributor

    • Reply Daphne April 1, 2013 at 11:51 pm

      Wow do classes for kids run till 9.30? I hear that some of these classes are really effective though… we’re still contemplating if we want to enroll them in Chinese class but like so poor thing to have to go for so many classes at age 4 & 5.

      Then again, we have 1.5 years left to prepare Tru for Primary 1.

  • Reply Edmund March 30, 2013 at 1:32 am

    The guy in me says Yes to the Darth Vader moves and mask! :)

    • Reply Daphne April 1, 2013 at 11:53 pm

      LOL saw Nathan’s photo with the stormtrooper at the museum. You can do a lightsaber duel with him it’s quite fun!

  • Reply Sue April 1, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    I also seemed to have morphed into THAT type of kiasu mom. I like to get Elmo books, Dora books, I even got Chinese Worksheets and textbooks for kids. Usually the kids go crazy over Elmo and Dora books(from Success bookshop). I have to limit the books, as my bookshelf already overflowing!!! The chinese story books I sometimes find from the Zoo, the kids like the stories so much for bedtime reading that I’m already dozing off, yet they are both competing for attention, asking me to read the books they like.

    • Reply Daphne April 1, 2013 at 11:55 pm

      Hahah it’s a good thing that they enjoy reading! We always hope that the kids share our love for books, it’ll be so cool to go read a book & chill out at a cafe with them in a couple of years.

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