Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Anya will be 7 years old in 3 weeks time!

*how time flies!*

And, since I know for a fact that my memory gets a little worse by the year, I think I better write some updates on her and how she’s doing so far. Here goes.

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> She is detailed and relatively responsible when given a task, eg. school homework or project. She’d write all the details in her school diary and tell me all about it when I pick her up from school.

She’d study for her tests (at least a day before) and complete all her homework.

[I still need to remind her to study for her tests, but I don’t need to repeat myself much at all]

[This was one Sunday School project she happily completed. She wrote and drew on the cover of the notebook, and gave it to her school friend]

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> She’s more of a perfectionist

She’ll be very happy when she’s made no mistakes in her tests / homework, and she’ll point it out and sound a little sad when she gets 19 out of 20.

This btw, is one interesting thing that we notice about her.

Because Wilson and I never teach nor insinuate that getting the most ‘stars’, or achieving the BEST scores or marks is what we expect of our children.

We DO teach her to give and do her best in everything though. To work on things or to complete tasks as if she’s doing it for God, and not because someone’s watching/ overseeing her / giving approvals or ‘stars’ to what she does.

So, in response to her ‘perfectionist tendency’, I generally remind her that to us (and God), what matters most is she’s given her best. And IF giving to her best capability means not getting any ‘stars’ at all, we are totally okay with it.

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[Interesting scribbles, notes and drawings I often find around our house]

> She’s still into drawing and writing.

> Lately she’s more into the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Rapunzel’ (the movie) than any other characters.

> She likes to tell us stories (she’d create the storyline as she goes along). She’d say something like, ‘Mommy, as I shower, can I tell you a story? The title is The Girl who Loves Sports So Much’

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> She’s an inquisitive girl who’s eager to know more about the world around her. She’s curious and she’d ask questions, detailed questions.

She’s not easily satisfied too. She’d ask MORE questions to find out more specific explanations / reasons behind certain happenings or facts.

On this one, when we happen to NOT know the answers to our kids’ questions, we’d usually tell them the truth. The same goes if we’re not too sure about something. Personally, I believe it’s better to be frank and to show them that we too are still learning a lot about many things in life. That although we don’t know about everything, we can always try to find out and learn together.

[When I don’t know about something, I often say, ‘Let’s ask Daddy later, may be he knows!’ =) ]

And oh, I sometimes tell my kids that one day, they most probably know so much more than we do, and we’re the ones who need to learn a lot from them =)

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> She likes to do role plays with Vai where she’s the teacher and Vai is the student. She’d create a simple set of ‘homework’ for him to do, and happily mark his work afterwards.

> She’s all giggly and playful when she’s with those she’s comfortable with, but she’s someone who needs time to warm up to new friends (preferring to stay quiet and distanced at first).

> She often offers her help in the kitchen (eg. cutting / washing the vegetables, washing and cooking the rice)

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> She’s lost four baby teeth so far (one more coming soon! There’s another wobbly one on top!)

> She doesn’t like sweets, chocolates, or cakes (unless it’s banana or butter cake, she says!)

> > She’s more of a melancholic girl, who can sulk and go to her room when she’s unhappy about something

> She sometimes sleep-talks at night, or wakes up crying (but remembers none of the bad-dream episodes the next morning)

> She loves the beach and sand-play

> She looks forward to her weekly swimming lessons

> She’s somehow not (yet) interested in learning how to ride a two-wheel bike

> She’s about 21kg and 115cm tall

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We love you, Anya.

And we thank God for you.