What price to pay to excel in studies!

Two very important things happened in my house today. One was, open day in my youngest daughter Sofi's school. Her father went to collect her report book. I didn't go because I had some chore at home. Sofi is a bright student.But she did not do too well in two subjects. That gave her number 12 in her class. She was quite upset and vowed to do better in her next exam. I on the other hand was not too worried. She is only in Year 3. What is important right now is for her to be able to follow what's taught in school and be responsible of all homework and assignments given to her by her teacher. On that aspect, I will give her 100%. Sofi, praise be to Allah, had never not done her school work before going to school. Parents nowadays put so much pressure on their kids to perform extremely well. I mean produce a 100% results in all subjects. This causes a lot of stress to these young children. Most of the primary school kids have no time to play, or explore their little world.

The second thing I mentioned earlier was a function my family and I attended. It was for form five students who received High Achiever Award from our Second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yackop which my eldest daughter Shakira received. As a mother I feel proud, happy, awed and blessed to have a child who excelled in her studies thus bringing good name and setting a good example for her brother and sister. Many of my friends and relatives had asked what was my secret. My answer is simple "A solid family , good foundations and instilling moral values." A child should be brought up in a happy, nurturing and educational environment. You see, when my family and I are travelling in a car, we always have conversation with our kids. We usually ask them many general Knowledge or even scientific questions. They normally see it as a game. When any one of them answers, the other kids will be listening, thus expanding their General Knowledge. Sometimes we play I Spy, and this actually enriches their vocab especially my younger kids. See, education is a process. You don't just have to read books and go to library to be clever. Of course, studying school books, is undeniably the most important thing to do for a student. But after that, we must look at the whole world as our school. When I saw those kids who received the High Achiever Award, I was amazed to see how different they all were. I saw, some who looked so studious, with no smile and almost a blank look on the face. I also saw cheerful, happy and light hearted kids. I definitely want my children to be in the latter group. It is a pity,to see these kids who apart from their excellent academic, they actually don't know much about life. Most of them InsyaAllah, will be successful, but they will never get back their teenage life that they lost. There is a saying " Extract the Honey, But Do Not Break The Hive." Let us bring out the best in our children without stressing them.