Stress or Motivation

Anthea SA2 will be happening in about 2 week’s time. I am preparing her revision papers for next week when school is out for a week due to PSLE markings.

A few weeks back during a family dinner, there was a discussion about Anthea SA2. Well, Adrian had promised Anthea that she gets to chose her holiday destination if she scores 90% & above for her 3 subjects. If any of the 3 subjects fall below 90%, mommy will chose the destination. (Hmm…regardless, she will still get a holiday. Not a bad deal for her…hehe.)

My youngest BIL posed a question to Adrian: “by giving her this 90% targets, are you stressing her or motivating her?”

So this opens the family discussion:

My FIL (an ex-school teacher) asked Adrian: “what were her scores for her SA1?” Adrian told him they were all above 90%. Then my FIL said that the targets are realistic. He cited that if she had been scoring 75% above and we set a 90% target, then it will be STRESSFUL for her to achieve. As it is now, it’s to motivate her to maintain her good results.

My 2^nd BIL – he’s also agreeable to the targets as he mentioned that children need to work hard towards certain achievement and when they achieved it, they will feel proud of themselves too.

Phew…so it was a clean bill of approvals…haha. (I was not presence at the discussions and heard these from Adrian.)

Well, to be honest, we or rather I had never stress Anthea too much on her studies. My requirement is the same as any parents – as long as she put in her best effort towards her studies, I am satisfied. Of course, which parents do not want the child to excel?? I know her area of weakness and I will constantly help her to improve. This is the reason why I chose to become a Part Time SAHM… : )

Besides studying, Anthea still enjoy badminton sessions and DS games with all her friends. So it’s very much balance between study – play for her. Periodically, I will also do a check with her if she’s coping fine with her school & tuition lessons and so far, her feedbacks are positive.

I remembered reading on the Straits Times Forum that said HDB dwellers parents do not give enough stress to their children in their studies. That's why they do not become Doctors and Lawyers as compared to those who stayed in private properties.

Let's hope our generation of HDB's children can make a "revolution change"...haha.