Children of the future

I was reading through one of the magazines about our children and the future. It was both scary and disturbing. There were articles about “teens and porns”, “bullies”,”fighting” and other unnerving topics. Basically, the blames goes back to the parents and their parenting ways.

My husband and me visited a friend last Monday and he was telling us about another old friend of him and my hubby who had an accident in Sadao. They joked around about this guy who (what I could gather from their conversation) is a bully and loves to fight. The friend told us that he was bragging about his son involved in a fist fight with his friends. Imagine, the father is encouraging the son to continue his bad behavior and to top it up; is showing his son the very same example by involving in the same unsightly behavior as well.

Kids will watch and follow their parents behavior. To make it worse, they could mixed with the wrong group and became worst than their parents. Someone told me a story about a man whom started stealing since kindergarden time, The first day he started stealing was a pencil case and his mother praised him for being so clever taking whatever he wants. Being proud with the praised, he started stealing more and stuff. Being a man he started robbery and took a life. He was caught and later sentenced to death. His final wish was to meet his mom. On the last day, his mom went crying to see him. He hug his mom and bite off her ears. He said before he left “Mom, you should listen to me when I first took the pencil case and scolded me but you didn’t want to listen that I was heading for trouble that first day. If only you would listen….”

Just a few days ago, there was a report on Form 1 girls fighting in the school’s surau. Whatever happens to self-respect and dignity. Kids nowadays, wanted to grow up faster than their age..It could be seen that teenagers around the age of 10 to 12 years old hanging out at taman selera or shopping complex. Where are their parents? Did they know where their kids are??

I was walking from my office to the cobbler’s place last week. I had to passed through under a flyover to get to the other side of the road. Dewan Bandaran Seberang Prai had planted lovely plants under the flyover and made a walking/cycling path to the other side of the road. I could see about 6 to 8 boys in school uniforms hanging around there at 10 am. Definitly, they skipped school just to “lepak” there.

Are parents too busy making money to notice their children needed their care? I knew one guy who had never been to her daughter’s school except the first day of registration. He never knew when her daughter had exams or never even met the teachers. He never even signed the report cards. The daughter will skipped school and wrote the letter herself to the teacher. And the guy had never known that her daughter was lying to him all his life. He trusted her 150%. Once, the daughter was caught bringing a boy into her room and she started lying that the boy was her cousin’s friend and came to her room to pick up something. And he believed her….I was shocked when I found out that he believed his daughter than a neighbor who caught her red handed. From what I heard, the boy left through the back door at the time when nobody was at home and she was only 16 yo.

One thing for sure…no matter how busy you are, always take time to talk to your kids…Listen to them, especially those unspoken words..A mother especially will know what in their children’s mind. The special bonding between parents and children will help to nuture their identity and self respect to become a respectable adult in the future…Insyaalah…

Rain..Rain...

Raining season is here again. They forecasted that the rain will stay for the week in Alor Star. Lucky me..now that I don’t have to travel by express buses anymore. Else it’s going to rather wet.

Five-day forecast
Today
Jul 13 Tuesday Showers Hi

Jul 14 Tuesday Showers

Jul 15 Wednesday Thunderstorms

Jul 16 Thursday AM Thunderstorms

Jul 17 Friday AM Thunderstorms
Jul 13th Hi: 86° Lo: 75°
14th Hi: 87° Lo: 76°
15th Hi: 84° Lo: 75°
16th Hi : 85° Lo: 75°
17th Hi: 85° Lo: 75°

Same goes for Penang and I wonder if it’s going to be fooded again at the bank’s area in Prai. Previously, we had to wear slippers and rolled the pants up to our knees every time going to and back from the office. The road job nearby has clogged the drain so bad that even a short heavy rain will flood the area.

That reminds me of my school days at Sulatanah Asma School. Those days whenever there’s raining season, the water will rise. I used to be amazed at the rate the water rose..One minute the area was clear and the next, it was flooded up to our knees. I love looking down at the water (since our classes were on the upper floor) . It felt as though we were on a big ship cruising to nowhere. And of course, there bound to be a few classes cancelled..Yippee…!!

A Bus Trip to BP

Last Thursday, my husband told me he had to work late on Friday night so we decided to 'balik Penang' on Friday. Early friday morning, both our kids and the maid followed us to work. After breakfast at my office, my husband called his brother to pick the children and maid at the airport (hubby's workplace). Later after work, I took the bus to the ferry to cross over to the island. I left around 5pm from my office and lucky me I got the bus straigh away and as soon as I reached at the terminal, the ferry arrived.
I called hubby and he said he may not be able to make it so I thought why not I try the bus...I went to the bus terminal and unfortunately the bus to Balik Pulau just left. "Nampak "bontot" bas baru keluar",the inspector said. But another bus will be arriving in 10 mins. He told me to take bus no 403 or 403E. After a 5 mins of waiting, I saw bus no 403 came in. I got on the bus...feeling rather nostalgic.
It reminds me of those good ol' days when I dont have my own transport. During my student days and then when I started working in KL...I usually enjoyed the bus ride. I loved watching people and the scenery. Anyway, the bus took a long way to Balik Pulau. It was fun and enjoyable.
There were still a few good young ones who's willing to give away their seats to the elderly. I couldn't help eavesdropping to some conversation behind me about a guy flirting with two girls. I looked outside the windows and there's so much happenings around us which we hardly noticed if we ride in the car. I saw an old man sleeping on the bench at the bus station at Komtar and everyone pretended he's was not around. There was a mother carrying lots of plastic bags of goodies and her small son following besides her. She cant even hold his hands and the child had to hold her hem to keep up with her.
The scenery turns lovely when we reached the hills. I salute the driver. He's really good. The road was winding around the hill and there are a few sharp turns, but he was a real pro. My husband kept calling me a few times asking me where I was. Finally I arrived at balik pulau. And goodness ..guess what time was it? I arrived at 8.30 pm. It took me 3hrs and 30 mins from my office to my MIL's house in Balik Pulau...!!But time flies when one is having fun...Well..I might do it again next time. This time I might take bus no 403E and see where it will take me for another round of tour. And the best thing about it is it only cost me RM3.00 for the trip.