i saw at a dinner table...

I had a wonderful dinner at an excellent chinese restaurant called Pu Tien at Kitchener Road. Excellent food. By the time my parents and I had finished our food, there was a long, long queue at the restaurant.

At the dinner table, sitting quite near us, was this father and 3 sons, eating together. And they were talking a lot of interesting stuff, which I didn't mean to overhear. But sounds waves spread out in space, so I couldn't help but catch a bit of the vibrations of the air coming from their table. The son was talking about 'Stem Cell' research, and I was checking to myself about what I know abot Stem Cell research and things like that. And I happen to know a bit... But the point was that there was an excellent conversation going down there, I bet...

And then... I go back home, flipped through the channels, and chanced upon a teenage girl from RGS/RJC who had won some essay competition, about the modern life and the materialistic, de-spiritual Singaporean... which was kinda Catherine Lim-ish, I suppose... but it was an excellent essay, I might add. And then there was some part about the parents' concern for the girl...

hmm... I suppose after all of that I would talk about my own family... but this time, I won't. I would say that the family is extremely important to the development of the kid, and kids who are intellectually demanding demand intellectual attention from their parents. I guess that works. Yes, a bit of enviousness inevitably rises up, but I feel ashamed after that because I know my parents do love me...

Which makes me want to move on about how I wanna parent my kid. I would have books, as I had, but I won't expect my kid to go read up... I would entertain my kids' questions, and answer them as meaningfully as I can, give them an answer, ask them to read up about it themselves, and then come back to me to talk about it... And this would go on and on... I wouldn't control them, I would only quietly push them in certain directions, to allow them to explore by themselves, but always around to talk about certain things, but I guess, never give them an answer directly. Whatever it is, I'll let them run away with whatever idea they have, but just that i'll guide them however i can...

yeah... i guess thats how I would teach my kid... i'm sure they'll surpass me sometime, and when they reach there i'll say... 'hey, i can't be there anymore. i can only guide, but i can't give the answers... you'll have to go there on your own...' ... but then, i would have always done that so much that they'll get it...

make their own destiny. thats what parenting is about, i guess.