Kiasuism Aussie Style

You know how Malaysian and Singaporean parents are extremely kiasu when it comes to their children's education (and everything else in general, actually)? Well, kiasuism exists here too, but not in terms of academic performance, apparently.

To be fair, all parents want their kids to do well in school. But few local Australian parents would take the trouble to send their kids to tuition classes after school. This is something prevalent only among Asian migrant families. Yep, they load their kids with extra homework because there's virtually no homework for kids below Year 3.

On the other extreme end, there are ridiculous proposals by some very misguided parents to ban homework because they claim homework should be done at school under the supervision of the teacher. Beats me. I don't know how on Earth some of these parents justify that kind of thinking but this is not the minority speaking. This kind of lobbying has been going on for some time it seems.

Anyway, back to the topic of kiasuism. The folks here take socialising and sports very seriously. Most kids will go to their friends' houses after school once or twice a week - just to play, not to do homework together. Joshua has been going to his friends' house regularly and Joanne has invited her friends too. That's fine actually.

But what boggles me is how some parents arrange their kids' week according to the kind of sport they get involved in - Monday (Swimming), Tuesday (Soccer), Wednesday (Tennis), Thursday (Footy), Friday (Cricket) - you get the drift. And then they protest when there's homework for the kids because their kids' week is already packed!

Don't get me wrong. Sports are good. I wish Joshua would show more interest in them but he's happy just being the spectator, not the player. But don't you think too many sports may not be that great? How does a kid stay focused?

And then there's the thing with birthday parties. They are BIG here. And I get worried every time the kids receive an invitation (once a month at least). The parents seem very preoccupied with outdoing one another in the form of lavish parties. The parties usually come with a theme, sometimes with clowns-cum-magicians to keep the kids amused. Some are held in fancy venues. And of course, the host is expected to hand out goodie bags before the guests leave. I must say, some of the parties are really cool - more the reason for me not to hold any birthday parties for I'll never be able to live up to their standards here!

Honestly, I dread the day Joshua and Joanne start demanding to have their own birthday parties. I have been coughing up lots of excuses. I'm not sure for how much longer they'll buy those, though. Maybe I'll have something for them when they turn 18 ...

The Birthday

I turned 38 today. Well, the day didn't start well. It wasn't the thought of my getting closer to the grave that gave me that sinking feeling. It was the sorethroat that had been bugging me for a couple of days.

It just got worse. I felt as if a small blade had been lodged in my throat. Each time I swallowed, that was a stabbing pain. Darn, how was I to enjoy my birthday dinner? I felt drowsy and tired throughout the whole day as I did my usual house chores and got my kids ready for their little sojourn at my cousin's house for the evening.

Yep, no kids for the evening. Just me and Alex and a nice dinner and err, a seminar.

No mistake there. I did write "seminar". You see, my beloved significant other had signed us both up for a free "First-Time Home Buyer Information Seminar" for the evening. He apparently failed to note the significance of the date when he called up the organiser to book a place. He only realised that after I reminded him that Sept 26 is my birthday.

And he went "Oh, we can have an early dinner and then go to the seminar. Can you ask your cousin if we can leave the kids at her place for the evening?" That was 2 weeks ago.

That's my man. At least he was still buying me dinner. He took me to a crowded and noisy Chinese Restaurant in Richmond. No romantic mood there but the food was awesome. As I tucked into the succulent crab meat (really yummy), he actually said we could ditch the seminar if we were to really enjoy our dinner. So I deliberately took my time eating my crab.

We actually finished our dinner with 20 minutes to go before the seminar started. We could just make it if we hurried. Luckily, Alex suggested we go somewhere else - to Crown, the place to be in Melbourne. We didn't stay very long but it was nice just the two of us.

At least there's still hope for this man that I married.