Taking time off to help in school is essential for our children to understand that we are eager to be a part of their school life, which is a fundamental part of their little lives. For me, it also serves as another avenue for me to get to know their little friends (and vice versa), so I have more things to chat with the Bees about!
We took a long bus ride all the way to Pasir Ris, during which some of her little friends were accosting me for non-stop attention. One precocious girl was singing incessantly to me, and kept asking me cute questions. Another assertive girl kept trying to mother Little Bee continuously. And yet another boy kept complaining to me about another girl's assaults on him! I was deeply tickled by all these, although I tried to be sympathetic and understanding.
The entire bus, consisting of 2 K1 classes, was enveloped in a deafening ruckus of kids' highly excited and loud chatterings, which rose to a rambunctious crescendo upon arriving at Kid's Kampong! It was all great fun!
I was not very prepared for the imminent hard work in a kid's kampong, where their first activity was longkang (drain) fishing - the kids were all given a bucket and a small handheld net to catch small, terrified and swift guppies from narrow, meandering ponds!
First, I must ensure that all these 12 over-enthusiastic K1 kids do not topple into the pond in their excitement to catch the scurrying fishes. And I almost fainted from the sheer fatigue of catching fishes for 7 to 8 insistent kids who were bent on capturing as many colourful fishes into their little buckets. I tried my best not to be impartial towards Little Bee, so I had to ask her to wait for her turn many times.
Little Bee had 2 fishes in the end, although the kids could not bring the fishes back, which I thought was good practice!
The other mummy helper and I were chuckling later on that we do not normally do such tricky, laborious feats like catching little guppies - especially for me, because Hubby was usually the one who helped to catch all the fishes when we used to frequent this place in the past. I bragged unashamedly to him in the evening that I had surpassed his record of captured fishes in a single session, due to immense pressure from anxious and distraught-looking kids standing right beside me as I was frantically swiping the net at the furiously fast fishes!
Little Bee and her best friends focusing hard on catching those elusive guppies!
The weather was chaotic that afternoon. After a short tea break where I had fun helping the little kids with their yummy snack of cheese, bread and raisins, the kids proceeded to the small animals' section for a bout of feeding. They were all tremendously excited at feeding a gigantic pond of multifarious koi fishes that were so impetuously fighting for the food that many of these large koi fishes were struggling with each other on a ledge above the water!
Just as the kids were enjoying themselves, the sunny skies turned dark almost instantaneously, and a sudden, turbulent downpour ensued. We were all caught off guard without any shelter, and the management passed us several umbrellas. Imagine a rampageous scene where we tried sheltering 3-4 kids per umbrella, who were more interested in dashing about in the heavy rain, still trying to feed and observe the different animals! It took a lot of effort to get them huddled under the umbrella to be bundled off to the main building.
By which they were mainly drenched! To make matters worse, almost all of them did not bring along an extra change of clothes. Thankfully, Little Bee has an extra set of clothes, and was nice and dry after she was changed.
My heart swelled with sympathy for the rest of the little kids, some of whom were complaining to me that they were cold and wet. The 4 of us (2 teachers + 2 mums) proceeded to get them to take out all their wet socks, and I got a clean towel to dry the kids - from their hair, to their bodies to their wet feet and shoes! In the end, we put some thick paper napkins at the back of the kids' T-shirts so they would be slightly drier. Poor kids!
I think the adage for kind, loving teachers is very true, as echoed by Big Bee's principal in primary school just recently, "We treat every child as if they are our own, and hence, will be able to put in all our love and commitment."
As I was cleaning each of the kids, I thought of this adage, and it was so easy for our generous adult hearts to love all these kids unconditionally, not just focusing on our own children. I think that is a quintessential characteristic for all good teachers.
I would think that the kids would be knocked out by fatigue after this rainy episode, but Little Bee's K1 class was boisterous and comically noisy in the bus, despite the fact that the other K1 class did not utter a single squeak due to exhaustion! That being said, I was told by many teachers that Little Bee's class has one of the most outspoken, extroverted and active kids in the kindergarten, which I thought suited Little Bee just fine!
What a day - and this serves as a powerful reminder for me to appreciate Little Bee's kindergarten teachers even more, as I witnessed for myself their unfaltering devotion to the kids and relentless hard work, despite the inevitable fatigue!
3 comments:
Wowee! You must have been so exhausted at the end of it all! But I agree helping out shows them that you want to be part of their school life... Give yourself a pat on the back! Also, thought returning the fish back was a good idea, since most of the kids won't be equipped to take good care of them!
Hey, it sounds super exhausting and yet fulfilling. I'm the parent volunteer for dylan's field trip to the health zone tomorrow and I pray for an easier time haha!!
MamaJ: Yes! I was truly exhausted but it was all worth it when you see the pride and joy in the little one's face when she realised I was a parent helper. It does mean the world to them :)
viv: Very fulfilling indeed, as you will know. How was Dylan's field trip to Health Zone?
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