Life Of A Parent Helper

May 14 was exceedingly tiring for me, merely because I had volunteered to be a parent helper for Big Bee's Zany Brainy Games Day in school, whereby parents organised a day of remarkable activities for the kids so that the teachers can mark their papers peacefully (and accurately!). 

I was also a parent helper for this same event last year. Despite the immense fatigue last year, I decided to go for a second round because I truly enjoy being around big rowdy primary school kids! Hence, this year, I became a "Station Master" for one of the games and had to judge and monitor these kids. 

Little did I know that Little Bee's Sports Day also fell on the same day, albeit in the afternoon! Under the persistent hot sun and punishing heat, it was truly an exhausting but fun-filled day, which is really what parenthood is fundamentally about! 

Morning: Big Bee's Zany Brainy Games Day

I woke up at 6.15am to dress up and prepare to stride right into school with Big Bee, much to her delight. Once again, I had wonderful networking opportunities with parents of children from different primary standards. For this event, Big Bee had written a long entry in her journal. With her permission (and some editing just to cut down on the length and details), here are some pages from her diary :) 

**Long entry by Big Bee**

Today, it was my Zany Brainy Games. I also had the highest English marks for my test for the whole primary two! Mummy went in with me to school because she was a station master. After my flag assembly, I went to the courtyard to draw a car decal. The most beautiful decal in every level will be printed out to be a real car decal for the school. I drew the school badge and my school. I coloured it beautifully. After I finished decorating my decal, I went to the hall for a dance competition. Our whole class was the first class to dance on stage with our old class in primary one. I was crazy on stage. I said to Amanda, "Ka-put" and told her that she farted. Amanda did the same to me. Me and Amanda also did a "chicken dance" all around the stage which made the pupils and parents laugh! At the last part of our dance, we pretended to fall down when we bowed. It was very fun. We watched the other classes do their dances but none of the classes were funnier than our class! 

After the dance competition, we went for our recess. I went with Amanda, Joanne and Madeline. We went to the playground for our recess. I saw Mummy near some of the benches next to the playground during recess. Soon, our whole class was at the Parents' Corner. Our class chaperones thought that our whole class was there so we started our Crazy Class Challenges! 

Our first Crazy Class Challenge was called "Castles In The Skies". We had to stack up cards to make a big triangle. It was difficult but I managed to make the biggest, tallest triangle among my class. Our team won! My classmate, Rachel, was as good as me. I managed to make a seven storey triangle while Rachel managed to make a five storey triangle. 

Our next station was called "Ping Pong Pass". Mummy was a judge for that station. We had to hold on to spoons and pass a ping pong ball. When my friends saw Mummy, they were screaming loudly, "(Big Bee)'s mother!" We passed the ball to each other. Unfortunately, our team did not win. 

After that, we went to our last station called "Crazy Hair Challenge". We had to tie as many ponytails as we can to a girl. The team that has the most ponytails tied on their hair will be the winner. I was a model while Rachel tied my hair. She tied about nine ponytails. Our team had eighteen ponytails altogether. We won again! 

After that, we had a one hour play time. My friends and I rushed down to the canteen. Our class chaperones were very slow, they were behind screaming at us, "Do not go so fast!" When we were at the canteen, some of my friends went to buy food and some went to play the piano. When I was about to join my friends at the piano, I saw Mummy. Madeline offered some food to Mummy. Janna also offered Mummy some food. After playing the piano, my friends and I played a ghost game in a tunnel at the canteen. Someone pretended to be a ghost with their hair on their face and my classmates who were not the ghost would go into the tunnel. When they see the ghost, they would run out of the tunnel screaming. If someone got caught by the ghost, it would be their turn to be the ghost. I did not get caught by the ghost. 

After that, we went to the Sports Complex for our prize giving. First, the prize-giving parent helpers announced who won for the car decal. Unfortunately, I did not win. It was very boring. Joanne gave me and Alethea some paper to draw. I drew a picture of my school. Madeline loved my picture so I gave it to her. I thought that our class would not win anything but we did!! I was very happy. It was my best day of the semester. 

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Afternoon: Little Bee's Sports Day

I sneaked out of Zany Brainy Games (and thus missed the prize giving ceremony) to reach home on time to bring Little Bee to her Sports Day. She was anticipating this the entire morning, and was skipping and hopping with delighted excitement when she saw me. Despite my fatigue, and wanting Little Bee to truly experience this to the fullest, I wiggled and jiggled with her in exhilaration. 

This is her first Sports Day in school (and my 5th since Big Bee was in the same school!) but I was trying to gain a different perspective from her innocent, fresh and unclouded bright eyes...and I began to feel a growing sense of pride stealing stealthily into my being. My little baby is now participating in a Sports Day as a pre-kindergartener! She is truly a big girl, ready to fill our hearts with bursting pride. 

She loved every bit of such mega events, dancing vigorously during the warm-up dance, smiling her dazzling beam of ubiquitous grin, participating in all the races with sprightly gusto and jesting playfully with all her little friends - always with that amazing smile and positive attitude. 

We went home with her in our arms, chatting animatedly about her very first Sports Day. For me, having experienced Big Bee dashing through all the Sports Days and knowing just how swiftly time passes, I am not sure if I am looking forward to the next Sports Day. Because that would mean my Little Bee will be a big K1 girl...and growing up way too fast!