It's been so long since I post any entry here. I just decided to write my thoughts and whatsoever here.
But it did not stop me from studying more of psychology and sociology, I kept reading articles in these areas and books about it. I still enjoy reading it! I am planning to pursue my dream of becoming a children psychologist or in an area that I will be able to influence a child positively and shape a better future for the child.
Why children. I believe I have an amazing ability to bond with children and I love helping children. Just today, I brought my son to the indoor playground at Ang Mo Kio Hub. There was this girl about 4 years old. She was playing with a swing that was a little too small for her. The swing is stated for children below 3 and weighs less than 15 kg. She seem to not fulfill these 2 criteria. There were many older children playing with it, so I just went about my usual routine. Suddenly, the girl fell down where her face landed on the ground. She cried loudly. I was like OMG! I was stunned for awhile before I reacted. I quickly carried her up and sat her down. Soothing her and asking her where she hurt herself, Apparently, it wasn't her face or head that hurt, it was her leg. So I just smoothed the area that she indicated where she feel painful. At the same time, I was wondering, where is her mother or father or even a caretaker. Because no one came forward to help her at all.
She felt better after awhile and stopped crying. I asked her where is her mum. She didn't replied and darted off. I didn't pursue further. Though I continue to look around for signs of her parents. But I saw no one that seem to be her caretaker. The thought that there was no one watching for her safety was kind of bothering for me. By this time, my son was very eager to play and run around with him. So we did. I must say, the girl and what happen still lingered in my mind. Hence, from time to time, I was searching for the girl and seeing what she is up to and whether her parents are around. I spot the girl but not her parents.
Time pass, then I saw the girl walking up to the exit. She wanted to exit on her own, I hanged around to understand what was happening. She wanted to look for her mum. The people in-charged of the play area responsibly told her that she isn't allowed to leave the place without an adult. They asked her where her mum is, she have no idea. The people in-charged asked her to go back to play until her mum comes back for her. Seeing that situation, I went to the girl to initiate her to come play with my son and myself. She was very reluctant. She went back to the play area with us but darted off again.
I called out to my son to get him to play with the "jie jie", my son was reluctant too. :(
I tried to ask the girl to continue to follow us but it didn't go well because my son wanted me to just proceed elsewhere to play. Before, I went along with my son, I asked the girl to just follow us and use gestures of come and join us. Not much success here.
After awhile, the little girl was back at the exit again. She wants to find her mum. The person in-charged asked for her mum phone number and she knew. They called her and finally she arrived. I thought that was the end of the episode. I thought they were going to leave since her mum is here. Unexpectedly, it isn't. Her mum insist that she go back to play and so the girl did what she was told. The mum left again.
This time, I decide, I have to engage both my son and the little girl more so that she will follow us and so will my son accept that we will be having her with us for some time. Did I succeed this time round? Yes! I went down to their level, got myself into an even more playful mode, acted like a child just wanting to have fun!
It's obvious both my son and the little girl needed time to adjust to playing together. But with some help from me. All of us managed to. In fact, another little boy joined us, since we seem to be having fun. Slowly, all the 3 kids are having fun playing together. Not forgetting me. They looked to me to lead them many a time. Which I gladly did. I was really happy while I see all the 3 kids being comfortable and just enjoying each other companion while playing with the slides and climbing everywhere.
Finally, we settled at the area where we can just sit and rock the toy horses. This time, an additional kid joined in. Now there are a total of 4 kids enjoying each other presence. While, I continued to engage them and sang rock-a-by-baby-on-a-tree-top. I took this opportunity to get their names. There is a Daniel, a Zi Jun (can't confirm if I remember correctly!), and the little girl was En something. I just couldn't get her name, I couldn't hear her clearly despite my many attempts. Neither did I want to make her feel uncomfortable so I just settled with me calling her En En.
There is one thing that happen in this whole event. While climbing around the playground. The little girl En En called my mama when she tried calling me from a short distance away. I was like hmmmm.... I guess she really hope her mum was there to play with her and just be with her when she needed or wanted her.
While on the back home, I was thinking about today's event. I hope that one day I can be a bridge that help close the gap between both the parents or the adults in the children's life and their children.
I know for a fact that many parents love their children. The issue is that most parents do not know how to connect with their own children in a way that the children feel cared for. After all, many of us, adults and parents are not brought up in a way that we felt cared for as a child. Neither are we taught how to do create that sort of connection with the important people in our life while we grew up learning and studying everything else in school except for the important life skills we so needed but aren't equipped with.
Therefore, one of my many hopes is to be able to do just that. Just be able to help both the adults and children connect in a deep and meaningful way to a more enriching and happier life.
Children will eventually become adults and they ultimately become our future. Every point of time, we can create a better future for us all, no matter if we start with the adults or the child. I believe it isn't important to know where to start. Just start anywhere and things will flow on its own. :)
It is such a long winded and windbag sort of post. I shall just end here before I'm being hurled away by all the strong winds out there.
May we all be able to get closer to our dreams and love and everything we truly needed and wanted!
Chilled out.... ^_^
Sherry
