Charlotte and Her Friend Performing Their Piano Duet
Charlotte is a different story. The thing is, we don’t push her: she is motivated to do well. All the time. Whatever she sets her mind to, she embraces, goes forth and conquers. Since the day we met her, seven years ago at a hotel in Nanchang, China, and we officially became a family (she was one year old at the time), she has shown a spirit of dedication, enthusiasm and unrelenting persistence (at the time that meant screaming at the top of her lungs for one week solid until she made her peace with the idea that we weren’t going anywhere and she was stuck with us as her parents). With that comes a huge desire for attention (“Diva in the making? Following in mama’s footsteps?” many of you who know me may be asking.) and approval.
We are so proud of both of our amazing daughters, but not
because of all they can do. Just because
they are who they are: high-spirited, happy, playful little nutty kids. I’ve written before about how I am not a tiger mommy and how I really want
my children to have the “normal” childhoods of the kids of my generation. The thing is: what is the new normal?
My children aren’t feeding the cows and chickens after
school or gathering firewood for the woodstove like I did as a kid. They aren’t manuring out the barn on
Saturdays and weeding the garden. I’m
sure there are still some children in the developed world who are doing that,
but not very many. What are my gals doing?
Frankly, less than most of their compatriots in Hong Kong, where the
pressure to be involved in academic pursuits from morning until night and to be an expert in every
sport, musical instrument and a straight A student is intense, even in primary
school.
The girls both take piano lessons and practice haphazardly. Charlotte is more self-motivated than Emily,
but what you see here in the video is most certainly not a result of a mean mama
looking over her shoulder with a stern, “You’re not getting any ice cream until
you practice your scales.” Not even
close.
They also have swimming in school as part of PE time and do
one extra lesson in swimming in a week.
This one I insist on: not because
I am a lover of swimming (I can’t stand getting into any water that is colder
than a steamy bathtub), but because it’s a life skill in addition to being a
great sport. Do I expect them to become
competitive swimmers? Of course
not. If they want to compete in any
sport or skill (and I have a feeling Charlotte will, being the driven gal that
she is), it is their choice. We are both
parents without competitive genes. (Some
of you may beg to differ when it comes to me, but you’ll certainly agree when
it comes to my Type B sweetie.)
Our expectations for ourselves and our children are simply
that we practice kindness always and that we be the best we can be; but that we
needn’t measure ourselves against anyone else.
Sadly, that is not the expectation of the Hong Kong Education Department
or many other institutions that are set up around the world to standardize
learning and test results. Balderdash, I
say. (And that comes from a woman who
has been teaching for going on 24 years now!)
Okay, there’s more.
Charlotte takes skipping lessons and Emily takes karate. They chose these activities. They love them. We have a world-ranked skipping/PE teacher at
our school that motivates the kids greatly, and Emily was inspired by Kung Fu Panda to develop her martial arts passion.
Homework? Yes, there’s
a bit. Charlotte does hers and creates
even more for herself: she writes books, keeps diaries, makes charts and
compiles exhaustive lists. Emily hides
hers. (But she’s six. What do you want?) Time for play? Really quite a lot. Evenings are filled with cars and stuffed
animals and, yes, I’ll admit it (though I blame Don), iPhone games with Daddy.
We share nearly every dinner together where there is plenty
of talking about what we are thankful for, reminders to use a fork and knife
and not fingers, and lots of laughter and joy (and sometimes outright
frustration when Emily pretends to fall asleep because she doesn’t want to
finish her supper or Charlotte spills her milk for the sixteenth time in a week).
There are always bedtime stories and snuggles and every weekend is family
time.
Somehow, in this crazy world, we have managed to strike a
reasonable balance of work and play for our children. The good news is, they mostly perceive the
work as play. Now wouldn’t the world be a better place if
we could all do that? I may change my
tune as the children become teenagers and actively rebel against doing their
homework or lessons and the stakes are higher, but for the time being, tiger
mommy I most certainly am not!
Goals for the Remainder of the Week:
To encourage the kids to do at least a bit of piano practice, especially Emily. Charlotte, of course, will do it without prompting.
To do some baking with the girls.
To do some hiking with the whole family.
To have Emily dress up in her tiger costume and scare us all; she plays a tiger a lot better than her Mommy does!
Emily being a tiger daughter.