On their way

1. My firstborn and her husband are blessed with two children; Umar aged 6 and Nuraina aged 5. Early last December, they were preparing to send the children on their first step along the road to formal education.

2. My wife and I were excited to see how the children would behave on their first day in a kindergarten, so we stayed for three days at their house in Simpang Ampat, Seberang Prai which is about 60 kilometres from Sungai Petani where we live.

3. On the awaited day of 16 December, my daughter woke her children up round about 6.30 in the morning and then helped them to shower and dress. Umar and Nuraina seemed cheerful and excited to go to school for the first time.

4. My wife and I accompanied the parents to send the siblings to participate in a five-day orientation programme called “Holiday Camp” at the kindergarten. It was on level one at the northern end of a commercial block.

5. I staggered up a flight of rather long stairs after the children and their parents to a crowded reception area. Through the partial glass partition, I noticed the adjacent room was already alive with children seated around circular tables doing various activities under the guidance of several teachers.

6. Umar and Nuraina were ushered by their mother into the room and led to one of the attending teachers. That was when Nuraina suddenly burst into tears and cried uncontrollably. The teacher promptly began to console her without any effect.

7. By the look on his face, it seemed that Umar was affected and near to tears, but another teacher quickly consoled him and upon being ushered to an empty seat at a table he called out to his mom to stay put in the reception where he could see her through the glass partition.

8. The other teacher took his crying sister in her arms and carried her somewhere out of sight. In a while Umar was quite settled and began to play with some bricks. At that time I was aware that the piteous sound of Nuraina crying had subsided.

9. Later that day, a teacher shared photos of the siblings on their mom’s smartphone and she shared them with us. Umar seemed contented and happy, but Nuraina hadn’t fully recovered from sadness. Her mom was curious to know why she burst out on her first day in school and Nuraina put it simply, “I tried to prevent my tears from flowing, but my tears flowed anyway.”

Nuraina's first day blue

10. She burst out again on the second day and later after school she confided her feelings to her mother, “I pity you, mama. You’re all alone at home. Who will take care of you?” On the third day, she was on the verge of tears but one of the teachers quickly calmed her down and involved her in an activity. That prevented her from crying.

Keeping busy

11. Every day they would bring home simple items they did in class. We complimented them and felt happy for them. At the end of the third day upon leaving for home we told the children to love school. I thanked the breadwinner for his hospitality.

Items they brought home

12. He is a hard-working man and I believe that he would keep his nose to the grindstone to make ends meet. The monthly fee for the kindergarten is RM330 per head and that would slice a significant amount from his monthly salary. Nuraina is fortunate because one of her mother’s siblings is willing to pay for her monthly fee on account of latter’s fondness for her.

13. On the second last day of the “Holiday Camp” my daughter waited for quite a while before the siblings came down the stairs accompanied by their teacher. Halfway down Umar called out to her saying he went to the toilet. It was obvious to her noticing the back pocket of his trousers turned to the front.

14. The orientation programme lasted until December 20. After a lapse of nearly two weeks the kindergarten session for 2020 started in early January. We wondered if Nuraina would burst out again as she did before. A morning photo shared by her mother before they left for school showed Nuraina and Umar in happy mood and we took heart from that. 

 

In happy mood

15. However, later that day we learned that Nuraina burst out again upon joining class. Her teacher shared a photo of her in class with a trace of sadness in her eyes. By contrast, Umar was a picture of content. 

Umar contented, Nuraina still sad.

16. The first three or four days were trying for Nuraina. She sulked and started complaining to her mother when she came to fetch them. She’d expected to be in the same class as her brother, but was put in a different class. She thought her brother was ignoring her because he was busying himself making new friends.

17. Not a week later my daughter shared an unlikely quip from Nuraina who happened to have soft flyaway hair. Her mother spends a few minutes every morning to do her hair using cute, colourful hair clips to keep it tidy. My daughter wearies of monotony, so she does different hairdos for her daughter every day such as messy buns, braid, tied mini ponytail and palm-leaves bunches. For that Nuraina complimented her mother candidly, “You do my hair so nicely, Mama. The girls won’t like me for sure, because I look cute.”

Nuraina's hairdos

18. By the second week, Nuraina gradually settled in at the kindergarten and adjusted herself to its routine. She made friends with the kids and knew them by names. Every day she would talk to her mother about her friends and what she did in class.

19. We were glad to learn that Umar and Nuraina loved school and they were doing quite well in their learning. Umar told her mother that his teacher asked him to count. So he counted up to hundred in English and the teacher patted him on the back. The following day positive comments about Umar came from his teacher who told his mother that he was so good on account of being able to write, read and count.

20. Sometimes the unexpected happened. The children were supposed to take off their socks in class for obvious reasons. One day while checking the siblings’ school bags, my daughter found extra pairs of socks in Nuraina’s bag. She told her mother that the boys asked her to keep their socks. Thus, on the very next day my daughter duly made a move to straighten things out.

21. It seemed that Nuraina was diligent whereas Umar got bored easily with his homework. Despite his careless way, teachers liked him. His teacher sent a WhatsApp message to my daughter: 

“All teachers give good comments about Umar. Although this is his first time in school, he has all the basic skills and he can follow the class like other children. Thanks to you for training him up at home.”