While most families love to celebrate birthday, my family usually spent more time celebrating all the small little wins we have in the house.
For my elder girl, it is usually sports related. Her wins, her near losses and finally her studies1
For my younger girl, it is usually art related, Her art work being chosen to be exhibited on a national or school level and finally her studies2.
Unlike my older girl, study does not come easy for my younger one. It also meant that my younger one always struggle more3 while getting similar results. There is also an intense rivalry in the house where my younger one will try to match up or even surpass her elder sister despite both of them being in different school, studying through a different pathway and at different grades.
Due to this need to do well, we are lucky enough not to need to worry about both of their studies. Instead, my wife and I are often more worried about their physical and mental health - SEE (Sleep, Eat and Exercise). This is especially true for my younger one. Her intense need to do well academically coupled with her varied interests (computer coding, piano, art, sewing) meant that she is always lacking sleep and exercise.
Out of the blue, my wife and I were invited to a prize presentation. My younger one got a Higher Distinction Award for her essay in a national literary competition.
As a teenager receiving possibly the biggest win in her life, she tried to look oblivious to the whole proceedings. She kept insisting that she is more interested in the food buffet line than the prize.
As my girl sat down with all the winning recipients, the judge went up and highlighted how they chose the best essay. The name of the judge on the stage sounds oddly familiar.
My daughter and I have fond memories of reading her series of book. So I message my younger one.
It is the year 2020 and my younger one finds it laborious to read any book. My strategy then is to buy as many books and hope something sticks.
Everyday, I picked up a book and started to read a chapter or more to her. If she is interested, I will continue. If not, I will move on to the next book. It was mostly a series of failure till I started to read “My BFF is an Alien” to her.
A few days later, I saw her picking up the book and started to read4. The rest they say is history. She has been reading and writing ever since.
After the ceremony, we managed to track Vivian down and took a photo with her. My girl is brimming with excitement and my eyes are watery with emotion.
Instead of celebrating my daughter win, I will be celebrating my win.
A cherished memory of sitting down with my daughter and getting her started on reading. Getting her to enjoy the beauty of an imaginary world brought through words. A gift that will make her life much richer for a very long time.
As win for a time well spent on my part.
Cheers!
she is quite a natural in her studies
as Chinese, how could this be missing in any sentence
she just spent most of her spare time studying
something clicked