May
5
2012

Stressfree Childhood – Is it possible?

I wrote this article during my writing stint for an online magazine last year. I wrote a total of 7 articles on parenting and contributed some craft ideas and then I had to stop due to time constraint. I shared all my published articles in another blog of mine but I’m shutting down that blog soon. Before I shut down that blog, I’ll share those articles here instead starting with the last post I wrote for them…

Don’t we all just love to be able to be a kid again? After all, being a kid simply means having a carefree life – happy with nothing to worry about. No bills, no mortgages only happiness.

Now, if only the above statement holds true in this current world we live in. Those days, as a child, the only stress I encountered was learning to tie my shoe laces. Try as I might, I always get them wrong. Stress!

These days, children are stressed out even before they can learn to walk! Talk to any urban mothers out there. They’ll proudly tell you how they already have everything nicely planned out for their kid even before the child is born!

Often, pressure to excel and wanting to prove that they are mighty good parents push them to do the impossible. Gone were the days when parents shed tears of happiness listening to their child calling them “Mummy” or “Daddy” for the first time. These days, in order to please the parents, the child needs to be able to call “Mummy” in at least 3 different languages, be able to spell them out loud and if possible write them out!

Parents get so engrossed in ensuring that their child will be able to cope with peer pressure that they stressed the whole family out. Their judgement has been clouded with fear that should the child show any sign of weakness it will spell “LOSER”. The urge to win is everything and along the way without realizing it, they have actually lost!

What is a child without a nice childhood? What can you recall about your childhood? I remembered vividly the day my sisters and I trailed after several ducklings. Being our first encounter with real life ducks, we found them too cute to resist. We followed them until they swam away in a stream. We saw a small log floating in the stream and decided to jump on it to get a closer look at those ducks. Alas, we ended up not only on the log, but into the water as well as though the log can float on its own, it couldn’t take all our our weight on it! Thank goodness the stream was shallow and we managed to get ourselves out safely.

The point here is, though what my sisters and I did was dangerous, it taught us a vital lesson that a log floats but not necessarily will stay afloat when too much weight is put on it. Come to think of it, the same goes to a child. Though the brains of most children have the absorbent capacity of a sponge, soak it with too much information and the sponge will get all too soggy and eventually breaks down into pieces.

Stop for a minute and take a step back. Look at your child. Is he or she happy? When was the last time your child ran happily under the sun in the open air chasing after butterflies? Do you remember ever seeing your child looking up in the sky smiling at the birds flying by?

Most of us might not realised it but to many parents these days, the sky is no longer the limit. The irony to all these is, the children hardly ever get to see the sky. All they see are the four walls in those endless classes that they are put to attend.

It is time to break down the walls and let them run free for all you know, the sky might not be there for them anymore tomorrow…

11 Comments + Add Comment

  • //

    I wish I am a kid all over again. But then, I think I am pretty happy with my current adult life. Besides I hate studying and go to school! Haha!!

    • //

      Oh yeah, I dislike studying too :D

  • //

    Dunno…not anymore, I guess. When I was a kid, it was the best time of my life – not a care in the world, so very happy! No stress at all… Times have changed, I guess…and blame the parents, the tiger mums…and dads…and the kiasu syndrome!

  • //

    I used to be wish I’m kid or still study but after having second though it might not be a good idea. World are changing and kids or college life are so different. It is no longer what I experience last time. Therefore, stay put with your current life would be the best.

  • //

    “don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t go there, don’t try that, must do this, must eat this, can’t eat that…” was what I remember in most of my childhood till I grew up accepting it blindly as what I was. I may have grown out of all that now, many decades late, but I may now also be the opposite to my own kid as a result. Do I wish I wa a child again? Well, yes, so I can now know I don’t need to be a doctor, get best grades, can eat beef, hold girls hands, enjoy music my friends listen to, hang out with a girl, and know I’m not doomed for a life of failure. All these phantom threats kill a child’s love for life, and by the time the blindly threatened chile realizes what the real world is, it’s too late to reverse what they’ll think of their childhood and who made it.

    • //

      Now that you know, make sure Jerred has a childhood beautiful enough so he’ll grow up with sweet memories of you n Jess in it. But hey, that’s what you are doing right now and you are doing it great! :)

  • //

    How I wish I can go back to my childhood…fun n fun.

  • //

    hmm but i feel that kids nowadays are more stressful than adult …
    the parents send them to tuition, piano lesson, language lesson and this and that..
    besides that not forgeting getiing good result.
    aiye become a kid is not easy these days le….

  • //

    Agreed with you totally. I always try to bring my kids to the park everyday, if the weather permits. It is fun to see them running around and playing with other kids.

  • //

    My children are very lucky because I hated school and all those english piano after school tuition, ballet etc.. I was exausted rather than enjoying them. They must learn to find the fun in every learning… Eventhough i hated my school days, i never regretted for the effort my mum make that I became the person I am today…. ;) Happy mother’s day….

  • //

    I’ll let Sam play & get herself dirty as long as it’s safe, I want her grow up just like me; climb the tree, play with sands, insects (too bad she scare of them >.<), plants and flowers!

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MeHome is where MY heart is.
I am a mother to two boys; Ethan and Ayden and a wife to Darling William. I'm a stay at home mum who blogs to break the monotony of life and to avoid feeling jaded. Would love to get to know all the Super Mommies and Daddies and Babies or Singles out there with the hope that we can learn more from each other. Most of all, I am a happy person, and I hope YOU are too.

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