Well that is all I have for you dear page. Five minutes. Thoughts jumble out, words fly out of my ears, my nostrils flare in anticipation, fingers fly on the keyboard (thank god I can keep my eyes on the screen).
What do I tell you in these short, too short, five minutes? Why not this, that today is the last day of the monster's exams. And yes, before you snort and smirk, it is true. Mine child has exams. Around six days of it. And today is the culmination of it all. The acid test so to speak. If the rest were small fry, this is the big kahuna. Hindi! (Watch me exclaim thus next year and say Tamizh!). Little fingers on the 'ksha' move this way and that and forget the route and come back in the wrong direction. The big picture view is hilarious, but the small picture one is occasionally bothersome. I have a big chart, right in the living room, driving my mum crazy, so ugly it is hanging on some electrical box type thing of yore. She might read it in her mind, is my argument. When she takes a break from Calvin & Hobbes you mean, sarcastics (go with it, worse people than I have invented worse words such as irregardless) she, putting away my collection, locking the cup-board, and throwing away the key (there IS someone in my head and its not me). I do accept her argument however but retort nevertheless with some acidity.
Studying for exams was always an 'exciting' option. No one sat with me. No one 'egged me on' back then. Now I wonder why it should not be the same here. I think what is missing is an iota of mental maturity (the vocabulary belies the lack of this maturity, but still, I am the mother, I should know). Not to mention the fact that this generation of children seem to rebel and exhibit angst about ten years earlier than we did (as teenagers, that was what we did for a living is it not?). Still, compared to some other stories mothers at school spin, I think I see a spark in her eyes which I recognise.
My five minutes are up, in fact more has transpired. Time to go. I mention in passing that I think exams are wonderful, though meaningless when it comes to evaluating ones abilities for anything. They give you the chance to show off your knowledge, that is true, they let you identify the lacuna, that is also true, they give you closure, so that is something everyone should like, not just us mad-caps. But yes, marks are meaningless. I admit it. Even as I mark across sheets with thick red lines.
12 comments:
why the label 'Pink Floyd' ?? 'Time' or what ??
babbi - its called Brain Damage from Dark Side of the Moon.
what i do is this - ask her to take a chill pill.
gets a star and a 'good' - i say hmm and tilt my head.
gets a 'needs improving blah blah' - i say hmm and tilt my head the same way.
in both cases, see the bigger pic - have you learnt anything here? did you enjoy it? will you help you at all? etc.
i admit all this is tougher to transmit to a not yet 5 yr old, but as they say, start early.
and me too - loved exams and all, no egging needed, the works. are we mad-caps?
oh yaaa... of course ! now i get it..
chox-
of all the problems i have in parenting, this one has, thankfully, been the easiest to deal. what i am aiming for is a 'Thirst for learning', with school and school-work as background. It has worked reasonably well, although I could not clearly state my strategy (which probably means i did not have any!). In the monster's defense, she does like homework and the worksheets they give in school and even the fact that there is now Hindi, a new language, that one can read in. But then she does say 'No' to many of my (very clever) suggestions so I get irritated. (yeah, I know, she is five years old, but to listen to her it does not feel that way!)
hah and here i was trying to grab a chance to distribute some gyaan.. :)
chox
your gyaan is always welcome. i file everything you say away in my mind & tweak to my conditions. but it still is difficult for me, this monster!! I EXPECT you to give me gyaan, you are more experienced, and your girls are such angels... So there.
"...I think exams are wonderful," ??
Exams are always nicer when you are on the other side of the table :)
I loved exams too - the adrenaline rush, the testing of ones own skills .And as you said, it had nothing to do with marks, more a personal challenge.
And great to hear L'amour came through for you on the Dahl book.
jeevan-
thats *exactly* the point. i loved them when i was on the other side. right now its a bit of a pain, especially when i grade them (and everyone has such awful handwriting, puke-worthy).
wj-
thanks again! and yes! another one of us!
angelic?! - i take your word for it then.
and you pls to take all of mine about the non-M.
With you on this! We even had a creative Physics teacher who gave us an exam in a crossword puzzle- such fun.
Having a child take exams- can be rather fraught:(
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