-
The Big PSLE Freakout
This is beginning to be as sensitive as talking about religion. And it’s getting worse and worse every year. Then there are all these positive initiatives getting people to share stories and PSLE T-scores in the name of telling Nintendo DS-denying parents grades don’t matter (she’s since learned an important lesson: be careful what you say in front of a journalist). First: I love that this is happening, I think it’s important that it’s happening, but I’m sorry this is happening. Second: please, please stop for a minute. We’re making things worse. All these hundred stories from a hundred voices about defining and achieving success a hundred ways, all these I-did-well-despite-my-studies-so-can-your-child-now-let’s-group-hug hullabaloo, all this is as useful to our PSLE-worshipping parents as…
-
Ten Years of Us: A Love Letter
The Blogfather and the Mother of Xander and Yvie celebrate 10 years together—13 if you count the dating years, but that'd be a different anniversary date altogether.
-
Coping, with Success
Up until I was 35, I wanted to be successful, too. Or at least, I was taught to want it.
-
Please Stop Teaching Us How to Raise Successful Children
This is an appeal to any person, group or organisation that plans parenting talks, seminars, workshops, forums and conferences. Since I’ve started blogging as a parent, I’ve received invitations to attend (and a couple of times, sit in the panel of) quite a few of these parenting events. It wasn’t until recently that the messages some of these events organisers are using to market their events started to concern me. Back in 2012, I attended a half-day seminar called “Raising a Successful Child”. The content served isn’t nearly as overbearing as their promotional copy makes them out to be. In fact, one talk I attended actually used case studies of so-called…