Parenting and growing up

It was 12:55pm yesterday as I drove to SMK Bandar Sibu to pick up my second son from school. It was a routine job for me although many would say that we pamper our kids too much nowadays as the school is only a 10-15 minutes walk away from home. Today’s experience reinforced our believe that what we did all these while was well worth it. We shall continue to do so in the near future!

What happened? My wife saw a young boy walking under the hot sun and he was wavering and stumbling along the way and looked like he was going to collapse anytime. She stopped me and told me whether the boy looks alright. I took a good look at the boy andI felt that his conditions warrant my assistance. I parked my vehicle and walked across the road divider to examine him. He looked pale and visibly shaken as I approached him but told me that he is “ok”!

I told him that he is not “ok” and offered to give him a lift. He told me that he has gotten use to it already （我已经习惯了）。I wonder what he meant by that, so I probed further. He got a bit uncomfortable and refused my help. I was wondering whether I should let it go but my conscience told me that I have to do something about it. He then told me that he can not accept my help because he was not sure of my intention. I told him that my kids are his schoolmates and there is no reason why he can’t trust me. I even told him about my kids’ names to put him at ease.

Before we came to an agreement, a pick-up truck stopped by us and the boy entered the vehicle. I opened the door and saw the woman driver who was visibly disturbed by my probing. She asked me what was wrong and I introduced myself and told her what happened, She asked me “Is he not feeling well?” and then turned to the boy to ask the same question which he did not reply. She sounded annoyed as if the kid is causing unnecessary trouble or wny this stranger is probing so much.

I walked back to my vehicle and told my wife the whole thing and she agreed that there something isn’t quite right. First, there is the question of why the boy was walking home if the mother is picking him up in the first place? Secondly, why didn’t he just tell me that his mother will pick him up? Thirdly, he said he lives in Rejang Park which is at least 1.5 km away and was he telling me that he used to walk home by foot? Fourthly, why was he so suspicious of my assistance, I am sure I do not look like a rogue. Lastly，why was he pretending that he is fine when he couldn’t even walk straight?

Never mind the above, I did what I have to do and I am sure many of us would have done the same. I put this on the blog to tell the parents out there that there might be a lot about our kids that we do not know as they might not tell us everything. We need to spend time with them and pay more attention to them as we do not want to regret latter on. Our kids deserve our attention and love which can not be compensated by any other means. Parenting is never easy but so is growing up for the kids!