Tales of Two Women

My son is at the age when he is curious about everything surrounding him. His endless questions are sometimes considered “irritating” to me especially after a hard day work. When I answered his first question, it will lead to its second, third and ..forever.

I read a news on the paper about parenting yesterday. It said the parents should not scold them or ignore the kids or else it would make them to lose confident in the things they do. Usually, I will try to be patient to explain to him. If it is impossible, I will tell him,” Joe, mummy is driving, ask me when we got home, ok?” or ” Joe, mummy is very tired, can you let mummy rest a while, then I will answer your question, ok?”

I know that we parents, should set a good example for the kids to follow. Well, I did a “mistake” yesterday on our way back. After picking him up from the child care centre, we were heading home. Before we reached home, we had to turn at the traffic light. Many drivers just turn even when the traffic light is red because it is a small junction and there are not many cars.

Here ’s the conversation between me and my son.
We waited at the traffic light junction. The light was “red”. I looked around and made sure there was no other cars coming towards the direction that I wanted to turn and most importantly, no traffic police!
There I turned!

Joe : “Mummy, why are you turning when the light is red? You are not supposed to do that!”
Me : (feeling embarrased) “Hmm..the light is not working properly, so I turned”
Joe : “But mummy, the traffic light is functioning because it shows red, then changed to green. If it is not functioning, there will be no colour!”
Me : (wondering if I should tell him that what I did was wrong) ” Boy, I think I overlooked it”
Joe : “That ’s dangerous, mummy. If caught by the uncle police, he will “saman” you”

I was surprised by his logic. Shouldn’t it be dangerous if we turn at the red right? What he concerned is the “saman” though! And where he learnt the “saman” word from? Does he really understand what it meant? It’s now my turn with endless questions.

I quickly corrected his thinking. I told him that many accidents happened because they go when the light is red. That’s why the traffic police punish them by giving them a “saman” which they have to pay. I finally admit that I made a mistake just now.