Accepting their uniqueness

When my eldest son, Marcus, started schooling, I did not ask for him to be an honor student because I just wanted him to enjoy the whole learning experience. I know he belongs to the above average group (even superior), based on his teachers’ assessment, test results and my own observation, but again I don’t want to put pressure on him. But then I realized that even if you don’t expect your kids to excel, its quite frustrating to see them ‘as if’ waste their talent and refuse to take advantage of it. Marcus gets high grades only on subjects he likes and very low on those he thinks ‘unimportant.’ Worse, he has no motivation at all to study.

Zach, on the other hand, is a born achiever. Like Marcus, I never pushed him to be the cream of the crop but he chose to be one. Best about it, he seems not to exert effort at all. Being an honor student for him is ‘as if’ a normal thing. He nags me to do homework and he loves to read. Funny because at times he won’t believe what I ask him to do unless he reads it from the diary himself.

Modesty aside, I have intelligent kids. Even Lia, I can see potential in her. She’s interested with numbers and letters already. She can pick up words and ideas easily. It’s my kids’ attitude, interests and motivation that differ. Sometimes I think maybe not being there all the time for Marcus during his growing up years (because I was still working then) could have been a factor, but I cannot really blame myself because we needed additional source of income at that time. Well, at least I gave up work before its too late. My only dream for my kids is that they become the best that they can be and I’ll do my best to ensure that.