Things kids write

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Children in their innocence write the most funniest things sometimes... and yet they so blatantly express their love for you without an ounce of shyness. Well... that usually is the case, until they grow up. Even for me, I don't say 'I love you' to my parents... it's not our culture because my mother believes that loving someone is in the actions you do, not the words you say. The contrast is for my dad who would really send me smses and emails ending with 'be good my baby, I love you.' Hehehehe. He still thinks I'm a little girl and it shows. Whenever he's overseas and buys me clothes, he always buys them in sizes big enough for an 8 year old. -laughs-

But anyway, this post is about my beloved tuition kid who secretly writes to me the most hilarious notes at the end of her compositions/karangan.

For example, yesterday we were doing a pictorial composition about 'A trip to the chocolate factory' and she did really well so I gave her 17/20 and here's what she wrote:



There's even laughter and a kiss. She's just so adorable.

Here's another note she wrote when we were discussing about my hair.



When I asked her why she described me, a female as 'handsome', she replied that it was because I had no hair. Lol! I told her that I do have hair, it's just that it's covered under the tudung!
As for 'islam princess', it was because she insisted that I could not be either Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Little Mermaid coz they all don't wear tudung. -laughs-

Here's another one:



This girl is so cute! She goes all the way to redeem herself by saying 'I love you' then she goes into a passive aggressive mode- insisting that I was both pretty and handsome with a grammar error at that. =)

She's only eight years old but she has come a long way from where she was in primary 1. I remembered we battled over her calculations, her grammar and so many other things in primary one coz she was failing english and maths so terribly. But I learn that children are as absorbent as a sponge if you encourage them and teach them right. Sometimes you've got to give them tokens of encouragement such as these:



Choosing stickers is her favourite time during the lesson coz she will ponder over it a long time to decide which sticker she wants to be pasted on the page. Well, at times she'll raid my other sticker collection in my organizer especially for the 'marie cat' and 'powerpuff girls' that I keep.

I remembered when I first started wearing tudung, the children were quite shocked and she kept on asking me why am I wearing 'that thing' and where's my hair. I suppose she doesn't know all these because the womenfolk at home do not put on the tudung. I told her that because it is wajib and she asked me what is that. So I had to explain in the most simplest way that wajib is something Allah expects us to do because we love Him. But she's too young to comprehend that.

But I always make sure that she knows special dates like Maulid Rasul and of course Ramadhan... she's still fasting for half days at a time, but I tell her she has to try.

There is one day when she asked me why doesn't her mother and aunt pray? And to that, I really had no answer. It is not that I want to speak ill of them, but that is the question she asked me. =( see... I teach the children from asar all the way to isyak so I have to perform my asar and maghrib at their house. Initially, I would qasar them because I didn't want to eat into the children's tuition time, but after a while, Hubtobe told me that I should fear Allah more than I fear being scolded by the children's parents. Furthermore, their maid does pray so she was very kind to let me use her prayer mat and pray in her make shift room =)

But you see, praying just beside the study table with the children in full view of me is a good thing for them... because they watch me (even though I say to do their work) and for the girl, she likes to ask a lot of questions afterwards and for the boy, it gives me an excuse to nag at him to pray instead of watching tv after his turn is over.

Although they are not my children, I still want to be able to teach them a little bit of agama on top of their secular learnings. I think I want to start them on reading the doa before studying. Insyaallah, it will help them absorb more with Allah's permission.

I really love these children and they are good kids who listen to you and don't make trouble. My boy wants to be a soldier and my girl wants to be an art teacher. I do not know till how long I would be teaching them, but I hope that when I leave, they will be better muslimin and muslimahs.