TheQuasimother
Registered User
I'm with Nic on this. Hong Kong mums are very competitive. There is a lot of showpony-ing going around. Don't stress about it. Children develop at different paces and in many different ways. That is the best thing a mum can try to remember.
However, as a working mum, i must say that I got very anxious with my first one and with both of us at work (regular hours at that time), at 1, we sent him to Baby Buddies three times a week for two hours per session. That was really great for all of us. We sent him there as I could watch him online (real time). This made me feel a lot better. And because I'm not at home to sit around and play/chat to him during the day, it's better than plonking him in front of the TV. By 2, he went to half day nursery 5 days a week. Apart from that, we haven't done anything much and now at K2, we were told by his teacher that he is intelligent, so much so that he hasn't the maturity to deal with it. He's 4 so I'm not fussed. The teacher was also surprised that he knew his phonics, rhymes, some sight words etc well and asked if we sent him to classes and we don't but we do encourage him to find his own way of learning and support it at home with lots of reading which we did from when he was a bub. And, to think that he couldn't speak well til he was 3! To us, he is no better nor worse than his peers in his class. He also does no more or less than his peers (with similar backgrounds) - At K2, they go to school for half a day, play a sport or two, does Art and/or Music e.g. Kindermusik. And, when we 'compare' him to the local kids in his class who go for gazillion classes (many in an afternoon kinder too!), language wise he is definitely better and everything else, the kids are pretty much the same.
Anyway, my rambling is just to tell you - Don't fret! It will be fine. I don't think classes in HK are generally worth the money. There are a few that I'd scream and shout about as it's been wonderful for our child. But there are some that I'd just say what a load of crock and waste of money.
Hang in there. Get your child in for classes if it makes you feel better but otherwise, don't worry too much about mothers who like to turn their children into showponies.
However, as a working mum, i must say that I got very anxious with my first one and with both of us at work (regular hours at that time), at 1, we sent him to Baby Buddies three times a week for two hours per session. That was really great for all of us. We sent him there as I could watch him online (real time). This made me feel a lot better. And because I'm not at home to sit around and play/chat to him during the day, it's better than plonking him in front of the TV. By 2, he went to half day nursery 5 days a week. Apart from that, we haven't done anything much and now at K2, we were told by his teacher that he is intelligent, so much so that he hasn't the maturity to deal with it. He's 4 so I'm not fussed. The teacher was also surprised that he knew his phonics, rhymes, some sight words etc well and asked if we sent him to classes and we don't but we do encourage him to find his own way of learning and support it at home with lots of reading which we did from when he was a bub. And, to think that he couldn't speak well til he was 3! To us, he is no better nor worse than his peers in his class. He also does no more or less than his peers (with similar backgrounds) - At K2, they go to school for half a day, play a sport or two, does Art and/or Music e.g. Kindermusik. And, when we 'compare' him to the local kids in his class who go for gazillion classes (many in an afternoon kinder too!), language wise he is definitely better and everything else, the kids are pretty much the same.
Anyway, my rambling is just to tell you - Don't fret! It will be fine. I don't think classes in HK are generally worth the money. There are a few that I'd scream and shout about as it's been wonderful for our child. But there are some that I'd just say what a load of crock and waste of money.
Hang in there. Get your child in for classes if it makes you feel better but otherwise, don't worry too much about mothers who like to turn their children into showponies.
