I am a big girl already.....

Mommy and I were "trained" by parents who had easy access to the tiny rattan cane (0.3cm) diameter in case the children were found to be an absolute nuisance. My sister and I were lucky as we did not have it tough like my elder brother. All we did most of the time was run and hide, and at times we left my brother to deal with the discpline session with my parents. We got away quite a few times and only we knew.

Now that I have my own children, I thought it would be similar. The older child, Clarissa (4 yrs) has had a bigger share of scolding, spanking and caning (if it get's out of hand). My parents look at us in disbelief when we discipline our children. It seemed to have worked out well eventually.

Mommy had a chat with Clarissa last week and struck a deal with her. She would not be caned or spanked if she would behave herself. Clarissa gestured to the cane and said, "I am a big girl already and I don't want the cane". I suppose it was a deal that we could not reject ourselves as she promised to be good. I knew that there would be times that she would stretch our patience a wee bit more than she should but we needed to be better at dealing with them.

Now that Clarissa behaves much better she has taken our role to discipline her little sister, Christa. I suppose she just imitates what she sees. Mommy and I need to revamp our strategy with our children. I could hear them say,"...Mommy, Daddy, reason with me ... and we will do what is best for everyone".

As children, they would always have fun. Sometimes to the extent that we do not understand. But it's all part of growing up and learning to live with the adults like Mommy and I.