Appreciating Our Village - A Great Man

"It takes a village to raise a child..."

I truly believe in this statement. Raising children is not easy, what more, with working mothers and fathers. Nurturing the children is the responsibility of the parents and I thank God that my children have a loving papa who is always cracking his brains on how to enrich the children in their experiential learning. But it takes more than just the father and mother to help in raising the children, what happens to my children when the papa and mommy are at work? The other members of our 'village' take over the role. That's why I am always very appreciative to the people who are involved directly in the raising of my two precious children. In this blog entry, I am going to talk about the children's loving gong-gong.

Gong gong is the firm but loving disciplinarian. Whenever Phoebe has enrichment classes in the evening, gong gong will sacrifice his afternoon walks to make sure that Phoebe takes her nap in the afternoon. Everyday, I will give Phoebe a piece of homework to be done after school and gong gong will make sure that Phoebe completes her work in the afternoon.

He is also a loving grandfather. When Phoebe was a baby, he will not hesitate to feed her porridge, change her soiled diapers or carry her to sleep. Sometimes when Phoebe was cranky and did not want to nap, he would put her on her stroller and take her for a stroll in the nearby park, watching people playing basketball or badminton. Phoebe loved that and sometimes would fall asleep after a while. The two of them would spend their quiet moments together - one old, one young. It was really a very sweet sight.

When Phoebe and Reuben started school in Little Learners, gong gong will be the one walking the children home from their school, in rain or shine. His legs are not very good, with painful knees due to the almost worn off cartilage and he does not drive but he would walk the children to their schools. Sometimes, when I had to be in school early, he would walk all the way to my place to fetch the children to his place. When Phoebe goes to SKMCC, gong gong will make sure that he will be in time to fetch her from her school bus drop-off point. Sometimes, he has to go to the market or the polyclinic for check-up but he always tries his best to come back on time to fetch his dearest grand daughter.

Gong gong also buys "siew mai" for Phoebe when he knows that Phoebe loves eating it. When he knows that Reuben has constipation problem, he will make sure that he stocks up his fridge with peach flavoured vitagen because Reuben only likes peach flavoured vitagen and vitagen helps in digestion. He buys Grip Water from the chinese medical hall for Reuben and makes sure that he takes his grip water to aid in his digestion

I am really thankful for this old man, the loving gong gong and I know that my children love him too. Phoebe will not hesitate to hug his big tummy and Reuben will always call out for his gong gong to watch the 7 pm Taiwanese drama "Ai". Reuben will even lay the cushions properly on the sofa so that his gong-gong will be able to sit comfortable to watch his favourite Taiwanese drama.

Gong gong is really a great parent and grandparent. As a parent, he was very frugal. He is very stingy to himself but he provides abundantly for his family. When we were young, my dad used to walk to work (to and fro), so that he could save the little bit of bus fare. We were not rich but we had enough. Even till today, he will not hesitate to switch on the air-con for his grandchildren to nap in comfort but he will eat the leftovers from the previous night's dinner just to be thrifty.

In him, I've also witnessed kindness. He treats every human being, lowly or almighty, with respect. Many people would just give their maids bread, instant noodles or leftovers to briefly dismiss their meals. But gong gong is different. He makes sure that my maid will get a freshly-bought packet of economical rice for lunch everyday. He always says that we need to feed the maid properly because she needs to work for us. Without proper food, she will not be able to perform her tasks well. My maid has been with us for almost 3 years and she has not eaten instant noodles in my parents' place for more than 3 times! Gong gong always tell us that it is already very pitiful for the maids to leave their homes and young children to work, we should treat them with respect and care. Through him, I have learnt to treat others with kindness and care. Gong gong is indeed a man of great stature.

He does not need to be a wealthy man or a CEO, but in our sight, he is a great great man ; self-sacrificing, loving and yet, firm. I praise God for giving me and my children such a wonderful (grand)parent and I thank God that He has allowed my children to be raised by gong gong and to grow strongly in their bond. I pray that my children will never forget their grandfather and will always be grateful to their loving gong gong.

I always give them a year end treat to show my appreciation to them. We had Tim Sum in Crystal Jade (Plaza Singapura) in December 2010.