Mummy's 60 school teachers in my 16 years of education

Dearest Ashley,

Nowadays you are my faithful alarm clock. This morning, you woke me up at 6am and we left for school at 6:10am. I'm getting to enjoy my one and only cheerful alarm clock on weekdays!

Thanks for sharing with me your challenges in school in the car. I know it must be tough for you to get scolded by teacher for lending a ruler to your classmate, scolded for walking over to your classmates to borrow stationary, scolded for not paying attention and rocking your chair, and withdrew from PE lesson for talking in class.

Mummy is glad that we agreed on the action plan to address these issues:
1. You will keep a good posture and try not to rock your chair
2. You will buy the stationary from your bookshop
3. You will try not to talk to your friend when the teacher is talking
4. You will pay more attention in class
5. Mummy will meet your teacher today to have a chat with her

Last night, you were so emotional and disturbed by the scolding incidents that your tears streamed down your cheek. That was when Dad, Mum and Ah Mah tried to console you and shared with you our fair share of teachers encounterments. It was so commom during our time that Mum, Dad and your uncles got caning and scolding from teachers. Ah Mah brought up several good points:
1. Your teachers cared for you, that's why they bother to correct your behaviour.
2. You cannot choose your teachers. As much as you love humourous teachers, every teacher is different. Likewise, every Mummy, every child is different. This is part of education. It is good for you to be exposed to different teachers at a young age as this depicts working world when you grow up. Your colleagues and bosses are very different from you. How do you make sure you work well with them to get the job done?

Mummy has about 60 teachers in my 16 years of education. I can't remember all of them. I could only remember 8 teachers:

• Primary school - my kind and gentle P6 English teacher who read out my compo and my strict P5 Science teacher who told us the importance of writing our names neatly
• Secondary school - my strict but kind Sec 1 Chinese teacher who named me the Class Treasurer and my humourous Sec 4 Chinese teacher who told me the funniest story of how the early bird catches its worm and how the early worm is caught by the bird
• JC - my eccentric Chemistry teacher and my Charming Physics teacher
• NTU - our Final year project lecturer who coached Mum & Dad and our Medical Eqm lecturer who teased Mum & Dad (in a nice way) in a lecture

Interestingly, my memories of teachers are mostly happy. Of course, there are unhappy memories too. However, we choose what memories we want to keep. Mummy always look for the lesson and the gift in every situation and every person.

I'll like to share the words of Wisdom for today:

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realise that you control your own destiny." ~ Dr. Albert Ellis, Psyschologist

Yours,

Mummy who appreciates all the teachers who have taught me, even those who scolded and canned me