Abby made two mischievous acts, one on this Wednesday and the other Thursday.First act: She took out a bottle of glue from her dad’s desk in the reading room, returned to her tiny blue desk in the sitting room and began to squeeze glue onto a page of a single-lined book. Next she used coloured pencils to dip into the glue and draw. Certainly the colour could not go through the sticky glue onto the paper. I warned her not to do this, but she did not listen to me or stop right away. A second thought came to me that in that instant, I should not stop her “creativity”. I let her do it, but warned her that she would dirty the table. Abby went on adding glue onto the page and spilt some onto the table. I was a little agitated.
At first, Elly, sitting next to her sister, was doing something quietly. Soon she joined her sister and wiped her hands onto the thick spread of glue on the page. I was filled with fury at this point because Abby had started the mischievous act which caused her little sister’s hands and fingers all dirty with glue. I seized the bottle of glue and the book, and threw them into the dustbin and carried Elly quickly to the toilet to have her hands washed clean. I feared that Elly would swallow the glue, a chemical which might be toxic to her. I shouted to Abby, too, to clean her hands. I looked like a "mad" man at that time. Obviously, Elly would not like my idea of forcing her to wash her hands. Afterwards, I let grandma to calm and settle her down. I thought that I had to show to my grandchildren that they were wrong and that I was angry at their naughty acts.
Second act: Abby, this time, took out another book and picked an oil-based marker pen to draw on it. I warned her that if she drew out of the pages of the book, she would dirty the table and make the table difficult to be cleaned. The consequence came out that she did dirty the table with a spot of yellow when she flipped the wet page of paint onto it. I was sure that yellow spot would stay there forever. If we use an oil solvent to do the cleaning work, the solvent may as well solve the blue paint of the table. That was an unforgettable “scar” Abby made on her lovely blue table.
5 comments:
We think these are part of the deal of childhood.
We only have the grand-children half a day per week. Ho keung already becomes very agitated at times when they don't behave, although he is not even the one who is full on. Yin Ping tends to spoil them and could hardly say no to their requests. Haha, we realise that we are neither perfect parents nor perfect grand-parents! But anyway the more Bible Ho Keung reads, the more tolerance he has.
When the grand-children spilt things onto the carpet, Yin Ping hurriedly cleaned the carpet before Ho Keung knew it. (穿了煲!)
Recently Becca played with water colour painting. When she finished she drank the colourful water!
Tammie used a net ( which held oranges for sale ) and caught a fish from the fish tank.
Yesterday Becca chewed on the little book which was for Ally to read. Her mum punished her to stand on the corner for two minutes.
When we were small, both of us had stolen things from shops! We are only sinners.
Who threw wet papers up to the ceiling for them to stick there? Who gave chewing gum for his little sister to swallow? Ho Keung!
Whom do the grand-children tell secretly when they 闖了禍? Yin Ping.
Our house looks like a war zone after each baby-sitting, who is responsible for the cleanings etc? Ho Keung.
May God give you wisdom to deal with the different situations. But we are sure that when the grand-children give you hugs and kisses, all are forgiven and you are happy again.
Thanks for your sharing with us. It is wonderful to know what is going on inside your home.
We have to take care of our grandchildren 4 days per week and on alternate Fridays too.
Elly sometimes tears pages of a book or magazine without reasons. It is not surprising to find books without one or two pages at her home.
Toys, books and stationery scatter everywhere. The grandchildren never put them back in the right places. Just as you say, their home looks like a battlefield.
Hahaha, if you go to our grand-children's place, you will find your grand-children's place is a "stop war zone" slready, comparatively speaking. We think our grand-children are well trained to walk among hurdles & hazards!
Even our sitting-room, which they now call the play-room, we have to do tippy-toe walking. The coffee table in our master bedroom is their permanent kitchen for 煮飯仔.
We forget to let you know that actually you were very considerate not to hinder the creativity even though you were agitated.
Wow, you are not retiring anymore!
Despite all the comments, I must stress also on one fact.
The parents of our grandchildren haven't forgotten the action of disciplinary for the cleaning up of the mess at their home for their children(but not our home ). I have seen few times, Loretta gives order to the three sisters to clean up the mess, with each one a particular task. Such as, one for cleaning up the books, one for the toys, one for the clothes, etc. I saw them quite willingly to obey the orders.
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So, I think, children require their free creativity development chances, and the adult should let them; and at the same time to learn discipline. There are lots and lots of 學問in it, such as how, when, what, etc!
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But, please, bear in mind that I am not an expert in this area, not even near to it. If you feel the comment is reasonable, nice; but if not, it is ok with me.
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I know Yin Ping will laugh when she sees I dare to write comments about "how to bring up children"!
Well, for the yellow mark: try to use an oil-based cleaner or even liquid car wax or furniture wax to rub on the stain. Use a milder product first and if it doesn't work, then proceed to the next stronger one. Some "rubbing compound" for removing marks the motor car paintwork should also work, but this is a little abrasive.
Felix
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