好妈妈 A good mother is better
It can be depressing when you leave the doctor’s office realising that there is not much the doctor can do to help your child. I should not be surprised. I have learnt the same lesson about teachers – why should doctors be any different?
I once came across this book title ‘好妈妈胜过好老师’ (‘Having a good mother is better than having a good teacher’). I have never read the book but the title stayed with me.
As I interacted with Elkan and Elias’ teachers, and talked with teachers in general, I realised two things.
The first is that there are different types of teachers and you are blessed if your child has a nurturing and accepting teacher. Such a teacher recognises your child’s strengths and weaknesses and works with whatever qualities the child have, to help him learn. On the other hand, you may get a teacher who simply delivers the content, and if your child does not learn, well, that’s just too bad.
The second thing is this – I cannot expect a teacher to be like a mother.
Today, I realised that it is the same for doctors. What the child development psychologist told me today is this. “There are few programs and therapies which we can endorse/recommend because there are few which are sufficiently rigorous and scientifically proven to be effective. Commercial organisations say that their programs are effective, but we really do not know, and the success stories are anecdotal, although some parents and children may have benefited from them.”
I realised then that I have to go back to books and fellow parents for ideas and methods. At the end of the day, I can only rely on my mantra of ‘Exposure and Repetition’. That is to say, I simply have to continue to put in effort in teaching him, and teach him again and again and again and again… till he learns.
I am my children’s best hope for success. Of course I work with teachers and doctors – they are professionals in their fields and their experiences are certainly valuable to me. But a good mother is better than anything else in the world. ~ Elisa
