It’s so fun to do work with my brothers
Samuel, being the youngest brother of two school-going brothers, had a very different experience growing up. While Elkan and Elias spent almost every weekend and public holiday in their early years at the beach, zoo or park, Samuel spent much of them holed up at home. His elder brothers had school work to do, and tuition to go to, and so the entire family is a slave to those higher life-forms.
This year, we started something new. We started bringing everyone, and their work, out with us.
The boys hard at work, at the West Coast Park Macdonald’s.
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| Enjoying their food after their hard work! |
Samuel’s work is done rather quickly, and he would go play. The older boys would spend most of the time doing their work, and would join Samuel when they are done. Usually, they would take turns to play with Samuel, as I would “release” one, and keep the other one back to coach, and vice versa. At the end, we would let the three of them play together.
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| That’s Elias and me, doing Chinese, at Bishan Active |
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| The boys are trying to figure out what the ‘Sciene Centre Exhibit’ is all about… |
This works out well for the family. It is fun and productive. Samuel gets to be out more often, and everyone (even Edmund and myself) gets to complete their work. Best of all, the family stays together.
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| The boys and a man hard at work at the Bishan Park. |
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| Samuel had to read his Berries! |
These two weeks are examination weeks, so I started putting Samuel at my mother’s place so that I can concentrate on coaching Elkan and Elias. Today is the first day, and Samuel complained about not being able to play with Kor kor Elkan and Elias, and asked to be brought home early. On the way back, he assured me that he would do work together with his brothers. He said “It’s so fun to do work with my brothers”.
I was incredulous (but I knew better than to let that show on my face).
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| Samuel doing his work, together with his brother. See how he enjoys being next to his brother, being able to watch him at work… |
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| Or maybe he simply enjoys being able to borrow his brother’s correction pen. |
But I think I understand what he meant. He meant that it is fun to do whatever his brothers are doing. That it is fun simply to be with his brothers, to be like his brothers, and to do everything which his brothers do.
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| The boys, trying to get the stones to skip across the waters, at MacRitchie Reservoir. |
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| Elias clipped his water bottle onto Samuel’s scooter (so clever of him). Samuel saw it, and wanted his water bottle clipped on as well. |
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| Samuel received a wallet in his goody bag today. He asked his brother Elkan, for permission to place it next to his wallet. |
As parents, Edmund and I put in a lot of effort in ensuring that Samuel’s love for his brothers is not misplaced, or abused. We ensure that they do not bully him, either by taking advantage of him, or excluding him from their games.
We do that firstly, for practical reasons – siblings are oftentimes much more effective in protecting you from hostile peers than your parents can ever be.
Yet we are mostly motivated by our desire to protect that innocent trust and adoration. It may be naive of us to think that we can do that, or we could simply be wrong in wanting to do it, since his brothers are neither super-heroes nor saints.
But there is something so sweet about seeing brothers love each other that way. We want to maintain that for as long as we can. Perhaps it will be a long term reality in our home. We certainly hope and pray for that.
