Story of a Kampung Kid

After reading today's TheStar,suddenly I have the urge to write something on this blog for humans tend to forget unless being reminded occasionally.The same thing goes for motivation.I am speaking for normal human being,of course. Today,I guess I will write something on parenting.What exactly is a successful parenting?Sorry,I don't know the answer.I will share after I found out the answer.I was wondering whether my parents have taught me well.Maybe one can point to the fact they have brought their son up to a medical school,and for that they are successful.Actually,I don't really agree with that myself.If things turn out a bit differently,I might be an engineer,accountant,computer technician or even a salesman now.Something inspire me to write a little story here. Story about a kampung kid.He was born and bred in an estate.The leisures he knew back then was firecrackers,crickets,rhinocerous beetle,marbles,top-spinning,self-made kites and occasional the TV game console before the advent of Playstation and affordable computer.Sound very much like a kampung boy.He was entered into a kindergarten in a neighbouring housing estate for 2 years before my primary education. For his primary education,his parents tried hard to get him into a school in the town area,even it means 30 kilometres away from my house.The first time he ever remembered seeing his parents in school on a working day was on the first day of his class.After that,they literally dumped him at the school.The only other time they came to the school was during the "Report Card Day" where parents come to the school to collect their chilren's result and check with the teacher on their academic progress and behaviour.He was,most of the time,left to fend on his own.Imagine a young kid,on a second day into his formal education,asking a grumpy,fierce-looking man at the canteen stall,using the limited Malay vocabulary he had then,"Harga berapa?" pointing at the food he saw that would taste nice.Around him,he could see other children's parents ushering their children and helping them to buy the food they want.Envious.However,God was kind enough to see that this little kid was accompanied by his neighbour and childhood friend.Together,they sat and ate on the long table. Things didn't go as well as he would love it to.He was disciplined by the class teacher,Madam Chong on his third day of school,for not finishing the work she had given.It was his first homework assignment,he didn't understand the language(Bahasa Malaysia) the teacher spoke the previous day as the little kid only understood a bit of Mandarin then.Thus,he got his ears pulled and twisted hard by the teacher primarily due to the fact that he didn't understand the instruction the teacher given the previous day.Ouch!!Worse thing to follow.On only his second week of his formal education,he got called to the displinary teacher to be caned for SWEARING.This little kampung boy didn't know the language he picked up from the seniors was a swear word.Due to his horrid experience with Madam Chong the previous week,he was determined to improve his vocabulary and "luckily" some naughty seniors were on hand to poison his innocent mind.Thus,the swear word.Not a pretty good start to his long journey of education. To be continued....