Random thoughts of the day – World Cup and school holidays

With the World Cup fever roaring on and me on sabbatical, it has been many late nights awake watching the World Cup (with Dave) while nursing baby and practically, I am in a zombie- like state during the day. Which could probably explain the lack of posts for the last two weeks (coupled with the fact that our old laptop gave way and makes it difficult to blog).

Oh yes, we got a new machine (totally loving this new toy!) and it helps a lot that I got to stream the matches on a high definition screen (yup, we got a toggle subscription for the World Cup and it’s definitely easier with two young kids.) How timely!

Anyway, since it was the final week of school holidays last week, my parents suggested visiting my aunt and her grandchildren before they start school, which would make it harder to visit since they are normally rather busy with various activities.

I love her three grandchildren. They are all so adorable and we have a pretty good relationship. They are all in primary school, with the eldest boy taking the PSLE examination this year. The other two are in primary four and two respectively.

When we arrived at their place, apparently, all three kids were heading out for classes.

My mum was a bit surprised, given that it was the school holidays and she thought that there would be no classes. I explained to my mum that they probably had tuition and other sorts of holiday classes to “keep it going”.

True enough, that was the case. The eldest kid was headed for some creative English writing classes, the second one was headed for ballet classes, and the youngest was headed for some sort of Chinese enrichment class.

So shortly after we arrived, they left. Well, both their parents were working, so they were relying on their grandparents to ferry them to classes on weekdays. As my aunt wasn’t able to bring them around for the enrichment classes (she had to prepare dinner), the other set of grandparents dropped by to pick up and drop the kids for their classes.

Wow… I thought. That was basically a perfect example of having family around to raise the kids!

After the kids left, I exclaimed to my aunt that I thought the eldest kid (yes the one taking PSLE this year) seems to have ballooned quite a bit! When I saw him during Chinese New Year earlier a couple of months back, I already thought that he looked chubbier. But this time round, it was even more obvious.

“I thought he has been taking lots of sporting classes like swimming, golf and tennis, etc.?” I asked.

“Well, the parents dropped all the classes for this year so that he could concentrate on his PSLE.”

Which made me think a lot.

It’s true that the PSLE is an important examination. But should we just “give up” the other activities just so to concentrate on it? Albeit temporary?

I am sure he isn’t an isolated case. Perhaps there are many out there as well.

For a healthy twelve year old boy during the World Cup season (well, Singaporeans, or at least the majority, are ardent supporters of the sports despite the fact that our national team is in shambles for at least the last two decades), I thought that the most exciting thing would be watching some of the matches playing on TV, or at least have gotten inspired by some of the moves and grooves on screen and playing soccer or goal keeping with their neighbours.

Apparently that is not the case.

I am not in any position to comment on others parenting but I wonder what it would be like for us when Ally reaches that “crucial year”….

Just two weeks ago, after it was announced that the 2026 World Cup would be jointly hosted in USA, Canada and Mexico, Dave exclaimed excited that he wants the entire family to go there and watch!

“Hey, that’s the year that Ally is taking the PSLE…” I exclaimed.

Well that’s 8 years from now.

Will we be there watching the World Cup?

I don’t know.

But I had always relished watching a “live” World Cup match.

Could be something to look forward to.