The Good, The Bad and the PSLE - Trails of an Almost Kiasu Mother ( Inspired by Real Events)

This is one book, The Good, The Bad and the PSLE - Trails of an Almost Kiasu Mother by Monica Lim, that I recommend for parents of Primary school going children. Even if your child /children is/are not in the primary school yet. This is a good read. It gives some insight of what to expect for Primary 1. Some of the stories are extractions from the author's blog. I find them rather amusing and funny.

If you find the name Monica Lim familiar, that's because she is the co-author of the Danger Dan series whom she wrote together with her daughter, Lesley-Anne Tan.

I could relate to Ling, the main character of the story, partly because she is a mother of a Primary One (P1) child, Noah. She is also the mother of  April who is in Primary 4 (P4). The story covers the course of 3 years, which meant that it covers the experience of a mother through somewhat 6 years of a Primary School life. I totally can relate the happenings in Year 1, Term 1. The first day of school. The inability to count money. The struggle with Chinese. The homework battle.

I could not stop laughing whenever I read the book though I tried to muffled my laughter when I am in the public places. I truly enjoy various chapters, just to mention some, they are "Irregular English", "A State of Disorder" and "Just the Way You Are". These issues mentioned in the book are day to day issues, problems we faced as a parent and yet the author finds ways to introduce humor into it. What I like is one of the advice given: When you don't take yourself too seriously, you're more likely to enjoy life to the fullest.

Hiccups in school, such as friendship woes (I can see it coming even though my girl is in P1 this year.) and issues such as whether there is a need for tuition? How about some moms with high expectation? Being a parent volunteer in school? All these sounds familiar, aren't they?

In some ways, my girl is akin to Noah. She is big hearted, blur at times, happy go lucky and she submits work that looked like kiam chye despite that she has a file and uses it. (unlike Noah). Hence, it was truly enjoyable reading material. It was somewhat like reading about my own child. Yes, the book makes me relook at my attitude towards disciplining and academic chase in this rat race.

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