Going..

Remember when our kids were like this? Anything you feed them, anything you buy for them or anything you clothed them with was just fine.

No arguments, no fuss except for the occassional spit up. They needed no one else but you and their whole world was you.

How tiring it was, how some nights seem so long. When you thought the day would never end with the incessant demands they made on your sleep, your time, your energy.

How fragile they were. When the flu would knock them and you off your feet. First day of play school and endless rounds of sniffles and and falls. Primary one where you wake up more anxious than them and vie with other parents in the parking lot for the chance to walk them through the school gates. The friends they make and then the teachers who rule.. who has'nt lived through the " But My teacher said MUST do like this !".. the staid excuses " I got fever cannot go to school" or" my stomach is painful " unfinished homework, torn text books.. shoes that were washed on Sun and look grey on Monday !

The long roads and hours of driving them to tuition. Competition to find them places with the best tuition teachers and the hole in your pocket when its time to pay .The UPSR fever that hits a mother's stomach so hard as she waits with her kids for the results as if the UPSR were entrance exams to Oxford ! And later the PMR exams.. did they get 7 A's? 6 A's? any A's ??? Science stream.. Arts?? Not fair.. never mind son, you did well anyway..

Clothes you buy are not cool anymore. Food you cook must have an international flair, my mother never made spaghetti or sushi! Shoes dont necessarily come from Bata and tuition fees get more expensive.... The parents smile tentatively at one another " so your daughter and my son are friends. We used to be classmates kids ! "..

And as they stand facing a whole new future of their own.. you stand facing yours.