who doesn’t know how to play.

There you have it.

I don’t know how to play. It’s true. I never had Barbies as a child. I preferred doodling on my activity books. And now as a mother, I don’t know how to and don’t like to play. Kiddy games bore me to death and I always encourage the children to play by themselves, entertain themselves.

Yes, bad mum in a way, but I’d rather they have lots of fun on their own, than that I patronize them by zoning off when “playing” or simply tolerate the boredom. Please don’t get me wrong, I really adore and love my kids to pieces, but I have never found the thrill in engaging in baby or cutesy voice games or playing with toys. On the same note, I cannot stomach the thought of running around and chasing each other on the beach under the scotching sun while a nice little picnic under the shade while building sandcastles are so much more enjoyable. I would much rather make something with them; think baking, beading, painting, sculpting etc than to engage in play that leads to no where (to me).

Is this the pragmatic Singaporean in me wrecking its havoc or is it simply just me?

**

Being totally incapable of playing with the PSP/ PS3/ X Box 3/ arcade games etc, I make it a point of dating Germaine on “Germaine dates”. That is, we leave Gean with my parents and take only Ger out with us. The last date was a movie outing and we went for The Spiderwick Chronicles. As a child, I was enthralled by The Never Ending Story and I wanted to share the magic of a fantasy adventure and make believe with her. The Spiderwick Chronicles was pleasant for the adults and the children alike, but honestly a far cry from the The Never Ending Story. It really lacked the magical fantasy, far flung imaginations and mythical flight of the The Never Ending Story.

But we did enjoy ourselves. It’s the company that matters. We also did have a personal joke about watching the “Pork Chop goes to Town” (!!) instead and had a few good giggles about it. OK there is no such movie title and don’t ask how the hell it came about and left us in stitches. I don’t know where to start the explanations. All I can say is, I am absolutely evil.

**

Speaking of evil, I swear kids these days can be such miniature Cruellas. The whole cliquish and Gossip Girls situation in primary schools these days? Vicious. Or so I hear from from Ger in our own Gossip Girls sessions. Do you remember as a child, there is always this uber cool and exclusive group of kids, the one that had their own code names/ special words and rituals? I do, and I listen to my child talk about her friends with a mixed sense of relief (that she is not ostracized or an outcast), a weird sense of aversion and fear (I do remember that I was never part of cliques and indeed, still as anti social today) and a strange feeling of having my little girl grow up into this streetsmart smartypants little mouthpiece who actually knows about snarky rebuttals, turning one’s back on manipulation and being being different and yet being comfortable in being her own self.

My girl is growing up so fast that it feels very spacey and oddball for me.I laughed hard at her anecdotes and I teared a little when I thought about the time when she shared so poignantly that she felt different and that she didn’t have many friends.

Yes, we have come a long way, baby.