Today, I applied for half day leave. I was held up in the office as I wanted to clear things before I leave. I couldn’t pick my boy at the usual time. So, I met with the after school hours of Shang Wu.
Imagine two schools. Two schools with very rich parents. That means one car, one child. And the Jalan Sekolah La Salle is a tiny street. With hawkers at one side. BTW, the hawker foods there are great so go support them. Just don’t clash with the stupid after school hours or you will die of stress.
I was held up in stationary mode for 20 minutes. I felt like getting out of my car and give the woman next to me a tight slap. You see, there is this tiny street. They have double parked. And cars are coming from both direction. But this woman in her dark glasses and handsfree phone was yakking away, oblivious. Her car was going against the traffic direction, at a junction. Because of her, all of us can’t move an inch.
Damn TL already, I started honking continuously. Don’t underestimate my Viva. Small car, big noise. I turned over to glare at her with my equal dark glasses and cursing her. But she kept talking on the phone and not bothering to at least try to move her car a bit so that the oncoming traffic can pass or those cars from the junction can get out.
I face the same situation every single morning and afternoon.
It doesn’t take long for us parents to quickly run down, hold our kid’s hand to get him to safety on the kerb to get into the school. All of us do that. Run down, quickly get back to car, move on. Though it is a bit jam, we manage.
But there are these bunch of stupid parents who think their kids are made of glass or something. They will wait for a long time for their kid to get out of slumber. I have many kids, I know they do fell asleep but I always make sure I turned to the back, give the butt a quick smack and called them to wake up before we reach the school.
But noooooo….these parents think their kids are little emperors. They would stand with an open car door, hence, taking up even more space and wait for the slop to slowly and sluggishly get out.
After that, they will lovingly stroll to the gate. Sometimes, if it is late, they can’t enter. Yet, they won’t leave. They will stand by the gate and look lovingly until the kids walked to their class line-up.
Then, there are the motorbikes. They will just drop their bikes in the middle, and do the same motion of ‘lovingly stroll’.
Eh, come on lah. This is not the beginning of the year where your barely seven years old enter public school. This is already year end. By now, they should be safe once they are on the kerb and into the gate. Get lost and let other parents have the space to drop their kids, ok?
All the haphazard parking. All the inconsiderate moms who will park against the traffic just so that they do not have to expose their ugly selves to the afternoon sun rays. Imagine parking against traffic flow and when school’s over, everyone trying to U-turn to the right direction? Those bunch of stewpig women are the reason why I hate being part of their gang. You will never catch me with a group of mothers, standing outside school gates, gossiping. I have survived four kids that way. Use your brains lah, if you are selfish, you cause the whole street jammed.
So, dear friends, if we want a better world, we have to show our kids the right way.
In the beginning of the year, I usually go early and park far away so I have time to walk to the school. But now, my kid is much older so I just need to drop him at the gate.
Sometimes, after school I do run down to grab my boy and some heartless non-parent (i.e. those stupid fellas who chose to use a school street and get jammed and lost their temper type) will honk me like it is the end of the world. So far, I have not given them a middle finger. I will show them I am taking only a minute ala 1Malaysia finger. I don’t give a damn if they burst a blood vessel because I will get down and grab my boy. It is just a few seconds because I know my good boy will be sitting at the same spot waiting for me and the Pak Guard will call out to him when he sees me.
Then, there are other moms who will do the same thing like me. Except their kids will be far away in the school compound and they have to run hunting for the kids. That cause major jam again.
I can go on and on and on. But at least I am thankful this gurubesar is not so strict on punctuality like the ones my older sons have. You see, it is good to teach our kids about punctuality. But in today’s traffic, there will days when we are caught in genuine jam.
Lots of parents tend to drive or ride like a Formula One just so their kids do not get a late record. They will forget their senses and can possibly kill some kids in their reckless driving/bike. I have taught my boy, if we are late, we are late. What’s there to fear? If the prefect wants to punish you, just face it.
Previous gurubesar was a bit obsessed. He would lock the gate 15 minutes before the actual bell. He will get the children to sing 10 minutes before the actual bell. Lucky at that time, I was only staying next door and all my older kids go to school ‘by walk’.
So, moral of my long winded rant? Stupid parents breed stupid generation. We will never have a better world because many parents are not instilling the right values. They have this ‘to each his own’. There is no courtesy, no give and take.
Phew…now I feel deflated from the jam. Good thing is today I was on leave and did not have to rush back to office. Otherwise, I will go get myself a rusty steel car and drive tomorrow so I can give those Accords and SUVs a good rubdown.
If I may, I would like to add that this situation happens in St. Xavier’s Institution esp. the back gate at Muntri Street where many of them would just stop right in front of the gate and leave their children. As a student who drives to school everyday, i feel that it is a inconvenience to it because the parents could have just stop abit further so that other people or students could drive into the school. I hope that my thoughts could enlighten some of your viewers.