The Gathering of SuperParents @ Frontier

This is not a typical blog that we are used to in the Frontier Blog. Usually, the children's voice comes out. This time round, we have another voice -- that of parents'. This is also an important voice. This is their story ....

Written by our guest writer:

Mdm Ng Guat Leng                                                                                    

Parent of Royston Loh (P1 Responsibility)                                                                                                                                 

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The episode began when the PPC members received an invitation from the school to put up an item or two for the upcoming children’s day event (3 October 2013).  I brushed it aside simply because I do not know what I could do.  An easy excuse.

An email from Mr Paul Goh (the violin instructor of the school) sets me thinking.  He invited us to do a percussion ostinato using a cup.  Sounds interesting.  I read on and was impressed that it even had a link to a tutorial which was demonstrated by a P2 Frontierer.  She is also the brain-child of this idea. I clicked on the link and soon I was having fun practising!

I recalled that my child had previously expressed his interest to perform in school.  I could fulfill his wish and it would be so cool to do it together.  Now I had a purpose.  It didn’t take much from me to reply Paul saying, “I will be there!”

Rehearsal time was limited. In fact, we only met twice before the actual day. Working parents hurried home after work.  Some turned up with their other children.  We met up in a parent’s home once and the other day we asked permission to use a church.  Isn’t that troublesome?  It was. We wished we could have more support but it was only a small hurdle compared to our goal.

The rehearsals went (.. erm) well. There was a lot of laughter. There were cups flying around.  Parents and children struggled to get the sequencing right, often laughing at themselves while encouraging others.  I hope Paul wasn’t pulling out his hair! He subsequently introduced variations to the percussion.  This created more laughter and more flying cups.  It seems like mission impossible.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Mr Paul Goh looking on... 

 We took pictures and videos during these embarrassing moments of ours.  These snippets were being compiled into a video montage.  One parent stayed up to 5am to do this.  One super hero is created because of her perseverance.  Kudos!

More Practice!

Music and Bonding~!

The video was screened during the concert and it aims to convey the message that each of us can overcome our difficulties and challenges to achieve something that we can be proud of.  Just like what a Super hero will do. 

There were pre-performance jitters.  The performance is not seamless. The tables were shaking from the stomping! We didn't expect that.   We couldn’t hear each other and the rhythm but we did the best we could out of the situation.  We successfully completed our performance with the most important little people in our lives.  

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.” – Barbara Johnson

Performing for the Children!

Ta-da ...our SuperParents in Action! Thank you !!!!!!

I did it for my child and all parents that had participated did it for theirs too.  Let’s hear from them.

“I did it for my gal. I was unwilling initially as I am rather busy with work during this period. She said that she wanted me to perform in her school children’s day concert. That melted my heart… We enjoyed singing and doing the actions so much that I suggested it to Paul” – Mary Heng;  Charlene Goh (P2 Confidence)

“My son felt great to perform together with me on stage. He liked the idea and wanted to join. It’s the first time that we perform together.” – Chloe Lau;  Enson Yip (P2 Joy)

“.. The great part is that we can perform together on stage! My boy enjoyed it greatly and felt excited after the celebration. He told me that he wanted to do it again.” – Ong Pei Pei; Stetson Tan (P2 Confidence)

“I just love the bonding between parents and definitely with our children.” – Linda; Muhammed Danish Ramli (P2 Resilience)

“I did it because I was too busy with work previously. The only time I could afford was the “coaching” time with my child. It was a great opportunity to share a memorable fun time with her. It also demonstrate, to my child, that mummy have to learn new things too. We need mental strength, perseverance and good time management to achieve our goals.” – Reena Heng; Reis Poh (P2 Respect)

“I have to take care of an eight month old baby so there is time constraint. My son hoped that I can participate and support him.  Although the result might not be as good as we expected, it is a good experience. This is also my first time performing with my darling.” – Joan;  Adrian Ow Yong (P2 Innovation)

“I decided to get involved in the performance for several reasons. 1) To support the school, teachers and students. 2) To boost confidence in my girl. She told me she has stage fear. I told her that I have stage fear too and is learning to cope with it. 3) To get to know more parents. Most of us here are from the pioneer batch. I think it’ll be great if we can build a special bond within us.”  - Dorothy;  Poon zhi Han (P2 Respect)

“The thought of having to perform on stage makes me jittery.  I got the courage from my children who love the “cup-knocking” idea. It’s our first performance together and we are looking forward to more.” – Joanna; Krystal Lim (P2 Confidence), Kevan Lim (P2 Respect)

“As we show on the stage of the cup song, every cup is very ordinary, every cup is very important, each cup is making the synthesis of rhythm and melody. In education, give each cup to realize the many possibilities. A few years later, the children will sing the song “When I’m gone” again, the school will remember their rhythm and melody.” – Sofia; Dong Yijie (P1 Care)

“I joined because I would like to take this opportunity to get to know the PPC members. Although it was only a three time practices, I could see the power and seriousness in them. We could coordinate the stomps and claps together….”– Lily Loh; Ng Jia Jun (P2 Respect)

“… My daughter is simply over the moon. This is a good opportunity to try, practice and perform new things. After this performance, my daughter learnt that practice make perfect.” – Khong Chiew Yun ; Yip Yern Teng (P2 Respect)

“… This is a good bonding time between parent and child and with other parents from the PSG.  Though the performance could be better (my personal view) if not for the tables but we had enjoyed ourselves very much. We look forward to more performance together with the parents, our kids and with the teachers too…” – Jen Yew;  Eunice Tay (P2 Innovation)