Ticket to Ride

Miss 11 is taking her mum on a wild ride this year.

On good days, we watch YouTube videos of One Direction and Little Mix and I get treated to an instant education on the lives of her fave celebrities, and sometimes some very cool dance moves.

On painful days, Miss 11 finds excuses not to get out of bed for school. I cannot understand that. She has always loved school and done well at school. She has great friends, and has made a few new ones this year. Her thought processes are getting a bit more complex. Her teachers thought well enough of her to nominate her for school leader. She has dropped out of Chinese school, so she can't complain anymore about the pressure of turning in ten pages of weekly homework. She's making exciting progress in her drumming.

I have taken Miss 11 to the doctor, who interviewed her extensively about her school life and friendships. I have spoken several times with her teacher about my concerns, and her teacher has been taking appropriate action. Some of the malaise was directly linked to incidents of name-calling and racism (not targeted at her, but at her friends) and the sort of playground collisions (usually involving basketballs thrown by boys) that seem to be part of school life.

Searching in my archive of childhood memories, I can only remember that in P5, I had a very kind PE teacher for my form teacher. Tall, tanned, bespectacled, Mrs Lau was for me a model of calm and confidence, someone who never had to yell at the class to get their attention. I went to uni with her daughter, who was our head girl and top student, and we are FB friends as well.

Being 10-12 was not a particularly exciting time in my life. The angsty feelings only kicked in around 13, when I left the sanctuary of primary school and moved on to Sec 1. The angst got pretty intense at 14, when my mum made me transfer schools, and I had to deal with the shock of being thrown into an unfamiliar environment where everyone else seemed smarter than me.

Maybe Miss 11 is on an accelerated track of development. Kids seem to attain puberty earlier these days, and also get exposed to much more stimulating stuff than their developing brains are ready for.

I'm buckling up for the next bend...