'A' for Clothes Peg!?

Juan Or and the clothes peg

It was in the wee hours of one morning and Juan Or had woken up from sleep and refused to go back to sleep, instead wanted to play. So Mommy let him 'ding-dong' around the living room by himself while Mommy laid on the floor mattress trying to go back to sleep, but merely 'light' sleep to sort of keep an eye on this naughty boy. Somehow, along the way - don't know how - the clothes peg usually used for fastening the open gaps of the mosquito net that envelopes the spring cot came off its usual place and ended up on Mommy's mattress. Juan Or saw the clothes peg, picked it up and mumbled something. So Mommy, wanting him to learn new words, started saying,"Juan Or, say 'Clothes peg'!" Juan Or mumbled something again, this time it sounded like a monosyllabic word. Feeling that Juan Or didn't catch the word, so Mommy repeated 'Clothes peg' and again Juan Or replied that monosyllabic word, this time it sounded like the alphabet 'A'. Mommy looked hard at the clothes peg, and lo and behold, yes, indeed, the clothes peg sure does look like the alphabet 'A'!

Hahaha!!!Mommy had a good laugh! Why hadn't Mommy thought about it? Had Mommy thought about it, then Mommy would have been more receptive to make out what Juan Or was mumbling in the first place! So the lesson learnt here is that we as parents should, as much as possible, keep an open mind to what our children are trying to tell us. Very often, children see things in ways that we cannot even imagine, but are still valid ways of looking at something. Listen hard to them, take a look at how they see something, and eventually there will be more understanding between parents and children. At the end of the day, parents learn from children too!