Mummy’s entry – Little Ms. Smarty pants

Some of Rye Li’s countless comebacks…

When I could not answer her endless questions….”you are 33 years old, you must know!”

When we asked her to do something for us….”why you cannot do yourself? You cannot walk ah?”

When we talk to her at bed time…”can you be quiet, I am trying to sleep”

When we threatened her that she will lie in bed alone at night in her room since we need to do our work outside as she refused to fall asleep …”you go do your work-la” [this used to work when we want her to lie still in her bed].

Actually, reverse psychology doesn’t work on her most of the times. She is a bossy kid and hence, she gets into arguments with some of the kids at the daycare. I found out at one stage last year, she didn’t want to join the kids in the garden during playtime and stayed indoors. And when I asked her why, she said “because my friends don’t want to friend me” and I took the opportunity to tell her that she cannot be bossy all the time and that she needs to learn how to play with the other kids without having to win all the time too in games, if not, no one would want to be friends with her and she would be all alone.. And she responded “I don’t want to play with my friends, I want to be all by myself!”

She is very observant and has started to compare things a long time back. She loves asking us “why mei-mei can…..and I cannot?” and there was one time, her paternal grandmother was in town and when we got back home at night, we made Rye Li shower before we got her ready for bed and she went “why poh-poh didn’t shower and I must shower?”.

The most difficult part is when she noticed naughty kids got away with their wrongdoings and she started questioning on this. It is tough to come up with good reasoning when your kids ask so many questions. Now I know why my parents at times asked me to shut up and not question them when I was young. I have been told off too for being such a busybody. And as much as I’m trying not to do the same to Rye Li, I just find myself doing so especially when I do not have reasonable answers for her endless questions.

Of course I need to add that Rye Li listens to reasoning (we just need to drill it into her). She would rebel initially and only after much explanation, she will accept our answers eventually.

It's tough being a mummy! LOL