Meet Dr Aiysha, PhD in Brown-Nosing

WARNING : Gloating mommy ahead. Should nausea develop, stop reading immediately.

Aiysha is my second child, and today is her second day in primary school. She's gotten into the swing of things, by the looks of it. She came home by bus, dropped her bag by the door, and sang me a song she learnt in class.

"Puan Raisa taught me the song! We learnt it during English. Oh, she asked if anyone wants to introduce themselves, and I put up my hand!"

I can just imagine Aiysha doing this with gumption, for it is not without reason that she earned the moniker Ms Eager McBeaver from her cousin, Ilham.

"You know, Mummy, I said my name is Aiysha, I'm six years old and I live in XXXXX", Ms McBeaver tells me, eyes wide as saucers, " and I said it loudly, so that everyone can hear, because all the other kids said it so softly", here she crinkles her nose in disdain, "and I don't want to be like that"

"Good for you!", I said, although I'm not sure she needed any more encouragement.

"And I asked Puan Siti Aminah, my class teacher, if she needed any help when I saw her carrying so many books. She was so nice to me, Mummy. We had a nice chat ".

Oh, wait till Adam hears this. Puan Siti Aminah was also Adam's class teacher in Primary One, and I'm sure she made him stand on his chair more than once.

"I also helped Amir", she announced. "I helped him buy some chicken nuggets in the canteen". Amir was my neighbour's grandson and yesterday he wouldn't let go of his mom's hand. He's relatively small and wears a worried look, traits that automatically puts Aiysha in Big Sister mode.

"Kesian dia, Mummy", Aiysha explained, "He was hungry but he didn't want half of my tuna sandwich, and there were so many big kids just fighting to buy food".

Okay, I have admit, that made me rather proud. I also have to admit, if I had known an Aiysha in school I would have rolled my eyes and called her a show-off. But you learn to appreciate the fine line between self-confidence and swagger when it's your own daughter, I guess.



I'm hoping she would be able to match the brown-nosing with real academic work, so that can she can actually achieve that"Doctor" in front of her name. On certain days, she insists on being addressed as Princess Dr Aiysha, because, you know, she's a dentist and a Barbie royalty.

"I want to be a dentist, Daddy", she declared to Saiffuddin, " because they make more money than engineers". I think she ought to try for public office.

mokciknab muttered at 4:49 pm ~ ~