It
is hard not to sound like a sore loser mum writing this blog.
We
recently entered a National Day themed Art and craft contest using recycled
materials held by Morgan’s kindergarten. Yes you heard me right. Contestants
are pre-nursery, nursery and kindergarten children.
Morgan
is two and a half years old. This is his entry project.
Of
course, nothing was done by him. This is Singapore and school projects are
typically the effort of kiasu parents. Oh that is me! Or not exactly. This
project was spearheaded by his elder sister, Megan. She wanted to join. She
wanted to win. It did not matter to her that this was didi’s project. Neither
did we.
The
project was great fun. This was my first involvement with my child’s project
and I must admit, it was very fulfilling. It was a family bonding exercise with
everyone trying to do our part.
Megan
spent the most amount of time decorating her hair with pink strings and
exploring how every hand can hold the flags up. Her solution to everything was
sticky tape.
I
made myself with face mask and birdnest boxes, an old lantern added dimensions
to my otherwise boxy profile. Daddy used mainly eye-power to work but
eventually contributed the biggest Singapore flag.
Our
helper happily made her image from a kickapo, pulled a sock with holes over the
can as a dress and drew herself with winking eyes. And that is an Indonesian
flag she was holding by the way. No moon and stars.
Morgan
fought with Megan over scirrors and generally contributed to project labeled
made-on-floor to made-on-tabletop to made-in-locked-rooms.
Fast
forward to competition day. There were around 30 entries. Many made simply.
Many crudely assembled together, like ours. One, however, stood out like a
shining star…
Yes,
the grand prize went to an impeccablely executed project with a rock solid
concept depicting all the major races in Singapore hand in hand protecting and
defending our growing nation with deep cultural roots. It was WOW…
But
wait… That was done by a 5 year old? Maybe that was done by the elder sibling as
well? Nope, sibling looked even younger… That boy on stage did not do any of
these. But, neither did Morgan. What can I say when technically we both
cheated.
Except
they won first prize. We won nothing. (come on YY, it is just a fun contest!)
Their
craft was beautiful, no flaws with a reason behind every line drawn, every
object glued. Our craft was held together with Megan’s sticky tape on
everything and What Concept? It is hard enough to get everyone to do a model so
let’s just dump all 5 of us on shoeboxes each holding a flag. That is the best
we can all agree to do.
Kenneth
smiled and wisely said it is all about the process, not about the winning. I
looked at Megan who took the contest so seriously yet did not seem to care when
we did not win. Let’s go eat ice-cream is now the priority.
Not
winning is nothing. It’s good for Megan to experience making the effort and not
rewarded with a cookie. Such is life. Anyway there were real kids crafts on the
table. Can’t beat those!
It
was the most perfect project winning that bothered me? Did kid’s participation not
mean anything? Did using real recycled materials count for anything? What was
the purpose of a recycled material project when all the materials look so brand
new?
I
shared my thoughts with a friend who told me the school teacher called to say
her son received the lowest score for a science project. The teacher wanted my
friend to encourage the kid instead of scolding him because it was obvious he
was the only student who did the project by himself. But the bell curve grading
system required the teacher to grade him poorly. The logic of it!!!
Got
home. Took photographs of project. (Look, I do not have space to keep any of their projects or drawings for display, which
explains why my place is always quite neat) and promptly threw the project into
the rubbish chute.
So
much for recycling.
