My 'taiko' kids...

I was just tossing and turning in bed this morning, negotiating between Mrs. M and Mrs. P whether to get out of bed, or not, when I received an SMS from Ayah. It read –

“Gd morng.. Hope u had a gud nite sleep. Jz 2 tel u how brave Man wz..didn’t even cry..n how taiko Hanna wz! ;op U better call n speak 2 them J”

I immediately remembered and knew exactly what Ayah was referring to.

First - it was “an afternoon at the dentist” for Hilman today. He needed to take one of his milk teeth out - one VERY impatient permanent tooth was already pushing its way out under that little white jewel. It is a big thing to us because it would be Hilman’s FIRST time experience of losing his milk tooth!

Secondly, both Ayah and Mommy had asked “a favour” from Hanna to confront one boy from Hasya’s class who had been taunting Hasya and a few of her friends, for the last couple of weeks. Apparently he had been using all sorts of swear words, and had been calling his classmates with all sorts of four-letter words under the sun which would have made the characters out of Quentin Tarantino’s films pulped into oblivion! The class teacher had apparently warned the boy that he would be transferred to another class if he continued with his verbal abuse, BUT that did not seem to bother him, and he was at it again barely a day after the warning!

I called Ayah who was at work and he could only tell me briefly about what happened. He was laughing away, and asked me to call and ask the kids myself, to get a more animated version of today’s events. And so I called Hanna –

Me : Hello, dear! How are you?

Hanna : I’m fine, thanks, Mommy…

Me : Ayah, told me that you went to Hasya’s classroom today?

Hanna : Yep!

Me : And?

Hanna : Well, I went to Hasya’s class right after the bell rang, went to the front and asked “Siapa sini nama dia Quentin Tarantino?” (bukan nama sebenar). And a small boy, and I mean REALLY small boy came forward! Smaller than Hasya, you know Mommy! And so, I asked him – “Engkau Quentin Tarantino? Engkau kacau adik aku, eh? Kenapa engkau kacau dia? Lagi sekali aku dengar engkau kacau adik aku, jaga engkau! Aku belasah engkau! Kalau engkau buat jugak lagi lepas tu, aku panggil bapak aku – nanti bapak aku belasah engkau!!!!”

Me : (I was like…errr…not sure whether to laugh or scold her! But, in the end I just laughed!!!)

You have to understand – Hanna is a school prefect, she’s 5’3”, with a very athletic figure….and I can just imagine how she dwarfed that Quentin Tarantino guy from Hasya’s class! But, after that, I told her –

Me : Hanna, thank you for standing up and protecting your sister…But, promise me you won’t do it again for no good reasons, okay? When I asked you to confront that Tarantino kid, I didn’t mean that you should scare his pants off like that!!!

Hanna : I know, Mommy….and I promise I will NOT do it again. But, that little boy tu has such a FOUL mouth! And he’s only 7 years old! Even my Standard 6 friends don’t dare to use those words!

That really made me think – did the boy get all those foul words from unsupervised TV or DVD sessions? Or did he get them from listening to his own parents or other adults around him saying those words? It just made me cringe when I think of all those foul words this 7 year old taunted Hasya and her friends with!

Me : I know Hanna…You just make sure your adek-adek tak terikut-ikut their foul-mouthed friends, okay? You take care…study hard! I love you, I miss you….Can I speak to Hilman, please? Thanks, dear…

Hanna : Okay, Mommy…Love you, miss you, too! (Then) Hilman!!! Here! Mommy nak cakap!

Hilman was on the phone like 2 seconds after that! He must have been waiting to speak to me and tell me about his afternoon at the dentist!

Me : Hello, sayang! Ayah told me that you had your tooth out today?

Hilman : Uh-uh! She (meaning the dentist) put blueberry gel here (I think he was probably pulling his lower lip and pointing to his gum then) and then put injection here (again, he must have been pointing to a spot on his gum!) and take the tooth out! Tak sakit pun!!!

Me : Wow!!! And you didn’t cry?

Hilman : No…

Me : I’m so proud of you! You’re such a brave boy!

Hilman : Uh-uh.

Me : Was there a lot of blood?

Hilman : No…little bit only…

Me : Was it a little tooth?

Hilman : One big, one small.

Me : (????!!) Errr….you mean you had TWO teeth taken out just now?! (Then only I knew!!! All these while I thought there was only one tooth giving him problems! Apparently when I spoke to Ayah after that, he said there were two teeth growing and pushing the milk teeth above them!)

Hilman : Uh-uh! Mommy, can you buy me something?!

Me : (Tuntut !!! I promised to get him something if he didn’t cry!) Sure darling…I will get you something because you have been such a BRAVE boy. I am so proud of you. I will ask Wan to bring it back and give to you nanti! (Their Wan is now in London, by the way)

Hilman : Thank you, Mommy…

Me : You’re welcome, sayang…I’ll speak to you later tonight, okay. I love you, I miss you….Mmmmmuuaaahhh!

Hilman : I love you, too…I miss you, too…Mmmmuuaahhh!

And then I waited for Hilman to put the phone down…Waited for about 10 seconds, and then –

Hilman : Mommy, YOU put the phone down first, okay?!!

Me : (LOL) Okay…okay…sayang…

(Hasya was still at school then, so I didn’t get the chance to ask her if Quentin Tarantino was still taunting her!)

And I was smiling away the whole day today - thinking of my two “taiko” kids – “taiko” in their own ways…

So, to all parents out there who have “taiko” kids at home, wherever you are…I hope they are “taikos” in the positive sense….BUT, IF they are the "Tarantino” type (I doubt if there are that many out there - I hope not!), don’t be surprised if one day they come back, and tell you that there’s this one big, mean, girl called Hanna, with her even meaner Ayah who confronted them at school and threatened to put chlorox in their foul mouths….(Ooooops!!)

Wassalam…