(written by footywife)

My little son loves role-play these days.

Most often he becomes Mrs Chee (his English teacher) and I am made to be Pan lao-shi, his Chinese teacher (Lao-shi is “teacher” in Chinese). Sometimes I am made to be Dominic (his good friend and classmate) or Javen Liew (another good friend and classmate).

It all sounds very trivia. Until I realized day-to-day events are “narrated” by him so easily during role-play.

I often had difficulty getting him to tell me about his school life – Was he happy in school? Were the kids physical? Did anyone smack him? Were the teachers harsh? Did they punish him unnecessarily (or worse, wrongly?)?… Yes – I’m a terribly concerned mother!

So role-play has become my avenue to find out about things that happened in school.

I just found out that children who jump in class are made to stand in a corner for 2 minutes (though I’m not too sure if it’s really 2 minutes). My little son (aka Mrs Chee) kept his eyes on the clock in the room and only allowed me (aka Dominic) out of the naughty corner after he was satisfied that 2 full minutes had passed (though he doesn’t have any idea what 2 minutes really means).

When I take on the role of “Mrs Chee”, my little son pays a lot more attention to me than when I’m just “mama”.

“I’m Mrs Chee now. Go brush your teeth Jadon. Quick, Javen Liew is next after you. Dominic has already brushed his teeth,” I said.

And my little son trots happily into the bathroom to do just that.

Though I’m not sure how long this will last.