Happy Teacher's Day

First and foremost, I'd like to wish all teachers out there a great teacher's day! I really salute the work that you do for our children.

Humaira's teacher is one of the best I've seen. She's someone really dedicated and really good at her job. You can see that she loves the kids and someone whom we can sought out for personal yet professional advice on our child.

In order to honour her work, we wanted to give her something to show our appreciation. We decided to pass the material things (how many coffee mugs can they use anyway) and decided to help Humaira do up a card instead. In attempt for Humaira to say something personal, I asked her to complete this sentence, "I love Teacher Aisyah because..." What seemingly looked simple enough turned frustratingly comical. This how our conversation went:

Me: Humaira, why do you love Teacher Aisyah?

H: Because...I love Teacher Aisyah.(apparently, someone hasn't grasp the concept of 'why' and 'because'..sheesh)

Me: Ok but why..what does Teacher Aisyah do for you?

Humaira: (silence)

Me: Does Teacher Aisyah play with you?

Humaira: I play with my friends.

Me: Ok, does Teacher Aisyah read a book to you, and that's why you love her?

Humaira: No, I read book.

Me: (Me thinking what other way can I phrase this question.) Do you love Ibu?

Humaira: (Happily) Yessss.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because Ibu play with you?

Humaira: Yess.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because Ibu hug and kiss you?

Humaira: Yesss.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because I read books to you?

Humaira: Yes.

Me: So you love Teacher Aisyah because...

Humaira: I love Teacher Aisyah because..

Me: What?

Humaira: What?

Me: Why do you love Teacher Aisyah?

Humaira: (silence and then...) I don't know. (shrugs her shoulders and went back to playing)

At this point, I nearly pulled out my treasured strand of white hair by its roots in frustration. But you know what they say, Ramadhan is a month of patience and be patient I did. In the end, I managed to get a semblence of an acceptable answer so that's was why I held her hand and helped her write 'I love Teacher Aisyah because she is in the class' on a star-shaped piece of sticker (which she then coloured all by herself *smiles*)

I see that this post is getting a bit long so I'm going to end off with the poem that I placed with the card. I really liked this because it portrayed how I felt and would commend the author but it's an anonymous piece of writing. Here it goes:

WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?
Author Unknown

"Whose child is this?" I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
"Mine", said the parent with a tender smile
"Mine to keep a little while
To bathe her hands and comb her hair
To tell her what she is to wear
To prepare her that she may always be good
And each day do the things she should"

"Whose child is this?" I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
"Mine", said the teacher with the same tender smile
"Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach her how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct her dear little mind
To help her live by every rule
And get the best she can from school"

"Whose child is this?" I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
"Ours" said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
"Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever."

Once again, I wish all teachers a great day.