4 wishes for my kids for the next decade

Among my hopes for my daughters as they gain independence is that they be ethical and moral people

- Jill Lim

Another milestone passed when my youngest child collected her O-level results two weeks ago. With her expected admission to a polytechnic in a few months and my middle daughter’s graduation from poly this year, my husband and I will be increasingly hands-off in their educational and work decisions.

This has already been happening. In Secondary 3, the youngest child was adamant that she did not want Chinese tuition. We had our doubts, but saw no point in butting heads with her over it. And so she did her last two years of secondary school Chinese on her own and obtained a respectable B.

Similarly, our middle daughter got her post-Secondary 4 job without involving us at all. She walked into a cafe, asked to work, settled the paperwork and got on the payroll. And then mentioned it offhandedly to us.

Truth be told, I’m proud of her — their - independence from us. However, I hope to continue nudging them in certain directions in other aspects of life.

MAY THEY ALWAYS ENJOY THE WORLD IN REAL LIFE

I'm thankful that my daughters’ primary school years took place before the widespread use of smartphones. I am certain this created an understanding in them and their peers that most things are better in real life.

One daughter organised an outing with friends that saw them taking a bumboat to Pulau Ubin. They walked around for hours and did things like skipping stones for 20 minutes and kicking a fallen fruit along the path for as long as they could.

My middle daughter’s recent Saturday night activity of choice was to sit around for hours with friends near the Singapore River. Aimless downtime? Maybe, but as a Gen Xer, I applaud.