Individual Reflections
Tan Xin Xin | T03
Civic Responsibility & Personal Growth
Our sessions focused on the central theme of impulse control in children from low-income families. A 9-year-old boy caught my attention during the programme. He demonstrated signs of attention-seeking behaviour, aggression and disrespect to the people around him. Uncorrected bad attitude in formative years is often due to uninvolved parenting, and might lead to bad character in adulthood (Sawar, 2016). In Singapore, dual income families are the norm and children spend most of their time in school, tuition and childcare centres. Often, there is little quality time with children which leads to spoiling the child with material items instead of disciplining the child when he does wrong. My personal role to the issue is a temporary one, I managed to correct his bad attitude when he did wrong. However, I could to extend my service in the long-term by volunteering more actively with children, and seizing teachable moments to correct their wrong behaviours.
The same 9-year-old boy mentioned above was a challenge to manage at first. He interrupted sessions, hit his friend, and talked back to facilitators. However, what left me stunned was how he offered to help keep the chairs at the end of the session, and even asked me for more details about the next session. Despite displaying misconduct, I was glad that he enjoyed himself and desired to learn more about impulse control. It dawned on me that children are impressionable and generally more open to learn regardless of how mischievous they may be. They are at a formative age – the best period for any intervention to alter negative behaviours. In light of this learning, I plan to volunteer more actively with children, and always bear in mind to not have preconceived judgments of any child. Rather, view them as sponges – all ready to learn and absorb!
Word count: 250 words
References
Sawar, S. (2016). Influence of parenting style on children’s behaviour. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 3(2), 222-249. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1161470.pdf