Delayed gratification
For most parents including myself, the expectations we have towards our children would be that they do their work dutifully, and knowing that sacrificing play time for the sake of their work should be the norm. However, this is really not the case for children.
I recalled that as a child, I would readily choose carbonated sweetened drinks as opposed to bitter chinese herbal tea, no matter how many times my parents preached that the latter cleanses the body and lead to better digestion, health, etc. This is a clear indication that children, including myself when I was young, could hardly associate the long-term impact of our actions. Likewise, it is never rational to expect children, especially the younger ones, to know the gains they would reap if they were to do 5 problem sums before they sleep.
Not to mention children, adults are seemingly not immune to this too. In one social media post, a fellow educator lamented that parents often have hesitation when engaging tuition based on the fees, while observing that these parents could spend at will, to do up their hair, or even buy luxury vehicles. This could well be instant gratification too, such as seeing the improvement in outlook of their hairdo, or the “shiok” factor when driving cars ( or even luxury cars), while not being able to visual the success their chiildren would attain if these parents were to plough in resources to help their children.
While this post may be a tad too late for parents whose children are in Primary 6 or even Primary 5, I hope this will help to trigger some thought.
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