My Stressed Out Neighbour

My neighbour Winnie has been looking stressed out since her return from Singapore. On the Australia Day Weekend, I wrote a piece about the recent antics of Winnie’s son, Michael, but that was never published because I didn’t think it was fair to her since she confided in me privately. Although the family has been in Melbourne for a few years now, she still misses her old home from time to time. I think this is made worse because she is home on her own for most of the day. Hopefully her plans to help out at Michael’s school are going to happen soon.

Winnie may be a stay-at-home mum which to some people seems to be a lazy option, but she is not at all lazy. Winnie plans her family’s meals religiously, cooking up all sorts of fancy foods for her husband and son’s lunch boxes and dinners. Her husband appreciates her daily efforts and maybe one day her little boy will grow to appreciate these delicious little parcels. Michael may wish to eat vegemite and cheese or tomato, ham and cheese sandwiches like all the other little Aussiemites now, but he may soon enjoy the little surprises that mum has carefully handmade for him every morning before he wakes up for school. When I first met the family, Winnie even used to make and deliver Michael’s lunch before lunch time. She only stopped because she was made to feel like she was causing an inconvenience to the school staff.

Leon returned to Melbourne before Winnie and Michael did in January. He brought back some books for Michael. The mother and son also came home later with lots of books. Winnie aspires to see Michael excel at school. She bought these workbooks for Michael to learn and complete at home. (I am not really into workbooks for children under 9.) Completing the workbooks is part of the family’s pathway to securing a scholarship for Michael in a couple of years’ time. It is one thing to plan for a child; it is truly another thing to get him/her to comply, especially if the child doesn’t see the point of switching to another school if he/she gets a scholarship. Michael’s little attempts to refuse paperwork after school is giving both parents headaches and thus contributing more stress to his already stressed out mum. During my recent holiday break, I watched a documentary from the UK about a migrant family’s efforts in trying to get their youngest son scholarships to some of England’s best schools. We thought that the whole process was pretty stressful for the child and he was not the only person affected. The whole family was involved to make it work. There was good news at the end of the story for this hardworking child. He scored full & partial scholarships to a few very good schools. When I see Michael these days, I see a child who will have to work just as hard to score a scholarship. The extra work after school could be stressing him out also. Winnie might not be the only member of the family to be stressed out!