Parents

Most people choose to celebrate the birthday with fine dining. Well, that is fine but we decided to celebrate my birthday by having a day off to take my daughter to her school (and pick her up after class).

My chest swelled with pride, as would my daughter's, to know that we dedicate a birthday holiday to go with her to school. If we could calculate a birthday happiness index, it would be marching toward an all-time high yesterday. After another lovely afternoon with Jasmine at the beach, we then spent our evening at her kindergarten's parent teaching meeting.

It was late in the evening, and listening to her class teacher sounded more important than a birthday dinner. We stared at each class photograph and wondered how our kid gets used to the school. Normal, that's what. Parental anxiety is a fact of life, a behaviour that's virtually universal among the dads and mums - beginning for some as early as the first trimester of pregnancy. When it was our turn to talk to Jasmine's teacher, we asked if it's too difficult for our daughter to enjoy the English-speaking class.

"No, I see no reason why you should stop using your mother tongue at home," began her teacher. "After all, we will take care of her English and you can teach her Cantonese. Things might be a bit tough for her in the beginning. Don't worry, I know Jasmine has a lot to tell me, and she is talkative. Our assistant will translate her words in English (for her to learn how to say it) and let her realise that she's equally important to me even she doesn't speak in English."

We smiled. We were surprised to learn that her teacher can remember every bit of our daughter - her way of interacting with other kids, the colour Jasmine loves, her longest sentence in English in the class (about her story at the Disneyland).

"Look, if Jasmine loves our school (which she does), she is going to be fluent in English (which she is not - at least not yet) in a few months," her teacher added.

We then dutifully said thanks and goodbye to her teacher. We went home, pretty sure that the teacher is good to her and (we suppose) good for her.