Treat it as lesson learnt

I was flabbergasted to read that Madam Serene Ong (above) has once again brought up the ignominious incident last month, where she made a fuss about her son's teacher cutting his hair.

In the article "Minister... I'm not giving an excuse" (The New Paper on Sunday, Sept 16), Madam Ong said she is "sad" about being used as "an example of an unreasonable parent" who "does not respect school rules".

But she was the one who lodged a police report over a frivolous matter, took the case to the Ministry of Education (MOE) and spoke to the press, even after the teacher had apologised to her.

Publicising the incident blew up spectacularly in her face, judging from the wide range of unsympathetic and scathing responses that her story attracted.

Now she says she and her two children remain "affected" by comments from friends and netizens.

For the sake of her children, she should simply accept it as a lesson with good grace and refrain from making a mountain out of a molehill in future.

It would do her much good if she could just take up the MOE spokesman's advice to help her son "move on" and focus on preparing for the upcoming PSLE.

Worry

Parents like her worry me, for errant parenting breeds children who are more likely to grow up to be obnoxious adults who assume they have every right to heap unreasonable demands on society.

As parents, we must realise that our actions invariably have an impact on our children and we should set a good example to them lest the moral tone in our society degenerates further.

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