A lesson learnt (ROM reception)

James' friends got married last Sunday. :)

Besides the usual ang pow, we had a little gift for the couple; red wine from our very own wedding banquet back in 2003!

I made a simple gift tag, and dressed the bottles of wine in some red and silver ribbons. (We ended up bringing just one bottle for we simply couldn't bear to part with it!)

James is a doting father, he rushed back after work on Sunday itself and bought Lia a bubble gun so we could bring it along. Lia loves playing with bubbles!

Then, there was the swing. It was love-at-first-try for the little one. Actually, James and myself, we loved it too and we all had a go at it.

Yes, I learnt a lesson, from our outing that day. James and I, we were just so narrow-minded at times. You see, Lia was very much attracted to the play area and she have had great companion too. Most of the kids were around Lia's age and they clicked well when it comes to play. Lia went on and on and on and on with the swings and slides, and guilty to say, we weren't happy. We weren't happy for we thought she'd played too much. How stupid right? Why can't we let the kid enjoy herself to the fullest? My reasons: 1) fear of nasty mosquitoes bites. 2) There wasn't a reliable caretaker around (and we were too lazy to stand and watch over Lia while she plays). 3) I am superstitious - though the play area is lighted, there are big trees surrounding it and when the sky has darken, the trees looked rather intimidating to me. James' reason: he wanted to mingle and catch up with his friends.

As the sky darkens, we took turns to bring Lia back to us. We kept reprimanding her that she'd played too much. Well, Lia did stay with us, for a teeny short while but promptly ran back to join the others. It was just too bored for her to stay at the adults table. She was so tempted when she saw the kids playing that she ran off, without even looking back as we yelled for her to come back. So the scene's like this:

We: Lia's so rebellious! We're angry!

Lia: I just wanna go play.

We lost face when Lia refused to listen to our commands, thus we had to lash out at her to show her who's the boss. I only realised that night, as I laid in bed replaying the scenes, how bad parents we were at that point of time. I do not wanna feel bad again, not anymore, I've made a promise to myself. The next time round if we've chose to bring Lia to such an outing, we got to be prepared for her to play to the fullest. Else, if we can't let her play, we won't bring her. It's that simple.