The Beauty of Tutoring Our Children

Who loves to tutor their kids? I am sure most, if not all, moms do not enjoy being the resident tutor. Some days the kids amaze you at their speed of learning but there are also those days when you just want to pull your hair.

 

I, for one, have not been a fan of tutoring the kids. It usually starts out on a very pleasant note. Everyone sits down and happily listens to you. Then they start to get restless and you start to get impatient. Then before you know it, voices are raised and books starts to fly. Okay, I'm exaggerating on the last part. I don't really throw books but that is what I feel like doing sometimes.

 

Since our children's first language is now English, the Filipino subject is often the most difficult to study. I mean, they cannot even understand the instructions written in Filipino! But we try our best to review and lately, we have been persevering.

 

A few weeks ago my four-year old daughter had her mid-term exams in Filipino and she came home excited because she got a really high score. When her teacher and yaya told her she did a good job, she consistently replied "Because mommy helped me!".  Two weeks later my seven-year old son also had an exam in the same challenging subject. When he got home the day of the exam, he told me that his teacher told him he did a great job. He said he told the teacher "It's because mommy stayed up all night reviewing me".  Then last Monday as I was waiting for him at soccer practice, he saw me and ran to me with so much excitement. He said "Mom! I got 100% in my Filipino exam!" and he went on to say that the first thing he said when the teacher gave him his test papers were "Mom will be so happy!"

 

The past weeks' incidents inspired me to try my best to be a better tutor to my children. I never realized how much my children value the time I spend helping them with their school work.  And you know what? Something changed in our study time. There are now more laughter than tears. On most days, my children look forward to studying with me and I value the time we spend together even if it's over books and homework. I realized that I have become more patient and they have now appreciated the results of their hard work.

 

I have often told Dens that I don't need our children to always be at the top of their class. My priority is for them to enjoy school and value education. But now I am also realizing that getting good grades does not only mean avoiding failure. It is also a means to encourage them and let them know that they are capable.

 

So to all tutoring moms out there, there is so much value in what we are doing. On days when you feel like you're wasting so much time going over the difference of Panghalip and Panghalip Panao, know that time with our children is never wasted time. We are building their character and molding them to be confident individuals that can change the world, one subject at a time.