Why I love this bird app

It’s the school holidays. While my eldest Adam is in boarding school, his two younger sisters stayed at home all by themselves. Our youngest Asif? We send him to his babysitter anyway. If I was on leave, I would keep Asif at home by my side. It breaks my heart a little every day when I had to send Asif away. But Linda and I had to work and there was nobody to take look after Asif at home. Yes we could ask Mia nicely to look after Asif while we’re at work but we don’t really like to do that. It is not Mia’s or Adam’s job to look after their youngest sibling or become co-parents while we’re away. That is our job. Mia, Adam and Hana’s jobs are to be children or teenagers, doing what children or teenagers usually do.

And when Mia and Adam and Hana and Asif are fully grown up, I don’t expect anything from them in return. I don’t speak for their mother but I don’t expect to be rewarded with anything. If they want to, I wouldn’t mind but I have no expectations. If they’re happy and content in life, that’s good enough for me. That means I did my job to raise them well and to be a good human being. I know that sounds contrary to our stereotypical Asian values but that’s what I believe. I learned that and much more, believe it or not from Twitter. Yes that damned bird app.

As a matter of fact, I learned a lot of things, especially the correct values of modern human life from Twitter. I used to smack my kids or yell at them when they did something wrong. I don’t do that anymore when I learned from Twitter that that’s not the right way to teach your kids. You can teach your kids lessons without being a dick to them. I used to put some expectation and pressure on them to do well in school and exams and to try to get into a good boarding school, you know, just like Adam did. When Mia did not actually get accepted into a boarding school, I was pretty chilled about it because I learned that there’s more than one way for my children to succeed in life. It is not always that straightforward or obvious.

Apart from that, I always try to make my children question everything that they’re been told about and everything that they learn from school or their teachers or friends or the Internet. Never too early to let them learn some critical thinking and not just follow and swallow everything they’re being fed to.

Depending on the crowd or bubble that you follow, Twitter has a way of correcting wrong and obsolete values. And if you try to spread your antiquated or archaic beliefs, someone will always challenge you and point you to see reason. I’ve learned so much from social media and the Internet in general that it literally changed my worldview and my life, for the better. That’s why I love this bird app.