parenting

I'm no parent but i know a fair bit about kids since I deal with them every moment of my work.
I've some kids with such good attitudes toward people and learning that they shine every single time i see them. they appreciate the music, the time spent with their parents in class, and they do their best. even if they're not inherently "talented", they do very well.

I can also tell when a kid is giving his/her best and when the kid is just plain uninterested/lazy/uninvolved.

for example,take Daphne* who's never had any initiative or even an attention span to begin with. she's lazy and spoiled and her mothers makes it so much worse by allowing her to control both the mum and dad. all she has to do when she wants to get out of doing anything remotely useful is scrunch up her face and pretend to cry. at ONCE her silly and affected parents cave in to her desires and immediately say "it's okay darling, you're doing a great job, you're the best in the world! mummy won't scold you anymore okay sweetie? will you forgive mummy?" this was after her mum tried to get her to listen to me showing them how to play a new song. wow. so, if she doesn't want to listen, her mum apologizes for trying to help her listen? reminds me of Gwen from Malory towers.

she's not been able to play anything for mths now but her silly mum still hasn't wizened up and is throwing her money down the drain. all 9 of the other kids are now able to play both hands for this new song but she still can't play even ONE hand and doesn't know where "Do" is although we've already learnt it 8 mths ago. this is what happens when the parent doesn't discipline the kid at all! even when i try to help correct her, she doesnt want to play and if i try to take her hand to show her, she pretends to cry and buries her face in her mum's chest. when all the kids are singing in front she just goes back to her mum halfway through when she feels like it! she has absolutely no respect for authority at all. then, when i get all the other kids to perform in front and she can't, she cries and runs to mummy again. sobbing that she can't play like the other kids. never did it occur to her that it's her own fault that she can't play.

in the same class, another girl, Marjorie* is always always cheerful, and happy to come to class, she tries her best and althugh she may not get it right the 1st time, she does the 2nd! her mum is encouraging but not smothering. she listens to me and does what I ask. although only 4 years old her attitudes toward other people and learning are way way way more mature than Daphne!


*names have been changed for obvious reasons