KINDERGARTEN OF KINDNESS
(PART 2)
By Christopher Quah
In our last part of Kindergarten Of Kindness Part 1 (https://asianbeacon.org/kindergarten-of-kindness-part-1/) Mrs Bernard Poobalan’ shared about how Tadika Seri Delima, her family operated Kindergarten has been here for 20 years in USJ 2. In part 2, she continues her story.
“A lot of people who come into this business only see the money upfront which appears to be a lot. But it is a lot of hard work. Kids are not easy to control. They make a lot of noise, and you need a lot patience with them. A lot of them who enter this line of business think it’s easy and fast money. They think it’s all about making the children memorising stuff. That is not education. They have to understand. Stuff that is memorised is forgotten once the exams are over. Parents want to see result. You can’t fool them, especially when their own children bear the results. My teaching prepares them not just for school. I look beyond that, as it’s for university and regular life itself. Teach them that education is just memorising, then they struggle to learn in university, because they have never really learned,” she explained.
She explained that her method takes more effort and it’s hard work.
“Every day you have to work hard with them. You have to be very consistent, and cannot push them, or keep them under pressure. Every child is different. Some finish fast, some slower. For slower kids, we teach them slowly until they understand. Once they understand they become very fast learners. For those fast learners, we give them extra work to do. We don’t just let them idle around in class. So, at the end of the day they finish according to their own rate. At the end of the day, I must make sure that every child that goes off, acquires new knowledge and skills, which help them to grow. Otherwise I will be very disturbed in my conscience, because I feel like I have tricked them,” Mrs Bernard explained.
She goes even further for those children with special needs.
“I do one on one with the autistic children. If left unattended they will also distract the other children,” she added.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Concerning her plans for the future of Tadika Seri Delima, she said that God has led her own grown up son Colin, to join the family business.
“I was led to join and eventually take over the kindergarten business. I was from a very different line, which was banking. But I did not stay long. After a time of prayer, asking God for guidance. One by one, He closed all the other doors, and led me here. I believed my case is very rare, as most young people would seek after careers that offer big money,” Colin explained.
He also explained that with him managing the kindergarten, his mother would be able to focus her full attention on the special need kids.
“Reaching out to the special needs kids is my mother’s calling. My role, is maintenance of the surrounding structures, administrative duty, and leadership. For now, I am doing a supporting role,” Colin explained.
Since joining the kindergarten as administrator, Colin has made plans to expand the kindergarten with branches in different locations.
“We are training teachers based on the Tadika Seri Delima syllabus. I’ve already started plans for expansion. All these will take off in 2020,” Colin said.
Thanks to his experience working in the bank, Colin was able to come out with this plan.
“My mother has been in this field for so long, that she is used to do things in a certain way that there can be certain blind spots. In order to expand, fresh perspective is always needed. But change will be tough.”
Despite his big dreams, Colin explained that he always reminded himself to be grounded and humble.
“We all start from small beginnings. I admit I have very little experience with kindergarten. But I am willing to learn, as it is, all brand new. I treat it as a ministry for me in a way to build character. After all humility builds character bit by bit. At the same time, I try to contribute back what I know, which is my business sales experience from my past work experience,” Colin added.
Though he is still figuring out his way around in order to expand on what his mother has built up, he said that this time is a good time for him to learn to trust the Lord.
“I feel that it’s like the kingdom of God, God needs us to grow first before He can expand us. Similarly, it is the same with the kindergarten. God needs to grow me first, before I can expand out. The kindergarten may not grow according to mine timeline,” he concluded.
