In the afternoons, when the weather is too accommodating not giving you too much sun, instead just giving you a glimpse of gray clouds carrying rain for the nearby places but where you are. It’s such a nice time to stroll around the seaside while sipping milk tea and looking over the horizon, feeling the sea breeze and enjoying the moment with your loved ones.

This is how I usually spend and enjoy my afternoon… or NOT. This was just a one-time thing. My family and I did it only once since the start of pandemic!

What really composed my afternoon until evening, is me battling modules and home works with my daughter. You see, here in my country our education system has been altered to suit the new normal. Face-to-face classes are still prohibited.  In public schools, modular method is used, wherein parents or guardians will go to school once a week to retrieve and submit the modules or learning materials of their children. Thus, it is the role of the parents or guardian to teach and help their kids with their lessons and home works. My daughter is a first-grader, and since last school year when she was in kindergarten, until now she hasn’t been having classes with her teachers, not even online. So, the responsibilities of the teachers to their students are passed on to us, parents. Although, teachers assist us as much as they can. They are in constant communication and give us tips on how to explain such lessons to the kids.

I tell you this. It is harder to teach your own child, one-on-one, than teach others. Students, especially younger ones, have high regards for teachers. They follow what their teachers say with less questions or none at all. But that is not the case with my child and I. When I start explaining her lessons to her, give a lot of examples and giving in to some of her unreasonable requests just so she would do her school works, then she would suddenly say, “But you’re not teacher, you’re my Mom!” A little scolding will come, and the cycle continues.

So imagine the struggle and stress I have every day. Enjoyable afternoon? Rarely, I guess, but definitely stressful most of the time. But we'll do anything for our kids, right?!

Many years from now, on fine afternoons, when all the housework is done and I'll hear the chirpping of the birds while sitting on a rocking chair at home sipping tea... I would definitely remember these moments I had with my daughter. Looking back then, maybe I will think that battling with modules and homeworks of a first-grader was one of the most enjoyable activities I had with her. I would surely say then, "What many a fine afternoon we had had!"