Fatherly Feeling?

Tired… went Concourse today to buy presents for the coming children’s day… tink I abit cheapskate… went for all the cheap bulk items… in the end spent onli abt 30 plus dollars… on budget lah… cun blame me… have to save up money again… anyway it’s the thought tat counts (but honestly, the thought is not realli there coz I din realli feel like giving presents… it’s juz tat they keep pestering me… dun wana disappoint them)…

Anyway… getting out of point here… tat’s not wat I wana tok abt in tis post…

I did something tat’s beri “not me” yesterday… I saw 3 kids selling newspapers (some 健康日报 or something) at the hawker center while having breakfast… they were dressed in quite old (& dirty-looking, colour faded) clothes… the youngest one approached me and said “买啦，支持一下啦”… he looks like still nursery age, at most P1… a sense of sympathy & pity rose in my heart… working at such a young age… ? ya hor… why ah? My paranoia level started to rise… is SOMEONE making use of these kids to sell newspapers? For ur info, Singapore is quite strict against child labour… worse still, are these kids being ABUSED? Do they have enough food? Are they beaten if they cun finish selling the newspapers? Tink I watched too much drama liao… but at tat moment in time, I realli worry for the kids… so guess wat I did?

I FOLLOWED THEM…

Found them walking around the neighbourhood… selling their newspapers at the hawker center… then the coffeeshops around… trying to find the SOMEONE who’s behind the scene… I mean, these kids are too young to be roaming around… there must be an adult telling them wat to do… so I kept following them…

FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR…

Finally… I found them meeting a man at the carpark… the man was taking out newspapers from his lorry for them to sell… trying to find out more, I posed as a passerby and purposely walked past them to hear wat they were saying… well… one of the kids called the man “pa”… and the kids were actually smiling when toking to the man… so I assumed tat they were not “abused” as I tot… tink I realli tink too much liao… anyway a sigh of relief to see tat they’re ok…

Anyway, I still sympathise with them lah… so young… when other kids were playing & enjoying life, they oredi started working… actually, I’m beri against child labour… I did for a moment tot of reporting the matter to the police… but then again, the family must be in real financial difficulties… I dun wana end up causing the kids to be separated from their parents or breaking up a family in the process… and most imptly, the kids looked happy… so I decided not to pursue the matter in the end… I ended up buying a newspaper from each of them at different locations (they were going around)… so I got 3 in total… nv read thou coz it’s about health issues, which is not realli my cup of tea…

Why did I behave in tat manner yesterday? It’s juz so “not me”… I am a super bochup guy… and honestly speaking, my sense of sympathy is usually low… u can even describe me as cold and unfeeling in some aspects… well… I was brought up & “trained” tat way… being kpo & meddling in other ppl’s business is definitely not my style…

Maybe… I’m tinking… juz maybe… subconsciously, being a teacher & facing kids almost everyday has increased my emotional bond with kids… maybe I am starting to care more abt them… worrying abt them like a parent… maybe tis is wat a father feels like… alamak… lidat no good ah… if realli the case, then next time I realli become a father, then the feeling will not 新鲜 le…