I admit it – There are some things I would never do to my mother-in-law, but would not hesitate to do it to my mum. I absolutely love bringing my kids over to my mum’s place because whenever we are there, the kids stick to her and I get to rest and take a nap, or just laze in front of the TV for hours. I don’t feel ‘pai sei’ about doing that to my mum, because my mum is an extremely gracious woman. :P So yes, I take advantage of that once a week or two.
Plus, my mum’s super good at finding activities to occupy the kids. She has some boxes of toys which she brings out for them to play whenever we go over, or she would have some DVDs standby somewhere to occupy their attention span. On some days, the kids help her with little things here and there while she’s cooking dinner or when she’s baking cakes and cookies. It is a perfect way for the kids to bond with their grandmother, I’m sure you know. And of course, for me to unwind after a long week.
Yesterday, we went back to my mum’s place again, and this time round, the kids were engaged in some high-class playdoh session – They helped Grandma with the dough for Mee Hoon Kuey!
They started off just spreading the flour and rolling the dough, then got bored halfway through, so Grandma gave them some cookie cutters to play around with. Quite frankly, I prefer this kind of dough to the real playdoh because it’s a lot less messy. Plus, at the end of a play session, we can cook them and have a proper meal!
Because of that though, dinner took slightly longer to be served. Haha! By the time everything was cooked and served, I dug in fast and furious and totally forgot about taking a photograph of the amazing pot of homecooked Mee Hoon Kuey. As expected, the girls, especially Joey, ate huge portions of dinner that evening – It was after all the fruits of their hard labor. =D Food really does taste better when much love and hard work is put into it!
So that is the reason why I love to bring the kids to my parents’ house during the weekends. It is the house I lived a large portion of my life in, doted upon by my parents. It is a place of refuge when I feel tired and completely drained out by the things of the world. It is a place I feel most at ease at. But of course, most importantly, it is a place I want the kids to have great memories of – Playing with their grandparents, preparing a meal together or simply watching TV together. Precious. :)
