The open day for BM Kindergarten was held on the morning of the 5th of May 2008. In conjunction with its 1st annual open day since its establishment, a Buddha- bathing ceremony was also arranged ahead of the Buddha day, to be followed up on the same day with a parenting talk by the renowned child educationist and ex-head master, Mr. Tan Kerk Chee .

Children put on their best dresses and were seem eagerly looking forward to the event on that morning. Many of them have never taken part in Buddha bathing ceremony and are naturally curious and asked their teachers many questions like: “Teacher, what is the purpose of bathing the Buddha? What is the name of the statue and why do we have flowers in the water tub?” Well, before the ceremony began, Ven. Zhen Xin explained the origin and the significance of Buddha bathing ceremony.

Buddha day or Wesak day is the day when Buddhists all over the world commemorate the Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing away of the Buddha. It is also the day when a Buddha bathing ceremony is held. It has its origin dated back about two thousand six hundred years ago when the expecting Queen Maya , while on her way to her parent’s home, give birth to Buddha under a Sala tree in Lumbini park. Immediately after birth, the prince took seven steps with lotus springing up beneath his feet. He then miraculously pointed his right hand to the sky and his left hand to the ground, declaring “ I am the mightiest in heaven and on earth.” which means that the Buddha is the noblest of all enlightened being and he’ll show the way for the liberation of all beings. Then jets of showers were seen falling from the sky and descended on the baby prince. From then on, the custom of bathing the Buddha takes root until today during Wesak day.

More importantly, the Ven. reiterated that the purpose of bathing the Buddha is to cleanse our bodily actions, speech and the mind. In so doing we also pray for world peace, harmony and prosperity.
The ceremony ended with the Ven. leading in the chanting of “Incense Praise and the Heart Sutra”, followed by the students lining up to bath the Buddha while singing the “ Bathing of the Buddha ” song.

The parenting talk by Mr. Tan Kerk Chee began immediately after the “ Buddha-bathing ceremony”. The talk lasted one hour during which the former headmaster shared his years of experience o his teaching career with the parents and answered many questions posted by the concerned parents. Mr.Tan last held the post of inspectorate of SJK(C) in Kedah before his retirement. He had been a lecturer for the KBSR curriculum for many years. He had also attended numerous study tours, seminars and workshops on pre-school education held in Taiwan and China, organized by the Chinese teacher associations.

He reiterated the need to reject the over emphasis of examination results by parents which invariably hampers the proper mental growth of a child. Ideally in a learning or study environment parents should treat their children as partners or friends in fostering an ambience of mutual support and encouragement.

In brief, the talk revolved around the subject of pre-school education and pressure on the students.

In the selection of an ideal Kindergarten, the obvious consideration would be the fee charged and the distance from the homes. However, the more important consideration should be to choose a center that does not bring undue pressure to bear on the children. We are not advocating that a Kindy center should be pressure- free in term of not giving any home works. It makes sense to prescribe only the optimum amount of homework to preschool children to keep them abreast of the school curriculum, he added.

Recounting his study abroad, he pointed out that our pre-school education system exposed many shortcomings that need to be revamp. Students are burden with excessive school homework. This again is compound with addition private tuition works. The result is that we have strangled the childhood of our children.

He further added that the influence exerted by parents in term of knowledge- seeking and character building on a student is far greater than by the educational institution. An international survey reveals that parental influence constitutes 30-50% with respects to knowledge procurement as compared to 16-25% by institution. Similarly, in character building, as much as 70% attribute to parents while only 4-11% to institution. Apparently, we cannot ignore the important role played by parents from the above statistics.

On the frequently-ask question by parents on how to bring up a child, he explained that the safest and ideal method without squandering much money is to begin at home. Home is the focal point that decides the future of your child. Spend more time with your child instead of delegating your parental responsibilities to others. In fact, parental responsibilities begin with the nurturing of the child even during the foetal stage. Food, emotional and prenatal experiences all have influence on the foetus and the child subsequently. Therefore, parents should play the role of trusted friend and mentor and give due time and attention to groom their child.

Many parents have the misconception that education is all about doing homework, tuition and examination. He elaborated that education is not all about getting good results. Parents are forcing children to attend tuition class to ensure they will score A’s in examination. According to an American research report, having too much homework is harmful”. This issue has aroused intense debates and discussions among the general American Public. . The American scholar Koan in his “The Myth of Homework” has explicitly rebutted the myth of homework. In the Malaysian context, homework only helps one to coup with examination, they don’t contribute positively to a wholesome learning process of a student. The current education is binary in nature, you either provide the right or wrong answer. There is no middle ground. In another word, the present system only concerns with the end- result, ignoring the process of learning. The correct learning attitude should stress on the process instead.
He advised parents not to be misled by the “As” grades in the report cards. The ability of a student to face the challenges of life in the future depends not merely on the academic results and the certificates but more importantly the nurturing of the right character and personality. While encouraging students to study hard , one must not deprive him from playing games as it is from the games one learns the basic methodology of learning. Many things are not learnt from books but from the games themselves, including inculcating a good character and personality.

Children need encouragement during various stages of their growth. One should have a close rapport by developing a close and trusted relationship with his child. The old way of reproach and threat is outdated and not applicable now.He expressed his sincere hope that the parents have learnt an invaluable lesson from the talk.