If I were my Parents

                                                                                          초등 3학년 이 O O

Have you ever thought about being a parent? Anthony Brown who wrote “My Mom” and “My Dad” says being a parent is not easy. Parents are brilliant with singing, cooking, dancing, drawing, and other things. Also, they are sometimes very tough like a lion, or kind like an angel. Indeed they need to be super moms or super dads. But when I see my parents, I think that is hard to achieve while doing what they want. Nevertheless I want to be a super mom too, so I would make sure I do these two things as a parent. One is to be a working mom for my kid’s freedom unlike my mom, and the other is to bring up my kids with tough love and show them the right way like my mom.

My mom is a housewife. When I go to school, my mom always sees me off, and when I come back home, she is always there to welcome me. She gives me some snacks before I go to academy, and checks my homework and schedule. She also teaches me how to solve difficult math problems and attends my open classes. She is avery important person to me. But there are also problems that happen because she is always with me. Sometimes I long to do something, but unfortunately my mom won’t let me. Have you heard of ‘Liquid monster’? When I touch it, I like that smooth feeling and how it never sticks to my hands. So I love to make those Liquid monsters. I want to make it using different ingredients then upload my video on ‘YOUTUBE’ to show my recipe. But my mom hates it because it makes a mess on my desk and I can’t concentrate on my work. That’s when she really hates it. I also want to get some more money from my parents to buy food I want to eat, such as candies, chewing gum, jellies, and chocolate. My mom calls them ‘junk food’ and instead she wants me to eat her homemade food, but sometimes the sweetness in junk food is good for my stress. In cases like these, I truly wish my mom was a working mom. Sure, doing things without Mom can be more dangerous and I may make more mistakes. But there is a saying: ‘Failure is the mother of success.’ How wonderful is this saying! Plus, I can realize my mistakes and have courage to overcome them again and again. Most importantly, I can be more independent. If I become a housewife, I think I will nag at my kids a lot even if I try to respect their space at the same time like my mom. So by becoming a working mom, I want to give my kids more freedom with more time on their hands. They will be able to do what they want and learn to make decisions themselves.

I also want to bring up my kids with tough love. There are two kinds of parents’love. One is coddling love, and the other is tough love. Coddling love means always giving compliments and offer words of encouragement even when the kids are not doing well. On the other hand, tough love is treating kids harshly to deter their bad behaviors or faults. Many kids make mistakes accidentally or deliberately, and I think parents have to let them know of their mistakes and guide them to a right way. Let me tell you a story from when I was 8 years old. Jeong Min was a neighbor who was a year older than me, but she had difficulty solving problems like 1+1. My friends and I teased her. Actually, she was just different from the rest of us and I knew that already. My mom was very angry when she found out. She scolded, saying how I would feel if I were her and her family. I was very sad for the scolding, but I also realized my wrong doing. After that incident, I didn’t look down on anyone and I began to think more from the other person’s position. If my mom had said, “It’s okay because youare young”, I might have still kept the bad habit without knowing that is wrong. So I think when kids show a bad behavior like this, tough love is a better way to fix it just like my mom had done.

We all have to make decisions every day. And those choices have both pros and cons. If I have a job, I would have less time with my kids and with tough love, they might get scared of me. But as a working mom, I think I can give them an opportunity to make decisions themselves with more freedom and courage. Also tough love can effectively stop the kids from making the same mistake again and again as it guides them to the right way. So if I were a parent, I would be a working mom who brings up the kids with tough love.  

위 글은 지난 2월 18일에코리아중앙데일리와 주한 영국대사관이 공동 주최하고 ESU KOREA가 주관하는 ESU 영어말하기 대회에 참가하여 본선 초등부 저학년부에서 전국 동상을 수상한 이호정 학생의 글입니다.