It was the day when the UPSR results would be released. Sleepless nights, pounding hearts... Pupils were laughing with their peers or talking non-stop as their eyes searched for their parents. They looked pale, as if someone had squeezed the air from their lungs. Now I was among the anxious parents. I sat behind my daughter. She looked back, saw me and waved. I nodded. As the teachers walked in, the noise subsided. The year's results were read out. Then came the moment of truth. Pupils who had scored 5As were called out one by one and each of them stepped up on stage. When my daughter went up, I felt fine, but she was crying. I wondered why; maybe she didn't expect to score 5As. Anyway, I said a thankful prayer quietly. After the last name was called, what I saw made an impact on me. One mother just dashed from the back, crying. I thought she was the parent of the last pupil, but I was wrong. She hugged her daughter seated in the front row, saying it was all right that she hadn't scored all As. Her kid was crying. This morn kissed her daughter's forehead and walked straight to the back of the hall, wiping her tears as she walked. She didn't care about the other parents looking at her. How much pressure do we put on these 12-year-olds? All they did was studying and doing endless homework and countless practice questions. Where was the joy that they rightfully needed? As a parent, I think scoring top marks is not the main thing in life. Survival skills are more important than just chewing school texts and regurgitating  them in an exam. So let your kids be kids. Let them play, cycle and climb trees. They will be children only once in their lifetime, so don't rob them of their childhood. Let's teach our kids how to be human, how to interact with others, how to help others and recognize "bad people". Teach them how to survive in this cruel world! How did most parents feel when waiting for the UPSR results?
Hopeful. Excited. Anxious. Disappointed.