The Olive Bird

writes

[theolivebird]

I love that you're doing what you love.

[theolivebird]

When someone says his heart is hurting, we don't shy away, or question, or doubt, or label him as "attention seeking". Instead, we attend to the wound that feels as real as a physical wound. We attend. We sit with him. We become the anchor when the waves threaten to sweep him away. We lend him our strength. We stay, and stay, and stay, until he finds it easy to breathe again.

[theolivebird]

The yellow yolk of the lemon lavender tart pops

violently against her greying hue.

Her beetroot juice comes in a chilled glass bottle,

freshly squeezed, no added sugar, $7.80.

It's sugar that feeds the cancer, they say.

As the red stains her peeling lips, we talk about

life as if there will always be another time

we meet; she whines about promises that slipped

my mind - the capybara stickers, a cutting of

the purple plant, and food for the bougainvillea

I bought her (now bare in a field of fallen flowers) -

so I write these details down on

my schedule, away from the snaking

list of work tasks, and realising

it's June - already June.

[theolivebird]

The school climate is rather bleak. The senior teacher explained that teachers are over-worked on initiatives that do not fully resonate with them. Last year, 17 teachers left. This year, almost every department has an unhealthy number of relief staff (trained and untrained). The full-time teachers are exhausted from spending most of their time on work that is unrelated to their subject of expertise. What happens is misalignment that creates deep dissatisfaction. To make things worse, some students bring a whole slew of issues unheard of in previous batches. The talent drain is damaging and perhaps irreversible in the short run. There is no easy solution for there is a shortage of teachers nationwide. This problem must be addressed at the policy level. We must ask ourselves: What are we asking too much of? What can be done to better support teachers? What burns the candle faster and for naught?

[theolivebird]

I love how my children make sense of what they've watched. After watching Swapped last night, Oli (now 7) revisits key moments and verbalises the plot twist, details, and her opinions. She even explains the plot twist to her sister (now 4+) as her sister doesn't quite get it. Then, they go on YouTube and search for videos on Swapped to further their understanding of the movie. I love how self-directed and self-motivated they are in meaning making.

[theolivebird]

I watched a video by Dr Becky, a child psychologist, who shared that parents could comfort their children by "infusing" their presence into memories of unpleasant experiences. As an example, she shared that her son had been having a hard day, and she told him that if she had been there in some invisible form, she would have given him a big hug and told him how much she loved him and believed in him. Her son found this message deeply reassuring and it reshaped his perspective of that bad day. Hence, I took the idea and tried to imagine my mother's presence in yesterday's confrontation with the insolent student. But instead of picturing her hugging me, I could see her giving the boy a tongue-lashing and if she could, she would have whooped his ass. I found myself comforted with this knowledge that my mother would not have tolerated his disrespect either. I am my mother's daughter and we are deeply grounded in our principles and values. This is why we feel anger when children lack good character and manners. We are women who care deeply about the moral compass and makeup of our society, and we would rather offend than turn a blind eye.

[theolivebird]

I, too, am not immune from vile thoughts, especially when faced with an insolent spineless student who lies through his teeth. His attempts to wriggle out of the situation were so pathetic that I became disgusted. He deflected, lied, and even attempted to ridicule my speech. These behaviours all signalled a lack of accountability, remorse and integrity. More fundamentally, they demonstrate a lack of self-awareness, social-awareness and self-regulation. If left unaddressed, he will become a bane of society. But that would be the fault of his parents, and not the school.

[theolivebird]

2.45 pm, 12 May 2026, Tuesday:

A row of shops line the second floor of a massive public apartment building. One would think that these shops serve the inhabitants in the floors above, but no. The children who enter Berries - a Chinese tuition centre - arrive by car, accompanied by helpers or stay-home moms. The pets that enter Mount Pleasant next door are cradled by people who can take Tuesdays off. The blue benches that line the corridor are packed with helpers waiting for tuition time to pass. There is a sense of purposefulness without purpose.

[theolivebird]

What if our immediate response to art is: Can I buy it?

[theolivebird]

12.45pm: my heart is breaking

Focus on the lines, the task, the red ink that marks

what's right, what's wrong.

But nothing is right when

your friend is running out of

time.

[theolivebird]

It's Friday, just one more day.

Pop a danzen, a panadol, a rinityn.

It's 7.30 am.

Pile A, B, C, D to be marked.

10 x 4 ST comments to be written.

15 - 20 PTMs to be scheduled.

Motivate - intrinsic, extrinsic -

my weakest students

motivate - sing praise, sayang, threaten to

call parents.

Motivate - intrinsic, extrinsic -

my calling, my duty, the cupcake.

Here, another panadol should do the trick.

It's Friday.

[theolivebird]

2 April 2026: Watching Les Miserables

The sound of gunshots reverberated through the silence of the theatre. One by one, the cast jerked as if they were hit by the bullets. The shooting did not stop even as death swiftly swept the stage.

At that moment, I felt an immense sense of grief. Tears formed in my eyes and they trickled down cheeks untouched by the dust of war.

[theolivebird]

What is care?

Care is in

capping the tube of toothpaste,

nudging the spill of paste and gunk into

the void of invisible pipes, and leaving

the brush upright in

its place.

Care is in

lathering shampoo and soap until they carress,

comfort and coax your body into tenderness, and

turning the knobs until the water is

just right.

Care is in

pulling, stretching, laying the wet towel on the glass

still moist with the warmth of slow passing time.

And cranking open the window so

vapour may rise to the sky like an offering of

gentle self-love.

Care is in

not pretending not to see

the clumps of hair morphing into a cockroach and

the bin threatening to spill

cotton pads, floss, and empty bottles.

Care is in

the work of

every day.

[theolivebird]

Tagging @fantodsdhrit @definegodliness @drearydaffodil @gracebriarwoodwrites @j2parman to answer "What is care?"

[theolivebird]

What is care?

Care is in

capping the tube of toothpaste,

nudging the spill of paste and gunk into

the void of invisible pipes, and leaving

the brush upright in

its place.

Care is in

lathering shampoo and soap until they carress,

comfort and coax your body into tenderness, and

turning the knobs until the water is

just right.

Care is in

pulling, stretching, laying the wet towel on the glass

still moist with the warmth of slow passing time.

And cranking open the window so

vapour may rise to the sky like an offering of

gentle self-love.

Care is in

not pretending not to see

the clumps of hair morphing into a cockroach and

the bin threatening to spill

cotton pads, floss, and empty bottles.

Care is in

the work of

every day.

[theolivebird]

Ah boy says

I don't know how to intonate

dialects

But his ah gong ah ma

prayed to guan yin ma for

ah boy's good grades, so he will become

a teacher

Lit- er - a- ture some more

Buay pai but become

ang moh sai

Ah boy lai

Mai jiak kantang

Teng Lang ho

[theolivebird]

My sleeves smell of love - sweet sweat of both girls, their little heads warm against the softness of my arms. One complains about the quick passing of the day while another asks for tomorrow's promises. I assure them that I will miss them dearly tomorrow as we set off to our separate schools.

[theolivebird]

On the subject of forest camp training for female teachers, my colleague loudly declared, "I will not let that happen to someone (i.e., me) under my charge!" At that moment, I felt silly happy and warm, like a child. I haven't felt this motherly protection in a while, and it felt good.