Surprise! When we receive this letter from MINDEF a few weeks ago, issued to pre-enlistee on exit permit requirements.

As a doting mother, naturally my response was “What? So early and he is required to report to army?”

Typical Mother’s Syndrome

I am not embarrassed to admit that I feel worried and miss Bren terribly whenever he goes for camps.   Always praying that he is eating well, taking care of himself and safe when he is away from my side for a few days. This feeling never changes even when he is entering his teenage days.

A few more years, he will be enlisted into the army. I am sure I will worry day and night by then during his recruit days. So, the question - “Is he Ready for the Army?”

The answer is “Even if our sons are, I am sure mothers are not.”

Recalling the fond old days…. mum-in-law almost brought a blanket along when she visited Papa Ed in Pulau Tekong in his recruit days. Then, I have another ex-colleague who shared with me how she couldn’t stop worrying when her son was first recruited and how she couldn’t wait for her son to call and lost sleep.

{I know. It’s the typical mummy’s worry syndrome and emotional expression of our love for our sons. Frankly, I am not looking forward to that day. Worse, I will have to encounter that experience twice, having two sons.}

Typical Father’s Mentality

As a father, Papa Ed, however has reverse mentality. He would encourage our boys to embrace the army life and learn to be strong and independent now to manage better in the army.

It’s common in our conversations to hear Papa sharing with sons on how he coped with his army life, how our boys should learn to take hardship and how national service life can be enjoyable.

Papa Ed: “You should learn to bathe in cold water because there is no such luxury of warm bath water in the army.”

So, when I caught Darren playing with cold water at home during his bath, he would say:”Papa said must learn to take cold bath.”

—-

Papa Ed: “When there is no toilet in the jungle, we had to do our nature call in the open.”

Darren to mummy:”Papa said it’s okay not to use the toilet to do our business because must be trained for army.”

—

Papa Ed:”Sometimes, there’s no place to clean yourself or wash your hands when you are in the outdoor training.”

Darren to mummy:” Papa said that I can don’t wash hands because must learn to be dirty to prepare for army.”

Kids do have their own sense of clever applications:) As long as they do not take the message the wrong way, daddies are right to teach our children to be strong, not to be fearful or tearful when faced with difficulties and embrace challenges.

I know my head conveys the same message too, except that as a Mother –my weakness is still that I cannot control my heart from weeping the day when my sons join the army.