hit

Today is a significant day for many people. It’s the first day of school for all school-going children. Even more anxiety-provoking for children entering primary one and their equally anxious parents.

My female owner got a kick watching the parents wait/ loiter/ linger outside the primary school near her house. Aiyah, go school only mah. How scary can that be? When your child is in a safe place?

Seeing the crowd outside the school, my female owner’s mother started to recount about the time when my female owner was in primary school. She had gone for Chinese tuition at a HDB flat nearby. Upon reaching her house void deck, she saw her mother waiting for her. Without warning, her mother came towards her and hit her.

Of course my female owner got the shock of her life. She soon realised that her mother had thought that tuition had ended half an hour earlier than what it should be and so, her mother assumed wrongly that my female owner had gone gallivanting and hit her out of anger. And of course, her mother was deeply embarrassed then… and obviously remembers that episode untilnow.

That was the version my female owner had lived with almost 20 years of her life. Today, she heard a slightly different perspective. Her mother told her that when she didn’t return home at the time she thought my female owner was supposed to, her heart was pounding with fear that my female owner had gone missing. Hence, she hit her out of fear and anxiety. So, it wasn’t really out of anger.. it was just a projection of her anxiety..

The psychologist would say… maladaptive way of coping with negative emotions..