Si Tenggang’s Homecoming

[This post is dedicated to Nurul Debat dan Shahrill. Both of you know the reason why]
.

This post doesn’t come out of nowhere. I got some reasons but I don’t feel like sharing it here as it is other person’s problem, so here it goes.
.

What do you know about the last child?
.

That’s the first question I’m asking to make people think. Usually the last child is the one with the connotation of ‘anak manja’ and the one who usually get pampered more than the others. Hate to admit it, but come on guys, we are the last so we deserved to get more attention from our parents. You are the one who don’t want to take care of us and go out play leaving the youngest one to play on his own, and you are saying it is unfair that we get more attention? (Not referring to my sis and bro coz I was raised up with them studying away, so they got their special attention during their balik kampung session).
.

My friend said that the last child is getting unfair treatment. They can get money from their big bro and sis if they are working and so forth. I smiled.
.

I had some conversation with my friend back in kampung, also the last child. We always know, with great pleasure comes great responsibility (yeah, tukar sikit dari Spiderman). We shared some of our awareness of being the last child.
.

And here it goes:
.

The last child is the one who can hurt his/her parent the most. Due to gaining a lot of attention, they are also capable of making their parents feeling so painful if they did something wrong. It is not just by obvious action like yelling or doing something the parents don’t like. It is also involve in actions taken which it won’t be matter much to the other siblings if they took it.
.

Some examples is like marriage matters. Some other is thinking way forward into the future and imagining where you gonna end up your life. It is the way you get attached to your parents that will make you decide to take care off them later on when you work. And you keep considering the right girl/man who can get along with your parent because of the possibility and all. Get where I am going to with this? And yet people keep saying, ’sampai besar nak duk bawah ketiak mak’ while most of us, the last child of the family, are thinking of protecting them and avoid to hurt them.
.

Yeah, based on personal experience, but because I talked it with my friend, so I assume that other last child is also having this thing to be thought about. And because of our connection with the parents, we never think it as a burden, the way they never thought of having us a burden either.
.

And for some people, they are facing their tough time to prove that they are capable of facing the world. The phase in the middle of boy to man. Boy as in teenage boy and man as in young man. Believe me, you can’t simply tell your parent that you want to leave the house and work somewhere else and start a new life. It may be simple to some last child if they had prove enough their capability or born with strong attitude. But for the others, this is the time to really play it good.
.

For last child, a strategy is a must. You can’t blatantly say and do. As they are so overprotective, so you have to show that you will be safe by the probability of 1 (not possible on the real world, but you have to play your charm).
.

I gave myself as an example (I want to point out directly to other case, but backbiting is so lame). Coming to UK is a huge step. From a place where I can reach in an hour (USM), going back and check in every week or two, to a place where you can’t even reach by walking even if it takes a thousand years (yeah, because I can’t swim). So it was a lil bit hard for me to really get excited about the idea.
.

So I didn’t show too much excitement of coming here. To be truth, maybe I wasn’t really into the idea, but probably because I know I can’t. The moment I told my mom when USM asked me to pursue oversea was the moment I felt so scared of the reaction. But to my amusement, my mom seems fine about the idea, at least physically.
.

And I was having so many problems dealing with admission process. The biggest one is the one I hid, which was - I didn’t have a secure place to stay when I arrive here. Means I was going to arrive and face the fact that I might have to go around looking for accommodation and may not get it and stay in hotel or any place I can for few days before finally get it.  I never told them until I was in the second week here.That was another story.
.

My point is simple. To gain their trust, you have to show that everything will be fine and the problem that you might get is some fever or cold (that’s why you also put panadol in your luggage). Show that your life is secured enough, and if you have any problem, tell them only after you solved it.
.

And then you can break free.
.

So, for first child or middle child, I hope you see some of the difficulty that we, the last child, face. And with that, dun eva think that ‘anak manja’ is riding a smooth sailing boat all the time!! (I sounded baad, ain’t I?)

Comments RSS