Cherrybrook Kindergarten Tea & Treats 2012 (The Joy Of Community) @ Kent Ridge Guild House

It's time of the year for year end concerts for most preschools and childcare. For Cherrybrook, it's always a ballroom event. There's no auditorium and no rows of seats facing a semi-circle stage. Instead, round tables were arranged with a little platform stage right at the end of the ballroom. Food was also served in buffet style. This year, the theme was "The Joy Of Community" and they did a lovely write-up about the significance of being a part of this community. As door gifts, we received a little decorative tile each (Alfee lost them though).

Just outside the ballroom was a little booth with beautiful crafts made by Singapore mothers, retirees and women recovering from psychiatric illnesses. It is part of a social enterprise run by Singapore Anglican Community Services and seed funded by Comcare Enterprise Fund. It is called Mother And Child Project. This year, Cherrybrook invited them to be part of our T & T and many parents, myself included, supported them by buying little crafts. Personally, this is the sort of volunteer work I would like to be involved with - empowering others and not just random help.

We decided that Alfee should start attending our family functions so we asked Ah Boh to come along with us this afternoon (we probably cannot manage without her!). Sophie would love to have her watch her performance. And it would be a great help to me since I needed to record Papa's performance. Papa has formed a band with the other daddies to perform a couple of songs today. He has been practising since September and he was really enthusiastic about it. I helped the school last year (10th Anniversary) with the magazine so it was Papa's turn this year. I must admit, his work was much more exciting than mine... 

The Fathers Of Rock

Rare Photo Of Us

The T & T started around 1 pm. Parents mingled at the ballroom as the school staff got the little performers ready for their big show. The moment the children were ushered into the ballroom, the parents went crazy with excitement. Everyone, including myself, rushed forward to the front of the stage to catch a glimpse of our little star before the show began. Nobody was at their table anymore, maybe because the food wasn't ready until much later.

I'm not much of a social creature but I like the way the school celebrate the end of an academic year. It's not a chore to attend and it allows parents to really get to know others. The food was reasonably good as well. Most importantly, the performance is not a showcase of what the school has been doing for the entire year. It is mainly for the children to perform for one another and the parents. There's no need for expensive costumes or impressive programmes. Most parents already know what the school does any way.

I know Sophie would be distracted on stage but I was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't too distracted this year. Since Papa was busy getting his gig ready, I was the video camera woman. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for Papa to convert the video files to be uploaded in YouTube, so I can't include Sophie's performance here. 

I can, however, provide a glimpse of how Papa perform for his gig. After a couple of songs, I found myself left with 15 minutes of battery life. Thus, I whipped out my iPhone and started filming them with it. We are all so ridiculously proud of Papa! It's important for the kids to see their dad on stage as an individual, doing something great. He's not a dad, but a performer and the kids know that, somehow. For that, I am a little sad. The kids haven't really seen me as anything other than their mummy. They don't see how I relate and interact with adults as an independent individual. I'll always be a mum and the people I associate with will always refer me as Sophie's mum.

Meanwhile, the little performers took a break and came back for the second segment of the afternoon. Sophie was a firefly this time. Although she was deprived of her afternoon nap, she tried her best to be a brilliant firefly. Well, at least she had some fun on stage!

After all the children were gathered for their last performance for the day, they were given a treat from the band. The Fathers Of Rock played a song specially dedicated to all of them. It was a well chosen song with the perfect photographs montage as the background. I don't know about the rest of the people, but I was touched. In fact, I was touched enough to look up the original song on YouTube and post the lyrics as well.

COLLIN RAYE - I WISH I COULD LYRICS

Looking out my window 

See you playing in the leaves
It's amazing how a little girl 
Means all the world to me
When I tell you that I love you 
I love you more than words can say
Smile say cheese pretty please 
I want to take your picture
How'd you ever get so big 
I gotta take your picture
And hold on to the mem'ry before 
The whole things slips away
I wish I could save these moments 
And put 'em in a jar
I wish I could stop 
The world from turning 
Keep things just the way they are

I wish I could shelter you from 
Everything not pure and sweet and good
I know I can't, I know I can't 
But I wish I could
When you kiss me for no reason 
It goes straight to my heart
When I feel your arms around me 
I almost fall apart
It's time for bed 
You whisper "daddy we forgot to pray"
I wish I could save these moments
When I watch you sleeping 
All my worries slip away
A little bit of heaven 
Close on your gentle face
I wish I could save these moments

After such a beautiful song, the fathers decided to play one last time for the children (too much fun). The children were very entertained and most of them started dancing. Sophie was also admiring her papa on the right side of the stage.

I don't really recall much of the second performance because Alfee was getting really cranky by then. Although Ah Boh was managing him, I was constantly drawn by his screams. Soon, the children were done and got invited to dance on stage freely. Alfee finally had his chance to go onto the stage and he had so much fun.

We decided to have dinner at home after such an eventful afternoon. To our surprise, Sophie started singing the song used for her dance. She has never sung it prior to this so we were all very impressed. Indeed, a year has passed so very swiftly and our little girl has grown up quite a bit. She's more independent now and she can take care of her brother too. I can't wait for next year's T&T when both kids will be performing.