Hari Raya

From left (standing): My brother Shukor, his wife Khalidah, My youngest brother Akmal (in maroon baju melayu) Me (Rozanah), My Hubby Zulkhairi, my daughter Khyra Zulaikha, My Brother Subki, his youngest daughter Nuha, his wife Wahida and my second youngest brother Anas.                                                                                                                        From left (sitting): my father Zakaria, sitting on his lap is Aisyah, Subki's second daughter, my mother Radziyah, sitting on her lap is Hannan Tasnim, Subki's eldest daughter.

 

'Potret Hari Raya' by Shukri Zakaria

A studio-like series of pics taken by my lecturer cum photographer cum wedding planner brother, Shukri Zakaria. Kudos my brother. Although he is not in the pic, his looks resemble Shukor, his twin brother, clad in purple baju melayu.

Appreciation and Frustration

 

My niece's work-of-art...an unsung masterpiece...

A wood miniature of my niece that didn't even get a word of appreciation or encouragement from her teacher for completing a task beyond what she was asked to do. It seemed that all her effort was left unrecognized by the teacher. As a teacher myself, I always believe that even a student who got the last place in the class examination needs at least the teacher's respect for what he had put his effort for. I believe that we, ADULT, especially parents and teachers need to learn not to be stingy of uttering these words, (1) GREAT-upon looking at our children's talent, (2) THANK YOU-upon receiving a little help from our little ones,(3) GOOD JOB-for the effort done by these innocent little ONES, even though they did not meet our so-called standard or our selfish desired result for them to achieved. Instead, we, ADULT, need to learn to appreciate EFFORT, not necessarily ONLY the end results. 

Also, we, ADULT, need to learn to open our heart and eyes to their cries craving for our attention. Not just the routine of many ADULTS I believe (I'm not saying that ALL adults do these) getting back from work, concentrating on the IDIOT BOX for our favorite show or just stay engrossed with our latest-version HAND PHONE, replying to Whats App, checking Facebook entries, texting our so important colleagues and friends and forgetting our children, oftentimes the little ones, sitting faithfully in front of us, waiting to tell their stories to us, yet we always put them for our LAST priority without us realizing it. Do all these situations familiar with us? After all I am writing from my own experience that I, at times always forget that our children, our spouse, our family are supposed to be our priority instead of our iPad, Tablet, Android Phone, Blackberry, or the idiot box, the flat screen 45" or bigger at home!

Let us together ponder.... and act now before it's too late...by then, there's no use regretting that we did not rectify our mistake when we had the opportunity to do so!

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My daughter...crying when she didn't get what she wanted. As a parent, I believe that I need to let her know that, there's a feeling called frustration in life. She needs the experience as I firmly believe that this will be a guide for her to tell her that life is not all about easily getting everything that she wanted, yet there are things needed her to strive for it. So, hopefully, later in life, she will be able to handle that feeling tactfully, thus leading her to a healthy maturity of thinking and in making good decision in her life.

be yourself...

 whatismore.wordpress.com 

Salam. That I always tell myself, to be just me, not someone else or not to be what people want me to be, instead, just be me, and, only me. Easy to utter yet difficult to materialize sometimes...living around other human beings, sometimes (or most of the times) we tend to follow what others expect of us, what other people want to see out of us...I wonder, (I always do) why we always tend to do that? Can't everyone just portray our own unique persona...and at the same time, recognize others and respect them?

Salaam.

salam aidilfitri...maaf zahir batin...moga jiwa kita semakin tenang dalam keimanan...

  

en.wikipedia.org

Life sometimes can be super wonderful when we are purportedly on the upper side of the wheel. Yet, while enjoying the extensive and luxurious of time and happiness we are blessed with, how are actually putting ourselves in the state of carelessness? Of everything in our life, that we, time and again, take for granted. An instance of I myself, of having an only beloved adorable daughter after yearning for one, for quite some time. Yet, sometimes, or I could say that oftentimes, I regretted of having scolded her for just kissing my cheek a bit rough, while her only intention was to show her love towards her mom! Or, at any time when she spilled her food or drinks, intentionally or vice versa.

 

goodnessandgraceblog.blogsp...

 

I knew all the time that I should advise and guide her in a subtle manner instead of just plainly scolding her in front of her grandparents. Seldom did I think of her feeling that she would also felt embarrassed despite her tender age of five.

I know all the do’s and don’ts of disciplining a child, at every stage of her development from my habit of being an avid reader of any reading materials of sort, yet as humans, we err. However, it’s not an excuse for anyone of us to just ignore others feeling by repeating the same mistake again and again, as the saying goes, only fools make the same mistake twice.

So, what most important is, we together, should always be real and live for the moment, cherish every single moment that we have with our loved ones for we wouldn’t know when any one of us would leave the other to the hereafter...

  

Salam Syawal | XC RIDERxcrider.blogspot.com

With that, Salam Syawal for all my Muslims fellows and happy holiday for the rest. Let’s us together make this long holiday, a moment to reconnect with those around us, the real people, not just to connect without the real contact. As the recent Maxis commercial for Raya headline goes, sometimes we just need to disconnect to stay connected. Cheerio!