Last year, I had an opportunity to attend a workshop called Bengkel Penggubalan, Pemurniaan dan Penilaian Kertas Peperiksaan Akhir Politeknik at Pangkor Island for a few days... There, I carried out a duty as Penyemak Bahasa or language checker where my responsibilities were to check for spelling, typing and grammatical errors in final exam questions... 

Besides me, there were four other language checkers - 3 wonderful women and a guy... Puan Kamisah, Puan Chee, Puan Aishah and Encik Kamarul (Bukan nama sebenar... because I forgot their names already...)These people were in their mid 30's (I think) and had children of their own... They were kind enough to invite me to join them for lunch at one time and while eating, they brought up a very interesting topic to chat about... 

DO YOU TRUST YOUR CHILDREN?

The topic came out when Puan Kamisah talked about her checking her son's phone... "Have you ever checked your children's phone?", she asked... "I have... Once, I was cleaning my son's room and he was not home, playing football... While cleaning, I saw his phone on the table... At first, I didn't want to check it... I didn't want to be that kind of mother! But, I couldn't resist..."

"My son was so stupid... He locked his phone but I figured out the code on my first try... It was his birthday!! I checked his inbox and searched for any suspicious messages... You know, maybe sexual ones with a girl or a drug deal... Wahahaha! I felt so bad! Luckily, his messages are all innocent ones..."

We all giggled about it and commented about how bad it was for her to do that... "I know... I know... but as a mother, I have this instinct to protect my son... I even checked under his bed and mattress for cigarettes and drugs..."

Puan Chee then added in... "Hehe... I can understand you... I read my daughter's diary!"

"Wahh! That's even worse!", uttered Encik Kamarul while laughing... 

"Yes! Yes! I know! I felt so terrible to do that... but just like Puan Kamisah, I couldn't resist... My daughter doesn't really talk to me... When she's not on the computer, she stuck her face on her handphone... Giggling and texting... It made me curious... Does she has a boyfriend? Are they close? So, when she's out with her friends, I sneaked into her room and searched for suspicious things like condoms or anything... Then, I found her diary..."

"It was then that I found out that she's stressed about school and friends... You know la... Teenagers... Still searching for an identity and personality..."

Encik Kamarul took a sip of his teh o ais and then said, "My daughters are still kids, not teenagers yet... Sometimes I do think about what they'll be when they grow up to be teenagers... There will be a lot of issues... You know la, like people said, jaga lembu sekandang lagi senang..."

At that moment, baby Ubaid was still in wifey's tummy but that little chat made me think, will I end up being like them? Will I invade Ubaid's privacy for the sake of protecting him? In fact, during that time, I didn't even know whether our baby's gonna be a boy or a girl... If it's a girl, gosh, like Encik Kamarul said, lembu  sekandang...

Ubaid is now 3 months old and he's growing healthily... For now, as a baby, wifey and I can take care of him 24 hours, making sure that no harm shall come his way... but maybe 15 or 20 years from now, when he's no longer a baby, he would wander around the world independently...

By that time, I think I too would check his phone or diary or under his mattress... Ntah... We'll see...