Sister and family were back from Australia and we gathered at another sister's home in Johor.
One day upon rejoining the group after I went to park my car after dropping them off for lunch at a local coffee shop, niece Le was crying because her mother stopped her from having what the other kids had all ordered - ice coffee - because ice coffee was 'not healthy'.
That 9 or 10 year old kid was crying because she was wondering why she could not have what the other kids were having. And it was all because ice coffee is 'not healthy'!
I then told her mother off for not putting things in perspective. It was not like the kids were having ice coffee every day. The kids can be taught to be careful about having too much coffee but it does not mean that they shall never have that thing! It is okay to let the kids try something 'less healthy' once a while just for enjoyment. It was not going to kill them.
The other parents let the other kids had ice coffee because they had the sense to know that it is okay once a while to let their kids enjoy what they fancy at that moment.
Le's parents then relented and let her had her ice coffee. Her father's comment after that was, it's 'like in school, once a while there's hair down day'...
