A simple note by a father to appeal for educational resources for his son has inadvertently made rounds on social media platform Twitter.
And it's all thanks to a student from the LASALLE College of the Arts who spotted the note at the water cooler near the SIA theatre, took a photo of it, and uploaded it onto her Twitter account (@maccasbtre).
Stuck onto the wall with scotch tape, the letter appears to be written by a single father who lives in Hougang.
His letter reads that he has a 10-year-old son who aspires to become an architect or a developer in the future.
"I am a single dad, if you have any free time or unwanted design books on 3D drawings, please contact me," he added. The father also left his name and contact number at the end of his letter as a means for the public to be in touch.
In a bid to help the father and his 10-year-old son, the Twitter user also urged her followers to help retweet her post.
Her tweet which was uploaded on Thursday (10 Sep) night, has already amassed over 2,200 retweets as of the time of writing.
And that's not considering other Twitter threads, like this one by Twitter user (@dz4kir) who also retweeted the post.
"Who knows yall could be the reason why this kid will have a bright future? (sic)" his post reads.
The father, who wishes to stay anonymous, told theAsianparent that he and his son, Gabriel, have received "more than 100 offers for books and resources" as of Friday evening.
"My intention was to have some resources to give my son a headstart as I am not in the related field," said the father who has a bachelor's degree in environmental safety and a diploma in mechanical engineering.
He also explained that he could pay for some of the books—considering that architecture books can be expensive—but needed more information on the subject to better support Gabriel.
Sharing that Gabriel's interests lie in 2D and 3D drawings of modern houses and buildings, the single dad would bring him to walk around private estates to admire the different houses' designs.
He also shared that since young, Gabriel would visit condominium launches to look at building models.
Beyond that, the father also mentioned that his 10-year-old takes to watching videos on building structures and the like on the National Geographic channel in his free time.
Gabriel's interest in architecture also extends to the games he plays—those that give him the opportunity to build farms and cities.
It took an incident for the father to realise that Gabriel was truly interested in architecture: when he spent S$1,600 on in-game credits without permission.
Fortunately, the father managed to recover the amount.
In hindsight, the dad said to theAsianparent that if he had noticed Gabriel's interest in architecture when he was young, he would try to give him the best in providing further opportunities to support him.
"Any parent no matter in what situation, will save on their own spending to give the best they can providing opportunities through enrichment classes, library visits and online venues [for] their kid to guide them to becoming successful people and do what it takes to provide for a happy family for their kids (sic)," he said.
Dreams He Has for Son
When asked about the dreams he has for Gabriel, the dad said that he hopes his son will go on to pursue and develop his passion in the fields or either architecture, civil engineering, urban planning, or app development.
"Life experiences had taught him and he knows [architecture] is an important field to ultimately improve the lives of families through being able to design affordable, easy to clean, yet modern smart homes," he added.
While the dad says that his son has a "disadvantaged background coming from a single-parent family", it does not mean that he is limited in his ability to help improve the lives of others.
"In a way, he will be able to bring his life experiences to improve the lives of others," he said.
He said that he hopes to be able to guide his son to be brave enough and that he understands that opportunities are to be sourced for and not wait to be given.
On how parents can better support their child's passion, the dad advised: "Spend as much time as possible with your child trying out different everyday activities together to find his or her passion through observation."
As for all the kind offers he has received thus far, the single dad said that it has been a blessing to have been provided the needful resources and information which will allow his son to further develop his passion in the related field.
He would like to convey his gratitude to the following: Archifest 2020 team, Beep Lab, students of LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Singapore, Singapore Polytechnic,
Singapore University of Technology and Design, all other volunteers and donators of books and magazines related to Architecture, civil engineering, and app development, as well as everyone else who has contacted him.
"Thank you all and it suddenly made us realise that there are still good people in the world (sic)," he tells theAsianparent.
Other Ways on How Parents Can Support Their Child's Interest
1. Place your child at the heart of it
When it comes to learning and encouraging children's interests, following their pace is often more important than not. Don't push children to discover what they like and ultimately, just remember to enjoy the process with them.
2. Encouragement goes a long way
It helps a great deal when parents encourage curiosity and questions in their children. Rather than just providing children with the answers, parents can explore the answers together to create meaningful experiences.
After all, children are naturally curious and as parents, it can be difficult to not be inundated with their questions. This creates a good opportunity for children to find the answers by themselves—or with parents' support.
Whether or not it's looking up the answers online, parents can also ask a librarian how to get around researching a particular topic.
3. Observe. Listen.
The key here to observe what children naturally gravitate towards. And this can only be done when they explore and go through the process without pressure.
Discovering a liking for something can cause one to be vulnerable or unsure at first, thus allowing children to go through the exploration journey at their own pace will help them identify their interests naturally.
The greatest thing parents can do for their children is to observe, and then hone into their interests. When parents notice their children ask for follow-up lessons or the way their eyes twinkle from doing a certain activity, it's more often than not, a sign of interest!
Lead image source: Twitter/@maccasbtre
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