A thank-you letter from my teen son

He is grateful that the support from my husband and me has put him in a place to succeed in life, but credit must go to his teachers as well

- Jane Ng

In a letter to my husband and me during his graduation ceremony, my 18-year-old son thanked us and said our support has put him in a position to succeed in life.

While we have tried our best to do right by our son and his sisters aged eight and 15, credit must also go to his teachers and school.

After all, he often spends more of his waking hours in school than at home. And there are occasions when a teacher's words hold more weight than a parent's, especially in his early teen years.

As he completes his second year of junior college, I'm deeply grateful for his teachers, past and present, who taught him lessons beyond the curriculum.

In lower secondary, his form teacher called him out for careless comments made in jest.

My husband and I did our part to remind him to watch his words, but I'm not sure our nagging was effective in changing the behaviour of a playful 13-year-old boy.

His teacher had several conversations with him, and at the end of Secondary 2 when I thanked her for her patience and guidance, she replied that she learnt to appreciate a teenager's viewpoint through their chats, and that my son had grown in purpose and maturity.

In JC, he had teachers who arranged extra consultations after school hours, on weekends and during the school holidays.