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The Small Ways We Try To Be Like Our Parents
I did some pretty misguided things trying to be like my mum. But that’s childhood for you, isn’t it?
When I was a child, my mum used to wear batik dresses at home. Long and flowy, batik dresses are essentially the Indonesian version of a Hawaiian shirt, with floral designs and bright, colourful patterns that seem to ripple and swirl like a breeze; except that they’re more like a nightgown than a shirt. They’re practical too—the perfect attire for staying cool in the humid heat of Singapore.
Now and then, my mum would do something unexpected.
She’d pair her batik dresses with socks. It was such an odd combination, the breezy colourful swathes of cloth meeting the snug and warm practicality of white socks. It intrigued me.
One day, inspired by her, I decided to do the same. I slipped on a pair of socks with my own kids’ sized batik dress and paraded around the house with a sense of self-importance. My grandaunt who was looking after me while my mum was at work, was perplexed.
“Why are you wearing socks with your batik dress?” she demanded.
“Because mummy does it!” I replied defensively, as nine-year-olds do when they’re certain they’ve made a perfectly reasonable decision.
