As a kid, I remembered havings loads of cousins from my various aunties and uncles and school holidays and any other festivals was a time to rejoice. We would all be visiting some auntie or uncles house and there would always be at least 10 to 15 of us kids. There would always be plenty of food and things for us kids to do.

We would all be jumping off the wooden jetty into the sea during high tide, collecting clams and mollusc during low tide, catching crabs with a forget-me-not flowers or chipping off oysters from the rocks at an aunts house near the sea. At the next, we would be spending most of our time in the park, holding a towel beneath the waterfall, and by the end of the day have enough little fresh water prawns to make our own crackers. Or we would all be wandering around the padi fields trying to catch little fishes, learning how to cycle on an old uncles bicycle, or if it rained, we would all squat beside the drain waiting for the horse shoe crabs to come in with the tide. These strange creatures come in, in a straight line with their tails straight up in the air and we can just lift it out of the water, mark them and let them race to see who is the winner and then release them back into the drain when the tide goes out. At night, we would all sleep in the open telling ghost stories and laughing our heads off.

Those days, I suppose, were days of simple pleasures, where we as kids did not dare demand for anything and were left to look for our own enjoyment as long as we do not disturb the elders. Some aunty or uncle would give some money to the eldest cousin and that would be enough for us all to stuff our faces or even better buy 4 or 5 tickets for the cinema where nearly all 10 of us can go in and sit around the corridors to watch a movie.

Fast forward to today, a child of 4 has to start going to kindergarden till 7, then on to school till 20 before going to college or university for a few more years. There will hardly be any cousins around as everybody will be busy studying or doing their own things. Grandma and grandpa most probably live far away. Everyday, it will be school, tuition, extra curriculum, music lessons, homework and weekends it will be more tuitions and homework.

You are either alone or has a brother or sister. Mum and dad has to go off to work. You come home to an empty house and you do your own things like calling your friends on your mobile or go straight onto the computer to get you connected to your friends. You will be drilled day in and day out to excel in school so as not to disappoint your parents. The emphasis today is to excel in school and then university so that you can get a respectable job when you are done with schooling. Sometimes, I do wonder if all these are making our younger generation such a rebellious and sullen lot. It really cannot be much fun being a kid today.