KUALA LUMPUR: We’ve all heard the term Tiger Mother, a strict and demanding parent who pushes her children to excel academically and in other areas as well.
Seems like Malaysia’s first astronaut and TV producer Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor has a few of those competitive stripes to channel onto his progeny.
In a recent post on his Instagram account, the 45-year-old father of four, with twin newborn boys Adam and Noah, as well as two school-going daughters, Isabella and Natasha, shared some advice on how he is raising his young daughters.
The post, which drew close to 25,000 likes, started off with: “It’s been eight days since the kids went to school. Bella’s in Primary 1 and Tasha went to Kindergarten – both Chinese schools. Looks like they were both excited even though they got up at 6am.”
It continued with: “Bella already has lots of friends and always talks about school. She’s begun to talk in Mandarin with Tasha. Sometimes they sing Chinese songs together.”
The dashing and brainy KLite, who is married to Dr Halina Mohd Yunos, added: “Enquire a lot about their wellbeing and activities so that the children will open up and talk about what happens in school. It’s good for their mind. Examine their bags daily. Do their homework together them for at least 30 minutes a day. RM1 a day is sufficient if they bring their own food and teach them to save.
The inspirational icon also wrote his daughters’ schedule out in the post, which listed their activities from the time they wake up at 5.30am to the time they hit the sack at 9.45pm.
Some of the activities included Kumon math and English classes, as well as religious education sessions in the evening.
He then wrote: “Even with that, they are still energetic and have to be read bedtime stories before they actually call it a night. Really tight schedule.”
Although the famous astronaut added that there would be lots of sporting activities over the weekend as well which included taekwondo and swimming, he topped it with a caveat: “What’s most important is that they enjoy themselves and have fun.”
As for the reason to his post, he wrote: “I’m sharing my girls’ schedule because many have asked me about it.”