High expectations Asian sister

Don't you hate those moments when you realise that you have become what you have always hated?

For those of you who don't know, I have a sister who is quite a lot younger than me. She is 10 years old and nearing the end of grade 5 in school which means she is only a year away from the inevitable social jungle that is high school. With this in mind, we've begun taking into account the different options available to her. Because there is such a huge age gap between us, I've been raising her as if she were my child also, and considering she still looks like she's about 5 years old it's been tough for me to think of my little minion growing up

This is a photo of us in our onesies a few years back, though it is still reflective of the relationship we have today.

After some pondering over the schools in the Blacktown region (for those unfamiliar with Blacktown/Sydney, please see "The Time I Had A Spontaneous Lesbian Threesome" for my brief rundown) I decided that I am going to do everything possible to prevent her from resorting to a local public high school due to the fact that neither teenage pregnancy, drug-addiction or juvenile detention are near the top of my list of priorities for her. 

The most obvious solution for me is to train her up to be a mathematical genius in the span of 4 months so she may qualify for a selective school. I know that teenage rebellion is inevitable no matter what school she attends, but this will at least create a divide between having to put up with frowned-upon behaviour and having to visit the police station with bail money.

In preparation for the selective school tests which will be held early next year I've produced a daily "study regime" for my sister to follow. Whilst I would describe this regime using words such as 'intensive' and 'thorough', others may see it more as 'unfair' or 'torcherous'. Though, for anyone who comes from my area, (and no offence to my friends who have come from public high schools in Blacktown), you would understand why I am so desperate for her to do selective school practice tests, be quizzed her on general knowledge of the world and participate in my small-scale home-dictatorship almost every night.

Although this may not be the most ideal method of showing her that I'm putting her through this ordeal because I know it will benefit her and I only have her best interest at heart, it's hard to break away from what you know. As a child, I too was brought up on authoritarian-like principles when it came to school-work and study. I wasn't allowed to watch my favourite TV show until I had fully recited multiple sets of times tables error-free, and completed my extra homework which I had "volunteered" to do. You'd think that these traumatic experiences would haunt me into making sure no one else would have to live these same experiences or face the same academic pressures, but it's proven to have the opposite effect.
Those methods worked, and I know no other way of implementing study discipline than the Asian nazi way my mother taught me. The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree and I hate to think that the pressure I'm applying on my sister to study and make it into a good school as well as the constant reminder of how disappointed I will be if she doesn't make it is completely identical, if not worse than the pressure I faced and hated as a child.

In other news, Halloween is this week and I went to this year's Halloween party dressed as an old (Australian) favourite.

Mr Squiggle - The man on the moon.

Do you have any similar ethnic parent studying horror stories? Also, if you have any experience on the selective school tests around Sydney, it would be great to hear any advice you might have for my sister.

Please feel free to leave a comment below and like my Facebook page HERE.