53 - Progress Report

100 theme challenge #53 - "Estranged"

Captain Chen Qing............. Great soldier, generally terrible father..... He only first brought me to learn kung fu at the Jade Palace because I begged for it... He took me there, and I only saw him once every three months whenever he came for my progress report, and I was always expected to greet him formally upon his arrival. I always got the switch from him if there was some crime I did that he didn't think was appropriately punished........ And he only got worse once my mother - Ming - died. That was the point where the beatings were more brutal and seemingly more common. The only good thing was that I had Master Oogway around to keep my father somewhat........"in check".

His visits just got farther and farther apart over the years..... And when I had a son of my own, I was more protective of Shifu around his grandfather than I ever thought I'd be. It wasn't until he was 2 that I finally got fed up with my father... Shifu was doing absolutely anything he could to escape bedtime and ran into his yeye Qing in the hallway - who promptly gave him a slap on the paw with his switch and sent the poor thing bawling and running back to us. I won't repeat all I said to my father afterwards....... But I wasn't about to make Shifu go through the heck with Qing that I did.

Shifu was perhaps 5 when he first got the switch... I only gave it to him whenever he put himself or others into life-threatening danger by his own disobedience...... And I promised myself when I was young that I'd always make sure sure any cub of mine knew that I loved him, no matter what I had to do to him........ And I made it a point never to punish my son like that out of sheer anger. I was, in no way, about to leave a scar like that on my family name and - more importantly - my cub.

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Koto & Qing (c) DolphinMoana
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