Posts tagged parenting
Had a neat Father Son moment yesterday. I bought a game on Steam called FTL and my son and I have been playing it together. Our ship dropped out of hyperspace and we were attacked. I said:
“Oh no kiddo, what do we do???”
My Son: “Target their Engines and Shields!!”
He’s seven.
I was proud. #nerds
Being a dad is fun.
Finally got the older two kids (8 and 6 y/o) out for a “big” ride.
We went over to Dickerson MD and picked up the C&O canal trail.
They are still new to biking, so we took the trail up to the next town north (Point of Rocks, MD)
They had a great time and learned a lot about trail etiquette and pacing themselves.
Next time, we’ll go a little farther to get them more comfortable with long rides. Eventually, I want to get the Mrs back up on a bike so we can take family biking trips!
My little guy’s first trip to the Atlantic. He has no fear and was loving every second of the cold Maine water.
Dog days of summer. Beating the heat with Daddy’s demijohn holders.
My son loves to help in the garden!
Taking the time to show the next guy how to do things.
My little boy is seriously adorable.
He was a little shaky at first, and this vid doesn’t show the entirety of the lesson, but I could not be more proud of him.
I don’t brag enough about my son, but I probably should. He went out onto the stage by himself. He didn’t want mom or dad there. He’s been learning to play the violin for just over 3 months now. He went out there on that big stage for his school’s talent show alone. I’m so terribly proud of him.
Making good on a promise to my daughter.
At the end of the last marking period, my daughter came home with some troubling marks. She’s in second grade, so “marks” is subjective. They are metrics regarding her citizenship, engagement, conformance to the rules, etc. But they were not great. She isn’t a bad child, far from it actually. And although she is my daughter and I am biased in her favor, I did not and do not believe that her apparent lack of adherence to the social contract of the classroom was from her being a bad child or even a bad student. To me? They spoke of someone who was really bored while at school. And, IMHO, they looked to me like someone who wasn’t properly motivated.
When I was in school, I remember being bored to tears. I used to read encyclopedias for fun while at home. Much of the stuff they put in front of me in elementary was just that, elementary. (Also, encyclopedia, pre-internet, these were tomes of knowledge that were set up like wikipedia but you had to buy them and they were heavy :D).
I see my daughter dealing with the same thing. She’s really smart. And she’s really bored of waiting for the school to teach her more things. And as a result, she’s acting out, not listening, doing her own thing and otherwise being a pain in the ass for her poor teacher. That won’t do.
I took her aside at the end of the last marking period with her report card in hand. I went through it line by line and talked to her about what each mark meant, and how many of them were below the standard that her mom and I had set for her. I told her they needed to improve. I gave her a reason to improve her.
I made her a deal, a contract, for her improvement. If she would make it through the next marking period with improvement of any kind in any part, we would go out together on a “Daddy-daughter” date to a place of my choosing. If she was able to improve every section of her report card by Today, January 20, 2012, we would go to a place of her choosing. By God if she hasn’t had a single problem in school since. The report cards are due out next week. I’m very eager to see what the real numbers are. But in truth I know they’ve all improved.
In the mean time, I’ve started engaging her in subjects that far outstrip what she’s learning in second grade. I do this for a lot of reasons, and none so important as a child’s potential should not be limited by their perceived age but how they act and what they really can handle. At night, I’ve been staying up and crafting her ciphers and math puzzles. I’ve been slowly introducing her to algebra through logic problems. I even broke out some geometry just to pique her interest. Her math scores at school have improved dramatically from the graded quizzes I’ve seen come home.
I’m looking forward to our little “Daddy-daughter” outing. She mentioned something about wanting to go to the local natatorium for some swimming.
Anywhere you want to go kiddo.
Took the wee ones out for a walk in the woods this weekend. We had a great time. Did you do anything fun in the weird warm weather?
Decided to put the remaining chalkboard paint to good use. (My chalkboard coated coffee mugs were a fail, but my floating desk was awesome so I’m ahead.)
My sons like to draw on the walls, and nothing I can say to them dissuades them from doing it. I’m not going to stifle their creativity. Chalkboard paint on the wall so they can draw to their hearts content. I know my daughter is pleased.
I prepped the site, and my wife did the rest.
I found a great vid of how to make a leather sheath online. I just recently finished sharpening my ax and decided that I wanted to protect it with something that didn’t come from a store. I made a few modest modifications to the instructional vid’s ideas, and I think it came out pretty nice for what I need.
My kids helped with the leatherwork. I like to get them involved into my various projects so they can do more than watch Netflix and play videogames. They both did a fantastic job and were really excited. My daughter even took some of the excess rawhide and braided herself a belt. My son really liked helping put in the rivets.
My kids are so much fun. They seem to just run all over the place.
