- Can I just say to anyone out there - if you don't have one already, GET A HOBBY! I was out with someone today (I'm not saying who, but I'll give you a hint - she gave birth to me) and she was a different person. Which she attributed to her taking up golf. I'm now thinking of taking up golf.
- You know I've been wondering about raising kids, and how praise can be problematic. Today, I saw some evidence at first hand. Jack doesn't want to close his school bag's clasps any more and he also doesn't want to take in a snack for at break time, because that way he may be first to empty his bag in the morning and then he may get another star on his chart. (Fifty stars and he gets to choose a present.)
That boy is obsessed with those stars, how to get them, and how to lose them. He knows exactly how many stars each of the seventeen children in his class have. Now that is a problematic use of praise. Compared to that, I'm doing fine. Just a shame his teacher is fucking him up now. Maybe I can get her to pay for his therapy. - I have a parcel from Amazon on the way. Which makes my whole week scented with delicious anticipation. Because I love books. And books love me.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Golf and stars
I'm not feeling too coherent today so here's an incoherent post.
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Night night sleep tight - don't let the head lice bite ;-)
ReplyDeleteI was a MASSIVE over achiever as a child - the whole star chart shenanigan had A LOT to do with it... evil I tell you.
xxx
I too love books and Amazon too much. I pray that they never add Paypal to their site...
ReplyDeleteGave birth to you? *thinking, thinking, thinking* A hard one. I might try solving it again tomorrow morning, ac (after coffee).
ReplyDeleteThe stars thing sounds alarming. She definitely should pay for therapy.
Hobbies are wonderful. I have too many of them.
ReplyDeleteWhat books are you waiting on?! Reading is the best.
ReplyDeleteIs it really bad that I have junk mail and articles cut out from the Metro (my fiance does for me when he thinks it's something interesting!) on my reading pile these days?
I thoroughly recommend the movie "Julie and Julia", as an illustration of where a hobby can lead you. And regardless of where it leads you, just doing it makes you a different person.
ReplyDeleteAm about to blog about that myself.
There seems to be golfers and then there is us.I don't get the whole golf thing but people who play it swear by it and often live for it.I do enjoy mini golf....would that count?
ReplyDeleteI've been known to cross stitch.
"Scented with delicious anticipation"...well done, I like that.
I love your posts. I never know what to expect! Great news about your mum. Not so good news about your son (my son is similarly obsessed with gaining approval at school, also has the memory of an elephant where other peer's performance's are concerned and only seems to want to behave well at home if there is a 'reward' to hand, which is a constant source of battle between us).
ReplyDeleteI love having a hobby, it gives me something to look forward to when I'm not expecting an Amazon parcel. Like now. Hmm...where's my knitting?
ReplyDeleteI am so taking up golf. As soon as I retire.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the stars and enjoy your book. I love waiting for them too.
Loved your post too! Kisses.
ReplyDelete@Josie - Very funny ha-ha. ;-) I was a huge overachiever as well, but was never given any stars. I think it may just be in the nature of some children.
ReplyDelete@Meghan - I am a bit too lazy to do the whole payment thing as well, so I make a wish list and sometimes get Babes to order the stuff. By the time he does, I've changed my mind on half the stuff, making the bill smaller. Anything that sticks for a month or more I get, though.
@Metropolitan Mum - Have you worked it out yet?
@Badass Geek - Ah, yes, the preprocreation male and his hobbies.
@Fatbrideslim - I ordered that parenting book everyone was raving about to me on Friday: "How to talk to children so they'll listen, how to listen so they'll talk" and another C.J. Sansom - I find his books very relaxing. Also a CD of choir music and some DVDs (Coming to America - great ironing classic - and Das Leben der Anderen).
@Iota - I've been hearing about that movie for a while. The story sounds great. It's got Meryl Streep in it, though, and that puts me off.
ReplyDelete@Countess - My husband is the Scottish kind of golfer, who learned on free courses and seems to think it's a sport for the masses. I may get sucked in later in life. At the moment, I just don't have the time for any kind of hobby that demands five hours of uninterrupted free time.
@Nicola - Thank you very much! I love your comments.
@Mad Woman - I love my hobbies, too.
@Lady Mama - When you retire. Exactly. Me too.
@An - And I love you!
Hey Mwa,
ReplyDeleteSynchronicty strikes again, at least regarding golf and parenting (http://tinyurl.com/ydcc6b9).
And as for Julie and Julia, once again (http://tinyurl.com/yby2rly).
Interesting zeitgeist these days. Namaste, Bruce