Gotta Love That Learning.......

As clichéd as it is, I reckon that one of the many amazing things about parenthood is how much we learn from our children, mostly when we’re trying to teach them stuff.  Sometimes it’s a gradual feeling like a fog clearing, other times it’s like being slapped in the face with a wet flannel, but I know that I’m a much bigger and better person than I was before I had kids .  We recently had a holiday which included a visit to the snow.  We had intended to make snowmen, maybe hire a tobggan, and just generally have a fun hour or two in the snow, with a bonus being if one or other of us could sneak off for a run or two on the snowboard.  Our last visit to the snow had been with a 6 week old baby and a two-year old - I won’t go into it but many hopes were dashed that day.  This visit was quite different.

On arrival at the mountain our five-year old announced that she would like to ski, followed of course by an echo from our three-year old that she was going to ski too.  There was no dissuading them, so lift passes and equipment were obtained.  And wouldn’t you know it, away they went.  

Miss Five took a little longer to warm up due to a technical incident involving her mother cutting the circulation to her feet by doing the boots up too tight (too many memories of days as a wanna-be ski racer) and there was a grim period over lunch with an almost unrecoverable melt-down from Miss Three due to mis-timing of the provision of food.  At this point the father did comment that it looked as though it would be several years before we would be doing this again.  

However, the afternoon was magic.  They were both away, which was just amazing to watch, and were so keen on the whole thing that we went back again the next day.  I was surprised to find myself not in the slightest bit disappointed that the only contact I had had with my snowboard was to lug it from the car to the snow and back again - it was just such a buzz to watch and help the girls get the hang of it.  Miss Three did struggle with the fact that she could not actually do every single possible part of the whole game on her own.  The fact that you couldn’t actually ski uphill was difficult to accept, and we spent quite some time sitting adjacent to the lift queue, watching it gradually pass us by, while she refused all help to actually enter the queue.  

This is where some serious self-reflection was required by me.  As a child we lived for some time near the mountain, and spent a lot of time skiing.  In those days it was all about maximising run time and minimising queue time.  It took all my willpower to actually sit calmly beside the queue, doing nothing for maybe 20 minutes, until one of my interminttent offers of help was accepted.  And why not?  It was a sunny, warm day, not uncomfortable, quite pleasant in fact.  But a huge challenge to my idea of what skiing was about.  So now I’m thinking more about all those moments when I bite the inside of my cheek wanting to keep things moving along - maybe it’s more important to try to relax and enjoy that moment for what it’s really about. 

Spinach and Blue Cheese Pasta

If you like blue cheese try this on your kids - mine love it and it’s super easy. 

Ingredients:

A big bunch spinach

Chopped garlic

A packet of pasta

Blue cheese

Light sour cream

Parmesan cheese to serve

Directions: 

Cook a packet of pasta according to the directions.  While it’s cooking, melt a cup of light sour cream and 100 g of blue cheese (if you want in creamier and less strong use more sour cream) in the microwave.  Saute some chopped spinach and garlic in a frypan.  When the pasta’s cooked mix everything together in a big bowl, then serve topped with grated parmesan cheese.  

The Power of Praise

I have always considered myself absolutely hopeless at art - as in a total non-starter.  Creative, I could be, as long as we could loosely define creativity to include cooking, gardening, sewing, but as far as drawing or painting, count me out.  


The peak of my artistic endeavours was a caterpillar created from egg-carton at Raetihi Primary School, of which I was extremely proud.  Unfortunately its existence was uncannily short-lived thanks to a couple of bullies, lurking around the corner of the classroom after school, who accosted me and stomped the poor creature into oblivion.  Luckily I have a partner who is quite talented in the artistic way, so it was pretty easy for me to avoid challenging myself by fobbing off my daughters’ requests for drawing to their more talented father.  

However, recently I got talking to a friend who told me that it has been proven that anyone can become good at anything with the will and enough practice.  This passing conversation, in conjunction with watching my daughters learn to draw, made me wonder if it really was kind of lame of me to put myself into a “non-able” box, when maybe I could actually learn this skill, in the same way that I have learnt to do other things in my four decades on this planet.  


So, I have been trying to actually learn to draw.  Not in a really academic kind of a way, but just in a “well let’s give this a whirl” kind of way.  When the girls are drawing, I sit down and draw too, and when they ask me to draw something, I have a go.  I have to say, that the very best part of this whole thing has been the positive feedback from my girls.  “That’s a really great fish Mum.”  “You’re really good at drawing princesses.”  “Can we pin my Mickey on the wall Mum.”  “Dad, look at my Spongie that Mum drew.”  Even the aforementioned Dad has contributed with positive comments regarding my efforts.  


Now if anyone outside of my four walls actually saw my efforts, they would no doubt conclude that there was an artistically-challenged seven-year old with a penchant for drawing Sponge Bob, Mickey Mouse, and renditions of the various fish from “Tiddler” on the loose, but I am quite proud of my little efforts, and get thrilled to my core by the kind comments from my family.  It’s really got me thinking about the power of praise, and how, if a 40 year old can learn something new with a little bit of positive feedback from those around her, how much can our children achieve with our support and encouragement. 


I know that we all do work hard to praise and encourage our nearest and dearest, but I think it’s easy to forget just how good that really feels.  Equally, how much do we teach our children by being prepared to give anything a go, and really showing them that we can do anything that we set our minds to?  Be brave with your efforts, and be generous with your praise - both will make you and yours great.