Confession: I never thought too much of Santa as a kid.
When my sister and I were very young, Dad would take us for a long enough winter sled walk on Christmas eve, as soon as it got dark out. My sister and I sat all bundled up in blankets on the wooden sled and Dad pulled us, through the snow, while telling us stories from his own childhood. I remember the snow creaking, the stars sparkling ever so bright up above, and my dad’s voice, like another warm blanket wrapped around us girls.
How often do you pick up a book and read with such delight that you forget about time and push a few less urgent items from your to-do list just you can keep reading?
Chances are, not often (unless you have somehow cracked the code, in which case I will politely invite you to share your secret.) For the rest of us, however, it’s a treat.
This is a first for my blog and thoroughly exciting: a guest post by Amy Herbst, educator, counselor and author, and most importantly, mom to two boys. You can visit her site here and purchase her book here. Enjoy!
Today it seems our sons are bombarded with so many influences coming at them left and right of mixed messaging about being a ‘good boy’. Further confusion from parenting strategies that have swung from strict and authoritarian to passive or free-range over the last 50 years. It can be difficult to know what’s the best approach as we are raising our sons to be healthy and confident young men and can feel like unchartered territory. Considering that for our school-age sons, approximately half of their waking hours are spent in school, you do everything you can as a parent to raise your son to do well and make good choices outside of your home. So when conflict or struggle happens or if his behavior goes sideways, then it must be some other kids’ fault or their teacher’s and you blame the school right? WRONG!
I had to look twice to make sure; OK, three times. It was snowing. The wind had been blowing since yesterday when it was 18 degrees Celsius in late afternoon. All degrees but four got scattered by bedtime. We lost two more overnight.
Today at noon we got snowflakes. A first this time of the year by everyone’s account. Dog and I took a walk in that swirling mad snowflake dance and I realized this sad fact: first snow always had my heart flutter with joy. Always. Today, this year, the flutter is missing and instead I feel sad and worried. The world is changing and I do not care about making yet another point about climate change (yes, it is real, and yes, I am shaking my head knowing it is still debated; seriously!). But.
Two days ago, I read a thought-provoking article about the strategy (or one of them) that Dr. Seuss used to create his work. He was challenged (it was a $50 bet in fact) to write a kids’ book using only 50 words that a grade 1 student would understand and handle with ease. Green Eggs and Ham was born and if you haven’t read it yet, please do today because that it will make your day, and beyond. It has rhyme, reason (obviously) and quirkiness galore.
When the boys were little, we collected and read as much Dr. Seuss as we could. Quirky and funny and rolling off the tongue is the recipe for what children like in a book and parents can read many, many times over without wanting to tear their hair out of sheer boredom. Not with Dr. Seuss’s books. A healthy side-effect: They incited the boys to want to read by themselves. Just to have that silly rumble of words come out of their mouths instead of mine.
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