Getting over it
Heidi
dunno what happened. I wrote a post, thought I posted it. It isn't
there, but my post about emailing Mrs. O'Malley is. hmmm.
I have a plan to help me get over my fear of Robby playing non-stop
computer games: ask him about it. We had "Stay Up Alone Night" last
night and the night before. Katie, last night; Robby night before. He
was up until 4:00 a.m. playing online video games. And yesterday,
spent a goodly amount of time playing online video games. And you
know what I did? Not only did I bite my tongue about how he was
spending his time, I went over and watched him play for awhile. He
explained the game (Some Ed, Edd, and Eddy thing) and asked if I'd
like to try.
It felt SO good, not to be uptight about what he was doing, and he
was clearly pleased that I expressed interest in it.
Hubby and I talked last night, him wanting to know if this "up alone"
time was going to become a trend. I pointed out to him that the
last "up alone night" was in January or February. They love it; they
are satisfied for a long time (at least a few months between such
events); and we learn to trust them.
One thing I did have to emphasize with my husband: this is going to
mean us being much more involved. No more telling them to siddown and
get their (fill in the academic blank) done, but inviting them to
come help with the wood fire, helping them knead the bread dough,
playing cribbage when they ask us to, being willing for the bathroom
to get trashed so they can make home-made "treasure rocks." IOW,
chilling and doing things WITH them.
Including, conversations about Tolkien with our 15 year old. Why do
I, whose favorite author IS Tolkien, just do this "uh-huh" half-
listening, not attending, rude thing, when she wants to talk about
LOTR? Just because it's all she talks about right now, doesn't mean I
shouldn't encourage it by participating. "What a cool picture of a
balrog. Where did you get it?" "Yes, let's get the latest Elijah
Wood movie and watch it." Or, ask her, because she knows MUCH more
about Middle Earth than I do. Well, I do some of that. She laughs at
me, because I don't know the names of the different elvish races. L
anyways. Feeling like I'm getting a handle on this (unnerving,
exciting) way of living.
HeidiC
there, but my post about emailing Mrs. O'Malley is. hmmm.
I have a plan to help me get over my fear of Robby playing non-stop
computer games: ask him about it. We had "Stay Up Alone Night" last
night and the night before. Katie, last night; Robby night before. He
was up until 4:00 a.m. playing online video games. And yesterday,
spent a goodly amount of time playing online video games. And you
know what I did? Not only did I bite my tongue about how he was
spending his time, I went over and watched him play for awhile. He
explained the game (Some Ed, Edd, and Eddy thing) and asked if I'd
like to try.
It felt SO good, not to be uptight about what he was doing, and he
was clearly pleased that I expressed interest in it.
Hubby and I talked last night, him wanting to know if this "up alone"
time was going to become a trend. I pointed out to him that the
last "up alone night" was in January or February. They love it; they
are satisfied for a long time (at least a few months between such
events); and we learn to trust them.
One thing I did have to emphasize with my husband: this is going to
mean us being much more involved. No more telling them to siddown and
get their (fill in the academic blank) done, but inviting them to
come help with the wood fire, helping them knead the bread dough,
playing cribbage when they ask us to, being willing for the bathroom
to get trashed so they can make home-made "treasure rocks." IOW,
chilling and doing things WITH them.
Including, conversations about Tolkien with our 15 year old. Why do
I, whose favorite author IS Tolkien, just do this "uh-huh" half-
listening, not attending, rude thing, when she wants to talk about
LOTR? Just because it's all she talks about right now, doesn't mean I
shouldn't encourage it by participating. "What a cool picture of a
balrog. Where did you get it?" "Yes, let's get the latest Elijah
Wood movie and watch it." Or, ask her, because she knows MUCH more
about Middle Earth than I do. Well, I do some of that. She laughs at
me, because I don't know the names of the different elvish races. L
anyways. Feeling like I'm getting a handle on this (unnerving,
exciting) way of living.
HeidiC