wajobu
Boing Boom Tschak
For many years my wife and I read to our children, before bed-time. It was a nice time of the day--a time to unwind, a time of intimacy with the boys. First with one and then two as the years progressed.
We read many stories...the classic bed-time stories, from the early years like “Good Night Moon” or (my favorite) “The Runaway Bunny” and then in later years books like “Charlotte’s Web”. Stacks of different books. And in between there books like “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go” and a whole bunch of stories by Byron Barton with great illustrations of construction equipment.
One memorable series of books was by Else Homelund Minarik (sp?) about “Little Bear” and his adventures. We had a number of the books and some cassette tapes of the stories. They were nice little stories of Little Bear’s experiences in the world from “What Would Little Bear Wear” to tales of learning from his mistakes. Very sweet, light-hearted, but most important, relaxing for bedtime.
A later story in the series has a conversation between “Mother Bear” and “Little Bear” where he asks “Tell me about what I once did...”, basically...Mom, tell me of my adventures so I can learn about myself.
Gradually our elder son learned that he could prolong story time by asking for “...one more...” book, and we would usually oblige until we too would grow tired. In time, our son following the “...one more...” book would follow-up with, “Let’s talk about what I did today...”, which was his way of putting off bed, but it was a nice time to talk about what we did together during a given day. The events ranged from very little of anything at all to a memorable experience or a visit to someone or some place. It was a nice way to reflect on the events of the day and relax one another to sleep.
Now our children are in high school and they read to themselves and the irony is that during a time when you’d like to know what they are doing and thinking, in their teenage years, they are the least inclined to share “...what I did today...” Ever read the comic strip “Zits”?
My wife observed a while back that even though we do have good lines of communication open with our boys that a great deal of information could be gleaned by listening to conversations amongst themselves and with friends during car rides. Our boys and their friends essentially talk as if we aren’t in the car (like “the help”--ha!). Using this method (the-fly-on-the-wall-sleight-of-hand), it has helped us to keep in touch with some of the goings-on in their lives, and also helps us talk to them about “things” later on.
My father frequently accuses me of being a sentimental sap. So be it. I guess that I am just preparing myself for the day(s) when they are off to their futures.
Though I am enjoying (and sometimes not) the trials of their teenage years now, I do miss my “Little Bear”.
We read many stories...the classic bed-time stories, from the early years like “Good Night Moon” or (my favorite) “The Runaway Bunny” and then in later years books like “Charlotte’s Web”. Stacks of different books. And in between there books like “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go” and a whole bunch of stories by Byron Barton with great illustrations of construction equipment.
One memorable series of books was by Else Homelund Minarik (sp?) about “Little Bear” and his adventures. We had a number of the books and some cassette tapes of the stories. They were nice little stories of Little Bear’s experiences in the world from “What Would Little Bear Wear” to tales of learning from his mistakes. Very sweet, light-hearted, but most important, relaxing for bedtime.
A later story in the series has a conversation between “Mother Bear” and “Little Bear” where he asks “Tell me about what I once did...”, basically...Mom, tell me of my adventures so I can learn about myself.
Gradually our elder son learned that he could prolong story time by asking for “...one more...” book, and we would usually oblige until we too would grow tired. In time, our son following the “...one more...” book would follow-up with, “Let’s talk about what I did today...”, which was his way of putting off bed, but it was a nice time to talk about what we did together during a given day. The events ranged from very little of anything at all to a memorable experience or a visit to someone or some place. It was a nice way to reflect on the events of the day and relax one another to sleep.
Now our children are in high school and they read to themselves and the irony is that during a time when you’d like to know what they are doing and thinking, in their teenage years, they are the least inclined to share “...what I did today...” Ever read the comic strip “Zits”?
My wife observed a while back that even though we do have good lines of communication open with our boys that a great deal of information could be gleaned by listening to conversations amongst themselves and with friends during car rides. Our boys and their friends essentially talk as if we aren’t in the car (like “the help”--ha!). Using this method (the-fly-on-the-wall-sleight-of-hand), it has helped us to keep in touch with some of the goings-on in their lives, and also helps us talk to them about “things” later on.
My father frequently accuses me of being a sentimental sap. So be it. I guess that I am just preparing myself for the day(s) when they are off to their futures.
Though I am enjoying (and sometimes not) the trials of their teenage years now, I do miss my “Little Bear”.