We have had a fab couple of days of home school excursions/adventures...and an epiphany to boot!
Firstly, we did the Sydney Monorail 'treasure hunt' on monday and thoroughly enjoyed searching for clues on and off the monorail, soaking up the city vibes, and eating at the longest sushi train we had ever seen. All while maintaining extremely cheesy piratical accents. Aaaaarrrgh me hearties!
Then tuesday was a poolfest at the Olympic Aquatic centre in Homebush. We. Love. This. Pool. We especially love it on a schoolday when we can pretend it's our private aqua haven, as opposed to school holidays or weekends when it turns into HUMAN SOUP!!!
Anyway, if you haven't been, one of the stand out features of this pool is the 'river rapids'. A deliciously strong current carries you around a big loop and you can choose to:
float along peacefully
swim with it and go REALLY FAST
try to swim against it
hold onto the side until you are exhausted, your fingers cramp and you get water up your nose.
Firstly, we did the Sydney Monorail 'treasure hunt' on monday and thoroughly enjoyed searching for clues on and off the monorail, soaking up the city vibes, and eating at the longest sushi train we had ever seen. All while maintaining extremely cheesy piratical accents. Aaaaarrrgh me hearties!
Then tuesday was a poolfest at the Olympic Aquatic centre in Homebush. We. Love. This. Pool. We especially love it on a schoolday when we can pretend it's our private aqua haven, as opposed to school holidays or weekends when it turns into HUMAN SOUP!!!
Anyway, if you haven't been, one of the stand out features of this pool is the 'river rapids'. A deliciously strong current carries you around a big loop and you can choose to:
float along peacefully
swim with it and go REALLY FAST
try to swim against it
hold onto the side until you are exhausted, your fingers cramp and you get water up your nose.
What fascinated me was that my preference was for the first two options. As it seemed, was the preference of everyone my age or older. HOWEVER, all the kids seemed to spend at least 3/4 of their time struggling AGAINST the current! Finding new ways to NOT go with the flow! This got me to thinking.....
I constantly advocate 'going with the flow', and Gav and I talk alot about 'struggle' and how to overcome it in life. But we need to be really careful to not discourage struggle in the lives of our children. They LIKE it. They LEARN from it. It seems to be how they strengthen the muscles of their bodies and minds. Just as you can't help a chicken out of it's egg, or a butterfly out of it's chrysalis, you must let your children struggle to find out who they are, what they believe and how they want to live. And that, as parents, is hard!!
Knowing where to step in and when to hold back is one of the greatest skills we can develop. I see it like this....
if my child was swimming in a river and appeared to be scared/tired/struggling then splash I'm in there and I don't even stop to take the iphone out of my pocket. However, them splurting, giggling and gurgling, copping a foot to the face and water up the nose while 'fighting' the rapids at the pool....this was a joy to watch and take arty photos of with aforementioned iphone. While savouring the epiphany I must add.......
Love to all xoxoxo
I constantly advocate 'going with the flow', and Gav and I talk alot about 'struggle' and how to overcome it in life. But we need to be really careful to not discourage struggle in the lives of our children. They LIKE it. They LEARN from it. It seems to be how they strengthen the muscles of their bodies and minds. Just as you can't help a chicken out of it's egg, or a butterfly out of it's chrysalis, you must let your children struggle to find out who they are, what they believe and how they want to live. And that, as parents, is hard!!
Knowing where to step in and when to hold back is one of the greatest skills we can develop. I see it like this....
if my child was swimming in a river and appeared to be scared/tired/struggling then splash I'm in there and I don't even stop to take the iphone out of my pocket. However, them splurting, giggling and gurgling, copping a foot to the face and water up the nose while 'fighting' the rapids at the pool....this was a joy to watch and take arty photos of with aforementioned iphone. While savouring the epiphany I must add.......
Love to all xoxoxo
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