You know that story where the dad takes his son fishing and both write in their journals about it? The dad's says something like, "Took my son fishing. Waste of time." And the boy's says something like, "Went fishing with my dad today. Best day of my life." Something like that. And I don't even know if that story's true. But anyway, it was brought to my mind yesterday when I read Nathan's November Journal from school.
I included an image of the first page of the story, along with the illustration (please note, Leah is even in a stroller!), but let me transcribe it. I shall leave the spelling intact, for authenticity's sake.
"One time in the sumr, me and my family went on a walk. We had fun. We saw fish in like stone sqare it's like this (then he draws the picture at the bottom of the page.) On the othr page you can see it. But there was glass in the front of the sqare so the fish coldnt get out. It was amasing! Wil (while) we were walking there was this rivr and it was abut 1 feet away. We tried to throw sticks. But we did'nt make it. And there was a park ner (near). We saw a creek it was kind of like a swamp. We got to step on some roks that had sunk. We kind of saw a zoo kind of thing. And we also saw a gardin. Then we went home. I felt very happy the end."
Now, I remember this outing to which he refers. It was sometime last spring. And I thought we had a good time, but what struck me is that it was November when he wrote about it, and it was such an "amasing" experience for him that he remembers it in great detail. And the fact that he says "I felt very happy"? Well, that's like a more expressive kid saying, "It was the best, most amazing day in the whole wide universe and I'll never forget it for as long as I live because I felt so much joy and rapture that I thought my heart would break!!!" Nathan's little "I felt very happy" sentence totally touched me.
And while I didn't think it was a "waste of time" like the dad in the mythical fishing story, I am sure I didn't realize what a big deal it was to Nathan. It just made me very conscious of how kids perceive things, and how relatively little it takes to make a huge impression on a kid for months. For those of you who know B-town, you probably recognized that he was talking about a visit to the nature center, that's all. I want to do more things like that-things that make a big impact. But you and I both know that it doesn't take huge trips or anything REALLY big to blow a kid's mind. There's just a certain quality to these events... maybe it's that they can really tell that their parent is fully present with them and that the parent is doing this activity just for them. Maybe it's just that there are no time constraints. We're out to have a good time for as long as we're having a good time. I don't know. What do you think makes certain activities really special for kids? (Seriously, comment. I am interested in what you think makes an activity stand out for them.) I want to do more things like that.
And that brings me to my next question, do you know of any activities that you've done that have been really special for your kids?
