I'm at my first destination, Suzannah's family's house. Took a short camping trip out to Shenandoah park. We had some adventures, almost got caught in an intense thunderstorm with some hail (did catch the beginning of it before making it, running to our car). We got to some nice vista's, though on the final day the wind was so strong it felt like it would knock us off our lookout point.
Back at Suzannah's families house I've been spending time with the nephews and for whatever reason, I clicked more with them this time. Not sure what made the difference, but previously they had been kind of timid or uncomfortable around me, but this time I just kind of integrated in. I think we've bonded over our shared enjoyment of video games like Mario, and maybe the different context of being at their new house was kind of a reset.
I suppose it would be nice to bond over something more productive, like education or positive values or learning or nature, but I'll take what I can get, at least to establish rapport, and work in the other stuff as I can. Makes me think about child-raising in general though. That's in the plan for some time soon, so I'm thinking more about what I want to be and what environment I want to have for our future kids. I need fun things to do with kids that are wholesome and not technology-centered. It's sooo much easier to just give them a device and let them be endlessly entertained. If I don't have a plan ahead of time, whenever things get stressful/hectic, that's going to be too tempting to ignore. Like having sweets on the table all the time, maybe you can avoid eating them in the morning, but at the end of the day when your exhausted, day after day, eventually you're probably going to break.
On the other hand, it's not rocket science, doing fun things with kids. Generally they will come up with some creative game to play, and it will be fun for them, just having you play along. What seems less common is being able to entertain themselves, especially without technology derived games. This isn't isolated to kids though, I think adults often have this problem as well. I generally do not and can entertain myself indefinitely, especially given access to books.
I think kids can do this just fine too. I've just been witnessing the transition from 'I'm bored' to finding non-screen things to do, to entertain themselves with, after running out of screen-time, as I write this. Two brothers play-fighting imaginatively with each other. The older brother is impressing me with how they are handling their younger brother gently. It must have taken a lot of thoughtful parenting and teaching, but the fruits are worth it.
In other thoughts, perhaps I mentioned this earlier, but after doing two short courses with my old creative writing teacher recently, I'm feeling nostalgic for the times in my life when I was regularly creating. I love creating, and I kind of put that part of myself on a shelf for a decade and change to 'be adult' and find work or a job that fit me. Having just taken it off the shelf, I find it quite dusty and rusty from disuse, which saddens me. I don't want to leave it in that state, and even if it's just something like this blog, a once a week few minutes trying to do something creative. I'd like to establish a creative habit. I think it would be good for my soul. And perhaps ultimately good for the rest of my life as well.
I think I'm going to begin digging into my textbook now so I've got a little bit of a head start for classes.
I'll be seeing some of you quite soon!
-I Out
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