The children are at the conclusion of their school holidays, and it has been two solid weeks of rain. At times, heavy rain. But they have had a wonderful time. This past week my sister, Karina, brought her six children for a visit and sleepover. That meant we had ten children under the age of eight running around the house and backyard. They had so much fun! It was great to watch. They ran, played, squealed with delight, and generally had the time of their lives. Even the grown-ups managed ok.
We have been enjoying our visits with family more and more as we get older. The children play better, and my siblings (and Kylie’s siblings) are getting easier to get on with. Of course, they would probably say it’s Kylie and I that are easier to get on with! They may be rightJ. Either way, we had a terrific time. The kids laughed all afternoon, we ate “wraps” (burritos), bathed all ten of them, and put them to bed. On Wednesday morning they ran around and played some more and promised to do it all again when they see each other next time.
Karina got annoyed with one of her children at one point and asked that wonderful parenting question that has been passed on for several generations in our family, “Would you like a smack?” Before the child could respond, my 4 year-old Ella responded, “Yeah! Smack him!” It made us all laugh.
Ella has been giving us plenty of work in recent times. Her temper is volatile. We find that if we take our time with her, and work carefully with her she does very well. But when she feels rushed, pressured, or that she is not being autonomous we know about it. Ella had a special treat last night (Sat) when she got to go to a birthday party for one of her preschool friends. She had such a treat and came home really happy.
Today at church we had our Stake Conference. Around 1200 people were at the meeting, and Kylie had been invited to speak. Talk about nervous! She did a wonderful job though. In order for the rest of the family to get through the two-hour meeting, mum drove down to be with us. The meeting was at Campbelltown, an hour north of our home and 80 minutes south of mum’s. Mum looked after Ella while I nursed Annie. The big girls looked after themselves quite nicely. But whoa! Did mum have her hands full with Ella? We got through the meeting – just. She simply has too much energy and does not like sitting still.
Midweek I began to feel a little unwell. That didn’t stop me surfing on both Thursday and Friday. There were great waves and I had loads of fun. But I’ve been entirely knocked around with some kind of cough. Nasty. I can not recall the last time that I was not well. To make matters worse we have some new move-ins. It seems that an entire family of rats has decided to make our house their house. They are delighting in spending the hours from 10pm until 3am keeping Kylie and I awake as they do their thing in the ceiling directly above our heads. I’ve tried poison unsuccessfully, so tomorrow I’m off to the hardware store to get some traps. I’ve been living on 5 hours sleep or less each night for the past 3 or 4, while sick. I don’t like hurting animals, but that rat has to die.
Lastly I had a really successful meeting this past week with my supervisor at uni. I’ve done very little work over the past fortnight with the children being on holidays, but what I have done appears to have been well received. It appears that I may be heading along a very positive path. I still have some reservations and concerns, but only time can show me whether they are well-founded or whether everything will turn out fine.
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Sunday, 20 April 2008
School Holidays
We began this week exhausted after driving to Gosford last Sunday following church. It was Rachel & Leah’s 17th birthday and we decided, at the last minute, to go and celebrate it with them. After 2½ hours driving up the freeway we arrived. The kids had a great time and it was really nice to be with the family again. We’re enjoying it more and more. Of course, by the time we left that evening it was after 8 o’clock, so we arrived home at a very late hour.
The kids are on school holidays. Two weeks is the length of the break and we’re just at the halfway mark. They have been making the most of it and are having a ball. Chanel, in particular, has enjoyed time with her new best friend, Paige. And Abbie and Ella have been terrific too. A few days ago they decided to play a scavenger hunt kind of game. They recalled that at Easter we hid eggs for them. We have no eggs right now, so they decided that they would hide all of the clothes pegs from the washing line, and then find them again!
Each day of the holidays Abbie has begged to do schoolwork. She loves reading, and has been making terrific progress on her words. We checked her current standard against the list of proscribed words required for Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. She has about three quarters of them, and she is only one term into her Kinder year. We have also begun tying shoelaces together. I think she’s getting it. Abbie is addicted to learning, and it’s wonderful.
Chanel and I are reading the Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graeme. It is a beautiful book. I don’t recall reading it when I was younger, but wish I had. His writing is exceptional. Chanel loves books. I am so grateful. We went to a Lifeline book fair on Friday and Chanel bought Heidi, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Treasure Island. She says she is still looking for Moby Dick and Swiss Family Robinson.
I have had a quieter week than normal at school, given that it’s school holidays. I’ve cut my hours shorter so I can be around Kylie and the children a little more. Oh, and also because this past week we have had an amazing amount of swell. I went surfing three days in a row. It was terrific. And it was some of the biggest surf I have previously experienced. I caught some of the biggest waves I’ve caught in my life. I kinda wished that I could just surf all day – but there’s always other priorities.
I have received a green light for my proposed studies. Actually it’s more a case of being given a preliminary nod to explore my idea a little more rather than actually being told that we’ll run with it. There is still a lot to do, but it seems that we may be able to have some fun with my plan. The idea is that people approach their work in one of three general ways: they see it as a job, a career or a calling. At each level there is a different degree of interest, gratitude, and fulfillment. Those with a job have the lowest levels of satisfaction, those with a career fall in the middle, and those with a calling are completely thrilled with what they do. I am investigating the relationships between happiness, meaning, and orientation to parenting. I think that parents who see it as a “job” will have less meaning, and be fairly low on happiness. Those who see it as a “calling” will have greater meaning, and moderate happiness (because parenting is challenging). Career parents will fall in the middle somewhere. So that’s an exciting start.
I am also ecstatic about some other plans we have made. We were going to be driving to Brisbane for the first weekend of May. I decided that I didn’t want to drive… so I would fly Kylie and Annie up instead. When I got online I found $65 flights. So now the whole family is flying up. The cost is only about $100 more than it would have been to drive, but it will be bliss compared with what we would have been dealing with otherwise! Only 90 minutes of flight time compared with 14 hours in the car! I think that’s money well spent.
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To finish things off for the week we went and visited some friends, Trevor & Deb, yesterday. He has just returned from three weeks in the USA and brought home two “Go-Peds”. They are motorised electrically charged scooters. Loads of fun zooming around the streets on them! They go up to 40km/h. The kids couldn’t get enough.
I’ve been listening to a new CD recently, The Holy Secret. So many new insights. I love learning.
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The kids are on school holidays. Two weeks is the length of the break and we’re just at the halfway mark. They have been making the most of it and are having a ball. Chanel, in particular, has enjoyed time with her new best friend, Paige. And Abbie and Ella have been terrific too. A few days ago they decided to play a scavenger hunt kind of game. They recalled that at Easter we hid eggs for them. We have no eggs right now, so they decided that they would hide all of the clothes pegs from the washing line, and then find them again!
Each day of the holidays Abbie has begged to do schoolwork. She loves reading, and has been making terrific progress on her words. We checked her current standard against the list of proscribed words required for Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. She has about three quarters of them, and she is only one term into her Kinder year. We have also begun tying shoelaces together. I think she’s getting it. Abbie is addicted to learning, and it’s wonderful.
Chanel and I are reading the Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graeme. It is a beautiful book. I don’t recall reading it when I was younger, but wish I had. His writing is exceptional. Chanel loves books. I am so grateful. We went to a Lifeline book fair on Friday and Chanel bought Heidi, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Treasure Island. She says she is still looking for Moby Dick and Swiss Family Robinson.
I have had a quieter week than normal at school, given that it’s school holidays. I’ve cut my hours shorter so I can be around Kylie and the children a little more. Oh, and also because this past week we have had an amazing amount of swell. I went surfing three days in a row. It was terrific. And it was some of the biggest surf I have previously experienced. I caught some of the biggest waves I’ve caught in my life. I kinda wished that I could just surf all day – but there’s always other priorities.
I have received a green light for my proposed studies. Actually it’s more a case of being given a preliminary nod to explore my idea a little more rather than actually being told that we’ll run with it. There is still a lot to do, but it seems that we may be able to have some fun with my plan. The idea is that people approach their work in one of three general ways: they see it as a job, a career or a calling. At each level there is a different degree of interest, gratitude, and fulfillment. Those with a job have the lowest levels of satisfaction, those with a career fall in the middle, and those with a calling are completely thrilled with what they do. I am investigating the relationships between happiness, meaning, and orientation to parenting. I think that parents who see it as a “job” will have less meaning, and be fairly low on happiness. Those who see it as a “calling” will have greater meaning, and moderate happiness (because parenting is challenging). Career parents will fall in the middle somewhere. So that’s an exciting start.
I am also ecstatic about some other plans we have made. We were going to be driving to Brisbane for the first weekend of May. I decided that I didn’t want to drive… so I would fly Kylie and Annie up instead. When I got online I found $65 flights. So now the whole family is flying up. The cost is only about $100 more than it would have been to drive, but it will be bliss compared with what we would have been dealing with otherwise! Only 90 minutes of flight time compared with 14 hours in the car! I think that’s money well spent.
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To finish things off for the week we went and visited some friends, Trevor & Deb, yesterday. He has just returned from three weeks in the USA and brought home two “Go-Peds”. They are motorised electrically charged scooters. Loads of fun zooming around the streets on them! They go up to 40km/h. The kids couldn’t get enough.
I’ve been listening to a new CD recently, The Holy Secret. So many new insights. I love learning.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Our Brainy Kids
It’s been a relatively quiet week, with very little to report.
Our kids love their cousins! Chanel, Abbie & Ella are in the back of my sister’s (Karina) car. They’re with their cousins Jaxson, Paris, Phoenix and Logan in Sydney when Kylie took everyone to the Entertainment Centre last week. When they get together there’s enough energy to blow up a house! In fact, if you’ve ever seen a house after they’ve been together, you’d suggest that I was understating the fact.
Our kids love their cousins! Chanel, Abbie & Ella are in the back of my sister’s (Karina) car. They’re with their cousins Jaxson, Paris, Phoenix and Logan in Sydney when Kylie took everyone to the Entertainment Centre last week. When they get together there’s enough energy to blow up a house! In fact, if you’ve ever seen a house after they’ve been together, you’d suggest that I was understating the fact.
Each night around the dinner table our family sits together and we discuss the things we’re most grateful for from the day. The children are usually bursting with exciting stories from their adventures at school. We really enjoy the time, and the girls argue with one another about who will lead the discussion. On Monday Chanel had attended her first BIG school excursion. She went on the bus with all the other kids, and they went to Bluescope steel. They toured the steelworks and had a huge adventure.
As Chanel began to share her story we were expecting another happy account, but instead she told us that she had been crying on the bus. She missed her family and felt like she was leaving, because she was on the bus without us. She then went on to say that her experience helped her to realise how grateful she is for her family. We had a wonderful discussion about how negative/sad emotions can also be good for us. We talked about how special our family was. It was one of those moments that we will remember for years to come.
As Chanel began to share her story we were expecting another happy account, but instead she told us that she had been crying on the bus. She missed her family and felt like she was leaving, because she was on the bus without us. She then went on to say that her experience helped her to realise how grateful she is for her family. We had a wonderful discussion about how negative/sad emotions can also be good for us. We talked about how special our family was. It was one of those moments that we will remember for years to come.
On Thursday morning Kylie and I had an interview scheduled with Chanel’s school teacher, Mrs Burton. We wanted to know how Chanel was settling in, adjusting to the curriculum in a new state, and whether we could do anything to help. Her response was unexpected. Chanel is excelling at school. She is in the top maths group and doing exceptionally well. Her spelling scores are equivalent to grade 5 or 6 rather than grade 3, where she presently learns. Fortunately her teachers are aware of Chanel’s ability and are providing her with opportunities to continue to learn. Chanel is excited about learning too, which is working very much in her favour.
The teacher positively glowed about Chanel. She also spoke extensively about how clear it was that Chanel had come from an excellent school in QLD, and how much better the QLD curriculum is compared with NSW. We have felt that, but to have it so powerfully confirmed was nice. I’d love to launch into a politically motivated diatribe, but don’t think it will make us feel better. We take great comfort that both of our school-girls are doing exceptionally well.
After the interview I was ushered into Chanel’s classroom. They have been doing a unit on music, and radio announcing was part of the study. I volunteered to spend some time talking to the class about being one. They were amazed that I had been a radio guy, and were thrilled when I told them about some of the celebrities that I’d met or interviewed. They loved knowing that I got free CD’s, concerts and movies. It was fun to talk about it with them.
Abbie has been moved up to Level 9 in her school “readers” too. Most kids take the entire kindergarten year to get to that level. But Abbie, after one term, is already there. She is excelling. For the holidays her teacher, Miss Johnston, sent home a 13 page booklet of spelling and math activities for the children to participate in if they wanted. Abbie sat down yesterday and couldn’t stop. She takes every opportunity she can to do schoolwork.
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Yesterday we took the kids to the beach. The seasons are changing, but it was such a perfect day that we had to go there. It was well worth it. The water was beautiful, the surf was small, and the girls had great fun. Chanel is trying to work out whether she likes catching waves or not. She has been “dumped” several times and doesn’t like that, but she really enjoys catching waves when she doesn’t get dumped. There’s a fabulous rock outcrop at Port Kembla that we can jump off when the surf is small. That’s another favourite of hers.
Abbie and Ella prefer to splash in the shallow water, build sand castles, and cover up with a towel when they get cold.
In other news, I’m enjoying studying. It is very challenging, but I feel like I’m making progress. Things are going well.
Abbie and Ella prefer to splash in the shallow water, build sand castles, and cover up with a towel when they get cold.
In other news, I’m enjoying studying. It is very challenging, but I feel like I’m making progress. Things are going well.
Monday, 7 April 2008
The End of Daylight Savings!
I am so glad that daylight savings is finally over. We can put the kids to bed when it’s dark, and when we arise each morning there is that extra hour to get organised and functioning. I feel a little more normal now that we’re back on QLD time!
It has been quite a challenging week in many ways, but equally challenging and wonderful. I changed my research focus another couple of times. It has been a really challenging process as I try to clearly define precisely what I plan to research. One of the biggest challenges is trying to designate the well-being of a family as anything more than an aggregate of the well-being of the individuals within that family. But resolution appears to have arrived.
On Sat 5th I attended the First Annual Positive Psychology Conference at the University of Sydney. I caught the train there with my supervisor, Lindsay. We spent close to two hours discussing my ideas, struggles, and possible ways to effectively research how to make families happier. Eventually we settled on a few core principles. I felt relieved but still a little unsure. Lindsay joked that once we finished at the Conference that day, I would probably want to scrap everything we’d discussed. “No way” was my response. We spent so long talking about it that as far as I was concerned, it was set in cement! Until I sat through a few conference sessions.
My ideas have changed again. But this time there seems to be a very clear pathway. I’m sure there will be some issues arise, as they always do. Rather than the deeply complicated project that I was designing, my new plans and ideas seem quite simple. Yet I think they will be far more powerful. That has been a wonderful event. And the way it came about was important too. I had sat through so many sessions and absorbed so much information I thought my brain was going to explode so I left the conference centre and went outside to ponder. As I did so, thoughts began to distill. I took out my notebook and jotted down the relevant ideas. It flowed effortlessly and simply. I just had to get into a peaceful environment and it happened. It felt wonderful.
I can’t wait to get back to uni to start to really get into the detail of my plans!
Ella is really enjoying church lately. She has been assigned a teacher all to herself. No one knew until yesterday that her Sunday School teacher (Primary) is actually a trained teacher with a specialty in remedial work. She is amazing, and goes to such an incredible effort for Ella. And Ella absolutely loves her. They do wonderful activities, create super creations, and Ella is delighted. We feel relieved, and deeply grateful. Ella is her only student and she goes to so much effort.
Our little Annie is sitting up for extended periods, over ten minutes! Annie talks and talks. Of course at 8 months of age nothing is intelligible, but she interacts vocally, and laughs all the time. We’re starting to see the slightest hints of desire to crawl too. Annie is simply adorable.
Abbie May is the funniest five-year-old we have ever encountered too. Abbie loves spelling and endlessly asks us how to spell words. She saunters around the house saying the sounds of letters in different combinations, playing with the sounds and creating words. Last night after I’d tucked her into bed and cuddled for ten minutes I was convinced she was asleep. Then I heard her soft whisper, “Daddy, how do you spell sister?” I told her I’d tell her in the morning! I could not believe she was still awake – and still trying to spell! Abbie is addicted to spelling. She can now read well over 100 words (and she has only been at school for 9 weeks). She can also spell a lot of them!
Precious Chanel is starting to deal with some significant challenges related to the morality of the schoolyard. Children do not all share the same values, and Chanel is learning how to negotiate the balancing act required for her to maintain her standards while being tolerant, but not accepting, of other’s values. Swearing and bullying have been issues we’ve dealt with this past week, but Chanel has done a wonderful job. She talks to Kylie and I and we work with her. She seems to be intent on taking our advice, so we hope we’re getting it right.
Kylie is deeply involved in her new church responsibilities and going really well. Kylie also had a great experience this week. On Saturday while I was at the Conference at uni, Kylie took the children to see the “Chinese Spectacular”, an event that mum bought tickets for as a gift. It was in Sydney at the Entertainment Centre. Things didn’t go so well though, and Kylie on her own with the children meant that she couldn’t stay for the whole show. Mum was also in Sydney and met up with Kylie and the four girls in Darling Harbour. They had a wonderful time. Mum said the money for the show was not important. The show was supposed to be fun, but since it wasn’t fun for the kids it was more important to take the children outside and give them fun elsewhere. Kylie wants to have a holiday in Sydney soon and spend more time at Darling Harbour. There’s so much to do.
Sunday has been a spiritual feast. I listened to a wonderful talk on the Internet, then went to church. Our meeting was really good. Then I taught a class which went well. We cancelled the young men class which was terrific! And after church I went home teaching. My companion is a man from Sierra Leone. He is a refugee who lost his wife during the war over there 8 years ago. Since then he has continued to look for her, and two months ago he found her in the USA. She has come to visit and they are finally reunited after nearly a decade not knowing if the other was even alive. He only recently joined the church and came home teaching with me for the first time.
We visited and taught 5 families from our congregation. It was a wonderful day. We were uplifted, and everyone was grateful for our visits. And I learned so much about a man who has lost everything and had to rebuild his life. It was remarkable. It also reminded me of how unspeakably fortunate we are to live in this country. Perhaps our country could be a little more compassionate to others who have suffered so badly.
It has been quite a challenging week in many ways, but equally challenging and wonderful. I changed my research focus another couple of times. It has been a really challenging process as I try to clearly define precisely what I plan to research. One of the biggest challenges is trying to designate the well-being of a family as anything more than an aggregate of the well-being of the individuals within that family. But resolution appears to have arrived.
On Sat 5th I attended the First Annual Positive Psychology Conference at the University of Sydney. I caught the train there with my supervisor, Lindsay. We spent close to two hours discussing my ideas, struggles, and possible ways to effectively research how to make families happier. Eventually we settled on a few core principles. I felt relieved but still a little unsure. Lindsay joked that once we finished at the Conference that day, I would probably want to scrap everything we’d discussed. “No way” was my response. We spent so long talking about it that as far as I was concerned, it was set in cement! Until I sat through a few conference sessions.
My ideas have changed again. But this time there seems to be a very clear pathway. I’m sure there will be some issues arise, as they always do. Rather than the deeply complicated project that I was designing, my new plans and ideas seem quite simple. Yet I think they will be far more powerful. That has been a wonderful event. And the way it came about was important too. I had sat through so many sessions and absorbed so much information I thought my brain was going to explode so I left the conference centre and went outside to ponder. As I did so, thoughts began to distill. I took out my notebook and jotted down the relevant ideas. It flowed effortlessly and simply. I just had to get into a peaceful environment and it happened. It felt wonderful.
I can’t wait to get back to uni to start to really get into the detail of my plans!
Ella is really enjoying church lately. She has been assigned a teacher all to herself. No one knew until yesterday that her Sunday School teacher (Primary) is actually a trained teacher with a specialty in remedial work. She is amazing, and goes to such an incredible effort for Ella. And Ella absolutely loves her. They do wonderful activities, create super creations, and Ella is delighted. We feel relieved, and deeply grateful. Ella is her only student and she goes to so much effort.
Our little Annie is sitting up for extended periods, over ten minutes! Annie talks and talks. Of course at 8 months of age nothing is intelligible, but she interacts vocally, and laughs all the time. We’re starting to see the slightest hints of desire to crawl too. Annie is simply adorable.
Abbie May is the funniest five-year-old we have ever encountered too. Abbie loves spelling and endlessly asks us how to spell words. She saunters around the house saying the sounds of letters in different combinations, playing with the sounds and creating words. Last night after I’d tucked her into bed and cuddled for ten minutes I was convinced she was asleep. Then I heard her soft whisper, “Daddy, how do you spell sister?” I told her I’d tell her in the morning! I could not believe she was still awake – and still trying to spell! Abbie is addicted to spelling. She can now read well over 100 words (and she has only been at school for 9 weeks). She can also spell a lot of them!
Precious Chanel is starting to deal with some significant challenges related to the morality of the schoolyard. Children do not all share the same values, and Chanel is learning how to negotiate the balancing act required for her to maintain her standards while being tolerant, but not accepting, of other’s values. Swearing and bullying have been issues we’ve dealt with this past week, but Chanel has done a wonderful job. She talks to Kylie and I and we work with her. She seems to be intent on taking our advice, so we hope we’re getting it right.
Kylie is deeply involved in her new church responsibilities and going really well. Kylie also had a great experience this week. On Saturday while I was at the Conference at uni, Kylie took the children to see the “Chinese Spectacular”, an event that mum bought tickets for as a gift. It was in Sydney at the Entertainment Centre. Things didn’t go so well though, and Kylie on her own with the children meant that she couldn’t stay for the whole show. Mum was also in Sydney and met up with Kylie and the four girls in Darling Harbour. They had a wonderful time. Mum said the money for the show was not important. The show was supposed to be fun, but since it wasn’t fun for the kids it was more important to take the children outside and give them fun elsewhere. Kylie wants to have a holiday in Sydney soon and spend more time at Darling Harbour. There’s so much to do.
Sunday has been a spiritual feast. I listened to a wonderful talk on the Internet, then went to church. Our meeting was really good. Then I taught a class which went well. We cancelled the young men class which was terrific! And after church I went home teaching. My companion is a man from Sierra Leone. He is a refugee who lost his wife during the war over there 8 years ago. Since then he has continued to look for her, and two months ago he found her in the USA. She has come to visit and they are finally reunited after nearly a decade not knowing if the other was even alive. He only recently joined the church and came home teaching with me for the first time.
We visited and taught 5 families from our congregation. It was a wonderful day. We were uplifted, and everyone was grateful for our visits. And I learned so much about a man who has lost everything and had to rebuild his life. It was remarkable. It also reminded me of how unspeakably fortunate we are to live in this country. Perhaps our country could be a little more compassionate to others who have suffered so badly.
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