As I type this, I'm listening to Sarah practice "Jingle Bells" in the kitchen behind me. Grace is listening to a math personal tutor video that is speaking to her over my right shoulder. And Hannah is playing on the iPad on the floor by my feet. It's educational bliss, right?
How did we get here?
It wasn't that long before this that Grace was upset with me for a criticism I made of something she was doing with Hannah. She was angry in the other room. In the meantime, we asked Sarah to practice her clarinet, and that led to the making of this video.
Halfway through the filming of that video, Grace--having calmed down--came into the room with her math notebook. I knew that she wanted to show the new things she learned today, so I made sure to take a video of her performing her new (and definitely impressive) math abilities.
Part of parenting is trying to provide equal time, trying to give each child the feeling that they are an important part of the family group and, at the same time, uniquely themselves. These videos are brief examples of me trying to accomplish this. When these video started, Grace was angry and I was frustrated. By the time this was all over, the calm had been restored and the anger had been forgotten.
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