Gut Check Time

I was watching re-runs of Friends and I saw Monica shouted “Gut Check Time” when she was coaxing the boys to continue their work. I realized that Gut Check Time is a very important concept that we parents fail to communicate to our kids. Gut Check is about liking or to stomach things that comes your way that you dont like. We cant get everything that we like and have things we are trying to get, there will be many times that we need to settle and fight on.

I told the kids that I also dont like many things but I have to stomach it. I hate thunderstorms, traffic, humidity etc but I have to stomach it and walk on. That life we give them curveballs but the just need to take it, not swing on it and wait for another pitch. I think they listened and I hope with more practice and coaxing it will be part of their habits.

Lost months

I was just fixing the study room and was getting rid of the stuff from the past school year. By monday we will be entering a new school year and our vacation, my free time and longer naps will end. While rummaging thru old stuff I found my calendar where I put my notes like things to do, requirements and homeworks to submit etc.. I noticed that June was almost empty and July does not have even a letter. In a way, i felt sad that we lost 2 months without doing anything except play, daydream, watch. Looking back, I wished we had done something memorable.

Our vacation was only spent mostly on videos, online games, Soc Med, Netflix.. I bought several books for Liam, some activity books, taught them Game of the Generals and Chess, played some football and basketball in the afternoon, introduced the wonders of tracing paper. Mostly it was boring stuff and not something that will stand out in our memory to make the past 2 months something to go back to.

in a few days, we will start another roller coaster of school works, activities, reading, solving and heaps of figuring out.

Being nice

This morning I was doin my monologue about the value of being nice. I said to the boys that our goal is to be liked by the people around us. Preferably to be genuinely nice to people but if you can’t it is better to just fake it. Ideally it is good to be real but if we can’t it is better act it than be rude or dismissive.

Whether we like it or not we live in a world with different people with different ideals, biases, likes etc and we have to learn how to live with most of them. To be likeable will give us an advantage over the unlikeables and can opoen doors to friendships, relationships, job promotions, higher grades, happier life etc.

Like doing white lies, we dont tell people that they are ugly even if it is true. Acting to be liekable is another form of a white lie, when it is better to fake it than to be hated or unliked.

Fraility of it.

I got a text from a friend. She got vaccinated a month ago and had an adverse effect from Sinovac. Her heart is now failing. A week after her vaccination she is now wearing diapers and mostly bed-ridden.

It made me realized the fraility of life, that it can be snuffed out of us in a click, we think or fool oursleves that our stay in long but in reality it is just a short stay.

so, how do we spend that short stay? is it in constant fear, anxiety, sadness or happiness?

Skateboards

Against logic, I bought a skateboard around 1st week of July. Now is not the time to learn to skateboard because hospitals are filled up and skateboard accidents are not really remote. But againts good sense, I bought one. In a way, it is for me. I want to ride again and secondly I want them to learn how to do it and enjoy the beauty of it.

I remember as a young boy, when I first got my board. It was given to me by Uncle Ben and immediately loved it. I brought it at school and skated with classmates with skateboards. We used the skating rink in the preschool area and we skate there during our lunch and before going home. I also walked to Villia Vill, Qc where they have an epic downward slope. There I will get my speed fix and that is where fun really begins.

I want the kids to enjoy the beauty of Skateboards. The cruising, the wind and the culture and life of being a skateboarder.

Summer

The summer will end in the few days and it was a big failure due to the health crisis and, possibly, crisis in logic that we are all under. The summer started 1st week of May and will end this weekend. Online Classes will start again, I have to once again prepare lesson plans and teach to boys again. Teaching is hard and frustrating especially when the topic is too difficult to be understood in one go, add to that the chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry, washing the dishes, taking care of the dog and more cleaning etc. It is gonna be a whirlwind, surely.

Our summer was spent indoors, we planned for a get away to a beach resort but sadly unusally strong rains and another lockdown was implemented before we were able to go. It is relatively a quiet summer, not much raging, fighting, tantrums etc… it is still happening but remarkably less now than before.

To get them mentally “in shape” we do short reviews of 1 hr each every weekday. Liam focused on his reading and math, while Ken mostly on his math, a few on robotics and computer. We also do PE by doing little basketball drills and football drills. Kenzo was also enrolled in Tae Kwon Do that he will finish today.

During weekends was spent at momsie’s and they bike their every afternoon.

It is not a good summer and I feel bad about it but the only thing we can do but to make something with what were given to us. It is is really a bummer summer.