Botany Bay

Monday, 21 November 2011

Back in 1989, I won a go-kart. Yep, honest to Eric Clapton, I really did. Of course, living in a mobile home, without a garage, and with no property of our own, my parents quickly decided to sell the go-kart. I made a request that I first get to ride it (or at least ride in it). They said no.

We didn’t even have a place to store the go-kart, so my parents had to haul it to a friend’s house. I stayed home while they did that and, when they got back home, they told me their friend, a guy named Roger, decided to pour some gas in the go-kart and drive it around the street for a few minutes. Then my dad took a turn. My dad told me this as if it was the greatest five minutes of his week. I got mad and told him I wanted to ride in it and they never let me, even though it was MY go-kart.

About a decade earlier, my mom would occasionally dress me in this incredibly uncomfortable stiff outfit that resembled lederhosen. She made me wear it to the meetings, which was absolutely bizarre, since Bavarian costumes were not properly sanctioned dress for Witness males.

Above: I looked about this stupid.

I hated that outfit. I begged my mom to let me wear something else. At the meetings, I was embarrassed and I longed for the day when I would outgrow the outfit, hoping with all my might that she wouldn’t go out and buy a bigger one.

For these and about 20 other reasons, I’ve always felt keenly aware of giving my kids the autonomy and respect that they deserve as people. There must be a mentality difference: in my parents’ wonderful religion, children are viewed as wards – charges from God to train up in a bible-thumping manner. But as non-delusionals, my wife and I observe a more egalitarian approach to living with this small people.

I bring all of this up because Owen has always fought going to sleep. As a baby, we just rocked him or danced with him, or nursed him (okay, so my wife did that part) until he finally gave up and dozed off. But as he’s grown, he’s expressed his displeasure at being ‘forced’ to go to bed.

I understand his frustration. I, too, would often lie awake for hours in bed, wasting my life away, until I finally fell asleep. The next morning, I got up with the alarm clock just fine. Even as a preteen, I seemed to only need about 6 or 7 hours of sleep.

So, yesterday, we tried something. Owen selected four books from his bookshelf, and then got in bed to look at them quietly. He’s done this before, but this time, I told him that he could stay up as long as he wanted, as long as he didn’t bother us for frivolous concerns, stayed quiet (so as not to wake his sister), and turned off the light when he was tired. He agreed.

I sneaked up to his door about a half hour later, and I saw he was still quietly reading. I checked again after another half hour, and his room was dark and he was snoring.

This morning he told me he actually fell asleep with the light on, and then woke up a few minutes later and realized his gaffe. He got up, shut off the light, then went back to bed.

So, tonight, we tried the same procedure. Success again!

I like the idea of Owen determining when he needs to fall asleep. As long as he’s quiet (for his sister’s sake) and not bothering us with silly concerns, I think it’s good to let him make the call as to when he needs to rest. Like giving Isla a real glass to drink out of (and then laughing when other older kids dump water all over their faces), I think if we give our children the latitude to act responsible, they often rise to the occasion.

Also – I said I would post a link to my friend Ryan’s review once it was posted online. HERE IT IS. Doesn’t exactly make you want to run out and buy the book, does it?

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Today, I am slightly cooler than I already was. Want to know why?

It’s because my very own Micro Machine version of the SS Botany Bay arrived in the mail today.

My collection of Star Trek Micro Machines grows at a ridiculously slow pace (no faster than one-quarter impulse, I’d say). In fact, I have only added two pieces to the collection since the millennium began. If you’d like to see my collection, come to my job, ask them to page me, then I’ll come up and greet you and escort you to my cube, whereupon you can gaze upon my coolness.

Anyway, now I’m up to 18 pieces. The two pieces I most want are the Voyager and the Enterprise-E. If you see those around for a decent price, pick it up for me and I’ll reimburse you.

In other news: today marks the 48th anniversary of, as Billy Joel so eloquently put it, “JFK / Blown away / What else do I have to say?” This, of course, means that Obama has now served as President longer than Kennedy.

Here’s a Wikipedia page to prove it.