Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Daddy's Girl

When Pamela was a baby, Steve bought a 1972 Triumph Spitfire and tried to restore it. We ended up selling it to my sister Pam and her husband Randy. Randy restored it, and we just bought it back from him. If you are short on time, watch the last minute: Steve hands Pamela the crackberry, and she pretends to make a phone call, while sitting in what we lovingly call the Papa Smurf Mobile.


Some people might find it odd for the parents of a twenty-year-old to be thrilled about a pretend phone call. This quote from Birth to Three Matters works for me, "We need to begin where the learner is in giving every child [or person] their right to play." Her faux phone call confirms that is a Stage 3 toddler thinker when it comes to play:
If he picks up a toy phone to make a phone call, you can pick up a toy phone or other object and do the same things. Or when your toddler picks up the toy phone, you can ask who he plans to call. As your toddler responds to your imitation and questions, continue following his lead.
If you would like to know another parent's perspective on RDI, click this clip to an online radio show.

Here are the two of them picking out dogfood for the gf/cf wonder dog:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you for celebrating Pamela's successes for the stage she is at. I know that it is very hard to do at times. But, I agree with you wholeheartedly, we must focus on the positive if we are to continue moving forward.

JamBerry said...

I love how your quote points out that following the kids lead can be the right thing to do. It seems like sometimes folks spend too much time directing the kids so they never learn to really THINK, and other times folks seem to ONLY follow the kids' lead, again enabling them to never really learn how to think. You're doing such a great job of being a leader worth following, a partner worth working with, not overcompensating or overindulging, and respecting Pamela as the whole person that she IS rather than just a 'project.' Bravo Zulu!!!!

walking said...

Well, I must give a hat tip to Charlotte Mason's view of Masterly Inactivity when it comes to play:

"There is an idea afloat that children require to be taught to play––to play at being little fishes and lambs and butterflies. No doubt they enjoy these games which are made for them, but there is a serious danger. In this matter the child who goes too much on crutches never learns to walk; he who is most played with by his elders has little power of inventing plays for himself; and so he misses that education which comes to him when allowed to go his own way and act . . ."

A BZ from JamBerry means a lot since you know what BZ means . . . LOL!

walking said...

Also, Jamberry, when you said "a leader worth following, a partner worth working with," reminds me of one of my all time favorite quotes of Charlotte Mason (page 102), "'Sow an act,' we are told, 'reap a habit.' 'Sow a habit, reap a character.' But we must go a step further back, we must sow the idea or notion which makes the act worth while."

If WE, the parents are "worth following" and "worth working with," then most children would willingly engage with us--without resorting to being too chummy or too bossy!

tiffrutherf said...

Yes! You nailed it, that's exactly what I mean..about "lighting" my load, a little less of the things that make life more changing, they are not earth shattering (to others), but just enough to make you say "We may have a ways to go, but man, look how FAR we have come!!" ..thanks for your comment!

tiffrutherf said...

I saw at lest 7 skills being used..and I'm impressed!

Humm, I think the battery dieing is a Mom thing...I can't keep a charged battery..