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[CCBC-Net] Old is New Again
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From: James Elliott <libraryjim>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:29:40 -0500 (EST)
My son asks me every weekend "What do we have planned for the weekend?"
My response is usually something along the lines of: Why do we need anything planned? I'm so busy during the week with work that I just welcome the down-time of NOT having anything planned or anything to do.
His next question: do you want to go to the movies?
My response: Why do I want to sit in a dark theater for three hours on a beautiful day like today? Let's wait for the DVD, and then we can watch it while at home and then we can stop it when we want and start it up again if we are interrupted. Want to go to the park?
He is at the age, I guess, where everything has to be planned out for every minute. Fortunately, he's also in Boy Scouts so he is used to taking long walks in the woods or just hanging out by the creek at the back of the neighborhood. He and a friend like to get out their 'scooters' and just take off in the neighborhood, and I encourage it (anything to get him away from the XBox).
Jim Elliott North Florida
----- Original Message ----- From: Jean Hildreth <jhildreth at luxcasco.k12.wi.us> To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Sent: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:51:52 -0500 (EST) Subject: [CCBC-Net] Old is New Again
A thought regarding these "old chestnuts" and the newer book versions of childhood activities from a more innocent time: Yes, they present a world of less structured, more child-created activities than many children are experiencing today. But equally important is the fact that they 1.) allow for unstructured time in the lives of our children, and 2.) nurture the natural imagination and creativity which allow a child to use that time to grow in an entirely different way, one seemingly incomprehensible to the average adult. (We used to call it having time "to watch the grass grow.") And the difference between the super-structured, lesson-oriented, plugged-in, turned-on, always "busy" kids and those with the "old chestnut" books and do-it-yourself creative ideas is often the difference between the kid who is "bored" when faced with free time and the kid who is delighted and entranced with some time and space to create his/her own diversions and learning.
I say, "Bravo!" to books like "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and "The Daring Book for Girls." What might also be needed is some caring and wise adult who will take the time to read aloud even a chapter or so to a curious kid. Just to open the door...
~Jean Hildreth Luxemburg-Casco Middle School
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 26 Feb 2008 01:29:40 PM CST
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:29:40 -0500 (EST)
My son asks me every weekend "What do we have planned for the weekend?"
My response is usually something along the lines of: Why do we need anything planned? I'm so busy during the week with work that I just welcome the down-time of NOT having anything planned or anything to do.
His next question: do you want to go to the movies?
My response: Why do I want to sit in a dark theater for three hours on a beautiful day like today? Let's wait for the DVD, and then we can watch it while at home and then we can stop it when we want and start it up again if we are interrupted. Want to go to the park?
He is at the age, I guess, where everything has to be planned out for every minute. Fortunately, he's also in Boy Scouts so he is used to taking long walks in the woods or just hanging out by the creek at the back of the neighborhood. He and a friend like to get out their 'scooters' and just take off in the neighborhood, and I encourage it (anything to get him away from the XBox).
Jim Elliott North Florida
----- Original Message ----- From: Jean Hildreth <jhildreth at luxcasco.k12.wi.us> To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Sent: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:51:52 -0500 (EST) Subject: [CCBC-Net] Old is New Again
A thought regarding these "old chestnuts" and the newer book versions of childhood activities from a more innocent time: Yes, they present a world of less structured, more child-created activities than many children are experiencing today. But equally important is the fact that they 1.) allow for unstructured time in the lives of our children, and 2.) nurture the natural imagination and creativity which allow a child to use that time to grow in an entirely different way, one seemingly incomprehensible to the average adult. (We used to call it having time "to watch the grass grow.") And the difference between the super-structured, lesson-oriented, plugged-in, turned-on, always "busy" kids and those with the "old chestnut" books and do-it-yourself creative ideas is often the difference between the kid who is "bored" when faced with free time and the kid who is delighted and entranced with some time and space to create his/her own diversions and learning.
I say, "Bravo!" to books like "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and "The Daring Book for Girls." What might also be needed is some caring and wise adult who will take the time to read aloud even a chapter or so to a curious kid. Just to open the door...
~Jean Hildreth Luxemburg-Casco Middle School
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Tue 26 Feb 2008 01:29:40 PM CST
