Learning opportunity
It’s the first experience of the parenting and working juggling act during school summer holidays for my wife and I. We’ve managed. Just about.
My daughter reminds me in some ways of my younger self. Particularly her tendency to lose focus when she’s not impassioned by the topic I’m trying to engage her with. So far, it seems, this is not so at school, where her teachers illuminate us with reports of ultra focus. Kids in their comfort zone are a different animal.
One morning she’s astounded by the ease with which I name the nation depicted in a graphic of around 24 nations in my son’s Lego instruction booklet. She asks why her mum does not know most of them, and I do. I explain to her that this is owing to my obsession with football sticker albums during various football World Cups. Knowledge via passion.
One afternoon, I transfer parent duty to my wife after a morning with the kids, and my daughter is quick to transfer her allegiance and affection.
‘Flick Daddy back to the studio!’
I cackle at the verb ‘flick’ in this context and maul her to the ground, tickling her until she taps out and ruffling her hair. In retaliation, this progresses to ‘Flick Daddy to Turkey!’ (She has a classmate whose father is Turkish.)
The next morning, I intercept her on the landing to give my wife a well-earned bit of extra sleep, and she is not happy about this. Denying my prompts to read a book or play with some toys, she sits on the sofa, scowling at me while I stir the porridge and prepare bowls.
‘Turkey.’ Now just distilled to one word, her indignation is palpable.
‘Australia.’ She notches it up.
‘Antarctica’, I return fire, flicking my fingers at her, narrow-eyed.
This continues, picking up steam when my son arrives, opening with ‘South Pole.’
By the time we’re onto planets, I’ve made a mental note to acquire a second-hand globe or world map. Humour is the conduit here, and if we can keep this tongue-in-cheek expulsion-wish list game going, her global geography will be significantly elevated far more than it could have been with a simple ‘sit down and look at this’ brief ahead of the return to year 1.
That’s all teachers want. The good ones, anyway. The time to understand individual needs and tend to them.