For the last two weeks, my nausea has been worse. As well as being uncomfortable, it’s been extremely disheartening and frightening (six months more of this?????). So it was good to go for my monthly checkup today and have my doctor say that I’ll probably be feeling better and better over the next two weeks. I needed that.
I’ve had less than one serve each of meat, vegetables, or fruit in seven weeks. Here’s hoping that’s about to change.
Every so often I get a brilliant hormonal high – “I’m having a BABY!!!!” which I expect to see much more of as the nausea fades.
Here’s my oh-so-cunning parental plan for the week: extra-curricular activities.
I hope to enrol my kids in:
1. Swimming – brilliant exercise, useful for swimming carnivals (my own memories of winning second place are very special – and, given my lack of actual athletic prowess, unique), health, family holidays, and maybe even future exercise (swimming is almost the only exercise I do regularly – it is the single reason I’m not obese). Also, swimming skills could save their lives.
2. Singing – again it’s socially useful (singing is something that does actually happen in social situations), and also great training for public speaking and/or performing. We will also have an electric piano at home, so of course that’ll be the musical instrument of choice (unless there’s a school band, in which case something else may be better).
3. Soccer – it’s a sport that transfers easily to any grassy space, and involves a lot of useful running around (without a strong likelihood of injury, which is a plus). It effectively trains the kids to run – saving them from the most extreme humiliations on sports days. You can play it all year round, and especially in Winter.
I figure that if kids are enrolled in things early enough, they’ll get good at sport/public performance before they know how unco/shy they are. Once they get to high school, I’m sure they’ll have their own optinions.
What was your most useful extra-curricular activity?
They weren’t all at the same time, but at various times, I took:
piano lessons
musical theory lessons
soccer
cross country running
cricket
clarinet lessons
saxophone lessons
debating
mock trial
These days the one I find most useful is actually being able to read music. Whether you can play an instrument well or not, being able to read music is really quite useful.
W: My most startling past activity is gymnastics. That was a long, long time ago 🙂
CJ is more enthusiastic about music lessons than I am, so it’s good to have another vote of confidence for the value of music. (Also, the piano will be free, so some kind of music is a given.)
Should I mention that I’m actually qualified to teach piano?
Music is hugely interesting. There is evidence that learning music has positive impacts on educational performance. Particularly in maths. Something to do with all the counting and fractions 🙂
I also did gymnastics as a child – about as ridiculous sounding for me as you! I also played hockey, did competitive swimming and various school based activities that pushed me out of the average comfort zone.
I don’t know that the result has been totally wonderful, but I can live with it 🙂
I also suspect that my learning music contributed also to languages (reading music is like reading another languages – I wonder if anyone’s done a neurological exam of that?) and to me having vaguely legible handwriting, thanks to the fine motor control needed for playing piano.
Acting – Hands down – is still the best thing my parents could have enrolled me in. It gave me social skills, confidence, and the best friends I have now were made through acting classes. It’s still something I’m involved in since leaving school, and dad is closing on 50 and he’s still acting today. Not something that will stop you with age. (as long as it’s community theatre. If they’re after the spotlight, they’ve got to push a lot harder then me)
Netball was good up until about year 6 – highschool. I kicked ass at it (you might have noticed the many trophies in kitchen.. those are mine, punk!), but around the time girls started their period, the bitchiness was too much to take. I was a lot fitter and more energetic when I was doing it, and winning was awesome.
DON’T FORCE PIANO CLASSES ON THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, PTSD.
Dad bought a piano and decided we would HAVE to learn piano. It was awful. I still hate the piano. This didn’t stop me from finding other things I enjoyed musically. I learnt flute and clarinet through band and really enjoyed them. most public schools have a band program. And it usually gets you out of class one afternoon a week at least, so will be easy to convince a kid to consider it.
(Should you decide”well, we have a piano, it would be NICE if they learnt to play it a little”, avoid sending them to classical piano instructors. Nick continued piano after we found a really good music teacher who would teach us to play what we wanted to learn)
Swimming I’m really fond of. It kind of seems illogical not to teach a child to swim. Water is everywhere, and I don’t want Waffle to drown.
Karate was fun while it lasted, but our sensei changed and I lost interest. But learning a form of self-defense will definitely give your kid a confidence boost. Plus, make them tough!
I kind of rambled. Basically I’m pushing for Acting, Swimming and some form of self-defence/martial arts activity.
Also, teaching them another language would be awesome. They’ll be a hit with the ladies/guys.
Steffi: i hadn’t even thought of self-defence. Thanks for that. I did drama too, until my parents noticed I was typecast as sad and miserable (I was a rather sad child), and pulled me out. I didn’t understand the decision at the time, but I do now.
My best memories of school – from year four to year 12 – are playing decent parts in school plays. Best class ever, by a mile.
Swimming was a must for my boys – for obvious reasons – kids need to swim! It’s really sad when you come across a 12 year old at the swimming carnival or end of year swim day who has to wear the coloured wristband that says ‘ I have to stay in the shallow end …’
Next most important was piano – because that’s the only instrument they could learn in the country village that we lived near. However, a big incentive was having an electric piano which was very exciting (for those days) because it could sound like a range of other instruments – harpsichord, bells etc. so practice could be less boring if you changed the sound. CJ played until he was about 18, having a great teacher who let him play contemporary and jazz pieces. The fact that he could read music meant that he was able to happily learn bass guitar in his teens as well. NJ played piano until he was 12 and used that 5 years experience as a springboard to other instruments – first flute in the school band and the primary concert band and also for church. He then taught himself bass guitar and acoustic guitar and eventually drums. Music has been an important thing socially for both boys growing up as they became part of a great youth scene at our Canberra church.
Sports – well they did try some team sports but seemed to be better at individual sporting pursuits – like bike riding, rock climbing etc. CJ will be able to tell you more on that score!
Barbara: i can’t imagine having a child who couldn’t swim.
One of the other great things about piano is how non-annoying it is for other members of the family. And you can play either classical, chord-focused, or both.
And an electric piano has headphones!
Barbara: I know 🙂
I’m a terrible swimmer, despite swimming lessons. I can stay afloat, and I can, to a degree, get from one place to another, but it’s not pretty.
My music lessons were a lot better once my teacher realised I had no ambitions to be a concert pianist and just wanted to be able to make pretty music.
W: Well, if all else fails, our kids won’t drown in a pool. That’s worth a lot.