Teach Your Parents Well
One of the best things about being back from Iraq is being around “normal” people, family, and kids again. On my second day in San Diego, I spent the late afternoon and evening with my cousin and her family, and it was both refreshing and a bit overwhelming. They have delightful twins who are about the same age as my son, and I had a lot of fun playing with them and watching them.
Before I went to their house, I went on a brief hike down a dirt road with a creek next to it. I wanted to go to the Elfin Forest Recreational Preserve, but due to vague directions and recent development, I was unable to find it. Nonetheless, it was very pleasant to be able to take a walk that lasted longer than about 5 minutes, and to see trees and water and grass instead of dirt and concrete. As I often do when walking or hiking, I fantasized about riding my mountain bike down this road, jumping over mud puddles and grinding up the hills.
At one point during my walk I noticed two brown cattails next to the creek, just ready to go to seed. I immediately thought of my son, who loves all things from nature, and picked them with the thought that my cousin’s twins would enjoy them as well. They had never seen such a thing before, and they were very interested. I enjoyed telling them about how cattails grow, and how they can be roasted and eaten somewhat like corn when they are “ripe.”
The fun really started when we went out to the backyard and the twins discovered that these smooth brown cylinders contained fluffy seeds. They started off by plucking at the one that was starting to seed out, and then soon discovered that banging the two of them together produced great floating clouds of fluffy seeds. The only drawback to this technique was that only one of them could do it at a time, which resulted in a bit of competition and arguments about whose turn it was. I pointed out that I had brought one for each, and they quickly realized that banging the cattails on the ground or rocks produced even greater volumes of floating fluff. Even their new puppy got into the fun, chasing and trying to eat the clumps of fluff.
This, of course, was much more fun for all of us than just looking at the cattails – leave it to children to find new and interesting ways to play and enjoy their world. They have a lot to teach us.
Before I went to their house, I went on a brief hike down a dirt road with a creek next to it. I wanted to go to the Elfin Forest Recreational Preserve, but due to vague directions and recent development, I was unable to find it. Nonetheless, it was very pleasant to be able to take a walk that lasted longer than about 5 minutes, and to see trees and water and grass instead of dirt and concrete. As I often do when walking or hiking, I fantasized about riding my mountain bike down this road, jumping over mud puddles and grinding up the hills.
At one point during my walk I noticed two brown cattails next to the creek, just ready to go to seed. I immediately thought of my son, who loves all things from nature, and picked them with the thought that my cousin’s twins would enjoy them as well. They had never seen such a thing before, and they were very interested. I enjoyed telling them about how cattails grow, and how they can be roasted and eaten somewhat like corn when they are “ripe.”
The fun really started when we went out to the backyard and the twins discovered that these smooth brown cylinders contained fluffy seeds. They started off by plucking at the one that was starting to seed out, and then soon discovered that banging the two of them together produced great floating clouds of fluffy seeds. The only drawback to this technique was that only one of them could do it at a time, which resulted in a bit of competition and arguments about whose turn it was. I pointed out that I had brought one for each, and they quickly realized that banging the cattails on the ground or rocks produced even greater volumes of floating fluff. Even their new puppy got into the fun, chasing and trying to eat the clumps of fluff.
This, of course, was much more fun for all of us than just looking at the cattails – leave it to children to find new and interesting ways to play and enjoy their world. They have a lot to teach us.
posted by Greg at 3/06/2005 11:41:00 AM
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