Day 1683 | You’re 9, not 19 mate
I caught up with an old teacher of mine recently and we were talking about the things I got up to in primary school. The pranks on relief teachers, my gang of friends that dominated recess and lunch time sports and the fun we had without an iPad in sight.
To think of what it was like then compared to what Hudson is dealing with now is chalk and cheese. No more searching for answers in encyclopaedias, no more waiting to watch a TV show at the actual time it’s on, and certainly no you-tubers making millions of dollars in front of our very eyes from making ‘content’.
The world has changed for sure but the concept of being a kid hasn’t really that much, outside of the obvious technology.
I’ve noticed Hudson beating himself up lately if he’s not elite at something… kind of similar to what I used to do at his age. When he doesn’t answer all the maths questions in a test and it’s the first thing I hear about when I get home. When he makes 3 successful shots at basketball but misses 8 and all I hear is how he wasn’t any good that day. The list goes on.
But when we shot hoops the other day after school and he wasn’t going well I heard him say quietly ‘sorry dad, I suck today’. At that point we needed to have a serious chat.
I sat him down and talked about how important it was at his age to just enjoy all the things he gets to do and not put himself under so much pressure. He can be a competitive beast at basketball at 16 if he wants, and he can worry about high-stress exams in College or University but neither of those things are relevant now. He needs to concentrate on having fun. That’s all. And that’s all we would ever ask of him as his parents.
I think he got it but we will keep working hard to ensure that he knows that now isn’t the time to be perfect at anything, it’s a time to learn what you enjoy and give it your all without any fear. We all know it’s a lot harder to do that at 41 (says the 41 year old) so let’s hope he can spend the next few years just taking things as they come, and with a giant smile on his face.
#speedmathschampion1991 #actyourage #justbeakid #nostress #hudson365