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Video---The Best First Date

Inkachu

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FWIW I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing the activites you enjoy with your child (which you just did, btw, Tropical!). If you aren't doing it to brag or get attention, then what's the problem? You might inspire another parent who's been looking for something new and fun to do with their own child. Accusing them of "missing the point" doesn't make sense to me. Not everyone is born with awesome, perfect, complete parenting skills in their pocket. In fact, MOST parents learn along the way, as their children grow. If a loving, caring, but perhaps not quite so imaginative parent hears your story and says "Wow! That sounds like so much fun! I should try that with my child sometime!", WHY is that a bad thing to you?
 
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Tropical Wilds

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Just want to say while it is important to figure out and nurture the child's individual interests, sometimes some parents do need to be told. They don't *get* it, because they never had someone do it for them--and following some formulaic activity like this could be just the catalyst they need to open more doors to child-centered interaction.

It could be, but the whole point of a spontaneous activity to connect you with your child is that you're doing something that appeals to them, their nature, and will improve your bond. This is something I thought of that we do. You can copy the activity, but again, if that's what you're doing, you're missing the point of the activity to begin with.

Somebody can hand me a paint-by-numbers to "Starry Night," I can copy it and I can end up with a pretty neat picture. But because it was just following what somebody else did before me with the goal of capturing only the tangible final product, I'm not even beginning to get what the true scope of the imagination, creation, and realization of that painting was. Anybody can put on a cape and walk down the street because they saw somebody else do it, take that idea and capture it, set music to it, slam it on YouTube and say "do this to be a great parent," but not only wouldn't they get the point, the person who's filming what should be their intimate moment has now just diminished the altruistic and private, kid-centered experience they were claiming to put out there. It seems even more disingenuous.

I don't know. If I went to YouTube and found out my husband filmed our first date and put it on to YouTube set to sentimental music, and finished it off with a message about how to have a good date and be a perfect date as sponsored and taught by *insert church of choice here,* it would take away from the memories of the date. I'd think he did it for YouTube, not me. Heck, if I were the little girl in the video looking back at it now as an adult, I'd feel a bit exploited and used at what was a private bonding experience was actually an ad for my Dad's church. An sense of it being for me would be gone and it'd seem like going through the motions for the audience. It'd be that paint-by-numbers Starry Night.
 
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Tropical Wilds

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FWIW I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing the activites you enjoy with your child (which you just did, btw, Tropical!).

I shared the superficial activities and their goal straight from my mouth to an audience of people, some of whom I've chatted with for the better part of a decade.

That is very different than having a camera crew follow me on a contrived version of our adventure walks, filming it, all the while knowing I'm being filmed and my child doesn't, or at least can't conceptualize the scope of what's being done, then following it up with "as a mother, you're his first superhero... Sponsored by Church of Tropical Wilds," then putting it up here and saying "hey, do this."

What we do as a family isn't publicized, but it's not a state secret. One can share the crux of what they did without turning it into a spectacle or violating the inherent intimacy of the act. That's why saying what I do with my son, something anybody who drives past us while we're out can see, is one thing, but taking the picture and slapping it in the paper is another.

If you aren't doing it to brag or get attention, then what's the problem? You might inspire another parent who's been looking for something new and fun to do with their own child. Accusing them of "missing the point" doesn't make sense to me.

Because they would be missing the point.

Not everyone is born with awesome, perfect, complete parenting skills in their pocket. In fact, MOST parents learn along the way, as their children grow. If a loving, caring, but perhaps not quite so imaginative parent hears your story and says "Wow! That sounds like so much fun! I should try that with my child sometime!", WHY is that a bad thing to you?

It's not a bad thing if they want to try it because it sounds super fun. Go ahead, try it, do it, have all sorts of fun. But that "hey, it sounds like fun, I want to do it too!" sentiment pretty much validates what I was saying... That the point is being missed, in both what I do and in the video. The point is learning about your child, knowing what they love, knowing what they need, and knowing what speaks to them, then doing something just for that. Sure, whatever that thing is may end up being fun, but simply having fun isn't the point. Just like in the original video. The point isn't to have fun, it's to make the girl feel treasured, valued, and to reinforce that in her in a way that it's carried through the rest of her life. Fun will probably be a byproduct, but it's not the point.

Ok, truth time... I get that maternal instincts aren't always innate. I get this because with small children, I have the maternal instincts of a rock. Truthfully, the fact that I didn't have an instinctive maternal bonding bone in my body scared the absolute snot of me and it still does to a degree... And actually, it's a big regret of mine because I feel like in some sense, my lack of instinct on how to bond with my son as an infant led me to waste a lot of time I had with him during times I can't get back and won't experience again. And the idea of adventure walks came to me when we went to Kohls and my son stopped in front of a bunch of Elsa dresses for little, little girls, and he asked me why I don't wear the Elsa dress I made for my run out shopping. I told him it was because it's only for special runs when other people dress up and that it would be embarrassing to wear in public. Then I saw, when I said that, he looked hurt. Genuinely hurt. And when he sadly said "But I thought you looked so beautiful..." I felt absolutely terrible. It didn't connect with me that Elsa, who is the love of his young life right now, looks the most beautiful to him in her blue dress and that he thought me wearing the same dress made me look just as beautiful and special to him. And seeing me run in an outfit worn by his girlfriend, a dress he thinks is beautiful, was a magic moment for him and a total thrill... That stupid, non-maternal instinct minded me didn't catch at the time.

I asked him what he though of that dress, and sure enough, he tells me that it reminded him of when we were at Disney, I was running and beat all the other mommies who were running, then I took his hand to go meet the real Elsa and get hugs, then had the picture taken that he keeps in a frame next to his bed, then saw fireworks. He went on and on about how beautiful we both were. And I should have known better... He loves me to pieces and he's devoted to Elsa. By saying it was embarrassing to wear the outfit, I unintentionally insulted something that was really special to him, both the memory of my event, but also Elsa who's a big hero of his right now. I basically said she's embarrassing.

And if I didn't feel low enough already, when we were walking out of the store, we walked by these two figures of Elsa and Anna that he had been DYING for, I mean obsessed with getting for months. We've always taught him there are no "girl toys" or "boy toys," and these figures are very much like little action figures, so despite they're being "girls," they are still fairly gender neutral. Nothing bad about him wanting them at all. Anyway, I asked if he wanted to visit them (they were to expensive to get at the time), because he visits them every single time we go to Kohls. He looks me square in the face and says "No, that's too embarrassing Mom." I felt like stuff you scrape off the bottom of a shoe and any pretense of "maybe I'm overthinking how he took what I said" was killed by that one comment where he refused to look at two figures he'd visited every trip to Kohls for months and stared at like Ralphie stared at his BB gun.

When we were driving home, he was really sad and I was really upset at what had happened. Then I remembered as a kid, I was just like him. I played with toys even if they were "boy toys" because that's what I liked and I didn't worry about the ramifications of it. I put on a towel, pretended it was a cape, and marched up and down the road pretending I was Batman without worrying if I looked stupid (or that Batman was a boy). I lived in a wild world of imagination that I loved and as a grownup, I hate, hate, hate that I never get to go back to. And I hated that my stupid adult insecurities of not wearing something because I thought it made me look dumb or not indulging my imagination rubbed off on my son, ruined a memory, and made him not feel OK in being imaginative.

So when we got home, I put on the Elsa outfit, even though it makes my shoulders look thick and my middle look a bit doughy, oh and it has a huge long cape, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He then scrambled to find stuff to dress up with that he thought was equally awesome, which was a sequin fabric tied as a cape, a large piece of tupperware as a hat, and a pumpkin costume he wore for Halloween. He was so ridiculously proud. Then we got back in the car, went back to Kohls, got the stupid expensive Elsa and Anna figures (to much fanfare from him because "I knew they weren't embarrassing to have! I knew it!"), got pizza, then came home. Then he asked if we could go out and do our "dress up adventure" the next day by going to the park, I said yes. He felt like such a rockstar showing me off and showing his outfit off, and our adventure walks were born. Being able to nurture that imagination fed his soul in a way he needed and made him feel special. Because that's what he likes and because that's the part of him that is important to him, and it's also the part that's being challenged and will be challenged even more as he grows up.

I didn't share it when they asked for our picture because it's something that's all about him. It's not something done under the pretense of being for him, but with a tagline of go out, do adventure walks with your kids, or "look what a great parent I am!" And that's what my issue is with the video. Anybody can watch it and take their kids on "dates," just like anybody can throw their kid in a costume and go get pizza. But the whole point behind it? I totally maintain that if you have to be told to do it, then you're just not getting it, and if you have to film that you do it and add a tag line to get others to do it then you're not getting it like you claim to be either.

That's why I say, videos like this... One can copy the act, but that doesn't mean they're getting the point of said act.
 
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DZoolander

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My biggest issue with my daughter right now is feeling like I'm neglecting her in favor of the baby.

She was so accustomed to being the only one - then suddenly there's a new kid in the house that demands a great deal of time...and since she's older I've started expecting a degree of autonomy out of her that sometimes I thinks she's not ready for. Sometimes as I'm taking care of the baby I look over at her - and it breaks my heart to see that she looks kind of sad over there by herself.

So, for me it's not so much figuring out what to do, it's more a time management thing judged in the context of someone who spent the first three years of her life with my (almost) undivided attention...and now doesn't have it any more.
 
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Inkachu

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My biggest issue with my daughter right now is feeling like I'm neglecting her in favor of the baby.

She was so accustomed to being the only one - then suddenly there's a new kid in the house that demands a great deal of time...and since she's older I've started expecting a degree of autonomy out of her that sometimes I thinks she's not ready for. Sometimes as I'm taking care of the baby I look over at her - and it breaks my heart to see that she looks kind of sad over there by herself.

So, for me it's not so much figuring out what to do, it's more a time management thing judged in the context of someone who spent the first three years of her life with my (almost) undivided attention...and now doesn't have it any more.

Your daughter is what, 3 years old? It'll get easier with time, Ezoo :) As the little one gets bigger, you'll begin to be able to do things with both of them together, as a family activity, and that will help a lot. When they're like, 2 and 5, you can do the playground and Chuck E Cheese and the zoo and stuff, with them both :) Hang in there!
 
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