A lot of people say we should kill TVs and screens. Well, I am looking at one now, and there are risks around them. Jenny Erikson is aware of the risks here.
When they’re with me, it’s just them and me, and if I need to get something done, it’s so easy to sit them down and tell them they can watch a show if they agree on it.They like it, because this usually translates to one show each, as they’re five years apart and are generally into different genres. That’s 44 minutes in which I can get dinner together, finish up some work, make phone calls, or even just catch my breath.
But here’s the downside I seem to always forget about when I have the brilliant idea to break out the electronic entertainment — they turn into screen zombies.
I approve of wild weather fun together. Which brings me to yesterday. I am on holiday, and we have bought with us one laptop — which (I will confess) is connected to all my email accounts and I use for blogging. And yesterday we went hiking… the son is still in bed (as we went to sleep last night he was complaining that his legs were really sore after he ran part of the way back of a 3 h hike to the top of a hill).
When I get back home (which will be Wednesday) I will start processing the photos we took. [I shoot raw, full quality, and have a photo blog. They will be there]
The trouble is that Jenny thinks it is OK. It’s not, because screen zombies is not what we want people to be. Much better to do things together.
My crazy husband, who went to church yesterday afternoon then straight to the hospital where he worked all night then straight to the ski slopes where he patrolled all day, just told me, “Get yourself and the kids into your snow gear. We’re going outside to do fireworks in the snow.” LOL, that man is a genius.Oh my gosh, that was so much fun! OK, normal people are cuddled up inside, but my weirdo family is out in a near-blizzard launching roman candles while the girls play tag in the snow in the middle of the street (we live on a dead end street and there are no cars out tonight at all):
But SSM reminds me of another axiom: There is no bad weather, only bad gear. Some of the most beautiful and wild scenery you will see has foul weather attached. If you go outside, into the forests, even in a New Zealand Summer, you can get exposure (I estimate is was blowing 100 km/h and about ten degrees celsius at the top of Key Summit yesterday).
Besides, the high country has its own hazards. Such as the kea, a native parrot, that is the worlds most avian kleptomaniac.
I aim to do one long walk a week with the boys. I have got slack on this: yesterday’s walk exposed my lack of fitness getting uphill. Being a screen zombie is bad for us all. Get outside, get going, and then you have something to share.
UPDATE
From today’ wandering around Tuatapere… and for you Americans, it was under sixty degrees. In what is supposed to be summer.
