Boys and School Camp

I said to my oldest boy, ok mate can you please take out the clothes that you wore at camp and put them next to the washing machine for me. So I go to the washing machine and there is two pairs of board shorts, 1 shirt and two pairs of undies. I called out to Jack and said I asked for all the dirty clothes darl. He comes back with that's them. I nearly died! (This is a boy that I argue with every morning to get out of the shower after his 4 minutes.)

Two days before he went to school camp I was washing, ironing, folding. I wanted him to pack his bag for camp so that he knew where everything was and what he had. I put on his bed to pack 3 pairs of track suit pants, two sets of pj's, 5 t-shirts, 2 jumpers, 3 pair of board shorts, a handful of undies, 3 singlet's, gloves, a rain coat.

I flew into 1 million questions, what about all the clothes that we packed,(he shrugged) did you have a shower (yes, it was really hot and I loved it), did you clean your teeth, (smiles and shows me his teeth), why didn't you change your clothes, ( I was so busy I didn't have time), did you have fun - yeah and my gorgeous boy goes, into a massive conversation about the fun, the activities that they did, the challenges, the self confidence that was built, the new friendships formed, the meals that they ate, the amount they laughed.

My husband and I were so proud of our 8 year old for going on camp and learning to become more independent, get out of his comfort zone in the activities that they had to do, the trust and the team that they had to build with his class mates and the challenges they completed. (eg. blind folded, tied together, walking thru bush, following markers to get to a designated spot. Possum pull where they have to trust that there team/ class mates will pull them up with a rope without dropping them).

For everything that he learned, it doesn't matter that he only changed his clothes, twice.

Grandparents Day

I have always believed that it takes a village to raise a child. So when my boys came home and said that the school was having Grandparents day I was so excited for them. My boys asked my mum and my Grandparents - their Great Grandparents. It is so important for children to have relationships with oldies and also for the older generations to keep in touch with children.


Mum and Grandma and Papa were so excited to be able to go into the class room to have a look at what the kids do. My boys go to a Montessori School so, our school is such a far cry from the way that they were taught, they were amazed at what the children learn, how they learn it and how the class room is set up. They have all of wonderful materials and activities, that are maths or language related, I had to laugh at Mum she was worried that she was going to have to do some sort of maths.
It was so lovely the response that the school received from all of the Grandparents, almost all of the children had a Grandparent with them on there journey around the class room.

My favourite part of the day was when my youngest boy was showing my Grandma how to sew. He had to thread wool into a needle, and then sew around the border of a piece of cardboard with holes punched in to it. The concentration on his face and the way that my Grandma was trying to help him was priceless. Of course tears were welling in my eyes.

my youngest showing Great Grandma how to sew.

My mum made her way around my oldest boys class room while I helped to change over the school take home readers, when she was finished she came and found me. WELL she was balling, she was so proud of her boy, she loved the class room, she loved the teacher, she loved the kids in the class.

A great day had by all, few tears from Grandparents who were so proud and lots of smiles from the kids so proud to show around there Grandparents.