by Heather Plett | Jun 15, 2007 | parenting, soccer
Last night, while I watched yet another soccer game (Nikki scored! Yay!), I thought about a piece I wrote last year but never got around to posting. Since I never seem to have the inspiration or time to write a real post these days, here’s an oldie that still applies…
We’ve been watching the World Cup off and on this past week. Nobody in our house is a huge sports fan, but the World Cup has attracted our attention this time around, partly because our kids are thick into soccer right now. So if you’re sitting on the sidelines of a soccer game 6 nights out of 7, why not turn on a soccer game on the 7th night too? It’s contagious.
Soccer is an amazing sport, when it’s played well (or even when it’s played with heart by 9 or 10 year old girls). It’s a great spectator sport and I can see why it has so much attention worldwide. It’s not as complicated as some sports, and the calisthenics those players go through – well, it’s practically like watching a ballet. Oh, and there’s usually a fair bit of “eye candy” on screen, what with all those well-toned bodies movin’ and groovin’ on the field (no, no, I’m not the least bit shallow).
Even though I’m not a big sports fan, there’s something about watching a highly skilled person do what they do best that almost reduces me to tears because of the sheer beauty of it. It’s the same thing for other disciplines – music, painting, cooking, carpentry, public-speaking, writing – you name it. To see someone find their niche, own it, and then polish their skills through years of practice and sometimes agony, is magnificent and awe-inspiring (even if it’s not at the world-class level).
Several years ago, when I was a fairly new mom and I came to the realization early on that each kid came with a different blueprint and each blueprint would take years to decipher, I bought an invaluable book. It’s called 7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing your Multiple Intelligences by Dr. Howard Gardner. In it I found both relief and inspiration. I found out that, even if one of my kids didn’t naturally do as well in school as the other one, she could still be defined as “smart”. Her definition of smart would just have to come from one of the other intelligences rather than her school work.
According to Dr. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, the seven kinds of smart are: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal (the ability to understand others) and intrapersonal (the ability to understand oneself). Since then, he’s also added “naturalist” and “existential”.
Especially when they’re in school, there is a tendency to rate our kids according to their academic achievement. It’s a temptation I’m sure we all fall into at some point. When they come home with their test scores or report cards, for example, it’s hard to resist asking how the other kids in the class did. When our kids do poorly, it hurts us, and we might even be tempted to blame the teacher or the testing method. When they score high above the other students, we look for opportunities to interject it into conversations with other parents (c’mon, admit it – we all do it).
I guess what I like about the multiple intelligences is that all kinds of smart are placed on equal playing fields. Your kid may be a soccer star, but he might do poorly in his math. Still smart. Another kid might be musically gifted, but couldn’t kick a soccer ball if it was the size of a small garage. Smart. Still others might be intuitive when it comes to relationships, or words, or craftsmanship. Smart, smart, smart.
I have a pretty good idea which kinds of smart I am, but here’s a test I found that helps identify them. (It’s far from a foolproof test, but it’s fun none-the-less.) No big surprise – I came out with linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic (not as in “athletic” but more like “craftsmanship”), interpersonal and intrapersonal as my top ones. I’m pretty low on musical, logical-mathematical, and spatial.
I’m still learning about my kids and I don’t want to stick too many labels on them this early in their lives, but I can definitely see that they shine in different areas. My job as their mom is to encourage and nurture whatever kinds of smarts they have and not value one kind above the others.
by Heather Plett | Jun 13, 2007 | raffle
The ballots are in, the votes have been counted, the chits have been altered by the… oops, I mean the draw is complete and we have a winner.
And the winner is… now, before I go there, I want you to know that this raffle was completely on the up-and-up and I was NOT swayed by any threats or bribes in the comment box. Seriously – I even asked Maddie to draw the winning name from the basket. She looked at me rather strangely when I told her to pick a little piece of paper out of a basket, but she complied.
Now, back to the winner… my dear ol’ friend Whippersnapper has snagged herself a new funky bag! Which at least saves me some postage because she’s right here in my own city. Whippersnapper, come meet me for coffee/tea sometime and the bag will exchange hands.
Whew. I was a little worried that if she didn’t win, some rather nasty pictures would surface on her blog. And trust me, those pictures should never EVER see the light of day. Ever. It was bad enough she nearly showed them to my daughters! Just remember, Whip, I have some rather unflattering pictures of you too, so if you ever have a momentary lapse of judgement and choose to post them, all of blogland will see you in your underwear smoking a large… um… sausage. (Whippersnapper and I were roommates back in the good ol’ days before husbands and children and mortgages and one hundred and one commitments – get us going some night and you’ll hear ALL kinds of interesting stories. And trust me, she really IS as funny as she seems on her blog.)
Perhaps if the sewing bug hits again some day, I will make more bags available to the rest of you eager participants. Gina had to wait nearly two years for hers, though, so I’m not making any promises.
by Heather Plett | Jun 11, 2007 | sewing
It seems the sewing mood hit me this weekend. It all started with a wall hanging I made from a painting I bought in Ethiopia. I moved into a new office on Friday and wanted to have something new to adorn the walls. (Unfortunately I neglected to take pictures of it before I dropped it off at my office. Maybe another time.) I made one from a similar painting from Kenya, so now I have a pair and my office will look oh-so-funky.
From there I moved on to funky purses. First I sewed one for each of the girls. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to get my eldest to appear in a group shot with her sisters? I had to guilt her into it… “Mommy worked hard on your purse, the least you can do is pose for a picture.” Yes, I’m not above a little manipulation when necessary.)
By the end of the weekend, I’d made five of them.
Since she is one of my oldest blog friends and a loyal commenter (this is no fairweather friend, I tell ya), plus I kinda promised her one a long, LONG time ago, this blue bag is on its way to Gina in California.
But since I was on a roll, I made an extra one and it’s up for grabs. Anybody want it? If so, leave a comment and I’ll raffle it off to some lucky winner. If you look closely, it’s got funky beaded trim at the bottom of the pocket. Plus it has an inside pocket. The strap is long enough to wear it across the chest like a messenger bag. Go ahead – you know you wa-ant it!
by Heather Plett | Jun 11, 2007 | biking, parenting
Someday, when my children have all grown up and left me for homes of their own, I want to remember what pleasure it once gave me to look in the rear view mirror of my bike and see this…
by Heather Plett | Jun 6, 2007 | too much information about ME
Liz sent me some interview questions, and though I’ve been a little deliquent lately (not to mention sleepy) I finally got around to answering them…
1) You’ve traveled a lot for work. Is there any one place that you’ve been to that you would like to take your family and go back for a family vacation?
Do I really only get to name ONE PLACE? Hmmm… There are lots of places that I visit and I think “oh man, I would love to bring Marcel and the girls here some day.” But if I have to narrow it down to one place, I will say the Octagon Safari Lodge in Tanzania. It is a magical place with some of the most gracious hosts you will ever meet at a resort. It is owned by an Irish man and a Tanzanian woman. I didn’t meet the woman (she was traveling at the time), but Rory is absolutely perfect for a place like that. He makes you feel like you are his absolute FAVOURITE guest of the year. His staff are the same. After a long, hot, dusty drive, they greeted us with warm moist towels and glasses of fresh mango juice. It felt a little like what I imagine heaven to be. And the surroundings? Oh my, what can I say? It’s near a lovely Maasai village, just on the edge of the amazing Ngorongoro crater (a dead volcano that you can actually drive into, but we couldn’t because we were in a bus and you need a 4X4). It’s not far away from the Serengetti where we saw the most amazing animals by the hundreds.
Here’s a pic of my friend C-L in front of the lovely little cottage we shared at the Octagon.
2) If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted to with no restrictions, what would you do? A WHOLE DAY? Guilt free? Sounds dreamy! One of the things I LOVE to do, but never can find enough time is simply to wander. Just wander wherever my feet take me. That’s why I enjoy my business trips, because in between meetings, I wander around whichever city I’m in. I think if I had a day to myself, I would find places to wander (maybe by bike and by foot). I would stop to sit in a park to read for awhile, or watch the children or ducks or whatever happened by. I would stop in a lovely café for a cup of tea and maybe to write in my journal. Then I would wander some more and maybe end up in a bookstore or art gallery. I’d probably take my camera along and look for some cool artistic shots. At some point, I’d have to end up by water – a stream, river, lake, or even water fountain. I always find myself drawn to water. Perhaps in the evening I would phone my husband or a few of my closest friends and ask him or them to join me in my wanderings and end up somewhere for a late supper and relaxing conversation. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is the PERFECT kind of day to refresh me.
3) How did you come up with your girls’ names? Are they named after anyone?
Because Marcel is French, we tried to find names that could be pronounced equally well in both French and English. Nicole and Madeline are just names we both liked, but Julie is the name of my best childhood friend. Nicole and Julie each have one of my names as middle names, and Madeline has Marcel’s Grandma’s name as a middle name.
4) What is your favorite flower?
Hmmm… that’s a tough one. I think I’m most moved by Spring flowers, partly because they are so refreshing after the long, cold, monochromatic days of winter. It’s a toss-up between lilacs and daffodils. I rarely walk past a lilac bush without stopping and burying my face in the blossoms and breathing deeply of the scent. (In fact, one of the daycare workers walked by the other day while I was doing it, chuckled and said “you always hear people saying you should stop and smell the flowers, but it’s not often you see someone actually doing it!”) And daffodils are just so cheery and “honest”, if that makes sense. (In honour of my dad, though, I have to throw in the lowly dandelion as a runner-up.)
5) How long after you met Marcel did you know he was “the one”?
It’s a bit hard to answer this one, because I really don’t know exactly. I’m not particularly romantic, so I wouldn’t say I ever “fell in love”. It was more like “growing into it”, and at what point I would define it as “love”, I can’t say for sure. It took me awhile, because I’m also not particularly decisive. Plus I knew that I would need to do a fair bit of wandering in my life, and Marcel was more inclined to stay close to home (he’s changed somewhat since then). That being said, I knew almost from the start that he made me laugh and that he made me feel “at home”. It just took me awhile to decide that I would be happier with him than without him. He said “I love you” much sooner than I did, but I eventually came around. I think it was probably about a year into our relationship, after we’d broken up twice and gotten back together again. I may not be quick to make decisions, but once I make them, they stick. I couldn’t imagine living without him now. Plus, I’ve been lucky to find wandering opportunities that always bring me back home to my family.
That’s it for me. Anyone else want to be interviewed? Leave a note and I’ll send you some questions.
