Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Domestic Dialogue

Sunday morning. The topic was the relative worth, for a child, of a blank pad of drawing paper versus a "fun pad" pre-printed with various amusements.

Franklin: I just didn't like "fun pads." I used to flip them over and draw on the backs of the pages instead of working the stupid puzzles.

C: Hey, "fun pads" were cool! They taught you stuff! They were educational!

Franklin: Oh, yeah–like that connect-the-dots picture of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

C: You did it wrong! It was a clown!

Then I hit him with a pillow.

26 comments:

  1. My daughter's with you on that one. She will doodle on the fronts of the "fun pad" pages but she declines to follow the instructions. They just aren't what she wants to draw.

    And thank you for the note re: the house. I would forward it to the property manager but I keep talking to him about my knitting and my spinning wheel and my loom in the hopes that he'll think I'm a polite little old knitting granny. I think if he read my blog we'd be out of luck.

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  2. Anonymous12:00 PM

    What is worth the most is a parent who can distiquish what their child is interested in, and then supplies the appropriate things.

    Sometimes hard to do, but worth the effort.

    LaurieM

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  3. Anonymous12:26 PM

    ya gotta love discussions you can end by smacking someone with a pillow.

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  4. Ay yes, the fun pads. I liked the 'colour in the picture' bits, as long as they weren't too prescriptive. Lots of B&W line art to doodle with was great. Painting by numbers was NOT.

    That said, I have vague memories of knitting a barber-striped tank top for my barbie-clone (flat and seamed, no less) when I was actually young enough to be playing with a barbie without feeling self-conscious.

    So maybe I'm just not the type to follow instructions....

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  5. Anonymous1:24 PM

    I vote for the blank pad. I only liked a third of the activites in fun-pads. A blank pad was a lot more fun.

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  6. Oh this cracked me up!!! My son would rather use regular paper too. (and draw an MC Escher design). You should see his rendition of The Mona Lisa as a cheerleader... he has a great art teacher.

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  7. Anonymous1:50 PM

    There are clowns on the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

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  8. The only thing I remember related to attempting to draw was Mark Kisler's Draw Squad. Supposedly anyone could learn to draw after going through the books. Well, that book confirmed that I have no visual artistic talent whatsoever.

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  9. Anonymous10:47 PM

    My Dad used to bring home the BEST drawing books. He was an electrical fitter so they'd regularly throw away these enormous books of electrical plans (whatever they're called). They were blank on one side and the biggest sheets of paper I had ever seen!

    I took one to school one day and even though I rolled it up as tight as I could, it filled my whole backpack and I could only just pick it up. There was just enough space left for my pencil case and my knitting (dolly cothes, if I remember correctly. Well it was grade 3!)

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  10. I'm reading all of your comments and I have decided that I have a problem with the term "fun pads". It just sounds like some sort of nasty anatomical reference. You know "button up, honey, everyone can see your funpads!"

    *sigh*

    I shouldn't be let out alone, should I?

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  11. Anonymous5:15 PM

    Hence it was that Aunt Cookie (that would be me) would give her daughter and each of her neices and nephews their very own ream of paper, crayons, colored markers and as they grew a little older color pencils, watercolors and (parents permitting) finger paints and/or acrylics.

    Now that the daughter is older and has her own lady love, they get blank canvases, new paintbrushes, acrylics and oils and charcoal and erasers, oh my! And blank sketchbooks. And film. Sometimes camera accessories.

    Now, if just ONE of them would take an interest in knitting. (sigh)

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  12. Anonymous1:09 AM

    Spouse: “She looks ditzy.”

    Me: “You’re a committed partisan.”

    Spouse: “I just don’t like stupid women.”

    For the record: IMHO, Palin is not stupid, not even close. Other adjectives come to mind — but the Alaskan political tundra is littered with folks who made that mistake.

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  13. good and full of informative blog.

    ReplyDelete