Before this trip I envisaged that we would be spending alot of our time on beaches. The reality has been that most of our time is spent 100% surrounded by water, whether swimming or while we are dry onboard Tangaroa . It amazes me how the girls can conjure up so many ways to busy their minds and hands for endless hours and even days without leaving the boat. To not be bored is one goal but there is a sliding scale between minds being meerly occupied up to being absorbed and creative. Electronic devices generally providing an easy fix at the low end of the scale but not offering much chance to rise up the scale. As a family we try to allow plenty of unstructured time, without the involvement of screens or organised activities. I’m not saying that we avoid technology, we love to watch movies and documentaries for relaxing, quiet, family time and occassionally the girls play games on the tablet or phone. Frequently we succumb to the sweet bribing power of a screen to tip the balance favourably from the imminent insanity (of us parents) that can often surface during the aftermath of creative chaos. Many negotiating and problem solving skills are learned and tested during these crafty times and I enjoy the simplicity of life when such skills are developed during discussions on who got to repurpose the previous empty toilet roll or who has the best use for the next empty cereal box. The variety of crafts and games that are enjoyed in the confines of our yacht are numerous. Here are a few creations that we have dared to interupt to capture on camera, when we feel that the risk of disrupting the absorption and prompting an “urgent” need for parental involvement is outweighed by the joy of capturing the photo …
Essential sailing equipment.
From left to right Amy, Dusty & Kristy.
5yo Beatrix’s herd of paper eating roll-osauruses.
Hours of entertainment has been had with these stick families
We bought a bag of fabric offcuts for $1fj and had lots of fun dressing each other up! Beatrix loved making an entire underwater scene with her real live mermaid.
I had lots of fun dressing up the girls too!
Game (stealth school) time.
We love whiteboard pens and wipeable boards!
I love seeing the different ideas that evolve from the same starting shapes.
The sliding scale between electronic entertainment and creativity as Dusty draws her favourite computer game.
It’s times like these that parental sanity can be verging on critical condition. Note the start of lunch on the edge of the table and imagine the chorus of “But I just neeeeeeed to finish this one little, tiny thing that I’m really nearly finished and it won’t take me long at all and I’ll tidy up really, really, really soon …” (then wait 5min to hear the speech repeated).
And a fun photo to finish 🙂
Luisa Schellens
so cool. I really miss you amber, but it looks like your having a lot of fun. I really hope your in my class next year. when I see you I will probably run up to you and give you a massive hug!! 🙂 When you message me back can you please tell me all about what you have done for the last month or so? Also what did you do for your birthday? 😉
Lots of love from LOG Sleep.
Lovely blog post! We miss our creative little crew people. xxx