The child loves The Big Bang Theory. In the initial phase when it was a lot about Sheldon and his crazy geekiness, we used to watch it together once in a while. This serves the dual purpose of allowing me to not have to watch cartoons (which are awful & I hate them), and preventing fights between the family folk for the remote.
Just as a means to force her to cut down on obsessive reading, I get on her case about doing other things. Yesterday I kept her on a tight leash for the most part. We watched a swimming tournament ('spectating' I called it). We went to my office (but she brought a book there, unfortunately). I made her memorise the grocery list and recite it to me in the store (instead of hitting the book-stand there). Then I gave up and took a nap.
I guess the gadget is supposed to be a multipurpose swiss army knife type thing. Or an electric razor. Or something you can use instead of your hands, to play rock paper scissors on lazy, rainy days. Or something to fix up her cycle. Without dwelling too much on it, I dragged her out and we cleaned our cycles and oiled them and got our hands all nasty and our legs all mosquito-bitten, in the evening.
Well, not really on that last one. Husband mine strongly belongs to the category of people interested in
'What ELSE is on TV' rather than what is going on in the current channel. He hunts. He travels where no human has traveled before. To AXN and FOX Crime (I would prefer to knit sweaters than watch that channel, even for 5 microseconds. Not that knitting sweaters is wrong. Just not my thing). And beyond.
Yesterday I made a big list of things we wanted to do on Sunday. I always have a list. In fact with Evernote I am extra enthu about lists because it looks good and it is there in my computer to admire. I love admiring lists. I love the little check-box I can make and the tick-mark I can put down.
Last year we bought the child a large white board. She loves the white board in her father's office. It is of course a fancy schmancy one which prints out the content that are on it and stuff. She likes the basic one in my office which still features a list I made last year and haven't gotten around to completing. So we thought she would like her own.
We cannot watch TBBT anymore though. Now, its all about sex. Like almost entirely. They seem to have even gotten Sheldon on board the sex-wagon now. Not one episode goes by without him saying 'coitus.' I was a fan because it reminded me vaguely of my grad school days, and it was something the child & I could watch, & I didn't have to be subjected to Kid vs. Kat. But bah. That phase is done.
Yesterday's list was not long. I negotiated hard and allotted 'only 5 books' to read through Sunday. I have discussed this earlier with choxbox and she suggested to me a limit on the number of pages per day. Never been able to implement it though. I was adamant about the 5 book limit yesterday. Logic usually works with her so I tried that.
I showed her the list of things to be done. I put down an hour by hour plan. I pointed at the things that were optional for her, which she could use for reading. Like 'Nap Time' - which was primarily for me. I have coached myself into being a good afternoon napper these days. Oh horror. Must change that. She whined a bit but mostly agreed to comply.
The whiteboard is largely un-used. I have to literally FORCE her to write anything on it. Currently, there is one math sum written on it. In the corner is a list that I made (and have pretty much ignored). And in the middle is a fancy gadget the child claims to have 'designed'. By this she means she has made a sketch of something that looks vaguely like a comic book martian with scissor hands.
Just as a means to force her to cut down on obsessive reading, I get on her case about doing other things. Yesterday I kept her on a tight leash for the most part. We watched a swimming tournament ('spectating' I called it). We went to my office (but she brought a book there, unfortunately). I made her memorise the grocery list and recite it to me in the store (instead of hitting the book-stand there). Then I gave up and took a nap.
I guess the gadget is supposed to be a multipurpose swiss army knife type thing. Or an electric razor. Or something you can use instead of your hands, to play rock paper scissors on lazy, rainy days. Or something to fix up her cycle. Without dwelling too much on it, I dragged her out and we cleaned our cycles and oiled them and got our hands all nasty and our legs all mosquito-bitten, in the evening.
