ryb jnr is 10 yrs old.
Both his dad and I love reading, we have a house full of books in every room (including one room which is only books); he hates reading.He is very active and would be in heaven if he could spend all day playing sports.
Both his dad and I love travelling, and have done lots over our 23 years together. We have taken ryb to various states in our home country (Australia), as well as California, Italy, France, England.
ryb jnr tells me now he HATES travelling. It hurts his feet! And he misses his friends!
Maybe it's because he's an only child, and an active one at that. We take him to parks, beaches, playgrounds, all the usual kid places on our trips, but it's BORING having only mum and dad as playmates.
It's no fun watching other kids play soccer. He felt too shy to ask to play in non-English speakign countries. He did rather surprise me one afternoon in London by bowling up to a couple of kids and asking if he could join in a game in Regents Park. The English kids overcame their initial shock and let him join in "as long as you are Arsenal!!"
We waited 9 years before we took him overseas. In another 9 years he can bloody well saty home and looka fter himself while the oldies are off continuing our globe-trotting!
Oh, in case I painted a picture of a whinger, he's not. In fact, he's a brilliant traveller. 30 hour flights including connectiosn faze him not - he falls asleep almost as soon as the plane takes off. He sleeps on long car journeys, is well-behaved, polite and one of the least brattish kids imaginable.
It's just a matter of trying to motivate him to want to go somewhere. He can pick the place, and is fully involved in any planning; Just his motto is "East, West, Home's Best!" !!
So you chose the place and make the plans and tell him. Sometimes my kids don't really like the planning part.
If you really want to expand it, you can bring along one of his friends. Often kids in pairs have much more fun than kids alone with the grownups. I did that this summer for my daughter, since she is at the eye rolling teenage stage where nothing is fun (at least thats what she would have you believe!) It worked out quite well. The other girls folks paid for her part of the trip, and we all just rolled along. I did tell them that the teenage angst had to be left outside of security, which overall worked well.
LOL, Waldos - if I was made of money that might be a solution! We don't know any people whose parents have the sort of money for travelling and holidays. Most of his friends are from non-English speaking families where they stick pretty close to home, and don't have any money. His best friend's mum is a cleaner and dad gets work where he can - lovely ppl without much English who have made their lives here to make things better for their kids - they came from Cyprus after the civil war. They get antsy if I take the kids to a venue an hours drive away and insist I mobile call them to let them know we arrived okay. Somehow I don't think they'll be sharing holidays any time soon!
Nevertheless we're not in any position financially to be taking off overseas in the next few years, so who knows what will happen by then. We're off to Uluru and Western Australia in January, so he'll have to just get on with it and enjoy himself! He'll be fine as long as we build in swimming pool time.
I've got a few years to get him interested in Japan and China (where we want to go) while saving up!
Oh well- it was an idea. I guess the other suggestion would be to let him know you are thinking of leaving him home with a babysitter while you go off for a wonderful tramp without him. That also works for my kids.
My eldest daughter has begun to grump a bit about going off, although in the end the lure of the unknown adventure still gets her. I don't know for how much longer. No boyfriend yet, that may be the crucial moment. Mine do love to travel, but there are 3 so they are always in the majority. Not that it is a democracy on our trips- more like a benign dictatorship. But so far no major complaints.
It kind of reminds me of a very old cartoon from the New Yorker magazine- 2 beatnik parents in their "pad", long hair, funky, etc looking at their young son in a perfect 3 piece suit with briefcase wondering where they went wrong.
Yes, I guess we are very "Family Ties" in a sort of way.
It's really not a big problem coz we actually can't afford to go anywhere for a while. More a musing on "how did I get this kid" sort of thing.
And I am sick to the back teeth of politicians telling me that all you need do to turn a kid into a reader is be a good "role model". CRAP! [It's not that he can't read, just that he doesn't experience any of the magic of reading that I do/did at his age - the imaginative wanderings into other places]
My penny - forget it (the motivating part) - Honestly I do not know "how and when" you start to travel independently in Australia, but until now he hasn't been too interested. You have travelled limited and won't travel for some years. Then he becomes very close to the age (at least here in Scandinavia) 13-14-15 when he would be a pest to bring somewhere against his will or he would prefer to go somewhere on exchange/language school etc.
And he will come into a period where a lot of attitudes changes.
The shyness against foreign lang. will be less of a problem soon (still shy I think, but I guess that he soon will start learning foreign languages - you do learn that in Australia don't you?) or at least all of his age in most other countries will have learned English and other foreign languages and like to try to practise it.
trusted partner
