I spent some time showing Bradley some blogs and Twitter and Facebook yesterday afternoon.
It started when I commented aloud about a post by My Little Drummer Boys showing photos of drought in Australia. I was telling Lance about it, and Bradley was standing next to me at the time said “In Australia? You get around!”
LOL, then i showed him photos on other bloggers I follow from across the world, and he was fascinated. He’s played games on the internet and knows you can get info but I’m not sure he realised the social aspect before now. Oh I lie, he must know, because he knows all the friends that we meet up with that I’ve met via the internet… but I think the Australia thing caught his imagination.
Then we moved onto Facebook, and wrote wall posts to Granny and his friends Thomas and Sonja who moved to New Zealand. Thankfully, they both replied by this morning, and he had a BIG smile on his face when he read the replies.
Then we went onto Twitter, and I posted a photo of him saying hello – by taking a photo on my phone and sending it, and he was thrilled to get the immediate responses from across the country (I explained who each person was, and where they lived as they replied) and the virtual cupcakes from Angel 
And then I started thinking… his experience of communication is so very different to all generations before him. It’s just so much faster. I remember sitting with my mom learning how to write letters to my Granny who at the time was living in Zimbabwe. We used to wait weeks for a reply. And OMW the pain of a letter! Can you remember how long-winded they had to be because you hardly ever sent them?! What agony!
I mean it was fun getting letters back… but it’s so much better to get a reply instantly or a few hours later!
My nieces in New Zealand still send snail mail letters to my MIL, who can barely use her cell, let alone a PC… and I take my hat off to them, I really do!
I wonder whether the schools have started changing the syllabus yet, and incorporated the best way to communicate online… and not just via snail mail… they really should… our kids will hardly use the old methods in their lifetimes.
Anyway, something to ponder over… I can see this post getting very long if I don’t cut the ramble here.
I got a letter from the company who I assume manage the relationship between my employer and Discovery Health.
Apparently, they’ve looked at my records for this year, and they reckon I’m over insured, and they’re suggesting that I reduce my cover.
I have a few problems with this:
1. According to the letter, they’ve only taken this year’s records into account. We happen to have had a particularly good year when it comes to medical expenses.
2. If they’d even bothered to look into last year or the year before, they would see another story entirely!
3. A few days before the letter arrived, I went to the physio for my neck, and booked dentist appointments for me and Bradley. I also think I may need a chiro appointment for my neck pretty soon. So much for not using my savings!
4. All I need next year, is to reduce the cover, and then have Connor and Bradley desperately ill… I’d be screwed!
5. Imagine there’s a massive problem with my neck, or Connor has a serious allergy like Bradley had 2 years ago, or Bradley gets Steven Johnson’s Syndrome again?
They’re MAD… MAD I tell you!!
Imagine how many people are going to be in serious trouble because they’ve taken this stupid letter at face value?! Who decides, based on one years history to reduce cover?!
Hah!! I’d rather pay the extra thanks… you never know!
I was proud of Bradley today.
According to his story yesterday, when he tried to apologise to the child in question, the child ran away. Not surprisingly though, he was probably scared even though he’s twice the size of Bradley.
So we told him last night, that he had to apologise, and to do it, he had to ask his teacher to call the child to her desk, and then he could apologise there.
And that’s what he did
And you know what? When Lance spoke to the teacher this afternoon about the incident… he was the ONLY one out of the 5 of them that apologised! How bad is that?!
Bradley’s normally quite good at school, so when he told me part of the story this evening, and then my mom filled me in with the rest of the details I was quite shocked.
He was a bully today.
And he got detention for doing what he did, and so did the 4 other kids that were involved.
It’s quite shocking, and if you knew Bradley you’d be very surprised too. I’ve been worrying about him being bullied since he was tiny because he’s quite a softy, and for some reason it never crossed my mind that he would bully someone else.
But thinking about the events as they seemed to have unfolded, it does seem quite confusing and it seemed to have started as a game. Except for the fact that apparently he was kicked in his stomach by a friend yesterday too which I’m not happy about at all!
The long and the short of it, is that 5 kids, including Bradley, chased another child around the play area at break and it got a bit out of hand in the end.
After talking to Bradley, and having to read him a letter about bullying and let him sign a form this evening for the school, he’s extremely sad about what he did, and we’ve insisted on him apologizing directly to the child tomorrow, because it doesn’t sound like he was made to apologise today and we both feel that he needs to.
He understands now what he did wrong.
But really and truly, for a 6 year old, the word bully is quite vague. What does it really mean to them?! There’s a very fine line between a chasing game and bullying and they definitely crossed it but I’m not sure they all understand it.
Bradley thought they were playing a game and didn’t think that what he was doing was wrong. But oh boy, he gets it now. I’m really hoping that he won’t do it again. In fact, knowing him, he won’t make that mistake ever again. I’m a little worried though about the gang mentality that seemed to have taken place.
It was only though, once I explained it very simply to him, that he understood. The school put so many words into the act of bullying that I’m sure it’s too much for him to understand.
My explanation… if you think that something that you are doing to someone would make you sad or want to cry, if someone did it to you… then that’s bullying. That to me, encompasses all their fancy words and makes it a lot more understandable to young kids. You have to make it personal to kids or else they don’t get it.
Anyhoo, a very sad Bradley is now asleep, and I hope when he gets up in the morning he’s happier, but hasn’t forgotten this lesson.
We went to visit Lance’s mom in Parys on Sunday, and for some reason Bradley asked me whether she worked at all. I replied no, she just stays at home.
So then he carried on talking… “so you work, and Daddy works, and Papa works, and Lainey works and granny works”
Me “No, Granny doesn’t work either”
Bradley replies “Oh yes she does, she does Pilates and Yoga!!”
So there you go Mom, all your exercise is work 
* Papa = my dad
**Lainey = my sister
***Granny = my mom
If you’re on Twitter you would have noticed the new lists function… or else you’ve been hiding under a stone for the last few weeks. Basically you can now group your followers under specific lists. The beauty of it, is that people who are following you can easily tell which groups of people to follow based on interests, and can follow the list without having to follow all those people too.
Yes, I’ve used it… I’ve been a good girl and set up 2 lists so far, one with all the photographers I’m following and the other list containing mom bloggers. But in creating those lists, it became extremely clear to me that this could cause problems.
I would like to create a list with all my friends, but who should I include? I mean I talk to most people I follow. But some are closer to me than others. However, could you IMAGINE the drama of creating a list like that and leaving out someone who feels they deserve to be on that list?
As it is, I’m sure I’ve left off people off the lists I’ve created and I’m just waiting for someone to point it out… but because they’re non-emotional lists I don’t think it’ll cause problems… but a friends list… in my mind would be a HUGE mistake.
Now I’m finding that my curiosity is peaked with these lists, bearing in mind that not everyone has created a list yet. I’m finding it fascinating going to someone’s profile and seeing whose lists they’re appearing on, and what they’re categorised as.
… but it made me think…
“Your life will look a lot like your dominant thoughts”
courtsey of @_robin_sharma and @simon_fill
Exmi tagged me the other day in a new meme where you post a photo of your desktop.
Mine is seriously not as interesting as everyone elses that I’ve seen in the last few days. I regularly change the photo on my desktop. Funny that, isn’t it? LOL! I have enough photos to choose from Seriously though, I choose a new photo every time I clear my c:/ drive and save folders on the external hard drive… because the old one is then moved. It’s always a photo of one of the kids though.
Now I wanna see yours, so I’m tagging 5 people and if more people want to tag along, feel free to do so…
1. Marilyn
2. Alet2020
3. Madi
5. Huckdoll
Feeling a little panicked
Feel claustrophobic
Not getting anything accomplished
House is in a state
No time to do admin
Still haven’t done my tax returns from last year
Still haven’t got Elaine’s photos to her
Booked every weekend until the middle of December, and almost the whole of Feb 2010 already
Connor is really acting up now, and I’m convinced it’s because he’s bored at home and we’re not spending enough time doing things with him
