Written by Jamie Bessette ( with help from Cooper)
As I sit here this afternoon wondering what to write my son suggested writing about why it’s important for a kid to have a hobby. Now this is according to his 11 year old brain, and this is what he had to say…
You need to find something you like, that makes you happy and you’ll enjoy life even more.
It’s something to do so that you aren’t as bored
You will be more focused and use your mind to create stuff
It allows for family time and you get to know each other better
Helps you relax (He prefers watching his fish)
Watching your garden grow and expanding on what you grow
It gets you away from the real world and helps you calm down
Teaches responsibility
You learn what hard word means and you learn to work
Makes you smarter and you learn new things everyday
Get to build new things
Some of these are very easy to understand, like the first bullet point, but others you would have to know my son a bit better so let me explain. Like many kids my son is an animal lover. He has three fish tanks full of fish, a bearded dragon, a sulcata tortoise and chickens. Last year he wanted to plant a garden, which we did, and this year we expanded it. He wanted to grow things that his animals would eat and that he liked. He even threw in a few veggies for his good ‘ol mom too.
These wise words of my son amazed me, it seemed so mature. How many people these days know how to relax? Kids or adults? Somehow my 11 year old son has learned it through the time he spends with his critters and putting his hands in the dirt. I would say he also learned how to be patient and what delayed gratification means.
As far as responsibility, it’s true though, both of my kids have to take care of their animals, I help but I do not initiate the care. For example it’s their responsibility to tell me when they need animal food and then we (did you catch that...we) go to get it together. They usually use part of their allowance to pay for the feed. As parents we provide the necessities and they have to buy the “wants”.
Every family sets their own rules and our family is no different. One of our house rules is that unless being used for learning, technology is an after dinner event. (I know this rule makes us weird.) Yes, even during the summer this rule applies. We made this rule in our house so that our kids learned to do something other than watch TV and play video games. On a positive note we do not have fights about screen time in our house, the kids know the rule. On the flip side (and I don't think of it as a negative result) you have to spend time with and supervise your children. I think spending time with your kids is one of the best gifts you can give them.
In living this way our kids have had to find other things to fill their time. My kids have learned what it means to have an imagination and to think. In the summer I require my kids to do some school work, click here to see how I set up their summer school program. Year round our kids read a lot, I think that is what happens when there is no TV on and they want to be entertained. Since they don’t read all the time they need something else to fill their day, both of my kids are into arts and crafts and love to build things. My daughter is pretty entrenched in the horse world and spends every moment she can tending to and riding horses. My son is into critters (as mentioned above) and likes to tend to them. As a parent I try to be open and follow their interests as they often are ones I would not pick. I have to say they have helped me learn a lot along the way.
Both kids when given technology time in the evenings they usually choose to watch YouTube videos of their hobby. For example my daughter will follow Fallon Taylor’s (a crazy good barrel racer) youtube channel and my son will watch Paul Cuffaro (a fish guy), or Kamp Kenan (a tortoise guy) or SurpaDesign (a person who builds aquariums). So they choose to enhance their knowledge of their hobbies during their technology time. I feel like they are curious and enjoy learning.
In hindsight, I think by setting the no technology rule is why my kids have the hobbies they do, and if we had chosen to give them free rein on their devices from an early age things might have turned out differently. As a mom, I am involved in their lives and it gives me time with each child to talk with them and share an experience with them on their terms.
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