“There are some areas of the history that your son has not completely fat yet,” said historielæreren to me during the home-school conversation.
“It is understandable enough, after seven years in the Swedish schools, but there are some things that are logical for us…”
I heard no more of what he said, for I sat and irked me. It may well be, I was not the most productive in the historietimerne in his time, but I think now enough, I have come quite good at it. So how could I push a little to my son’s knowledge repository in the field of the history of the country?
I love the subject today, and thanks to my grandfather, who often invited me on a trip to various museums, both I and my children have been excited to visit the many exciting places, hiding around in the country. It need not be a museum, you might just talk about how the streets got their names, or take in a cemetery and read the stories out of the old tombstones.
My own solution to the sønnikes lack of insight was the year pakkekalender, as someone would probably perceive as a punishment, but as we here at home have made into a daily treasure hunt. For every day it hangs there is a small envelope, which contains a question that can give 50, 100 or 200 points.
the Questions are in the category ‘history of denmark’ and is about all possible right from the viking period to Georg Brandes to Jellingestenene to Niels Bohr, and who was Svend, Knud and Valdemar?
My two boys have issues in the morning and must come up with a satisfactory answer on the evening, and google, and one must also ask his teachers. It makes so the talk at the dinner table something more fun for all.
When the points are added together at the end, they can be exchanged for crowns. 1,000 for each, if the boys are good. I am pretty well satisfied with my own idea. Such an advent calendar can be about anything: Sports, politics, music or anything else that can make the kids a bit smarter. You may well like to be ambitious, as long as you also offer something fun or relevant.
I repeat: You must be like as a parent to be ambitious and offer something fun or relevant!
I say it with the line in bold below, because I’ve just currently run into the one parent after the other, as completely aimlessly pacifies her child with a phone or iPad in restaurants, in buses, in cars, in supermarket and other places where it might be boring for the child to be with.
It is strange, for I hear only the parents who express that they think their grand kids are using right legal much time on the phone or the Playstation.
And at the same time similar to it, of course, to the parents over a wide comb accustoms the children to the – already from they are quite small – that the voyage or time in adult company is something that should preferably be killed with a screen. As a friend said to me: It is tantamount to neglect.
I know all the arguments: If not they get a film to look at, so run the kids around or become impossible. Yes, of course they do! They are accustomed to, that life is entertainment.
Poor kids. Think of everything you can experience during a bus ride (if not the mother even sits with his head buried in his phone to check Facebook). Just imagine, how pleasant it is to follow the adult conversation at the restaurant, while sitting and drawing.
For when you are drawing, you can actually hear well after, unlike when one follows a parallel reality on a screen. In the car you can look out the window. Is it boring? Maybe, but you have to actually get bored.
I’ll bet that under a lot of christmas trees this year is both the phones, Playstations and iPads. My kids also have phones, and both fond of that game, but as parents to make rules for how much skærmtid there must be in the house.
It is actually us parents that decide. And it is our responsibility to educate our children so they can find out how to behave and cope. Also when life is boring.
Merry christmas!
Annette Heick
Annette Heick was born in 1971. She is a journalist, tv host, singer, and entrepreneur, and is married to the chef Jesper Vollmer. She is the mother of two sons.
